Roxanne's

[jschyun]

I just read about this and I'm ready to head on over there unless someone says it's really bad.

SFGate article about Roxanne's To Go

[JAZ]

I just read about this and I'm ready to head on over there unless someone says it's really bad.

SFGate article about Roxanne's To Go

Why?

[Beachfan]

Great tip! I'm there.

I love the restaruant, the deli sounds cool.

[Stone]

Putting aside the obvious hesitations you may have for going to Roxannes, is the fact that we're well into autumn a concern?

I'm planning on hitting Roxanne's in the next three weeks, but I wonder if a restaurant so reliant on fresh fruit and veggies (I know there's a whole lot else) can keep up high standards out of season.

[mixmaster b]

Robert-

Thanks for your post. I enjoyed Roxanne's very much and would gladly go again.

(Stone, I went in summer, so it is hard for me to predict how she deals with seasonal challenges. The perfect tomatoes, baby herbs, and greens did add a lot to the meal, but the more interesting components, like the nut cheeses, would actually be very nice in cooler months because of the richness.)

[Elissa]

Went to Guliano's in Santa Monica last night and thought it much better than Roxanne's.

[mixmaster b]

Elissa-

Not familiar with Gulianos. Can you provide a bit more detail?

Thanks!

[jschyun]

It's Juliano's and it's in L.A. Demi Moore is a regular, supposedly.

Juliano's

[marlena spieler]

Isn't Juliano the OTHER raw food "enthusiast"?

you know, raw chef to the stars, eat this and live forever. has a book and a following?

or is it another Juliano?

and what did you eat?

m

[mixmaster b]

Thanks for the link.

I doesn't look bad-- and MUCH cheaper than Roxanne's. Is the food similar? (I mean taste, texture, technique--I know it's raw!)

Hopefully Elissa will give us more of a review.

[Stone]

I had an amazing meal at Roxanne's last night. Roxanne's is a vegan "raw" food restaurant (with one slight exception discussed below). No animal products are used at all, including eggs and dairy. The food is only warmed, not above 118 degrees. The website explains the theory behind the raw food movement. But make no mistake, the restaurant is not about an ideology. It's about fine dining.

There are no signs in the restaurant urging you to support PETA, save the whales, boycott supermarkets or stop eating veal. The waiters do not preach the health benefits of raw food, nor do they take a superior tone regarding their vegan fare. In fact, our waitress cheerfully explained that her dinner the night before consisted of meat. Roxanne's is about great food served in a beautiful room by excellent staff.

Like any well-balanced person, I first scoffed at the idea of raw food. At first I was trying to pick dishes that would demonstrate wizardry. "You think you can pull a fast one on me? Try it. But I know meat when I taste it." But Roxanne's is not a gimmick. This is not about chemistry or even alchemy. They're not trying to fashion meat substitutes, passing off tempeh or wheat gluten or tofu as chicken or beef. (Although Zen Palate in NY does a very good job at that.) They're serving excellent food with a limited range of ingredients. Don't expect to taste something and think, "hey, that passes as chicken or shrimp or beef." Just expect to think, "hey, that's damn good."

Our reservations were for 7:30 and the restaurant was pretty empty all night. My companion is "in the business" and knows Roxanne's sommelier quite well, so we got some extras with our meal that were much appreciated. I highly recommend that you all go out and find someone "in the business" and start kissing ass. It's not that you'll be treated much better. You just get more food. For free.

We started with a half bottle of Veuve Cliquot, 1995 Vintage. I'm not a champagne fan, but this was outstanding. The champagne was very soft on the tongue, with the tiniest of bubbles. The finish reminded me of a hint of milk chocolate. Very nice.

Roxanne's drink menu offers "herbal potions designed to enhance your mood" (perhaps the only real silly aspect of the experience) along with other drinks and juices. I orderd the Almond Nog:

It was very, very good. It looks like frothed whole milk with a sprinkle of nutmeg on top. Of course, there's no milk at Roxanne's. The drink is almond milk -- almonds soaked in water, blended, and strained. It has a touch of honey and maple added to round out the flavor and some nutmeg. The taste is cool, refreshing and delicious. Nutty, of course, but no so much that you would otherwise know it was made from almonds. I would have thought it was whole milke flavored with juggary or brown sugar. Sweet, but not from sugar (they don't use refined sugar either). Really a great start to the meal.

