Food for thought

Sure, it looks like a restaurant. It may even smell like a darn good one at that. But, it is not.

Food for Thought, Portland State’s cooperatively run vegetarian cafe, is actually a glorified bake sale. As a student group, the finances rely heavily on a hefty wedge of the student fee pie to continue to operate smoothly.

And who benefits? We do.

That is, students, staff and faculty, who visit the underground space for food that is cheap, plentiful and healthy–an exception to the norm on campus.

However, it is hard for a person who takes food and restaurants seriously not to be critical of the inconsistencies in the café’s food. Perhaps the only consistent factor there is inconsistency.

You can order a lunch dish and have it delivered to you in two minutes–or 25. It is a gamble every time you order from the lunch menu especially. So even if the counter person is surly, ask how long the wait might be, if you are in a hurry. Of course, there is a cure for that: Just visit for lunch when you have at least an hour to spare.

And then there are those aforementioned surly servers. Service varies along all points of the spectrum, from enthusiastic and informative to blank and downright cranky. They’re all students, but come on. Can’t you smile a little when you are getting paid?

And then there’s the sell-out factor. Earlier this week, an afternoon visit showed the chalkboard menu crosshatched with items no longer available and a lunch board with just one choice left. Lunch usually offers three choices around $4 to $5 each. I know the kitchen orders produce just once a week, but please ORDER MORE FOOD from your produce vendors!

Dishes range from brilliant to flat, and nearly everything needs more salt. The soups are capable: a miso soup ($2.50 for a cup, $3.25 for a bowl) was studded with nice-sized chunks of tofu and carrots, and had plenty of nutty fermented soy flavors. Don’t spill even a drop, however; it was so hot that it burned my tongue.

A barbecue tempeh plate ($5) had a very generous portion of the thinly sliced protein, sauced up with a sweet and tangy sauce that could tempt even meat lovers. Mashed potatoes on that plate were fluffy and delicious, studded with whole cloves of roasted garlic.

But nobody wants to eat frozen vegetables and rice for lunch, even for $4, which was the only item left on the menu after 2:15 p.m. on a recent afternoon. It took 25 minutes to get it, too.

Yet, with all these gripes, the café is not suffering for business. And rightly so, because considering everything, the cafe still serves a valuable purpose.

Students need a place to eat healthful and inexpensive food, and the cafe does that, every time. Because of the student fee money, prices are unrealistically low for a huge portion. Nowhere else in Portland can you get such a deal on local, sustainably farmed vegetarian food.

The self-serve/self-pay coffee is a huge positive factor. The café serves Stumptown brew, newly relocated in a much more convenient part of the space. The old coffee line used to meld into the breakfast line, causing much confusion. Upstairs, Aramark serves Starbucks coffee, and waits can be long for an inferior cup. Pop downstairs to save time and add a bit of change to your pocket, especially if you are using your own cup, because drip coffee is still just $1. Wait until the afternoon for an espresso drink, however, unless you want to stand in the breakfast line and hang out while it is made.

Don’t overlook the pastries. All vegan, the cookies and brownies, among the obligatory breakfast pastries, are worth making a detour across campus for. Try a chocolate chip oatmeal cookie ($1.25), which is chewy, crunchy and just sweet enough, with a tiny hint of cinnamon. The Oreo-type brownie ($2) hits the junk-food junkie’s bull’s-eye, with fluffy frosting one could, and should, eat with a spoon. This dessert is so rich and decadent that the huge portion would be realistic for two to share. The next time you need a sugar and caffeine fix in the late afternoon, Food For Thought has you covered.

In the end, the positives do outweigh the negatives. That is why, after many frustrating visits, students continue to frequent the café.