Dancing with the Devil & Vegan Voodoo

I arrived in Portland Oregon after a ten hour drive from Butte Montana. After a begrudgingly, what seemed like longer trek, I was able to find a parking spot and head to into the hostel I had arranged to stay the night at. I had plans to get ready and go to my very first strip club that evening, but with everyone asleep in my room, I dropped my bags, called an uber and headed for Casa Diablo. I walked through the doors of a dimly lit red glowing building and was greeted by a burly man wearing a Harley Davidson vest and a beautiful woman adorned in a green, satin shimmering attire, bare breasts to complete the look. The man asked if I had ever been, which I replied that I was from out of state and had not ever been here or to any strip club before. He told me what the rules were for entering into Casa Diablo, many of these among the obvious, such as to be respectful to the women performers there. Others not so obvious as far as where to sit if I didn’t want performers to touch me (being female provokes a bit more touching if you’re near the center stage), how much it was per song and private lap dance. When he came to the final rule, “no photography, please keep your phone tucked away.”, I asked if it would be alright if I took pictures of the food. I explained further that I had started a brand new blog about traveling, vegan food and botany. He thought for a moment and said that he would ask the owner who had happened to be there for a short time frame. The Minnesotan in me felt bad that I was bothering someone at a busy club to ask if I could take pictures of their food, but another part of me was filled with excitement and anticipation to meet the owner of such a unique and mystical place. It was at that point that the beautiful women spoke to me, “It’s 8$ for a cover charge fee ms.”, I had become starkly aware that in my hurry to get over there I had forgotten the cash i’d brought from home for this stop on my travels. At this point I was a bit embarrassed, who goes to a strip club without cash in hand, I was as much a greenhorn here as I am a green thumb. Luckily they had an ATM inside so I left my ID with her and went in. I looked around and was amazed by the atmosphere of this place, A vegan place like I had never been before. There was a woman doing the splits upside down and quickly sliding to the floor and just when I thought her forehead was going to become one with the floor, she caught herself twirled beautifully around and continued other gravity defying tricks. I refocused on the ATM and right as I had gotten my card in, The man from before approached with another large burly guy wearing a red t-shirt. The security guard disappeared, supposedly back to his post and the man in the red introduced himself as Johnny. Johnny proceeded to ask many questions about what my name was, where I was from, what I was doing, what my blog was about, and why I was there. Gemma, St. Paul Minnesota, Trying plant based food and traveling while I explore during my break from school and writing about it along the way, and that I had read about Casa Diablo in a book, Will travel for vegan food, and knew I needed to see it for myself. A warm smile cracked across his face and he motioned me to follow him into the club. As I was about to follow the security from before tapped me and handed me my ID and told me it had been taken care of. Johnny sat me down at a table and told me he would be back with water and that he was going to order us some food. So I sat watching in awe taking in everything that is Casa Diablo. The beautiful performers, awesome music of huge variety & a wide variety of both male and female patrons. Johnny soon came back and as we sat we talked about veganism, our aha moment (when we decided to make the transition) & all the classic vegan documentaries ( forks over knives, cowspiracy, etc.). Some appetizers came out first, Nachos, Samosas & egg rolls. Everything was incredible, but the nachos were my favorite. The plant based nacho cheese was the best I’ve ever had. It tasted just like what I remember when I would get nachos before going vegan. Also the house made chili was amazinggggg, this coming from a girl that generally isn’t fond of eating beans. Next we split a Diablo burger, the patty had an amazing texture and flavor but what really captivated me was the vegan 1000 island dressing that was on it. I haven’t seen any 1000 island imitations before this and it was BOMB. After we had finished, we chatted a bit more about life, Johnny showed me pictures of his two beautiful daughters and wife who he had met through the club as she had once been a dancer there. He told me about how veganism had evolved over his life time. After we had chatted, he boxed me up the rest of those yummy nachos for a snack while I was on the road and left me to explore the club a bit more. I hung out and watched & lost track of time amongst the beautiful performers & the crazy atmosphere of this almost terrestrial place. I realized how late it was getting so I grabbed my snacks & caught an Uber back to the hostel I was staying in. Once I climbed into bed I swear I fell asleep before hitting the pillow, jeans with pockets full of two dollar bills still on. I woke early the next morning (sorry roomies) & packed up & headed for another spot I had heard a lot about in Portland, Voodoo doughnuts. After finally finding a parking spot, navigating through some of the homeless population, I walked up to a bright pink building with ghouls painted all over. I walked in and there was a long line inside, memorabilia hung all over the walls with a rotating carousel of doughnuts displaying all of the options that day. To my surprise and delight, the entire bottom was all vegan options. They had cream & jelly filled, classic glazed, colorful sprinkles, everything that you could ask for from a doughnut. I ended up grabbing a box of four; the old dirty bastard, raised glazed, voodoo doll & maple blazer blunt. The old dirty bastard was my favorite by far but trying a voodoo doll and watching the blood (jelly doughnut) ooze out was both unsettling & delicious. All in all I can’t wait to see what else the Portland vegan scene has to offer in the future ~ Another 666 mi in the bag

Until next time, Stay weird.

Love & Light

Gemma

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