Portland’s Famous Vegan BBQ Cart Finally Has a Brick-and-Mortar Location
Clockwise from left: Split pea with Hyam soup, Be-IF and mushroom sub, Philthy Nocheese Stake, Dagwood sub, Sicilian chickn sub, Caesar salad with chickn.
Image: Molly Woodstock
Homegrown Smoker Vegan BBQ has been delighting vegetarians—and confusing the heck outta omnivores—since the food cart first debuted on Alberta in 2009. Three carts, three moves, and six years later, the plant-based eatery has become a place of pilgrimage for herbivores worldwide, spurred by drool-worthy Instagram posts of meatless pulled pork, fried faux-fish sandos, and burritos stuffed with mac & (dairy-free) cheese. Unfortunately, those devoted patrons often found themselves scarfing tempeh ribs under dripping tents in windy winter downpours—authentic Portland, maybe, but not exactly the optimal dining experience.
Homegrown Smoker is tucked into a hallway next to vegan cheese shop Vtopia.
Image: Molly Woodstock
Now, at long last, the city’s most beloved plant-based food cart has a warm, dry, brick-and-mortar outpost. Homegrown Smokehouse and Deli has quietly opened on SW 16th and Jefferson, in a building shared with Vtopia Cheese Shop—that’s right, another vegan deli. That’s no coincidence, of course; it was Homegrown Smoker owner Jeff Ridabock who first approached Vtopia’s Imber Lingard and Mark Jordan about leasing the space together.
“I admire their advocacy, and I really like their cheeses,” says Ridabock. “I was thinking about sharing a warehouse space, but they wanted a [restaurant].”
In addition to serving as a prep kitchen for the popular cart, the Smokehouse features menu items that the cart-sized kitchen simply doesn’t have room for. Expect subs piled high with housemade “be-IF,” “psstrami,” and maple ginger “h-yam,” all lovingly smoked in-house. From Philly cheesesteaks to that epic mac-and-cheese burrito, dishes deliver pure rib-sticking comfort—not to mention the comfort of not worrying about cholesterol or animal cruelty. A blazing fireplace keeps patrons toasty warm, while a gleaming deli cases offers sliced “schmeats,” cheese sauce, baked beans, and chili mac packaged to-go.
Image: Molly Woodstock
It might be hard to wrap your head around at first—a deli without meat is, after all, pretty much unheard of. But in many ways, Homegrown Smokehouse is like any other deli in any other city. And if Ridabock has his way, the movement will continue to spread until meat-free barbecue becomes the norm.
“We vegans, we know how to take over the world,” Ridabock says. “So that’s what we’re going to do, one plate at a time.”
Homegrown Smokehouse and Deli
1628 SW Jefferson
Mon, Wed–Sat: 11:30 am–7 pm
Sun: 11:30 am–5 pm
