Cru - "In the Raw Trio"

So ends my Raw Cuisine journey! Having never really experienced raw food before, I decided to make more of an effort to check it out. I first visited Leaf Cuisine, which I actually thought was fairly good, so I definitely had good expectations going into Juliano's Raw. Unfortunately, I was really disappointed. My third attempt at Raw Cuisine was at Cru, which didn't reach the level of disappointment I felt at Juliano's, but didn't knock my socks off either.

While I liked the serene intimate setting and the quiet ambiance of the restaurant space, the evening already started off with a sour note because it took so long for our waitress to take our order and just in general, the service was just really slow the whole evening.

Our group started off with sharing an appetizer, which was a herbed cashew cheese and fig plate with flax crackers and olive bread. I actually liked the cashew cheese and fig mixture. It had sweet-salty flavors that were appealing; however, the flax crackers were chewy as opposed to light and crisp. The olive bread was too rich and to tell you the truth, I didn't taste enough "olive" in the bread itself.

Before my entree, I also ordered their Winter Citrus & Avocado Salad. It was a pretty good salad. The slight bitterness of the greens balanced well with the sweetness of the citrus and the slight tartness of the lemon poppyseed dressing. I also appreciated that the salad wasn't over-dressed. There was just the right amount of dressing.

Finally, my entree, the Bento Box arrived, which had sesame bok choy, cucumbers, mushrooms in a spicy chili sauce, two spring rolls, rutabaga noodles, cilantro, sprouts & lime. The vegetables were very fresh, which was a good thing; however, the spicy chili sauce had a weird flavor. I couldn't identify what that flavor was. I just knew that I didn't like it. The spring rolls which were wrapped in thinly sliced daikon radish didn't work for me either because the daikon radish had a slight bitter after taste to it that was off putting. Overall, the Bento Box was nothing special, but as mentioned, at least the vegetables were fresh.

After having tried 3 different Raw Cuisine restaurants this year, I can safely say that I'm a cooked food kind of girl. There's just something about food, veggie and/or meat, when it is sauteed, fried, grilled, steamed, etc., that really brings out its wonderful flavors that I just don't get from Raw Food. I'm glad I gave it a chance, but I don't envision dining at any other Raw Cuisine restaurants anytime soon.

To see pics, go to:
http://www.flickr.com/photos/la_addict/sets/72157600316311975/

Cru
1521 Griffith Park Blvd
Los Angeles, CA 90026
(323) 667-1551