Neighborhood Notes

After a vegan shopping trip out to Bob's Red Mill store in Milwaukie (a great source of very low-cost vegan chocolate chips, vegan evaporated cane juice sugar and, of course, the largest assortment of organic flours around) and Penzey's Spices (a great opportunity to give your nose a taste test of a great variety of familiar and unique spices, including Dundicut Peppers from Pakistan), our shopping companion wanted to stop by Kettleman Bagels in Southeast Portland for lunch.

While Kettleman's sandwich selection did have a vegetarian option, cheese seemed preprogrammed. Fortunately for me, all but one of the bagel selections were vegan (my toasted onion was tasty without being overwhelming) as were the bialys (which could have actually benefited from a little more flavor). The bagels, which are kosher, are New York style (boiled and baked), and the coffee is Stumptown without an extra charge for the soy milk. The service was friendly and the joint offered a generous portion of Tofutti cream cheese, too.

Worth another visit -- and a request for a vegan sandwich on the menu.

Kettleman is located at 2235 SE 11^th Ave., 503-238-8883; and 2314 NW Lovejoy St.; 503-295-2314.