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

Juliano's Raw - "In the Raw Trio"

My second foray into trying out Raw Cuisine was at Juliano's Raw and I have to say that while the restaurant setting was pretty, the food was just not that impressive to me.

I think the only thing I really liked was their chocolate milkshake that consisted of sapote / cherimoya carob w/ cocoa, fresh Vanilla bean, honey & macadamia milk. It was thick, creamy and yummy. The one thing was annoying though was when I asked for a straw, I got a somewhat snide remark from the waitress saying that they prefer that we use spoons since the paper from the straw is so wasteful. Please. A shake and a spoon just did not work for me, so I got the straw anyway.

Instead of getting an entree, I settled for two appetizers, a "sushi plate" and dessert. My first appetizer was the zucchini fries. I ordered it because I wanted to see if they can get that "crisp" factor usually associated with fries. They didn't. The zucchini was cut in short strips and were dehydrated. They were more chewy than crispy. It's just not the same. Now batter-coated and deep-fried zucchini fries would have been more my preference but we are eating in a "raw" restaurant after all.

The appetizer I had was their spring rolls. Unfortunately, I don't remember what the ingredients were. I just remembered that I didn't like the dish that much. It was too hard to bite the spring roll without the somewhat squishy filling coming out of the wrapper. Quite a messy dish.

My sushi was called "Mighty Aphrodite" and it had pumpkin and other fillings. I apologize for my vagueness the ingredients on some of these items. Usually, I'll take pictures of the menu and/or write down what I ordered, so that I can better review what I'm eating, but it wasn't possible that time.

Anyway, the "sushi rolls" I ordered came in a bowl, which I thought was odd and with it was a red cabbage salad and also some other veggies (broccoli and greens) which I think were dehydrated. Weird. Why would they do that?

For dessert, I had their chocolate parfait which was kind of like a pudding, but I found this dessert a little bitter and not as sweet as I would have liked.

Overall, Juliano's Raw was quite the disappointment and I don't plan on returning anytime soon.
Juliano's Raw
609 Broadway
Santa Monica, CA 90401
(310) 587-1552

Leaf Cuisine - "In the Raw Trio"

Every time I tell people who don't live in LA about "Raw Cuisine", I usually get the "Only in California (or LA)" comment. For those of you who don't know specifically what "Raw Cuisine" is, please read on.

A raw food diet consists fully of foods which have not been heated above a certain temperature. The maximum temperature varies among the different forms of the diet, from 92ºF to 118ºF. Raw food diets may include raw fruits, raw vegetables, raw nuts, raw seeds, raw unpasteurized dairy products such as raw milk, raw meat, raw eggs, and raw honey. Those who follow a raw food diet typically believe that the greater the percentage of raw food in the diet, the greater the health benefits.

Having never experienced "Raw Dining", I thought that it was time to check out some restaurants that specialize in that kind of non-cooking. :) My first experience happened last month at Leaf Cuisine in Culver City.

Standing outside the grass-green painted building that housed Leaf Cuisine already made me feel like I was around a more "natural environment." When you walk in, you can see that the restaurant interior boasts of the earth's colors: green, brown, orange. There was just something very soothing about the restaurant space and the laidback vibe, along with the counter person with his orange bandana seemed fitting for what Leaf Cuisine is supposed to be about.

My meal started off with trying a mock salmon nori roll. The salmon was like a creamy pate and in this case was made up of avocado, carrots and sprouts. The roll did have a "salmon" taste to it, but just a taste. I actually think that the carrots lent itself to the sweetness of salmon meat, which is why you "taste" the idea of that salmon without eating the actual salmon. I actually enjoyed these rolls and would order it again if I had a chance.

Following the salmon nori roll, I had the raw slaw which is made up of cabbage, carrots, herbs & a creamy seed cheese dressing. In retrospect, there wasn't anything that unique about this salad. Coleslaw consists of raw veggies anyway. The veggies were great. I really like the crunchiness of this salad; however, the dressing had a vinegary taste and after taste to it that I disliked a lot, so I barely even made a dent in it.

For my main entree, I had the Veggie Sunburger Wrap. First off, I really liked the kale leaf wrapper. The leaf was dense, hearty and had a nice bite to it. The sunburger itself needed a bit more work. According to the menu, the "meat" of this burger should be crispy on the outside due to it having been dehydrated. That crispness was lacking. Now if it had been fried.....but of course, that wouldn't happen at Leaf. As for the flavor, I liked the nuttiness of the veggie burger, but felt like it needed something to crank it up a notch. Not sure what. Just something more.

Dessert was the Oraweo Pudding. Yummy! Now this was a good pudding. The menu mentioned this pudding as being a gooey mess of coconut cream, cacao nibs and chocolate and they weren't kidding, but it was a gooey mess that really took care of my sweet tooth without drowning it.

In general, my foray into "Raw Cusine" wasn't a resounding sucesss, but it wasn't an abject failure either. Generally, it was hit or miss for me at Leaf Cuisine but it may be a homerun somewhere else, so time to check out some more "Raw" restaurants.

To see pics, go to:
http://www.flickr.com/photos/la_addict/sets/72157594494869999/

Leaf Cuisine
11938 West Washington Blvd.
Culver City, CA, 90066
310-390-6005
http://www.leafcuisine.com/