Pure Food & Wine (raw vegan)

[jeunefilleparis]

the pastry chef wasnt in so they couldnt answer my cookie question, I shall try back later.

L

[ninadora]

I'll hazard a guess that the cookie was dehydrated date/fruit puree...perhaps with ground flax seed or something like that...i had one at a street fair that was made like that...not my fave part of the raw experience.

Did you drink any of the "pure wine" out of curiousity?

I couldn't find a website so I'm curious and I hope not too gauche, what are the prices like?

I simply can not wait to eat here...does anyone know when the proposed take out branch will open?

Edited June 23, 2004 by ninadora (log)

[alacarte]

I walked by Pure Food & Wine yesterday, about 7pm. Cavernous yawning empty, while Casa Mono down the block was hopping.

To be fair, though PFW has gotten its share of "buzz" write-ups, the mainstream reviews aren't in yet, so the crowds may have yet to find their way over. It's also possible that PFW draws a later crowd...7PM is relatively early on the NY dinner timetable.

[bpearis]

The new issue of Time Out NY has a feature on raw food restaurants. The writer goes to Quintessence first and finds it to be, much as I did, horrible. He then goes to a couple other places that are hit and miss before finally visiting Pure Food & Wine, which he said was great and a much different kind of place than the nut meat ball and flax seeds kinds of places NYC has been given before.

My skepticism comes from my awful experience at Quintessence, but the more I hear about PF&W the more I'm intrigued. I'm not going to give up oxtail, but this is sounding more appealing...

[razzar]

In this and other articles about "Raw Food," it says nothing is heated above 118 degrees. What's so magical about 118 degrees, why not 120, or some other temp?

[tryska]

umm..isn't corn a grain?

and how is wine raw or vegan? it's freakin' fermented grape juice with yeasts in it.

i'm so confused.

[sarmasarma123]

This is my first posting... I had to write in after reading all the questions and comments everyone had about Pure Food and Wine, which my partner, Matthew Kenney, and I opened together w/ Jeffrey Chodorow.

Where do I start? The cookie... which is sort of like a very dense, chewy brownie - has no date paste of any kind in it. The main ingredient is almond butter, to which we add organic cocoa powder (technically not raw), vanilla, tocotrienols (i'm too tired to explain this one right now!) sweetener and sea salt.

We also add pistachios. Pop them in the dehydrator overnight. Serve it with chocolate and strawberry sauces (also raw, aside from the cocoa powder again) and with chocolate and pistachio ice creams, candied pistachios and a little lime leaf powder and lemon or lime basil. Ice creams have no dairy and no refined sugar, and are really quite yummy, if I may say so. I will probably be embarassed if I read this later, but am too tired now to be overly concerned.

And thank you, Lauren, for such a nice posting about your experience! It was so nice to read. We've been lucky with good weather to keep our garden open - if anyone remembers the old Verbena space - we've expanded that back courtyard garden a bit so it actually seats more people than our interior dining room. The takeaway juicebar will open in a few weeks, with an entrance on 17th St.

Again... I am happy to answer more questions and hope to become a regular contributor.

:) Sarma

[tryska]

i saw jeffrey on tv last night.

welcome sarma!

please tell me about this raw vegan wine, because i'm hopelessly intrigued.

[alacarte]

welcome Sarma!

we hope you become a regular too.

[rozrapp]

Hi Sarma,

The food at your restaurant sounds unusual and delicious. We always loved dining in Verbena's garden, so we're looking forward to doing so again soon.

Will you be having a web site?

I wish you and your partners success in this new venture.

[Carolyn Tillie]

Welcome to eG, Sarma! And thanks for answering what were, I believe, my queries...

I live near the originator of Raw restaurants here in NoCal, but have been reluctant to go as up until recently, there wasn't much press on what the food was or how it was prepared. There was simply an idea that one might be served a plate of raw fruits and vegetables.

We greatly appreciate you stopping in and expanding upon your menu and preparation. And, please do come back!

Cheers!