Roxanne's offered a multi-course chef's tasting menu. The menu was very new, featuring Indian inspired cuisines. The cost was $100 per person and the entire table had to order it. Neither of us were ready to spend that kind of money. And the dishes, which included masala dosa and the mediterranean plate of hummus, dolma, etc., didn't seem very exciting. My thought at the time was "I'm not going to spend $100 bucks for them to recreate nuts and vegetables into a $4 side dish." Looking back, I have a feeling there's a whole lot more to the tasting menu than meets the eye. I'd encourage those with the cash to try it.

The menu is otherwise separated into appetizers, soups, salads, and entrees. You can choose and entree and 2 starters ($44) or an entree and 3 starters ($52). We decided to share everything (which always works in my favor as my mouth is larger than most peoples'), and ordered two entrees and 5 starters. The celebrity bonus got us a few more tastes.

Next we received an amuse of grape granita with drop of 100 year old balsamic:

This was delicious. Cool and fresh with a strong fruit flavor wonderfully balanced with the tangy sweetness of the balsamic.

I received the Sea vegetable salad with kaisou, pineapple yuzu and hijiki vinaigrette:

These were relatively straightforward preparations of seaweed salad. Four very good, very fresh portions. Each highlighted a different aspect -- salty, briny, citrusy and salty. A very good dish. And it was at this point that I realized that in many instances, the raw/vegan concept was at all intrusive. Spices, herbs, shavings and most flavorings easily fit within that limitation. This dish could easily have been served in a "normal" restaurant without hesitation.

At the same time we received the cucumber wrapped summer rolls:

Again, this was a fairly recognizable summer, but the rice paper wrapper was replaced by shaved sheets of cucumber. The waitress explained that they have a machine called a "sheeter" (I think that's what she called it), that works like a cross between a long carrot peeler and an apple peeler. The blade rests lengthwise against the cuke (or carrot, etc.) and when turned produces long sheets of cucumber.

Although this was a beautiful presentation, I thought it lacked oomph. The vegies were fresh and tasty, and I don't think the lack of rice paper lost anything at all. The dipping sauces were familiar, but again, needed more zip.

A note about service. Our server was one of the best I've ever had. Not only was she friendly and helpful with the menu, her knowledge of the food rivaled that at French Laundry. She was able to explain for each preparation how the special vegan items (such as the cashew cheese) were made. A pleasure.

Next was the salad course:

Red butter lettuce with cherry tomatoes, avocado, crushed mint and garlic

And grapefruit sabayon with avacado and pomegranite seeds:

The salad was very good, although again lacking special oomph. A large portion of fresh lettuce with a creamy tangy dressing. I thought the grapefruit was a delicious pairing of the sweet acid from the citrus and the cool creaminess of the avacado. The pomegranite seeds added a terrific underlying tang and tartness to the whole dish.

Nothing yet was hot. And nothing needed to be.

The house sent over a sample of something off their new Indian menu. Masala dosa with a pressed spinish kofta.

As you can see, the dosa was more of a cornet than what I typically expect from a dosa. It was filled with a luscious almond cream. The spinich kofta was cooked pressed spinish that managed to take on a firm, cakey consistency. I wish I had the ability to describe the flavors better. They were each outstanding. Shockingly different from what I expected them to taste like, each with a complex blend of subtle Indian spices. The creme in the dosa was as refreshing as creme fraiche and the added amazement that this product could be produced without dairy was only bonus. Again, this isn't gimmickry. The dish was superb on it's own. No added points for wizardry. The spinich kofta had another wonderful blend of the earthy spinich leaves and indian spices. It was topped with baby coriander sprouts -- something I've never seen before and that appeared a few times. You know how when you plant an herb (or any plant perhaps), the first sprout opens up two, basic long flat leaves regardless of the plant? The next leaves carry the characteristics of the herb? Well, these coriander sprouts contained the two initial leaves and one following leaf that was recognizable as coriander. The sprout was bursting with coriander flavor, much spicier than any I'd had before.

