I really wanted to love Via Chicago, especially as someone managing both gluten and dairy allergies. I built my own medium pizza with the gluten-free crust and the vegan cheese combo (Daiya and tofu ricotta). Unfortunately, it just didn’t hit the mark for me. The crust was thinner and a bit tougher than expected (definitely not worthy of the Chicago style title), but the biggest issue was the cheese… It was so heavy and overpowering that it completely overshadowed the rest of the pizza. Being from Chicago, I fully understand that Chicago style pizza has a lot of cheese, but when you’re working with alternative cheeses, certain alterations need to be made because they simply DO NOT cook the same as regular cheese options. The texture ended up being more slimy than satisfying, and there was more cheese than crust. There was actually more cheese than anything else, including the toppings that I added (pepperoni, pineapple and supposedly onion, but I didn’t see or taste that on the pizza)
Ultimately, I understand that allergy-friendly options are often more expensive, but when I’m paying $35 for a medium pizza, I at least hope I’ll want to eat the leftovers. Sadly, that wasn’t the case here. While I appreciate the effort to offer gluten-free and vegan options, I don’t think I’ll be returning.
If you’re looking for great gluten-free and vegan pizza in Portland, I’d highly recommend Boxcar instead, they do it Detroit style and they do it right!
Top notch service, drinks, sweet treats and food.
The coffee selection is sure to impress any connoisseur. The latte I had was the best ever.
The carrot cake and lemon raspberry dessert were way too good to be gluten free, but they were.
The salmon dish was refreshing and savory.
This was my second visit here, and I will definitely come back again.
The weekday visit was lovely because hardly anyone was inside. Weekend will have a wait.
Highly recommend!!
I wish I took a photo of all the wonderful food! I'll update with a photo if I find one.
Service:
I had Hat Yai cater for us, and was in constant communication with Alan Akwai, the founder (I believe?). I reached out 2.5-3 weeks ahead of time and went over my order with him over e-mail. This was a catering done for about 25-30 attendees and we had a lot of yummy leftovers. Alan was extremely accommodating to changing of timing of when we would like the food. A few days prior he sent an e-mail with a confirmation for day and time, and the day of we were in constant communication via text to ensure that our food was delivered. He came in with two huge thermal packaged food containers with our order. Our food was warm and perfect by the time we had our late lunch/early dinner. He set everything up in the kitchen, which included the orders in foil trays, serving containers, and little note cards with the name of the dish.
Food:
Menu itself is gluten free except for Muu Hong and Roti. There are various vegan and vegetarian options.
With these various orders came jasmine rice, sticky rice, cucumber salad, and a really lovely pickled veggies platter. The sides really highlighted and matched well with all of the dishes.
1) Small Whole Chicken 2) Small leg quarter. The chicken was crispy and juicy. Great with and without the sauce that comes with it. Crispy shallots on top gave another added texture that was nice. Would definitely order again.
3) Small Muu Hong. Pork belly was delicious. A sweet, and gingery sauce with nicely rendered pork belly. If there are any leftovers, it is very good to fry in a cast iron.
4) Small Brisket Curry 5) House Curry 6) Small Vegan Curry. All very flavorful. Brisket curry was just a little spicy for some of the guests, but as someone who likes spice it was very mild. Of the three curries the house curry had a wonderful flavor. I could eat that on plain rice or roti and would be content. Would highly recommend the house curry.
7) Large Roti. Crispy and airy. Slightly sweet. Goes really well with the house curry.
8) Mushroom skewers. Really generous portions of what I believe are king oyster mushrooms, but I could be wrong. 3 big chunks per skewer.
9) Coconut Mango Horchata. Best that I've ever had. All the food was amazing, but this was maybe my favorite thing? Great balance of flavors. Viscosity similar to a mango lassi.
Atmosphere: N/A.
All in all, I would definitely cater from this place again and head out to their restaurant for when I'm in Portland. For awhile I wasn't sure if we had enough food, but it was definitely more than enough with the amount of people we had. Fair amount of leftovers and if there is extra jasmine rice, the next day fried rice you make will be incredible.
There was no crab in the Rangoon. Unable to order the thick noodles in the pics online. Three options wide gluten-free noodles, rice noodles, or white rice. Otherwise, tasty and very pleasantly surprised by the Jianbig.
TOP NOTCH! Relaxing vibes and an always changing variety of beverages. As someone who is gluten-free, gf options are always hard to come by at a beer cart, but at Conscious Sedation, the owners ALWAYS HAVE A LARGE SELECTION for me to try. CS brings those refreshing summers sips while offering warm/hugging cups of mulled wine during the winter. And did I mention that they have the occasional live band and art vendors?!
Check out the fire pit! This place is SUPBERB! Thank you Conscious Sedation. Ill see you on the 3rd for your 3rd Year Anniversary!
Accommodating Gluten-Free
