dude, i wasn’t lying when i said portland has everything for vegans. on top of the vegan grocery store, the tattoo parlor, the bakery, the pub, the donut shops, and the billions of other neat places…they also have an all vegetarian and vegan-friendly arcade. backspace cafe calls itself “portland’s entertainment mecca”—its 4,000 square foot space houses video games, pool tables, computers for web surfing, an art gallery, and a meat-free restaurant complete with draught beer & stumptown coffee. plus, the place doubles as a live music venue and hosts awesome events such as “rockband night”. hell yeah!

we hit up backspace cafe not to play kick ass video games, but to eat their vegan offerings. we went at around 7pm on a friday night and the place had a healthy amount of customers, without being uncomfortable. i filled up on several pints of trumer pils and even tried my hand at a few games before ordering our entrees. lots of fun indeed.

philly "steak" sandwich: grilled tempeh, mushrooms, pepperoncinis and vegenaise on a baguette. served with pasta salad. $6.50

the vegetarian menu had loads of vegan offerings, including nachos, quesadillas and sandwiches. i went with the philly steak sandwich option, which came with mounds of tempeh on a baguette. while this wasn’t the best sandwich ever, it was pretty decent….and i can’t really fault it for arcade food. the tempeh and bun were obviously store-bought, and they went a little overboard on the pepperoncinis…but i still ate every last bite. the pasta salad went down well, no complaints. while my dish wasn’t drop-dead excellent, it is by far the best arcade food i’ve ever had, and i felt so glad to be eating in an all-vegetarian establishment.

broccoli goddess: spinach and broccoli florets tossed in goddess dressing with sunflower seeds, shredded cabbage and hearts of palm. $6

my husband ordered the broccoli goddess salad, a HUGE plate of fresh greens and vegetables with a side of goddess dressing. for only 6 bucks, this thing was damn big and tasty. i eyed this dish up several times and wished i’d ordered it rather than my sandwich. the broccoli was crispy and perfect, the spinach was on point, and the price was definitely right.

while i wouldn’t make a special trip to backspace specially for the food, it’s definitely a good joint to hit up if you want to have fun and dine out on some really decent vegan options. i mean, where the fuck else are you gonna get to go to an all vegetarian cafe? with tap beer? and stumptown coffee? do it.

i would have this sticker up too, if i served stumptown coffee.

backspace cafe
115 NW 5th St.
Portland, OR
503-248-2900
Mon-Wed 7am-11pm
Thu-Fri 7am-12am
Sat 10am-12am
Sun 10am-11pm