We Like It Raw - Raw Food Goodness

The Bay Area & Chicago like it Raw!

The We Like It Raw team is proud to announce that we've added two new listings to Give It To Me Raw (GITMR).

• Give It to Me Raw Chicago and
• Give It To Me Raw Bay Area

Give It To Me Raw is a phat listing of raw and raw friendly spots integrated into an easy-to-navigate map. Chicago and the Bay Area will now joining two other GITMR cites: New York City and Los Angeles.

And we're not stopping their! Next areas include London, Pennsylvania, Mumbai and Texas. Within a month or two, we'll have pretty much listed every single raw and raw friendly spot on the planet.

We'll also be adding features like listing photos, videos, and, eventually, user ratings. So stay tuned and feel free to drop us some feedback!

Related

• WLIR Announces Give It To Me Raw

SF's Small Wonder: Jucy Lucy's

Juicy Lucy's, San Francisco's all organic juice bar and cafe, is one of the Bay Area's best juice bar. Many locals have been familiar with the cafe and owner Lisa Bach (shown above) for close to a decade now, but the WLIR squad has only recently become familiar with this small wonder. Although they are better known for their juices and healing elixirs, Juicy Lucy's also servers vegan and raw vegan dishes as well.

While Juicy Lucy's does have a warm atmosphere, a slow food preparation style, and a very knowledgeable staff, one common challenge that newbies have is that all the juices and smoothies are served a room temperature. We here at WLIR tend to prefer our juice cold, but as one reviewer said:

"Smoothies, just like wine and everything else, are more flavorful at room temperature than they are cold. This is why Germans often drink their beer warm. Sometimes tradition can get in the way of progressing your pallette. Get over it."

So if you can get over it, know that Juicy Lucy's comes highly recommended from the boys that love to give it to you raw.

Juicy Lucy's (map)
703 Columbus Ave
San Francisco, CA
Phone: 415-786-1285
Hours: Varied throughout the year, please call

RAWvolution Reader Review

Mamta Jain, our good friend and fellow globe trotter, sends us her reader review of Matt Amsden's RAWvolution book signing and food tasting hosted at Santa Monica's Euphoria Loves RAWvolution.

Note: When reading emails like this you just can't help but to smile. Welcome to the world of raw food baby!

Hey Dhrumil,

Thanks for last week's posting on WLIR re: Matt Amsden's new book and "open house" event on Saturday. I took my boyfriend (a raw virgin) and we had an absolutely savory meal. Thought you'd want to hear about our experience.

We started with the bok choy salad, a very crunchy and fresh salad. We also had the no-bean hummus --- Suman (my BF) la-la-la-la-loved the hummus and could not get over the fact that it was bean-free and 100% natural. We also tried two entrees -- the "Big Matt with Cheese" -- a non-traditional quarter-pounder slathered with cheese, ketchup, mustard, lettuce, tomato, and onion in between 2 slices of onion bread. This really hit the spot. It was filling but not too heavy, very tasty and filled with yummy greens. Suman loved it so much he decided to try the "Sloppy Joe" -- a nut and veggie pate in a rich, sun-dried tomato marinara, layered over crisp lettuce and served between two pieces of onion bread. We enjoyed it, but it wasn't as tasty as the rest of the meal. I've never left a raw joint without trying desserts and since Saturday was such a beautiful day on Venice Beach, Suman and I splurged on three after-meal specials -- chocolate chip cookie dough, apple raisin cookie, and coconut walnut fudge. By far, my favorite was the cookie dough. It wasn't too sweet, and the texture did me in. It melted right on my tongue leaving just a little crunchy cacao to chew. Second place was the apple raisin cookie.

We also picked up a copy of Matt's book. It's a beautiful publication -- the pictures make you want to eat everything right off the pages! More importantly, though, it's filled with a variety of recipes for every part of food preparation including breakfast, lunch, dinner, salads, appetizers, dressings and sauces, desserts, juices, and smoothies. It's very user friendly too -- each recipe is assigned a number (1-3) that correlates with the ease of preparation. Most were either a 1 or 2. I asked Matt how many recipes require a dehydrator (which I don't own), he estimated between 10-15%.