[sarmasarma123]

Thanks for the welcome... I am on a laptop in the middle of the kitchen right now - it's a bit hectic, but at least I am not expediting now. Matthew Kenney and I are co-chefs (someone asked about this) - he's expediting. We have an amazing exec. sous chef named Valentin. About the wine... all our wines are organic and/or biodynamic - although most are not certified organic. With wines I think it is similar to many small farmers that practice organic farming, but do not bother with the arduous (and often expensive) certification process. Most wines are not really vegan - because, as it has been explained to me, many wines are clarified much in the same way that you make a consomme... using a raft with egg shells or egg whites, sometimes shellfish shells. Some wines do not use this process and so can officially be considered vegan. We are planning to add a key of symbols to our wine list so that we can mark which are vegan, biodynamic, certified organic, etc. We currently have about 80 wines on the list, I think, but we print the list in house, so have the flexibility to change it often. Same with our menus, we print them every day (a huge pain, but worth it) so we can update the menu every day based on what new ingredients we have and new dishes we come up with. I have to go, but will post again more often when we're not in the middle of service! If anyone comes in, I hope you'll introduce yourself and we'll be happy to show you the kitchen and explain how things are made.

Thanks! :) Sarma

[jeunefilleparis]

Thanks for the welcome... I am on a laptop in the middle of the kitchen right now - it's a bit hectic, but at least I am not expediting now. Matthew Kenney and I are co-chefs (someone asked about this) - he's expediting. We have an amazing exec. sous chef named Valentin. About the wine... all our wines are organic and/or biodynamic - although most are not certified organic. With wines I think it is similar to many small farmers that practice organic farming, but do not bother with the arduous (and often expensive) certification process. Most wines are not really vegan - because, as it has been explained to me, many wines are clarified much in the same way that you make a consomme... using a raft with egg shells or egg whites, sometimes shellfish shells. Some wines do not use this process and so can officially be considered vegan. We are planning to add a key of symbols to our wine list so that we can mark which are vegan, biodynamic, certified organic, etc. We currently have about 80 wines on the list, I think, but we print the list in house, so have the flexibility to change it often. Same with our menus, we print them every day (a huge pain, but worth it) so we can update the menu every day based on what new ingredients we have and new dishes we come up with. I have to go, but will post again more often when we're not in the middle of service! If anyone comes in, I hope you'll introduce yourself and we'll be happy to show you the kitchen and explain how things are made.

Thanks! :) Sarma

waaaaaaaaait? I m confused, I had a glass of white wine from California, I was told that everything in the restaurant was vegan, I am going to be upset if i find out that my wine had egg whites and stuff used in it,how can I find out?

I know that it was a by the glass wine, the first one of the WHITES side

Lauren

[alacarte]

I am on a laptop in the middle of the kitchen right now

Great visual!

I say come back and post as often as you want, Sarma. Personally, I'd love to read a semi-blog about the excitement and challenges of opening a new restaurant, particularly one as unusual as yours. I'm loving reading about the wine selection and printing a new menu every day. More please!

how did you come to open a "raw foods" restaurant, anyway?

[Carolyn Tillie]

Thanks for the welcome... I am on a laptop in the middle of the kitchen right now - it's a bit hectic, but at least I am not expediting now.  Matthew Kenney and I are co-chefs (someone asked about this) - he's expediting.  We have an amazing exec. sous chef named Valentin.  About the wine... all our wines are organic and/or biodynamic - although most are not certified organic.  With wines I think it is similar to many small farmers that practice organic farming, but do not bother with the arduous (and often expensive) certification process.  Most wines are not really vegan - because, as it has been explained to me, many wines are clarified much in the same way that you make a consomme... using a raft with egg shells or egg whites, sometimes shellfish shells.  Some wines do not use this process and so can officially be considered vegan.  We are planning to add a key of symbols to our wine list so that we can mark which are vegan, biodynamic, certified organic, etc.  We currently have about 80 wines on the list, I think, but we print the list in house, so have the flexibility to change it often.  Same with our menus, we print them every day (a huge pain, but worth it) so we can update the menu every day based on what new ingredients we have and new dishes we come up with.  I have to go, but will post again more often when we're not in the middle of service!  If anyone comes in, I hope you'll introduce yourself and we'll be happy to show you the kitchen and explain how things are made.

Thanks!  :) Sarma

waaaaaaaaait? I m confused, I had a glass of white wine from California, I was told that everything in the restaurant was vegan, I am going to be upset if i find out that my wine had egg whites and stuff used in it,how can I find out?

I know that it was a by the glass wine, the first one of the WHITES side

Lauren

This was totally new as me as well! I just asked our vineyard manager, Gabriel, about it. Sure enough, part of the wine-making process CAN involve egg whites for clarification.