The soups:

Coconut green curry soup with avocado, cherry tomatoes red chili and green curry oils:

And carrot soup with indian spices. (Sorry, I can't remember the full name):

The coconut curry is a house speciality. It was also the weaker of the two, but only because the carrot soup is one of the most delicious things I've ever had in my life.

The cocunut curry was a mild, flavorful curry, softened by pureed avacado. It had a full range of flavors and carried great aromatics in the broth with fresh herbs and little dots of flavored oils. Again, for my preference it would have had more chili heat, but perhaps that's a conscious choice of the restaurant.

I'm at a loss to describe the carrot soup. My only criticism was that there wasn't enough of it. And I'm not just saying that because it was so good. It was a small portion.

The pureed carrots were sweet and savory. I wasn't excited about carrot soup because I expected it to taste like carrot juice -- kind of a smack in the face with a big orange vegetable. But this was as full and tasty as sqaush or pumpking soup. Somehow they were able to infuse it with wonderful aroma of citrusy coriander seed and smokey mustard seed. Ordinarily, this would be done, of course, by roasting the seeds or heating them in oil to be added to the soup. But there was no heating here. Yet the aroma was as complex and wonderful as I could imagine. Flavored oils, coriander shoots and some cream-like streaks added to create an amazing dish.

And it wasn't hot. But you know what, I didn't even notice that. It was warm. And, frankly, at most of the fine dining I've had recently, the food has rarely gone beyond warm. I had two bowls of pumpkin soup in Napa last weekend, and neither were particularly hot. This was warm -- about 118* I assume -- and if my friend didn't bring up the fact that it wasn't hot I wouldn't have noticed at all.

Next up: Tamale with queso amarillo, corn, chipotle vinaigrette, sour cream and molé sauce

Again, I was reminded that they weren't trying to mimic meat. There wasn't anything in the tamales that looked or acted like beef or chicken. Instead, the filling was a wonderful mix of sweet corn, yellow cheese and sublte spices. The shells were made out of some type of pressed flax-seed mixture that tasted very good (pretty close to a corn tortilla). The only drawback was the consistency -- they were a bit pastey. Not necessarily in a bad way, but not what you'd expect from a tamale. All in all, and excellent dish with lots of flavor. (The boring old guacamole was also terrific.)

The final entree courses were the most ambitious:

Lasagna terrine layered with roma tomato sauce, mushrooms, baby spinach, corn, and herbed cashew cheese

and Cocunut chow-fun (can't remember the entire dish)

The chow fun was amazing. The noodles were made from soaked strips of baby coconut meat. I have to say that if I wasn't told beforehand, I think I would never have noticed that these weren't noodles. They are so soft and tender, that their texture and consistency mimics a thick, rice noodle. Mixed with the coconut were bean sprouts (too many for me, but I'm not a fan of bean sprouts), shavings of napa cabbage, and spicy cashews. Again, I didn't notice that it was cold. It was like a good Thai salad. In the foreground was a tender sliced mushroom, flavored with a hoisin type of sauce. A great dish.

I thought the lasagne was weaker, but only because the tomato sauce was out of place with all the other tastes of the evening. The pasta for the lasagne was made from zucchini. I can't say that this really mimicked pasta, but that didn't detract at all from the dish. The herbed cashew cheese was somewhat strange. It wasn't really cheese, more of a paste. I didn't like it much when eaten alone, but in the dish it added a great layer of flavor.

We ended the night with valhrona chocolate ice cream sandwich:

This was really the only weak part of the evening. And only part of it was weak. I have no idea how the ice cream was made. But it tasted like a cross between ice cream and frozen yogurt. Not quite as creamy as I'd like, but not icy like ice milk. And it tasted like chocolate and vanilla.

