Raw Review's » Raw Restaurant’s

Grezzo Restaurant

abratt — Fri, 21 Mar 2008 23:32:01 +0000

Grezzo Restaurant

Raw power

By: ROBERT NADEAU

3/19/2008 3:54:40 PM

RICH BROWNIE SUNDAE: The brownie, based on Brazil nuts, served with housemade gelati.

Grezzo, which means “raw” in Italian, is an upscale vegan restaurant specializing in “raw and living food.” No heat above 112 degrees is permitted, so the only cooking appliance is a dehydrator. Cold is allowed, so there’s gelato. But since there’s no dairy, the ice cream and cold sauces are made from nut milk. The menu is also pretty much devoid of gluten. The compensation for all of these limitations is the ingenuity of chef Alissa Cohen, who’s been eating this way for more than 20 years, plus an enormous variety of top-of-the-line vegetable ingredients.There’s also a reusable, recyclable, hemp-fiber bushel bag of hype. On alissacohen.com, it’s not just a restaurant — it’s a book, a DVD, lessons, supplements, and before-and-after weight-loss photos. This diet, it’s claimed, relieves 24 medical and psychiatric complaints, from diabetes to cancer.

So how’s the food? In March, when local greenhouses are straining for enough light to grow greens, no less? Well, fabulous — but perhaps more interesting than soul-satisfying. There are certainly some things here that other chefs are going to steal. For example, if you dehydrate thin slices of beets and squash, not only are they edible, slightly sweet, and a teeny bit like pasta in texture, but all the colors are preserved. So the Chioggia beet slices have all the beautiful red and white stripes, and a golden beet is the color of corn. I will be very surprised if this doesn’t show up in all the fancy bistros. (I’m going to try it at home.)

Grezzo looks like any tiny North End trattoria. The walls are cranberry-salmon, and there are oil paintings of vegetables. There is a little bar. Tabletops are copper. There are a lot of candles, apparently not raw but possibly organic. The servers, clad in black, are slim and lively. The chef-owner, in street clothes, is present but not hovering.

At the table, there’s no breadbasket. (No baking equals no bread.) Already one wonders, why are we in the North End? Would we like a drink before dinner? That could be the featured Grezzo mojito ($6) or cucumber martini ($7). The mojito is a pretty good no-alcohol fake of a mint-lime drink. The martini has some kombucha (fermented sweet tea) for fizz and a bit of alcohol, but lacks the resinous, herbal flavors of a classic martini. It tastes like cucumber.

One successful appetizer is “maroon carrot bisque” ($8). These purple carrots purée into a tasty cold soup, and the garnish of razor-thin unusual carrot slices, some crisp pear, and onion is a nice texture contrast. Gnocchi carbonara ($11), on the other hand, is deep in the genre of faux food, since the kitchen can’t poach dumplings, use bacon or eggs, or even liquid-smoke seasoning (which is made by burning wood). So what we have are nut balls in a nut-cream sauce, and it tastes more like halvah than pasta. What excited me on this plate was the garnish of raw green peas and micro-green pea shoots.

An entrée of winter-vegetable lasagna ($22) is in the same zone. There’s no pasta, no cheese, and no cooked-down tomato sauce, so the dish looks and tastes more like salad than lasagna. The tomato sauce is a few dabs of chopped stuff, while the “béchamel” sauce mentioned on the menu is another nut cream, and not much of it. What stood out was the spectacular variety of greens and edible flowers, plus sliced and sometimes dehydrated vegetables. This is certainly great eating — once you get the idea of lasagna out of your head.

Massaman coconut curry ($21) lacks heat, but there’s also no coconut milk. Again, one thinks of stew but crunches along on salad. The nut cream has some curry flavor, but the lasting positive impressions are of shredded snow peas, shredded coconut, a variety of sprouts and micro-greens, and the intriguing vegetable vermicelli, which are long and stringy but aren’t pasta and don’t look like spaghetti squash. What are they?

Wines are available but not featured. A glass of organic zinfandel ($9) was rather good. My guess would be that raw-food promoters are not terribly interested in wine (and beer has to be cooked in the brewing process). But there’s a parallel movement in the wine world called biodynamic winemaking, which fosters wild yeasts and has produced some impressive and unusual flavors in French wines.