He told me that in racking, if they want to clarify the wine, they will pour egg whites into the barrel. The sediment slowly sinks to the bottom of the barrel and the clear wine is syphoned out to a new barrel.

Lauren, to find out if the wine you drank went through this process... you pretty much would have no choice other than to call the winery and ask. Some wineries do it and some don't. Some do it selectively on different wines. Apparently for Chardonnay, a different solution called Isinglass is used. Defined:

Transparent and pure, this form of gelatin comes from the air bladder of certain fish, especially the sturgeon. It's used as a fining agent to help clarify wine, although today's modern gelatin (made from beef and veal bones, cartilage, tendons, etc.) has replaced isinglass in most, but not all, instances.

[jeunefilleparis]

Thanks for the welcome... I am on a laptop in the middle of the kitchen right now - it's a bit hectic, but at least I am not expediting now.  Matthew Kenney and I are co-chefs (someone asked about this) - he's expediting.  We have an amazing exec. sous chef named Valentin.  About the wine... all our wines are organic and/or biodynamic - although most are not certified organic.  With wines I think it is similar to many small farmers that practice organic farming, but do not bother with the arduous (and often expensive) certification process.  Most wines are not really vegan - because, as it has been explained to me, many wines are clarified much in the same way that you make a consomme... using a raft with egg shells or egg whites, sometimes shellfish shells.  Some wines do not use this process and so can officially be considered vegan.  We are planning to add a key of symbols to our wine list so that we can mark which are vegan, biodynamic, certified organic, etc.  We currently have about 80 wines on the list, I think, but we print the list in house, so have the flexibility to change it often.  Same with our menus, we print them every day (a huge pain, but worth it) so we can update the menu every day based on what new ingredients we have and new dishes we come up with.  I have to go, but will post again more often when we're not in the middle of service!  If anyone comes in, I hope you'll introduce yourself and we'll be happy to show you the kitchen and explain how things are made.

Thanks!  :) Sarma

waaaaaaaaait? I m confused, I had a glass of white wine from California, I was told that everything in the restaurant was vegan, I am going to be upset if i find out that my wine had egg whites and stuff used in it,how can I find out?

I know that it was a by the glass wine, the first one of the WHITES side

Lauren

This was totally new as me as well! I just asked our vineyard manager, Gabriel, about it. Sure enough, part of the wine-making process CAN involve egg whites for clarification.

He told me that in racking, if they want to clarify the wine, they will pour egg whites into the barrel. The sediment slowly sinks to the bottom of the barrel and the clear wine is syphoned out to a new barrel.

Lauren, to find out if the wine you drank went through this process... you pretty much would have no choice other than to call the winery and ask. Some wineries do it and some don't. Some do it selectively on different wines. Apparently for Chardonnay, a different solution called Isinglass is used. Defined:

Transparent and pure, this form of gelatin comes from the air bladder of certain fish, especially the sturgeon. It's used as a fining agent to help clarify wine, although today's modern gelatin (made from beef and veal bones, cartilage, tendons, etc.) has replaced isinglass in most, but not all, instances.

Thanks so much for the info. I doubt that I ll call, but I ll at least be more aware now,,,,,,,

lauren

[slkinsey]

There are various synthetic clarifying and chillproofing agents one may use that are not animal-based, such as Divergan. If any winery claimed its wines were "vegan" then I would asssume that no animal products were used.

[Carolyn Tillie]

There are various synthetic clarifying and chillproofing agents one may use that are not animal-based, such as Divergan.

Ah, thank you -- I knew there was a synthetic version, but didn't know the name. Apparently, WHEN we have occasion to utilize this process, we still use the non-synthetic product. (We don't do it very often).

[sarmasarma123]

I am on a laptop in the middle of the kitchen right now

Great visual!

I say come back and post as often as you want, Sarma. Personally, I'd love to read a semi-blog about the excitement and challenges of opening a new restaurant, particularly one as unusual as yours. I'm loving reading about the wine selection and printing a new menu every day. More please!

how did you come to open a "raw foods" restaurant, anyway?

If people are interested.... I'd be happy to post as often as I can find the time. Since we have a big, open garden, we make use of our laptops here (so we can work out in the fresh air, or we can stand in the kitchen and work with the cooks during set up while doing schedules, menu descriptions etc. at the same time). I highly recommend laptops for restaurants! It also allows the managers to be on the floor more often during set up, which I think is great. Although, right now I'm in the stuffy office, printing today's menus! I LOVE being able to change and print our menus daily, but it's not cheap and I live in fear of our printer jamming! I know it will happen one of these days, but luckily Matthew and I live nearby so would not be suprised if I end up frantically racing home to print menus one day.

