They Like It Raw: Rockin' Raw Opens
My introduction to Rockin' Raw, the neighborhood's first raw vegan restaurant, was a mocktail called the "Maca Apple-Icous," something like a milkshake with apple, ginger, honey, and maca. This Andrean plant has been shown to increase male libidos and is apparently Peru's natural answer to Viagra. Soon after, flushed and a tad lightheaded, I found myself wishing I could sit with my date in the lush outdoor area where, rain or no rain, some very private tables sat partially obscured by trees. It seems raw food can provide some heat after all.
The husband and wife owners, Luis Salgado, of Peru, and Tere Fox, from New Orleans, serve raw interpretations of their native cuisines that walk a very fine line. Such dishes can be pleasant experiences, politely challenging you to think about tastes and what you like so much about them to begin with, or they can just remind you what you're missing. Thankfully, and despite the silly moniker, the food here tips towards the former.
To start, a juicy mushroom cebiche ($8) mimics the fish texture and lime taste thanks to the raw-friendly preparation of traditional ceviche, though I would have relished something to sop up the sauce. Crab cakes with dill sauce ($10) are made out of mushroom and zucchini and thus taste nothing like crab but they do hit the raw-veggieburger texture, and are paired well with the nut milk-based dill sauce. Less satisfying was a roll with jicama, avocado, and cauliflower rice, served with sea vegetables and horseradish sauce ($10). The horseradish provides plenty of heat, a la wasabi, but the cauliflower is too sweet and mushy to stand in for the grain itself, which was sorely missed.
On the entrée side, a po' boy style fake tuna sandwich with Cajun mayo ($12) proved too much for the thin sprouted grain bread, which couldn't stand up to the filling: more dill, cauliflower, cucumber, among other ingredients. Again, it seemed like an unnecessary simulacrum; the dish could be rearranged and renamed any number of things, but a sandwich it will never be. Still, it was saved by the delicious accompanying chips—a mash of onion, Brazil nuts, and other ingredients—that tasted just like diner onion rings. Much better at mimicry was the tallarines verdes de la lala, a "pasta" of sliced zucchini in a Peruvian pesto ($13). Sure, any pesto worth its weight in basil tends to mask what it's served on, but the zucchini holds its own, especially when paired with the caramelized plantains—one of the few almost cooked ingredients on offer; they were dehydrated at under 115 degrees—which add a welcome sweetness. The best part of this, and most of the dishes I tried: the generous portions left you satisfied without feeling leaded down, a tough balance for raw food to strike. For dessert, a Neapolitan parfait ($10) was too light to be memorable. Much better was the lúcuma cheescake ($7). The Andean fruit tastes like many things (coffee, toffee, caramel) and with a scoop of ice cream of the same flavor, it proves itself quite the value.
The interior décor, broken guitars on the wall—the rockin' part?—and a haphazard arrangement of tables, is as approachable and folksy as your typical vegetarian joint. I never understood why so many restaurants strive to look so similar, but the other diners on this weekend evening were enjoying themselves enough to speak to strangers across the aisle, so perhaps I'm in the minority here. (And with sugar-based napkins and recyclable straws, to-go containers, and other paraphernalia, at least this place walks the walk.) The owners, who met at the Lower East Side's Annex, managed this jovial atmosphere without their forthcoming liquor license, and that six-dollar mocktail menu—including a refreshing, salt-rimmed cucumber mojito—ably stood in for the booze. Eventually, Rockin' Raw will serve wine and saki-based cocktails, but even after the tipples arrive, you would be hard-pressed to find anything more stimulating than the maca. Bring a date.
Rockin' Raw
178 North 8th (Bedford/Driggs)
718-599-9333
rockinraw.com
Comments
This place makes my mouth water by just thinking about all the different flavors that they use.
We just went here and it was amazing - check out my healthymix blog review here!
Posted by: shira | September 25, 2009 04:29 PM
Woah. What's up with all these angry comments? I thought this was a positive review overall. If you raw foodists don't check your righteousness, your ultimate quest for worldwide conversion will surely fail.
Posted by: lorena | June 29, 2009 03:54 AM
Rockin' Raw is having a grand opening party this Friday, June 26th at 7pm.
Please do come and enjoy free hour devours and cocktails through out the night.
Posted by: Foxy | June 24, 2009 08:45 AM
i can haz liquor license?
Posted by: jim | June 22, 2009 11:39 PM
summer brew summer brew. all afternoon i drink rockin raw's summer brew in the backyard breeze
Posted by: stef | June 18, 2009 06:14 PM
Raw food peeps are the funniest. They're like PETA except no one listens to them
Posted by: M | June 18, 2009 05:49 PM
Nick's review on Rockin' Raw is out and gone, here's why:
1. "maca..Peru's natural answer to Viagra"
There IS maca IN Viagra and maca was "invented" by god way before Viagra.
2. Nick sounds like he's having a tantrum because the dishes at Rockin' Raw don't taste like the "real thing" example "tuna", well, thank god they don't. FYI that "taste" that comes from animal flesh is the actual uric acid from the animal. Vegetables don't piss into themselves.
3. The names used to describe these dishes are plain references for people who have no idea. Dishes at raw vegan places have a life of their own and are not trying to imitate anything.
4. "caramelized plantains—one of the few cooked ingredients.." Nothing is cooked at a raw food restaurant, it's called dehydration.
We should be grateful that a place like this exists in Williamsburg, it will surely improve the quality of life for the common hipster without even trying hard.
Posted by: Zoraida | June 18, 2009 03:59 PM
"so perhaps I'm in the minority here"
You're in the minority in more than one way here... you simply don't seem to get it. This place is amazing.
Posted by: Ralph | June 18, 2009 11:46 AM
This is totally my favorite restaurant. I love this place sooo much, the food is the best ever. I can't wait to go back. Thank you Rockin' Raw, this neighborhood needed you and you have definitely arrived!
Posted by: lisa | June 16, 2009 05:34 PM