Dessert is the easiest course in this cuisine. Chef Cohen has a picture on her Web site of faux cannoli and such, but the faux dessert our night was “sinfully delicious cheesecake” ($11) — and it rather was. No actual cheese, of course, but the combination of ground nuts and bananas was pretty rich and delicious, and the nut crust underneath was better than the cookie-crumb crusts of most commercial cheesecakes. An agave sauce with some berries and kiwi didn’t provide the sweet contrast you’d get with “real” cheesecake, but it was tasty. A “rich brownie sundae” ($11) was a slam dunk. It came with housemade vanilla, chocolate, and strawberry gelato; chocolate sauce that was somehow melted; and a “brownie” that was crumbly and based on Brazil nuts, but rather like a brownie, with that irreplaceable chocolate flavor.

The short menu changes weekly and offers a “chef’s tasting” ($59). I think the former is a good idea, but the latter might not be, since the best effects of this cuisine are not cumulative. Cohen is putting so much on each platter that her best weapon — obscure varieties of vegetables, herbs, and greens — can be dulled by overuse. Her real goal is to make this a diet for life, so I think in the long run her efforts are better aimed at cold soups and salads rather than faux Italian or Thai food. It will be interesting to see what she serves on a planned brunch menu.

One meal is not a diet for life, so I didn’t expect to feel more energized and lucid, nor did my aches and pains melt away. I was, in fact, on the way to a Celtics game, and considered balancing my Grezzo meal with a kosher hot dog. But I didn’t really need it, and didn’t have it.Robert Nadeau can be reached at RobtNadeau@aol.com .

Reference: http://thephoenix.com/printerfriendlyB.aspx?id=58334

Raw Network of Washington

abratt — Tue, 18 Mar 2008 23:33:51 +0000

A wonderful resource for information and events in the Washington area.

http://rawwashington.org/

Seattle has been a little slow in the makings when it comes to Raw Vegan Food. However, as is common with anything in this city… given a little pep talk it usually comes around.

Be sure to check out Chaco Canyon when your in town. Not too Shabby.

Karyn’s Restuarant

abratt — Fri, 28 Dec 2007 02:03:48 +0000

Cafe & Market

Raw Vegan GourmetWelcome to Karyn’s Fresh Corner Cafe, Raw Vegan Gourmet Restaurant & Karyn’s Cooked – Conscious Comfort Foods

Being a vegan for over 25 years and a proponent of Living Foods, I’ve learned that good nutrition is good eating, good digesting, and absorbing the nutrients your body needs. However, most people eat food that has been cooked and then warmed up. This process depletes the enzyme activity in food and prevents the optimum digestion and absorption of nutrients.I’ve often said, I could have never eaten this way for so many years just eating steamed rice, boiled vegetables, plain lettuce, and tomatoes. I need flavors, textures, and color which all aid in digestion of food. What I hope to bring you is my love of the exotic blend of fruits, grains, vegetables, and sprouts that our natural world has to offer. Remember that the most magnificent gift of any of us will ever be given is our own body. At Karyn’s, we are committed to using only whole fresh foods (organic) whenever possible. We create fresh delicious and high quality meals that are high in fiber and low in fat. In addition, we have a variety of vegan hot dishes. We serve a wide selection of gourmet living foods that are high in protein and contain no cholesterol. We do not use dairy products, eggs, refined sugar, salt, or artificial flavors.

For over 20 years I have been teaching and counseling individuals and running workshops showing people the practical, holistic ways to improve their lives, conveying the importance of food choices and how to prepare these tasty nutritious foods for themselves at home.

I believe we should prepare our foods to nurture and sustain our bodies. In our busy, stress filled lives, we aren’t always able to give priority to ourselves. Consistency is the key to making healthy lifestyle changes. Let us help you maintain that consistency with our Living Food Menu and delicious cooked foods.

If you would like to learn how to prepare healthy foods or, perhaps, need a little inspiration to go further in your personal health journey, classes and workshops are given periodically throughout the year.

Here’s to your health and happiness!
Karyn

Store Hours & Locations

Karyn’s Fresh Corner Cafe
Open daily: 9am to 10 pm
Located at: 1901 North Halsted Street, Chicago, Illinois 60614
Phone: 312.255.1590
Fax: 312.255.1592

Karyn’s Raw Vegan Gourmet Restaurant
Open daily: Lunch from 11am to 3:00 pm & Dinner from 5:30 pm to 10pm, Sunday Brunch from 11:30 am to 3:30 pm
Located at: 1901 North Halsted Street, Chicago, Illinois 60614
Phone: 312.255.1590
Fax: 312.255.1592
B.Y.O.B.