The chocolate cookie was made from cocoa powder, chocolate fudge and, I think, chopped dates. Here's the exception to Roxanne's "raw" cuisine. The chocolate fudge was "cooked" to make fudge, although it was not served hot. This cookie was also the weak and unfortunate item of the evening. It left a chemical bitterness in the mouth that was accentuated by the crushed oats pressed on the sides of the ice cream. It was not pleasant at all, and unfortunately stuck around quite a bit after the meal.

So we were done. I was full. I was sated. I was not at all looking forward to In-N-Out Burger. The bill for two, with two half bottles of wine, was pricey -- $250 (with a generous tip, we were not charged for the extra items). But I think this meal rivaled some of the best I've had, with some dishes (the carrot soup, for example) surpassing almost anything. There is a heavy reliance on nuts, and although I was rarely if ever conscious of the nuts, there was usually an underlying essence to dishes that slowly grew to take on a life of its own. (I think this added to the bitter sensation from them ice cream.) It wasn't really noticeable during the meal, but afterward I feld as if I'd eaten a bag of cashews.

One other item must be mentioned. Although there weren't many others in the restaurant, the crowd was as "normal" as one would expect. Until Yin & Yang came in. Or maybe God & the Devil. Good and bad? A couple came in for a late dinner. She was dressed all in black. Perfectly normal, of course. He, on the other hand, was dressed in white flowing clothing and wearing a white skull cap. He looked like the high priest at an EST convention. (I have no idea what goes on as an EST convention.) We both thought the contrast between white and black could not have been a coincedence. I almost asked. But good sense got the best of me.

Rock on Roxanne.

Edited November 14, 2003 by Stone (log)

[mixmaster b]

Stone-

I am so glad you took the leap--and even more glad that you liked the meal so much!

I agree with your observations about the strength of the non-meat (and not trying to be meat) approach--after all, vegetables are good! Especially the unusual stuff like the baby coriander. And also that the food is actually quite rich because of all the nut products. I was stuffed after my meal there.

Those coconut noodles are so good. They have the chewy substantial quality of noodles, but they are also very tender and have a special somthing that is hard to describe. I would eat them any chance I got. I guess they are one item that I would like to learn to make, or would like to buy and have on a regular basis.

Thanks for the post and for the good pix--I think they really help explain what the food is all about.

[Stone]

Oh. The wine was a Mas des Dumaus Gassac. Which is very fun to say. And a red Burgundy. Which is less fun to say, but good.

[Beachfan]

Glad to see it's still in top form. I've been there twice and loved it both times. The first time it was absolutely sensational.

For all you closed minded folks, don't go. The reservations are too hard to get as it is.

For those of you who really like great food and don't care what the chef's religion is, or what color underwear they wear, etc., then go! You'll be very pleased with the food.

[melkor]

For all you closed minded folks, don't go. The reservations are too hard to get as it is.

For those of you who really like great food and don't care what the chef's religion is, or what color underwear they wear, etc., then go! You'll be very pleased with the food.

For me, it's hard to justify the trip out to larkspur to eat at Roxannes. It's a shorter trip to Chez Panisse, Gary Danko, or the French Laundry. It's not that I think Roxanne's is serving bad food or that I've got a problem with the veg menu, it just doesn't seem like it's worth the effort. I'm sure I'll eat there at some point but it's unlikely to be my idea to do so.

[Stone]

It's a shorter trip to Chez Panisse, Gary Danko, or the French Laundry.

Based on this logic, I'd be eating all my meals at Cucina del Salvador which is in the SRO hotel a block away. Danko, FL and (I'm guessing) Chez Panisse are all more similar to each other than Roxanne's. It may be a little farther away (although if you go down 101 I'm pretty sure Roxanne's is closer than SF) but it's a much different experience.

[melkor]

It's a shorter trip to Chez Panisse, Gary Danko, or the French Laundry.

Based on this logic, I'd be eating all my meals at Cucina del Salvador which is in the SRO hotel a block away. Danko, FL and (I'm guessing) Chez Panisse are all more similar to each other than Roxanne's. It may be a little farther away (although if you go down 101 I'm pretty sure Roxanne's is closer than SF) but it's a much different experience.