Another issue with changing the menus so often is we often "disagree", to put it mildly, about how to word a certain dish, as we just did while I was writing this and about to print the inside pages of the menu. :) But that's to be expected, and Matthew and I could not imagine working separately. I have not thought much about this before, but it's somewhat interesting that Verbena was, for the last few years, being operated by a chef couple - not that common a situation - and now we're continuing the chef-couple thing in the same space...

As far as how we got interested in this type of food, it happened over a year ago - a friend of ours introduced us to it, and we became completely intrigued. We went to Maine and decided to try it for two weeks, while researching the whole philosophy of eating this way. Based on how good we felt and how compelling the research is, we both realized quite quickly that, seemingly overnight, we went from regular meat eaters to raw-vegans. It sounds silly, but I'll always remember the moment when I realized it for myself - and wondered how I would break the news to friends and family... my family is a big FOOD family, my mother was a chef, my father will travel far and wide for the best bread... and so I worried about going back to the city and feeling like a serious party pooper!

By now, my family is used to it and, while Matthew and I eat only raw food on our own time, we will make an exception every once in a while to go out to restaurants (how could we not??), and try to do our best to stay vegetarian, although I'm not opposed to tasting anything, out of curiosity. I think the only red meat I have had in the last year is a few bites of Niman Ranch beef - I'm probably going to get flogged now by some hard-core vegans, but I must say, if it comes from Niman Ranch, it's worth a few bites! On the whole, though, I never crave meat, dairy, sugar, starches, coffee etc. Which I know sounds really hard to believe... I would not have believed it before. I was a serious meat eater... picking the little bits of meat from the carcass of a roast chicken was my favorite way to eat roast chicken at home! But it's sort of like fond memories for me... I can appreciate the smells of cooking foods, caramelizing, sauces, baking smells, etc., but I don't have any desire to eat that. What else can I say? I'm having one of those moments where you don't know how to end... like when I leave voice-mails and feel silly talking to myself and instead of making it short and to the point I end up rambling and feeling stupider and stupider. :) So with that, I'm signing off... must get the menus upstairs and get ready for our nightly 5pm tasting of every dish... also an expensive thing to do, but since we're newly opened, it's good to review the presentation of every dish before service and to make sure everything is right - and I'm hungry now too!!

:) Sarma

[bloviatrix]

Sarma, when you have a chance I would love to hear about how you went/go about creating your menu.

[ErinB]

I, for one, am very excited about this restaurant. As a former vegan, I always love having these experiences.

Jeunefille, about how much was your meal per person? What is the attire? How formal/casual is it?

[sarmasarma123]

Sarma, when you have a chance I would love to hear about how you went/go about creating your menu.

Hi... am back in the garden on the laptop. When we first started working on the menu months back, there was a lot of creative guessing... thinking of ideas, but not quite sure how they would work out. It's different from coming up with a cooked food menu where we can easily imagine how different flavors will combine, having years of experience both eating and cooking (a few more years on Matthew's part!). With this menu, there was a lot more trial and error... for example, we have a red beet ravioli on the menu - originally it was going to be a red beet gnocchi with yellow pepper puree, pistachios and tarragon, but when I put it on our menu draft... I had no idea if the 'gnocchi' would actually work. Turns out, it worked quite well, although was so labor intensive and I didn't like the idea of so much juicing and pureeing and homogonizing with other ingredients to make them, even though the flavor combinations were great. So we ended up changing it to red beet ravioli... very thin square slices of bright red beet, with an herbed cashew cheese filling, with the same sauce and garnishes, and it actually looks much prettier. So, yes, there's a lot of experimenting that goes on before we get a final dish we can put on the menu. Our sous chefs are great, and very creative as well.

Tonight we're changing the Pineapple Carpaccio with Coconut Ice Cream, star anise syrup and pineapple sage, to Watermelon Carpaccio with Coconut-Lime Ice Cream, galangal syrup and... some herb, I have yet to figure out which one, probably Lime Basil, which I love! Once watermelons go out of season, perhaps we'll put the Pineapple back on. One of our pastry cooks, Debbie, also came up with a frozen lemon mousse dessert with blueberries that we added recently which is very tasty and pretty. Being able to be creative all the time with this menu is one of the best things about this concept, and it's fun figuring out new ways to make and present whatever is in season.

