Pure Food & Wine (raw vegan)

[NY News Team]

Tired of cooked food? Not to worry, Jeff Chodorow has teamed up with Matthew Kenney, and has taken over the space formerly occupied by Verbena for a new raw vegan restaurant to be called Pure Food and Wine. -- J. Bavuso

Pure Food and Wine

54 Irving Place

NY, NY

Source: NY Times "Off the Menu" March 31, 2004.

[bpearis]

Well, it can only be better than Quintessence. I'm not sure there's enough interest to keep a place like this going in NYC.

[alacarte]

oh, NO.

Isn't raw food over yet?

[SobaAddict70]

Could be "Roxanne's East".

It'll be interesting, in any event.

Soba

[JosephB]

oh, NO.

Isn't raw food over yet?

You gotta think that Chodorow wouldn't be backing an idea whose time has passed.

[GG Mora]

Tired of cooked food?

Honestly, at first glance I thought that read "Tired of good food?". Which would be more to the point, I think.

[mikeyrad]

I LOVE RAW!! Raw oysters, clams, carpaccio, sushi...

[JosephB]

When guys like Charlie Trotter are co-authoring raw vegan cookbooks, I don't know if I would be so dismissive of this movement. Here's a Business Week article about Roxanne's.

[bpearis]

It's never going to work in NYC. (Well, never say never but doubtful.) It's fine to publish a cookbook, but Trotter hasn't opened a raw restaurant of his own. Sure, have Raw Mondays at somewhere like Blue Hill or GT. But as a concept for a big-time restaurant?

And Roxanne's is in the Bay Area, much more inviting a place for this kind of thing.

Quintessence in the EV is some of the blandest, hard-to-eat food I've had in NYC. Maybe I'm just soured on that experience. I'm sure there are ways to make raw a lot better than that. We shall see.

[alacarte]

Andrea Strong has more on the imminent opening of Pure Food & Wine:

I had a chance to try a bit of the food last week and it is remarkable—the flavors are so alive, so intense and vibrant that they almost wake you up. It’s wild but true. The raw menu—vegetables, fruits, seeds, nuts and sprouted grains that are not heated above 118 degrees (no dairy, no eggs, no meat, no fish, no grains, no sugar, no nothin’)— features dishes like cucumber summer rolls with green papaya and watermelon radishes with a chile-coconut dipping sauce, soft corn tortillas with chili-spiced “beans,” avocado, tomato lime salsa and “sour cream,” and zucchini and green zebra tomato lasagn! a with basil pistachio pesto, wild mushrooms and pine nut “ricotta.” ......

[jeunefilleparis]

It's never going to work in NYC. (Well, never say never but doubtful.) It's fine to publish a cookbook, but Trotter hasn't opened a raw restaurant of his own. Sure, have Raw Mondays at somewhere like Blue Hill or GT. But as a concept for a big-time restaurant?

And Roxanne's is in the Bay Area, much more inviting a place for this kind of thing.

Quintessence in the EV is some of the blandest, hard-to-eat food I've had in NYC. Maybe I'm just soured on that experience. I'm sure there are ways to make raw a lot better than that. We shall see.

I would have to disagree with your statement that it will never work.

As more and more people are reading about the dangers of eating tainted meat and the treatment of "farm"- factory animals, more people are switching their diets to , if not organic meats, to vegetarian.

I myself recently gave up all meat and dairy and i m really excited about this place.

I m going Sunday!

[ninadora]

I love meat oh do I love meat..., but i too am a "raw" convert (don't get me wrong here guys, i ain't given' it up or nothin')...but exactly as the article states..raw done well is the freshest, zestiest, and most flavour packed food I've ever had.

perfect for summer.

I've been dreaming of late of a charlie trotter raw tasting menu...I've been thinking of this an awful lot, enough to consider purchasing a food dehydrator.

its so much effort that places like quintessence (where i have never eaten, but i'm taking it on good authority--erm...) and caravan of dreams (which is not completly raw) can not do justice to what I find so exciting about raw foods.

I can only assume the people who go to caravan of dreams to eat their bland ass nastieness are the usual health freaks who I don't believe really care that much about how food tastes in the first place...or else how could they possibly ever restrict themselves so (disclaimer: their vegi food is good, its the raw food that SUCKS).

lajeunefille excluded of course, I speak of those who subsist largely on flax seed and wakeme...but I digress...

yes, the flavours are ALIVE people!

I am thrilled beyond about this restaurant, and whaddayaknow, I live around the corner

[Stone]

If they can do it with the class and quality of Roxannes, I think it will be around for a while -- assuming NYers are open-minded enough to give it a chance.

[alacarte]

I just can't seem to get psyched about it.

How will it smell? I love the aroma of cooking.

[Suzanne F]

Just wondering: what can they serve in the wintertime? Stuff out of greenhouses, I guess, or hydroponics? Or do they use non-local vegs "imported" from other growing regions?

[bpearis]

Just wondering: what can they serve in the wintertime? Stuff out of greenhouses, I guess, or hydroponics? Or do they use non-local vegs "imported" from other growing regions?

I was wondering the same thing. I'm all for sugar snap peas and corn picked that morning and other incredibly fresh food like that, but sprouted rice, flax seeds and some of the other stuff eaten by those who have gone the living foods route does nothing for me.

I'll probably give this place a shot, though I wish there was a place that included fish in the raw equation.

[Jinmyo]

I'll probably give this place a shot, though I wish there was a place that included fish in the raw equation.

You and jeunefilleparis and many others, I suspect.

