I’ve been looking into alternative eating plans, including vegan and raw. I’ve done vegan meals before and raw ones, too, but I’ve never gone gourmet with either. How fortunate that my city offers a raw restaurant with locations on each side of town! My BF has lots of great qualities, but, as I’ve mentioned before, adventurous eating is not one of them. So, while he was out of town on business, I hooked up with his brother and his brother’s new GF, and we all went out for a raw dinner.
Wow!! It was SO good! Unbelievably, outrageously, amazingly good!!
My BF’s brother started with a fruit smoothie topped with granola. Interestingly, it came in a bowl, rather than a glass, and looked like a chilled soup. He chose the Ora-Bana flavor, which was a mix of oranges, bananas and dates. Ooo… it was tasty. Cool, creamy, tropical goodness with a satisfying crunch.
We each picked a meal and then shared bites with each other. My BF’s brother chose the Mexicali Sampler, which included a Mexi Wrap with a collard green “tortilla”, Enchiladas, Flax Crax and Mexi Toast. It was served with yam rice, “beans”, guacamole and salsa. It had some heat, probably because of the spicy red sauce.
My BF’s brother’s new GF chose the Purple Burrito. She’s allergic to tomatoes and corn, so she skipped the salsa and guacamole, which was made with tomatoes. The Purple Burrito was beautiful to look at because of all the vibrant colors. Regrettably, the pic I took doesn’t capture it as well as I’d hoped because you can’t see the deep purple cabbage. The cabbage “cup” was filled with Mexi pate, veggies and greens topped with sour “dream” and “yam yumm”. It also came with flax crackers.
I thought it’d be a hoot to have the raw version of a traditionally bad food, so I selected the “Burger and Fries”. It was a veggie burger made with beets, carrots, sunflower seeds and parsley, served on living bread with hand prepared catsup, mustard, mayo, onion tomato, lettuce, sprouts, avocado and almond cheese. The “fries” were “breaded” avocado slices. It did not taste anything like a burger and fries, but that was okay with me. The flavors and textures were lusciously palate-pleasing. Every bite was fresh and clean, like capturing the crisp springtime air on your tastebuds.
We finished the meal by sharing three flavors of “cheesecake”: strawberry, apple, and yam. They, too, were very good, especially the strawberry. It had the tang of cream cheese, but there wasn’t a bit of it in the reicpe. I found out the filling was actually made with cashews. So, so good!
We were all astounded by how delicious everything tasted, so flavorful, and how filling it was. I could easily eat this way all the time, except that the prep is daunting to me. I talked about this with the proprietress of the restaurant. She insisted that it really wasn’t that complicated or hard to do. I was am still skeptical, though. I think I need hands-on experience, so my BF’s brother’s new GF and I are going to take a 2-hour raw cooking class on a Sunday in late July. My BF joked that a raw cooking class is an oxymoron. Goofball! (But he does have a point, doesn’t he?!?! J)
You never know. Maybe ‘rich and raw’ will become a new addition to the Sassy Chef’s cooking repertoire!
