Plant-based eaters: delight!
Portland is a foodie city.

Ultimate Vegan & Vegetarian Food Guide for Portland, Maine

But what if you’re not here to eat lobster? It’s not just you. Seafood is top of the list for many travelers, but there’s plenty of room for folks following a vegetarian or vegan diet! Portland’s food scene is much more cosmopolitan than it gets credit for. And even though there are only a couple of vendors whose offerings are exclusively vegetarian, there are a *ton* of options elsewhere. Take it from me: your trusty vegan tour guide, Dugan.

(And none of these places have any expectations as to what you're wearing. That's anywhere in Maine.)

🥞 Breakfast

This is not as true for vegetarians, but for vegans: breakfast can be the hardest meal of the day for eating out. This is particularly true if you’re not satisfied with a fruit cup or bowl of oatmeal. If you’d rather have something heartier:

• Order the vegan breakfast sandwich from Forage Market. It’s served on a bagel, which was judged by Food & Wine magazine in 2021 to be one of the top-50 nationwide. Forage has seating, but given the location, you might prefer to order ahead and walk your sandwich ten minutes up to the Eastern Promenade to watch the island ferries go back and forth while you eat. (If Forage doesn’t pick up the phone, it may just be that they’re too busy. That happens. Call again!)

• Or, get a vegan breakfast burrito from Friendly Toast. …Though I actually prefer making it a custom sandwich by putting the tofu, vegan sausage, and vegan cheese on a roll. Friendly Toast is the popular spot for a late brunch with friends on Sunday, so be prepared to wait forever for a table, though you can get on the list for a table via Yelp ahead of time.  

If you’re in more of a smoothie and avocado toast kind of mood, go to LB Kitchen, across from Eastern Cemetery.  Almost everything on the menu is or can be made vegetarian or vegan. Securing a table can be difficult, especially for more than two people. If the gate is open, you might consider taking your food into the Eastern Cemetery. If you do, stick to the main path (actually called Funeral Lane) and you’ll find the newest addition: a granite bench from 2015 memorializing the cemetery’s leading preservation advocate: William B. Jordan.

Or, if you want something sweet, go to The Holy Donut on Commercial Street or Park Ave. They’re always coming up with new flavors and they always have a few that are vegan. They close when they run out of donuts. 

🌯 Grab & Go Lunch

So if you want to try the official sandwich of the State of Maine, head to Amato’s in Portland’s Little Italy on India Street. An Italian immigrant named Giovanni Amato, in the early 20th century, came up with a simple sandwich to serve to Irish longshoremen. There’s ham on it, but there’s a version called the veggie Italian which is vegetarian. Remove the American cheese and it’s vegan! While you’re there, try Maine’s official soft drink, Moxie, and if you’re ok with dairy, the official treat of Maine: the whoopie pie. There are a couple of outdoor patio seats if you’d rather eat there.

Directly on the other side of Congress Street in the East Bayside neighborhood is Banh Appetit. My favorite is the tofu banh mi, which they can make with a vegan mayo and bread. They also offer a vermicelli salad bowl that’s vegan and a vegan Thai iced tea. The menu isn’t super clear on what’s vegan, but the owners are — a Vietnam-born mom and her Maine-born adult daughters. But if you’re a banh mi connoisseur, you might also trek over to the little window on the Walker Street side of 772 Congress Street called Little Pig. It’s an entirely different treat!

If you'd rather eat out of a bowl, go to Crunchy Poké on Fore Street. There’s a menu behind the counter, but what we always do is grab a build-you-own card from the front counter and start checking boxes: white rice, edamame, avocado, inari tofu, sesame seed, &c. &c. &c. They’ve got a couple of tables, or you can take it to one of the Adirondack chairs on granite-paved Dana Street and do some people-watching.