Not only was the food amazing, the people who work their are extremely friendly. Kam is my new Punjabi friend who eats about 80% raw, he made excellent recommendations. Amita, a Hungarian woman who has been raw for 17 years (and has also been to Vipassana), told me about some of the key ingredients in many of Matt's recipes (Nama Shoyu, a non-pasteurized soy sauce that shows up in a lot of recipes). The location is amazing -- it's a very funky, hipster area of Santa Monica just one block east of the Pacific Ocean, which you have a decent view of from the restaurant windows.

Granted I don't have the most critical taste pallet, but we had a great experience at Euphoria and Suman is officially a believer :).

MJ

Related

• Mamta's Review of Karma Cuisine - Boulder, CO
  

Cali Raw Food Love

SF Weekly profiles Alive, San Fran's raw food hot spot famous for its deserts

Raw food restaurants usually get a bad rap for serving food that's artful but less than filling. An exception is Alive!

LAist highlights Leaf, Culver City's Organic Oasis famous for its smoothies

No matter which location you pick, Leaf is going to offer you just what it's eponymous name refers to: leaves, rather... leafy greens.

An urban Pa~Raw~Dise in San Fran

Bryan Au, raw food author and chef, has recently crossed off one important goal off of his list: Open one of the world's most eco, green and health conscious restaurants. Located just outside Union Square, Pa~Raw~Dise is just that and more. The restaurant features some of Bryan's famous Raw In Ten dishes as well as new dishes from Bryan's most recent experiments in the kitchen.

The WLIR squad has not been yet, but according to our good friend and raw food dabbler, Lisa Mehta, the Pa~Raw~Dise experience is quite amazing.

Pa~Raw~Dise | map
587 Post Street
San Francisco, CA
(415) 346-8935

But wait, Bryan isn't stopping with just this successful restaurant, here's a little sneak peak, from Bryan, about more to come:

My PA~RAW~DISE 100% Raw Organic Cuisine Restaurant also finally opened on Union Square in San Francisco. I also want to open PA~RAW~DISE all around the World, would LOVE to open one in NYC. There are some SoHo locations that are available and Union Square as well, I was in NYC a few weeks ago scouting and meeting people.

Also my new DVD video is finally out, there is a sample of it on YouTube. It looks really cool and I will have a longer version of it in a few weeks, it also serves as my PBS TV Show Series and will be on many other TV shows too!

We wish Bryan all the best and will be sure to keep readers updated on his progress.

Related

• Bryan Au's Raw In Ten
• Bryan Au's Paw~Raw~Dise projects
• WLIR: Heard It Through The [Organic] Grapevine

I can't believe I spent $41.33 at Blue Green Cafe

One would think that if you were a co-founder of the most amazing raw food restaurant, in the world (literally), that your other ventures would live up to that standard. Sadly, this is so far from the truth with Matthew Kenny’s Blue Green Organic Juice Café.

We at WLIR are probably one of the biggest fans of Pure Food and Wine & Pure Food and Juice. There isn’t one week that goes by when we’re not eating there. We simply love the food, atmosphere, and good conversation with the people who either work there or come to the restaurant for the same reasons we do. Naturally, I was curious, if Pure Food and Wine turned out so well how Matthew’s other spots would be, specifically Blue Gree Café. This past Saturday I sought to find out.

As my cousin and I walked into the 74th St location, we were immediately taken over by a funky, almost disgusting, smell. As we proceed inside, there was still half empty plates with trash left from previous customers (no big deal, it happens). I approached the counter and requested the employee for the best things on the menu. She recommended the Portobella Fajitas and Black Forest Pudding. To drink I asked for a simple Green Juice. I also took home two of the packaged snacks, one bar and one granola.

Firstly, except for their juices, all of their raw foods are dropped off in the morning and presented in the glass container so by the time we got there (about 3pm) the Portobella Fajitas were soggy. And I guess they knew this would happen so you manually have to put the ingredients inside and make your own concoction - the taste was semi-good. Next I tried Pudding, and I actually really enjoyed it. The green juice had a different taste to it, but when I asked if the produce was organic, the employee said it was, (a friend told me it might not be). As for the bar and granola, neither of them were really enjoyable.      

As for the atmosphere, in the 25 minutes we were there, only one person had come in. A few tiny insects accompanied us though.

When comparing Blue Green Organic Juice Café with Pure Food and Juice, it plain out sucks. Not to say, if you compare it with some other raw restaurant, it might actually be tasty.

