Vegan, Gluten-Free Pancakes at Portage BayBreakfast is, by far, the most stressful meal of the day. Supposedly also the most important meal of the day, breakfast is the meal we most frequently choose to sleep through, least often have time for, and receive the most mixed messages about regarding ideal content. For some reason, before noon on weekdays, people seem to fall into one of three categories: 1.) Coffee is a meal, right? 2.) Poptarts and orange juice are a meal, right? 3.) It is not breakfast unless there are eggs (plural) involved.For the gluten free, breakfast – particularly, going out for breakfast – is a tricky affair. For the gluten free who are allergic to eggs, coffee starts looking like a good “meal” option pretty quickly, and going out for breakfast gets categorically depressing. Thankfully, one of Seattle’s top breakfast destinations, The Portage Bay Cafe, has decided to take notice of the predicament and offer its Allergic customers a few options.Portage Bay’s menu provides a priceless look at an entire philosophical niche in eating. Their slogan, “Eat like you give a damn…,” in conjunction with their local, organic preference, lends customers the fun illusion that going to Portage Bay means getting a healthy breakfast. A quick look at the menu should be enough to tell anyone that it does not. What it means is access to mostly-organic unhealthy things, such as Bananas Foster French Toast.Mind you, this is not a complaint. I am far too accustomed to going out for breakfast and ordering a side of fruit, and I relished the opportunity, this morning, to order something unhealthy like pancakes. Even more so, to split an order of pancakes with one of my non-Allergic friends. Portage Bay has excellent, normal-diet-friendly gluten free pancakes. Long since a fan of their rice pancakes, I tried the Vegan Banana Pancakes today. Served with a scoop of chocolate hazelnut butter, dusted in powdered sugar, and accompanied by a trip to the infamous “toppings bar” (a buffet of fruits, whipped cream, syrup, and just about anything else you could want to put on pancakes), the dish was delightfully decadent. Not as good as the Rice Flour Pancakes, but less sweet without being as hearty as the buckwheat option, the Banana Pancakes make a great addition to the Portage Bay menu. If you’re preparing for family visits next week with Thanksgiving approaching, and wondering how to coordinate something like going out for breakfast with food allergies, I recommend considering Portage Bay as an option where both those with and those without allergy restrictions may enjoy eating. Particularly worth keeping in mind is the fact that this popular destination has three different locations, so if you can’t get in at the University District cafe (a common problem, especially around holidays), you might want to consider heading out to the Ballard or South Lake Union location instead.