If you’re closer to Monument Square, look for Yardie Ting or Nura. Yardie Ting is a Jamaican place in the Market House with a few things on the menu labeled vegan, like coconut curry and jerk tofu tacos. It’s legit. A few doors down at Nura, you can get an excellent pita pocket filled with falafel, hummus, and veggies. Combine with a side of shawarma dusted fries for a great time. You can also find a similar menu at their food truck, Falafel Mafia, which is often at the Eastern Promenade Park. There’s another food truck for walk-n-eat foods called the Totally Awesome Vegan Food Truck, but they’re all over the place; look them up on social media to find where they are.

Or if you’re out to Woodford’s Corner, look for Maíz on Forest Ave. They serve Colombian arepas, and if you’ve never had one, now is the time to try. The vegan one on the menu is the veg overload, though they also have a vegan cheese, so they can make the beans please vegan. Your next job is to choose the side sauce and the two vegan ones are verduritas and cilantro; if you’re not one of those weird people who doesn’t like cilantro, get the cilantro. And if you're lucky, they'll have that fresh coconut limeade they sometimes have.

🦞 Dad has to have lobster?

Sometimes you’re not picking the place because it has the most vegan/vegetarian options, but because it has something for everybody in your dietarily diverse family.

• If dad wants a lobster roll or oysters at High Roller, you can get the vegetarian hot dog or vegetarian corn dog. 

• If you prefer to wait a couple of hours for a table, dad might enjoy the oysters or chowder at Eventide while you get the vegan smoked tofu sandwich. You might want to get the fried brussel sprouts (also vegan) to go with it if you’re hungry. Their brownie is also vegan. 

• But then you’ll also find a veggie burger on the menu at The Porthole on Custom House Wharf or Portland Lobster Company on Commercial Street, both of which offer outdoor seating on the working waterfront.

🍕 Pub & Pizza

There are many great pizza places in Portland and many of them offer a vegan cheese. 

• The only one that is wood-fired is also the only one with outdoor seating on the waterfront and that’s Flatbread Company on Commercial Street. They have one specialty vegan pie. Also get the salad; it’s easily the best in the city. Hold the goat cheese if you’re vegan. 

• For your regular, non-wood-fired pizza, there’s Otto and there’s Portland Pie Company.  We’re partial to Portland Pie, but Otto is probably more popular.  Both have multiple locations.

And if you love eating dinner in a place that’s almost more of a bar than a restaurant, with lots of activity so you can’t hear the person across the table, go to hometown favorite Three Dollar Deweys. They have a whole section of the menu dedicated to vegan options like poutine, tacos, and hearty sandwiches. Pub food, you know?

🇻🇳 Vietnamese

In what used to be a bread factory until 1999, you’ll find Công Tử Bột. It’s wicked expensive, but worth it. Be prepared for a variety of small plates, which they encourage you to share with everyone in your group, family style. Items that are or can be made vegan and vegetarian are clearly marked on the menu.

🇨🇳 Chinese

Like every city and small town anywhere in the USA, there are plenty of Chinese restaurants in the Portland area. The clear standout is Empire Chinese Kitchen in the Arts District. They offer entrees, but might have an even better experience ordering an array of small plates like the Chinese egg plant, garlic green beans, and fried dumplings. Vegan items clearly marked. (And maybe also check out what’s going on upstairs at the Empire Comedy Club!)

🇹🇭 Thai

Over in Longfellow Square, you’ll find a cozy place called Boda, which also does a great job of marking the vegan menu items: two great entrees and a few small plates. Just save room for coconut sticky rice for dessert.

🇯🇵 Japanese

Also in Longfellow Square is a great place for sushi and ramen bowls: Pai Men Miyake. The menu is small; my go-to is the shojin ramen bowl. The tofu buns are also amazing, but cannot be made vegan. It feels classy and cozy inside. 

Another choice: at the very end of Middle Street on the eastern end of the waterfront is Benkay, which offers a much larger menu, including all the vegan and vegetarian sushi rolls you’d expect, but my favorites are the tofu dumpling soup and tofu gyoza dumplings.

🇮🇳 Indian

There are also quite a few places in this town offering Indian food. Right on Exchange Street in the Old Port is Tandoor, which has a vegetarian menu like most Indian restaurants, some of which is vegan, and some of which can be made vegan by removing the cream. Saag dal is my go-to. Also, this is one of only a few places that is cheaper at lunchtime.