New restaurant gets creative with raw food

abratt — Mon, 03 Dec 2007 12:15:10 +0000

By Samantha Nelson, snelson@mysuburbanlife.com
Downers Grove Reporter
Tue Dec 04, 2007, 12:12 PM CST

After three days without eating any cooked food, Kathy and Danny Living said they felt great.The Naperville couple continued their special diet for another day, then a week. By the end of 30 days, they decided never to go back, and became dedicated to the raw lifestyle, eating nothing that has been cooked above 115 degrees and going without processed foods like sugar, wheat or rice.Since their lifestyle change, the Livings have been coming up with new ways to prepare old recipes, many of which will be available to try at their new restaurant, Borrowed Earth Cafe, which opens in Downers Grove Wednesday.“Man originally didn’t cook food,” Danny Living said. “When food is cooked beyond 115 degrees, a lot of the nutrients are cooked out. Like olive oil in its original state is very healthy for the body, but when it’s cooked, the body doesn’t receive it as well and it gets stored as fat.”Work began in October on the Station Crossing spot formerly occupied by Let’s Go Bistro, 970 Warren Ave. Danny Living said the couple has been receiving calls, e-mails and drop-ins almost daily with people inquiring about the restaurant. A poster on one window with pictures of celebrities eating raw food also has been stopping passersbys trying to guess what they have in common.Borrowed Earth is one of three raw restaurants in the state of Illinois, said Danny Living. The couple decided they wanted a restaurant closer to home since the other two are both located in Chicago. The Livings already attracted a following through an Internet group for raw food, hosting dinners at their home that attracted increasingly large numbers, with their most recent meal bringing in more than 40 people.Once they decided to go raw, Kathy Living said she checked out every book she could find on the subject from the library. The couple already were vegans — not eating any meat, eggs or milk — and Kathy Living wanted to see how they could “un-cook” their favorite recipes.Instead of hot chocolate with milk, the restaurant serves melted cocoa with bananas and a hint of cayenne pepper. Indian curry vegetables are served wrapped in a collard green leaf. The couple hopes to win converts with good taste who might not ever think of eating raw or vegan on their own. They also plan on trying to spread the word with discussions and cooking classes in Downers Grove and other suburbs.“Basically everything in the cooked world you can make in the raw world,” Kathy Living said. “You just realize that nothing really needs to be cooked.”

Chaco Canyon

abratt — Sat, 24 Nov 2007 10:25:50 +0000

Chaco Canyon Organic Café is a vibrant, ecologically- sound slice of heaven in Seattle’s University District. We are approximately 80-90% organic from top to bottom – proudly one of the few cafés in the nation that can make this claim.

Set in a warm Southwestern décor, our mission is to provide delicious organic sustenance for a wide variety of needs and individual tastes. We have three distinct facets to help accomplish this mission:

Raw and Vegan Food
The first and, currently, only café in the Seattle area that features a daily Raw Foods menu. Composed of fresh organic produce, organic nuts, seeds, spices and oils, our menu changes often and with the seasons. It is approachable for the curious neophyte, delicious for the experienced Raw Foodist, and perfect for someone looking for a unique vegan meal. We also have amazing vegan sandwiches, several daily hot vegan soups, rice and quinoa bowls, and a daily selection of vegan and wheat/gluten free baked goods.

Living Juice, Wheatgrass and Smoothies
Always 90% organic or more and never pasteurized, our juices are prepared and juiced to order. Different from the ubiquitous corporate juice and smoothie chain, we offer beautiful 100% juice drinks without unhealthy, sugary fillers and supplements of dubious nutritional value. Nutrients and vitamins in fresh produce are much more readily absorbed by the body than pills or supplements. As the old adage goes “make your juicer your drugstore”.

Espresso and Tea Done Right
Our coffee is Fair Trade, organic and shade grown from the Sol Colibri family farm in Costa Rica. Our espresso is also shade-grown and organic, freshly roasted every week by Lighthouse Coffee of Phinney Ridge. Our loose-leaf tea is organic and fashioned by local roaster Kalani. Our milk is certified organic from Organic Valley, a co-op of family run organic farms.

Additionally, we recycle and compost more than 90% of our total waste and don’t offer plastic utensils. Wireless internet is available and free. Thank you for choosing to support a small business that has chosen to support our world.

“Never doubt that a small group of thoughtful, committed citizens can change the world. Indeed, it is the only thing that ever has.” -Margaret Mead