I am vegan and have been so for nearly 10 years. I always thought it was so strange that San Francisco had Millennium, Seattle had Cafe Flora, and Portland had nothing in the way of high end vegan dining (I would like to make one small exception for Khun Thai which is wonderful and vegan friendly but not explicitly vegan cuisine). And here comes the change. Nutshell is in the newly renovated/gentrified NE Portland with fantastic food, a fun atmosphere, and (from my experience) a lovely wait staff. I had the raw lasagna which was truly a feat in raw cooking - very flavorful and actually left me full. The dessert empanada was wonderfully flavored. My only regret is that I went there for lunch which did not have the Jamaican BBQ or the Maple Chocolate tart on the pared down menu. I also had a deliciously icy Vermont Maple Smoothie. Not only was the wait staff very sweet and helpful but the cook even poked his head out while we were eating to ask for the thumbs up/thumbs down review. Needless to say, it was two thumbs up.
Pros: Amazing Food, Lovely people
Cons: Tiny olive oil servings
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