🍜 Pan-Asian

In the storied row of restaurants on Middle Street between Franklin and India Streets is a small place called The Honey Paw. Their menu changes sometimes and it’s not always obvious what’s vegan, but they always seem to have at least a couple of dishes that are either already vegan or could be made that way — just ask and they’ll point everything out for you!

One of the few all-vegetarian restaurants in this guide is Green Elephant Vegetarian Bistro on the other side of town in the Arts District. It’s owned by the same people as Boda, so it’s very Thai, but you’ll also find an Indian curry and tempura. Leave room for the robust vegan dessert offerings.

🇪🇷 Eritrean

Show me another American city of 68,000 people or fewer with just one Eritrean restaurant. Portland has two! If you’ve never heard of Eritrea, it’s in East Africa, right next to Ethiopia, so the cuisine is similar to that of its neighbor. 

• Asmara in the Arts District is Eritrean and it’s really special. It’s the only place where I’ve only ever seen one single person cooking all the food. Seriously. For more than two decades.  There’s a vegetarian section of the menu, which is pretty much the vegan section.

• The fare is similar at Red Sea on the other side of town on Washington Ave. Both have a vegetarian sampler, but you need three-to-four people to consume it all at Asmara. At Red Sea, you can order the sampler for just one or two.

🎩 Fancy Pants

Make reservations in advance for these ones:

• Twelve is at the end of Thames Street in what used to be building #12 of the Portland Company manufacturing complex. The New York Times called it one of the best new restaurants nationally in 2022. It’s the kind of place where you get a bunch of courses prix fixe style. The only item marked vegan on the menu is a salad, but they’ll make a whole vegan prix fixe selection upon request. Just maybe call ahead to make sure. (I bet you $5 your dessert has gold leaf on it.)

• For a cozy and lush — but down-to-earth — dinner perfect for a date, go to Jing Yan Tavern on Congress Street in Munjoy Hill. They serve excellent amen, rice bowls, and bar bites alongside a bar with cocktails, mocktails, and sake. The service is the best in Portland. They really make you feel special and the food is to die for.

🕹️ Pinball & Tapper

If you’re mostly looking for classic arcade games and pinball machines, but want dinner while you’re out, you can get a nice hot vegan sandwich or pizza at Arcadia. They’re more of a bar than a restaurant, so expect a wider selection of drinks than food. But they’re more of an arcade than they are a bar, so expect to get lost on the two floors of flashing lights and mechanical sounds. If you do drink, get something with freshly squeezed juice; my wife says the mock-tails are consistently much better than the cocktails. Pinball is free on Wednesdays.

🍟 French Fries

Sometimes you just want some French fries, particularly if you ate dinner a while ago, but you’re not ready yet to go back to the hotel. The best in Portland are at Brickyard Hollow on Commercial Street. It’s also a brewpub, so they’re open later than all the regular restaurants. Not a place I’d recommend eating in, so take those greasy pups to go and enjoy them with a hotel episode of Law & Order.

🍨 Ice Cream

• Try Mount Desert Island Ice Cream on Exchange Street if you can — they’re tops. The oatmilk-based vegan flavors are clearly marked. 

• Or if you prefer ice cream’s Italian cousin, go to Fore Street to either Gorgeous Gelato or Gelato Fiasco. If you want traditional and Italian-owned, go to the latter. If you want experimental flavors, go to the former. Or check out both before committing – they’re across the street from each other! Both have multiple vegan sorbetto flavors. 

• Zephyr Ice on the West End is a great option, too. They serve fluffy shaved ice like they do in Hawaii. Vegan options are labeled.

🛒 Grocery

If you’re in need of something on the go, or something you’d expect to find at a health food store, try Portland Food Co-op. They’re tiny compared to the Whole Foods and Trader Joe’s, but they’re locally owned and in a more walkable location on the edge of the Old Port. They have some pre-made hot vegan breakfast and lunch sandwiches available to-go.

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