And if only they'd cook grains and so on, it would be a very sensible and interesting palate of flavours.

Though fake cheese made from nuts is just a bad idea.

[Carolyn Tillie]

I want to know what raw wine is....

[Stone]

I want to know what raw wine is....

i believe it's called . . . wine.

[oakapple]

Andrea Strong has more on the imminent opening of Pure Food & Wine:

I had a chance to try a bit of the food last week and it is remarkable—the flavors are so alive, so intense and vibrant that they almost wake you up.

Curbed replied:

Hmmm. So long as we don't have to be fully awake, perhaps we'll give it a go.

Edited June 18, 2004 by oakapple (log)

[jeunefilleparis]

I had the most incredible dinner at Pure Food and Wines last night. Firstly, I was blown away by the transformation of the place. The walls are a dark wood mixed up with a burnt orange color which go beautifully with the deep red chairs, dark wood tables and oatmeal colored burlap(?) banquettes. They sorta itched by butt through my dress, maybe my dress was to thin? but somethig to remember,,,,,,

There were small votives on each table and 3 photos of a duck on the northern wall. I happened to like the duck photos, he/she was placed in front of a blue painted door, which added a nice touch of color to the already red tones in the room. One showed it quacking, one just standing and another leaning. Ah and I used to really like to eat duck,,, oh well.

The garden in the back is bigger than the actual restaurant, or at least it looked that way.

Upon sitting, I was given a little bowl of olive oil with sea salt and some veggies. I had never seen purple cauliflower before, and it was quite lovely and tasted great. Apparently the veggies, including sea bean, cucumber and white and purple cucumber had been in a dehydrater or bring out the flavors and colors. I was a little confused though bc they were still crisp and fresh not dried, as I would think that dehydrated food would be.

Nonetheless the menu was very exciting too. Every dish was a mix of fresh flavors, great spices and colorful pairing. I was going between the ginger and carrot soup with micro cilantro and avocado-lime oil and the Summer rolls. I opted for the summer rolls but I told the waiter that I write on a food board and would it be possible if I could try a shot or a small cup of the soup and the kitchen obliged.

All of the food presented to me looked like art work. The colors were vibrant and fresh, they looked like they had just been plucked from wherever they grew.

The rolls were delicious, they came out sprinkled with black sesame seeds,inside there was julienned papaya, radishes, sunflower sprouts,avocado and carrot. the dip was a coconut-chili sauce. I am a total baby when it comes to spices, but this one had the perfect kick without me having to drink a glass of water.

The carrot-gigner soup was really nice as well. It was very refreshing served cold, but not too cold. There was more of a carrot flavor but still the ginger flavor was dectectable but not too overpowering.

My entree was the zuchhini-green sebra lasagna. This was one of the most beautiful entrees i ve been served in a while. Fresh bright red tomatos graced the top of the square "lasagna". The ingrediants included a rich tomato sauce, basil pistachio pesto, marinated wild mushrooms and pine nut ricotta. It was just so incredible, I ve never tasted more ripe tomatoes in my life. The pesto and sundried tomato layers were full of spices and flavors that could make someone never want to eat meat again, ( though that s not their intention) The pine nut ricotta was delicious too and did taste cheesey, remarkably enough,,,,,,,,,,

For dessert i had a dark chocolate chip cookie with pisatchio and chocolate icceram made from coconut milk. The icecream was great but the cookie could ve been better, it was a little too chewy for my taste,,,,,,, they had a strawberry and honey ginger parfait which I ll try next time

Overall, it was a wonderful experience. Anyone who likes great , high quality food will love this place. You leave full but refreshed in a way, knowing htat you only ate really healthy food, but its so full of flavor that you wonder why all other vegan places are so bad!

Request the garden, it fills up quickly! andthey also played some of my favorite bands, which is always a good sign.

Lauren

[Carolyn Tillie]

Okay, so now I'm confused... I thought raw meant that nothing was cooked. Rolls? Cookies? Lasagne? All these un-cooked versions or am I missing something obvious?

[rozrapp]

Okay, so now I'm confused... I thought raw meant that nothing was cooked.  Rolls? Cookies? Lasagne?  All these un-cooked versions or am I missing something obvious?

On her web site, Andrea Strong talks about her pre-opening taste of some of the foods and states, "The raw menu—vegetables, fruits, seeds, nuts and sprouted grains that are not heated above 118 degrees...." So, it would appear that "raw" is not necessarily raw. I don't know where that leaves the bread and cookies.

[Toasted]

Okay, so now I'm confused... I thought raw meant that nothing was cooked. Rolls? Cookies? Lasagne? All these un-cooked versions or am I missing something obvious?

A lot of the food is dehydrated which makes it possible to shape into different molds like lasagna noodles or cookies. Some foods like rice are soaked for a long time and then sprouted- same with beans.

Lauren- thanks for the review. The food sounds beautiful and delicious. I'm planning to check it out myself sometime this summer.

[jeunefilleparis]

Okay, so now I'm confused... I thought raw meant that nothing was cooked.  Rolls? Cookies? Lasagne?  All these un-cooked versions or am I missing something obvious?

A lot of the food is dehydrated which makes it possible to shape into different molds like lasagna noodles or cookies. Some foods like rice are soaked for a long time and then sprouted- same with beans.

Lauren- thanks for the review. The food sounds beautiful and delicious. I'm planning to check it out myself sometime this summer.

the rolls used are cucumber thats been cut paper thin, there is no pasta in the ravioli, its zucchini cut paper thin,,,,,,,, the cookie, well, i couldnt tell you that one, sorry! i m going to call now and ask!