Yo, I know we're all raw and what not, but its time to turn up the heat in the name of improvement. Still... loads of respect to anyone who has the courage to do their own thing and keep it raw.

Nothing but love,
Vinit

Related

• Into the fire - Matthew Kenney's Time Out Profile
• Organic Umbrella & Kenney's New Clubhouse

Toronto's Live Organic Food Bar Reviewed

What's up raw homies, Vinit here. This past week I took my first long distance trip while being totally raw. Despite some suggestions on what to bring, I arrived in Toronto completely unprepared.

Luckily, I had researched and found Toronto is home to one raw food restaurant named LIVE (map). The first day I reached I decided I must check this raw restaurant, to (1) satisfy my curiosity on how the food is and (2) to hopefully bring back some food that would last me till the evening or even the next day. 

Driving from the suburbs into downtown Toronto, I came across a street that reminded me of the lower east side of New York (the Village). As I walked inside I was welcomed with a warm smile by one of the employees and directed to the Juice Bar area. Because I was there mid-day and they were not so busy, I discovered that not only was I able to experience some extremely tasty raw food, but also enjoy good conversations with the owner Jen and some of the other employees.

To my surprise, they change their menu every 2 weeks! My favorites (which may or may not be there when you go) include:

1. Pizza Napolitano
2. Taco Supreme
3. Thai 'Stir-Fry'
4. Chocolate Cake dessert (unfortunately I was so full from everything else, I couldn't finish it- see picture above!)

The food turned out to be so good that I didn’t even think about ordering some take out for later, but I did pick up one of their dry packed goods, a chocolate, raisin, cinnamon granola. That, surprisingly, lasted me till the next day.

Overall, the atmosphere is extremely pleasant. They have nice seating for a date or business meeting, or, if you're like me, both at the same time. If its nice out, I highly recommend the outside patio or if you just want to grab a beverage and snack, you can enjoy good food and conversation with the lovely ladies of the juice bar.

Special thanks to owner Jennifer Italiano (above left).

Live Organic Food Bar | map
264 Dupont At Spadina
Toronto, Ontario, CA
(416) 515-2002

Related

• Live Organic Food Bar - Toronto Raw Presence
• Vinit's Raw Food Round II Testimonial

Whole Foods Austin & their Live Food Bar

The We Like It Raw Squad is in Austin today and in between some business meetings we had an opportunity to check out the Whole Food's flagship store and their Live Food Bar. I have to say we were extremely excited by the setup and the variety in the menu. The raw food section is combined with a juice bar where fresh juices, prepared foods items and packaged food are all served together.

However, the actual food itself was average to bellow average, (comparing it to the world of raw food cuisine). Seriously... they need to hire Sarma as a consultant or something. With Whole Food's retail expertise and Sarma's cuisine expertise .... man, the possibilities are endless!

It wasn't all so-so though, here are a list our favorites:

• Raw Tostada
• Super Green Juice: Kale, Spinach, Cucumber, Celery, Lemon and Spirulina
• Raw Mock Sour Cream & Chive Dip
• Raw Marinated Vegetable Salad
• Live Almond Milk

Photos coming soon!

Rawvolution on Daily Candy

Euphoria Loves Rawvolution, 2301 Main Street in Santa Monica, got a nice plug in today's Daily Candy L.A.

Raw Deal

The stove is your friend. As are the grill, the griddle, wok, and the Fry Daddy (which may even be your number one).

But sometimes, for whatever reason, the pilot light goes out. The charcoal won’t smolder. Someone can’t stand the heat and gets out of the kitchen.

In the event of any of the above, Rawvolution, the newly opened raw food cafe, will be there for you. All their tasty dishes — like tapenade-stuffed shiitakes, mock “chicken”sandwich, and Greek pizza — are enzyme-rich and animal product-free. The lunch special (one entree and two sides) will set you back only $13, and dinner (one entree and three sides) is just two dollars more.

Keep reading at DailyCandy.com

Photos from the Muse

Two months ago the WLIR squad was in California. During that time period we ate at most of the Bay Area raw food hot spots, but we forgot to take photos! So on our last visit, earlier this month, we decided to retrace our steps with a camera in hand.

Here are our photos from a trip to Berkeley's famous Cafe Muse.

If you start drooling over the lasagna photo, like we did, have no fear....the recipe is here.

Related

• Cafe Muse: Berkeley's Dining Revolution
• Cafe Muse Home Page