The Top List of Raw Restaurants - San Francisco, CA
by Edmund Attanasio
Café Gratitude
With two cafes in San Francisco, one in Berkeley, one in San Rafael, and with their newest location in Healdsburg, Café Gratitude has gained a much-deserved reputation in the alternative culinary community for its inspiring environment and distinctive, flavorful organic cuisine.
This amazing place is not just about putting food and drink into your stomach and then paying the bill. It’s about the entire experience – nourishing the heart, mind and soul. They want you to leave there feeling better about every aspect of your life.
I must admit that I was skeptical when I went to Café Gratitude. I am a steak and chops kind of guy. But, I was really surprised when I found myself really liking it. When you walk through the door, this sign greets you: Welcome to Cafe Gratitude serving all organic, vegan and mostly live foods! Come play the Abounding River Game and experience an unfamiliar view of BEING ABUNDANCE!
Café Gratitude does not serve anything with a face, or anything that comes from something with a face. This includes eggs, honey, milk or cheese. It also serves live food, which means nothing is nuked or charred there. Most of the food is cold, room temperature or slightly undercooked to keep the cells within the food alive.
When I went to the Haight-Ashbury location yesterday for lunch, I was expecting a bunch of hippies chanting mantras and smelling of patchouli oil. Not even close. Café Gratitude is a great place, with wonderful food, a relaxed, totally laid back attitude and people who will make you feel at home almost immediately. We were only there for about two hours, but when we left, you would have thought we’d known each other all our lives. If felt the same pangs of guilt I feel when I leave a rocking party early. I really didn’t want to go!
One of the coolest things about the place is the way you order your food. Every item on the menu is an affirmation. For instance, the almond milk is called “I am Youthful.” When you order it by name, the wait staff replies, “You are Youthful.” At first, it seemed kind of strange, but after awhile I got into it. When the food came promptly, I was happy, because “I was Hungry.”
The menu at Café Gratitude is extensive, featuring a wide range of over 100 items, including soups, salads, appetizers, smoothies, teas, fresh juices, elixirs, shakes, organic sparkling and white wines, beer, sake and cider, organic coffee, organic ice cream, live pizzas and assorted desserts.
Some of the things we tried at Café Gratitude were: The “I am Warm” Soup: A Faux Pho miso soup. This is a warm miso with spiralized vegetable noodles, shiitake mushrooms, scallions and sprouts in a big bowl ($9.00).
The “I am Thankful” Soup: This is Thai coconut curry soup with avocado, tomato, cucumbers and shiitake mushrooms ($7.00).
The “I am Fabulous” Live Pizza: A living, breathing pizza with lasagna-zucchini noodles layered with cashew ricotta cheese, fresh tomatoes, basil, pesto and marinara sauce ($12).
The “I am Festive” Taco Salad. A flavorful salad with shredded romaine lettuce tossed in a creamy dressing topped with crumbled walnut-seed taco filling, guacamole, salsa, nacho cheese and green sprouts topped with flax seeds ($12.00).
To complete the experience, we had the “I am Praising” dessert – a dish of Café Gratitude’s vanilla soft serve ice cream. It was less heavy than your standard ice cream, because, of course, it contained no dairy.
On the way out we picked up a copy of I Am Grateful, a book written by Café Gratitude’s co-founders Terces and Matthew Engelhart. It presents their view of life and their business philosophy. In the book, Terces also relates her own story of personal healing, sharing highlights of her recovery from food addiction while explaining the benefits of an organic lifestyle. The book’s incredible full-color photographs accompany easy-to-follow recipes for the café’s most popular items, making it easy for readers to prepare live foods at home.
Recipes include café favorites for satisfying smoothies such as the "I am Luscious" raw chocolate variety, as well as juices, soups, and appetizers. There's also entrancing entrees like the "I am Elated" spicy rolled enchiladas and delicious desserts including the "I am Amazing" lemon meringue pie with macadamia nut crust.
Café Gratitude has five locations. To find the one nearest you, visit their Web site at: www.CafeGratitude.com. It’s an experience that will leave you feeling healthy, happy and qualify you as a member of the Grateful Fed.
Alive! 1972 Lombard Street San Francisco, CA 94109 (415) 923-1052
Alive! is All the Way Live!
We went to Alive! the other day and to say that I was reticent is putting it mildly. I must admit, I am not exactly what you’d call a disciple of this raw food movement. I am still very comfortable and quite used to food that has been cooked. I will take a boiled carrot (al dente, of course—I gotta have that crunch) over a raw one every time. I like sushi and steak tartare, but I’ll opt for the cooked versions over the raw ones every time.
But, when we visited Alive! recently, we were more than pleasantly surprised. Described on their menu as a “serene and sophisticated dining destination for raw, vegetarian, animal-free cuisine using only the freshest local, seasonal, and organic produce,” we were anticipating a bunch of rah-rah tree-hugging environmentalists preaching “save the planet” while serving us this barely edible, extremely bland fare. Not so. Everything we sampled at Alive! was delicious, packed with flavors and featured organic produce and ingredients that are local, seasonal and regional.
The restaurant’s modern Zen dining room and hidden urban garden made us feel supremely comfortable almost instantly. The knowledgeable and very professional wait staff at Alive! are true followers of the raw food movement, but they aren’t pushy about it—they know their stuff and can answer any and all of your inquiries about the food; but only if you ask, which is nice. Sometimes I like to be educated about what I’m consuming, and other times I just want to be left alone to eat it without a narrative. First we tried some of well-known specialties at Alive! These are the dishes that Chef Leland Jung is most known for, so we were anxious to sample them. I always like to experience a place’s signature dishes, so we had the open-face avocado peppercress sandwich (amazing!); their sun dried tomato shiitake mushroom torte (man-o-man!); the signature sweet sesame ginger zucchini ribbons with seasonal vegetables and walnuts; (oh, the flavors!); and then capped it off with an amazing candy cap mushroom cheesecake (I know, it sounds weird, but it is so incredible, you HAVE to try it!).
Prices are fairly reasonable at Alive! with soups and starters running, $10–$12, and entrees going for $12–$20. I’ve paid a lot more for food that wasn’t even half as good as what you’ll encounter at Alive!
They also have an extensive, very smart wine list at Alive! The restaurant has Chris Tavelli, Yield Wine Bar, San Francisco as their wine consultant, and he’s one of the best in the Bay Area, so you can be certain that the list is extensive, deep and top-tier in every way.
The most amazing thing is that EVERYTHING we ate was 100% raw. The freshness of the ingredients coupled with the astute flavor combinations made for a very memorable meal. Now I can see why Alive! has gotten so many positive reviews and has been called a “leader of the Raw Food movement” in the Bay Area and beyond. We’ll be back here again and again, because not only is the food very healthy…but it’s also very, very good.
The Top List of Raw Restaurants - San Francisco, CA