:) Sarma

[jeunefilleparis]

Last night I went with my friend to Pure food and wine. It was a bit humid but we decided t sit in the garden. The breeze was really nice and they had put up umbrellas, last week, i dont remember seeing them there.

We started with coconut water and a mango smoothie. The coconut water was amazing, really pure, rich and fresh, my friend, erin, who had recently been to South Eastern Asia, said that it was just like what the street vendors sold. My mang smoothie was really nice. Very flavorful, i do miss my mango lassis though, but i m sticking with the no dairy thing,

We decided to share one appetizer which was the sushi rolls with avocado, pickled ginger, blacksesame seeds etc. they were really great, but she also sent out the tomato tartare with macadamia nut and kaffir lime foam. It was so divine,I m going to have to search the thesarus for another world for fresh, but that s what it was, fresh and ripe and vibrant. there was some orange fruit mixed in, mango maybe,,,,, the main taste was the tomato. We also got the lettuce wraps. Now I love wraps and when i ate meat, there were these duck wraps i loved at Cafe Asean, but these were better.

Dark lettuce wrapped around cucumber, basil,,,,, with an almost carmalized apple dip,,,,, help me out here Sarma! the presentation of those 3 was remarkable, they are truly pieces of art. The shapes and textures is incredibly beautiful, especially the tartare that had a the circular tomato layers, w. the light kaffir lime foam and a long narrow triangular piece of ? I actually never figure out what it was, it did taste grainy to me,,,,,,,

The entrees again were wonderful. I had already tried the zebra lasagna last week, so we got that, and the truffle squash pasta with truffle oil and peas. We were gifted the red beet ravioli

The beet ravioli was by far the most vibrant of the group. Perfect red square sprinkled with seeds and then a curry or cumin sauce was drawn in squiggles around it. The truffle squash pasta was one of the most decadent things i ve had made of pure veggies. it was reallly quite amazing. The truffle sauce was very potent, ( personally i cant get enough black truffles) but the pasta sauce actually tasted cheesy and the peas very , yeah, very fresh:)

the ravioli could be easily slipped from fork to mouth in a bite, well, large bit, i maanged. Very rich flavors, macadamia nut filling I believe. The lasagna again was just unreal., I dont know how they grow such delicious tomotoes, but they do. I love the pesto, sun dried tomato combo.

Lastly but certainly not least, was dessert. Sarma came out and I ve never met anyone so happy, and excited about her food before. Maybe it s the raw food karma, in any case we met her and discussed dessert, and thanked her for her generousity.

Dessert we had the Watermelon Carpaccio with Coconut-Lime Ice Cream, galangal syrup and lime basil, the honey ginger strawberry parfait w. walnuts and the chocolate pudding with raspberries and mint.

By far my favorite was the parfait. I dont know exactly what makes up the parfait part but the strawberries were a dark lovely red, small, must be wild strawberries, the comination of creamy parfait, lush juicy strawberrie and crunchy walnuts was so wonderful to the palette. the chocolate pudding again a rich masterpiece, very creamy and smooth, obviously not milk chocolate,,,,,,,? coconut flesh again? Nice plump raspberries on the bottom. THe carpaccio was great too, i loved the galangal syrup which is a new vocab word for me and the coconut lime icecream was nothing short of refreshing, it would be a great palette cleanser for the tasting menu:))

Overall, again an amazing meal, the weather held out nicely. it was filling up inside and outside through out the evening and it was a monday, so it seems to be getting great press,,,,,, like the news coverage last friday on channel 11,,,,,,,,

Cant wait to go back again.,,,,,,oh forgot, the kitchen is so funny, you walk in, and its, well empty sauf lots of dehydrators and counters for plating. there are containers filled with differnt herbs, spices and veggies.

Thanks Sarma, for everthing, it was a fabulous meal. I was left full but feeling healthy and nutrified ( is that a word, well i m making it up)!!

[alacarte]

Are menu ingredients sourced from/inspired by the nearby Union Sq. greenmarket?

[jeunefilleparis]

Are menu ingredients sourced from/inspired by the nearby Union Sq. greenmarket?

I would think that a lot of them are , but I m not sure