Rebecca's Remedy

I had the pleasure of taking a trip to NYC recently and one of the things on the top of my NYC-to-do-list was go to Pure Food and Wine.   I first heard about this restaurant probably five years ago from my dear friend Deb (Dee’s Mamma), who was raving about it!  She would travel to NYC to visit Danielle and would come back and rave about all the amazing restaurants, boutiques, trends and the busy city life.  At the time I had a really hard time grasping the concept of raw food.  I remember saying, “What do you mean they don’t cook anything?!?  How could that be?”  Well here I am, five years later, enlightened and blogging about the amazing benefits and tasty raw food recipes that I have experimenting with.

Waiting to go here all day felt like I was a little kid waiting to open my presents on Christmas morning.  I have never been so excited to go to a restaurant before…. It was so enthralling!  When our lovely server came over to greet us, I immediately started telling her how excited I was to be there, that I love Samra’s books, blog, been waiting to go there for years, etc…   She then took me on a full tour of the restaurant and showed me where all the magic happens.   I could have just stayed in that kitchen all night long, observing, studying and taking notes of the masters of raw food at work.

But of course, I came hungry and couldn’t wait to indulge in some delicious food and drinks… I wanted to order EVERYTHING on the menu! I absolutely love when I can go to a restaurant and could order anything on the menu; usually as a veggie I only have a few options.  With the help of our server, we decided on the following:

Hazelnut Crostinis with Crimini Mushrooms and Caper Bearnaise: caraway sauerkraut, local apple cider reduction

Niwa Maki of Avocado, Enoki Mushrooms, Pickled Heirloom Baby Carrots: asparagus, mango, scallions, spicy aioli

Three Pizzettes in the Style of Southern Italy with Almond and Rosemary Crust:- spinach pesto with arugula, pizza margherita, crimini and kalamata, black garlic

Zucchini, Local Roma and Heirloom Tomato Lasagna:

basil pistachio pesto, sun-dried tomato marinara, macadamia pumpkin seed ricotta

Some sort of sorbet for dessert…. It was delicious!

Oh, I almost forgot to mention… they have sake on tap here!  So we of course drank some warm sake and I also ordered a sake mojito

One of my favorite things about this experience was that I brought a friend  with me who is so unfamiliar with raw vegan food, and even more vegetarian food.  I get such gratification when someone who is so apprehensive to try raw vegan food actually finds it tasty and filling after the meal.  New York has plenty more of raw vegan restaurants that I plan to visit on my next trip there.

Do your body a favor and try something raw today!

~ Rebecca