I'm sure that Roxanne's is a completely different experience, but I'm still not convinced that I'd enjoy it. My point was that there are so many places I haven't had enough meals that it's hard to add someplace I'm not sure of to the list. A meal at a place with a price tag like Roxanne's has is only in the budget once a month and I just don't see getting Roxanne's on the schedule in the near future. I'm also certain that I'm arguing an indefensible position, but that hasn't stopped me in the past, so why should I let it get in the way now.

[jschyun]

It's kind of nice to know that there are meat eaters out there who will try a thing before damning it. I get tired of ranters who snarl at me (I'm not even a vegetarian!) that vegetarians are all about getting in your face over the rainforest or whatever. Roxanne Klein gets the kind of hypercriticism I wish Bobby Flay would get.

[inventolux]

Great review stone, this looks like a great opportunity to brainwash all eGulleters into joining the raw revolution.

[inventolux]

When we ordered, I told the waitress that I brought my own bacon and asked if I could sprinkle it onto the food.

I believe bacos is comprised of textured vegetable protein. Perhaps this may be a good starting point.

[Hest88]

Now, now guys...I think as eGulleters it's our responsbility to judge a restaurant first and foremost on it's food, and not on how much it's philosophy clashes with ours--espcially when said philosophy is so innocuous. (I know I should insert a disclaimer, but I can't think of anything clever enough! Let's just consider the disclaimer inserted.) Raw food is not going to threaten the meat industry, so why the hostility?

I am tempted to bring my aunt, but I've always left even the best veggie restaurant--Chinese or Western--craving a big cow. Thanks for the great review and pictures, Stone; it gives me a bit more information to make my decision.

[LaurieA-B]

Roxanne Klein gets the kind of hypercriticism I wish Bobby Flay would get.

Bobby Flay makes totally false pseudo-scientific claims about his food? Who knew.

[JAZ]

Now, now guys...I think as eGulleters it's our responsbility to judge a restaurant first and foremost on it's food, and not on how much it's philosophy clashes with ours--espcially when said philosophy is so innocuous.

I don't think making completely unsupportable claims about the health benefits of raw food (and the dangers of cooked food) is innocuous.

The food may be great, and that's fine. The so-called "philosophy," however, bothers me to the point that I would never patronize her place. It's a personal thing.

One question, though, for Stone (or anyone else who's eaten there): You mentioned that the chocolate used in the fudge sauce has bee cooked. How does Roxanne justify that? And come to think of it, how are her desserts sweetened, anyway? (Okay, that's two questions.) I can't think of a sweetener available to a raw, vegan cook -- I mean, honey's out because it's an animal product; sugar of any kind is heat processed; maple syrup is boiled. So what does she use?

[melkor]

One question, though, for Stone (or anyone else who's eaten there): You mentioned that the chocolate used in the fudge sauce has bee cooked. How does Roxanne justify that? And come to think of it, how are her desserts sweetened, anyway? (Okay, that's two questions.) I can't think of a sweetener available to a raw, vegan cook -- I mean, honey's out because it's an animal product; sugar of any kind is heat processed; maple syrup is boiled. So what does she use?

Chocolate would have to be an exception since it can't be made without roasting the nibs. As far as sweeteners go I suppose you could make your own maple syrup by leaving a vat of sap out to evaporate in the sun, but somehow I suspect that's not the case here. I'd imagine that she's using the syrup from sugar canes or something similar.

[Stone]

One question, though, for Stone (or anyone else who's eaten there): You mentioned that the chocolate used in the fudge sauce has bee cooked. How does Roxanne justify that? And come to think of it, how are her desserts sweetened, anyway? (Okay, that's two questions.) I can't think of a sweetener available to a raw, vegan cook -- I mean, honey's out because it's an animal product; sugar of any kind is heat processed; maple syrup is boiled. So what does she use?

I don't know if they justify the chocolate. They just use it. I'm told they get some flack from other raw food advocates.

They use maple and honey. Honey is an animal product, but perhaps it's not harvested from the animal in the way milk or eggs are. I'm just guessing. Don't know about maple. I can try to find out.