Totally Awesome Raw Food: Cru, Silverlake

Attack of the raw foodist aliens? If so, please, by all means, beam me up Scotty!

When one of my TALFs (Totally Awesome Lady Friends), Joan from the Hungry Hungry Hippo suggested we meet up at CRU, I imediatelty felt the urge to be supportive. She has been going through an extreme 2009: quit smoking, ran a marathon, and has become a raw foodest. So we all agreed when she suggested our next outing to be at Cru, a vegan spot smack dab in the Sunset Junction that has both a raw menu and a cooked menu. AND BYOB. And 100% gluten free menu. Holler at all you Celiacs out there! Just get crazy, people.

The GLF (Greek Lady Friend) shows up a tad late as usual, but at least I come baring the bottled gift of Dionysus to go with the two other bottles my TALFs have provided. Few. Thank Jesus we have wine here. The only other raw food restaurant I've frequented is the Good Mood Food Cafe in Huntington Beach, owned and operating by a Swiss raw foodiest, but has sadly closed. I can recall their amazing grape seed smoothies, collard green wraps and the zen atmosphere. But Cru has more inventive items on the menu like raw pad thai and (cooked) mushroom quinoa risotto. I decided to go with the strictly raw menu with Joan while the other TALFs, including Diana from Diana Takes a Bite and Shelley from Vinovents, went for the 180 degree plus items. We started off with the spring roll wrapped with delicately sliced cucumber encompassing a veggie patch of avocados, sprouts, carrots and jicama. The dipping sauce was truly amazing - some sort of sirachi, thai peanut, and sesame concoction.

Once I saw the raw pad thai, made with kelp noodles, there was no turning back. I had to get this. When on earth am I ever going to get kelp noodles?Who knows, I could die tomorrow so I better get them now. STAT! And they were delicious - just a holler or so from Thai Town. The noodles were extra snappy and a little juicy. The flavors were all spot on.
We also shared the Pesto Wrap - cashew cheese, pesto, cabbage, field greens, sweet onions, cucumber, caesar dressing and sprouts in a collard leaf shell. All with flax seed chips. My large intestine was singing campfire songs. The wrap was almost decadent with all its textures and very filling. I was so happy to have split the pad thai and the wrap with Joan because it would have been too intense to eat each plate alone. My other dinning companions ordered off the cooked menu. The sweet potato curry with quinoa was excellent: aromatic and bright, but I don't think the Lady Friends could finish the entire bowl. Vegan food is filling, people!

We had all begun to flirt ridiculously with our waiter, Kyler, who Diana has bequeathed her first born son's name to. And it was about that time to order desserts. The brownie ala mode was spotted and wanted. Pronto. But to our dismay, there was only one left in the kitchen and therefore just one to share amongst five TALFs. We supplemented with a slice of the Chocolate Truffle Cafe and the Pistachio encrusted Chocolate Mint Ganache Cake. Joan rumbled in the back that we've had enough, but we were all like Pfff, please we're eating raw, vegan and we can handle this ish. Oh boy, were we in for it.

I'm sorry, but once you've tried this cake, you no longer have any deep chocolate fantasies to dream about. But only for a few bites, because it's raw and ultra dense. Ahk, shoulda listened to Joan.

Not kidding, the chocolate truffle cake is a force to be reckoned, but I liked the mint chocolate and pistachio version better.

Everything was delicious and I really really liked CRU, but I still went to eat gelato at Pazzo's afterwards with Diana after. I want to come back to CRU. Soon. And BYOB.

CRU

1521 Griffith Park Blvd.

Los Angeles, Ca 90026

tel: 323-6671551tel: 323-6671551

http://www/crusilverlake.com

Attack of the raw foodist aliens? If so, please, by all means, beam me up Scotty!

When one of my TALFs (Totally Awesome Lady Friends), Joan from the Hungry Hungry Hippo suggested we meet up at CRU, I imediatelty felt the urge to be supportive. She has been going through an extreme 2009: quit smoking, ran a marathon, and has become a raw foodest. So we all agreed when she suggested our next outing to be at Cru, a vegan spot smack dab in the Sunset Junction that has both a raw menu and a cooked menu. AND BYOB. And 100% gluten free menu. Holler at all you Celiacs out there! Just get crazy, people.

The GLF (Greek Lady Friend) shows up a tad late as usual, but at least I come baring the bottled gift of Dionysus to go with the two other bottles my TALFs have provided. Few. Thank Jesus we have wine here. The only other raw food restaurant I've frequented is the Good Mood Food Cafe in Huntington Beach, owned and operating by a Swiss raw foodiest, but has sadly closed. I can recall their amazing grape seed smoothies, collard green wraps and the zen atmosphere. But Cru has more inventive items on the menu like raw pad thai and (cooked) mushroom quinoa risotto. I decided to go with the strictly raw menu with Joan while the other TALFs, including Diana from Diana Takes a Bite and Shelley from Vinovents, went for the 180 degree plus items. We started off with the spring roll wrapped with delicately sliced cucumber encompassing a veggie patch of avocados, sprouts, carrots and jicama. The dipping sauce was truly amazing - some sort of sirachi, thai peanut, and sesame concoction.

Once I saw the raw pad thai, made with kelp noodles, there was no turning back. I had to get this. When on earth am I ever going to get kelp noodles?Who knows, I could die tomorrow so I better get them now. STAT! And they were delicious - just a holler or so from Thai Town. The noodles were extra snappy and a little juicy. The flavors were all spot on.
We also shared the Pesto Wrap - cashew cheese, pesto, cabbage, field greens, sweet onions, cucumber, caesar dressing and sprouts in a collard leaf shell. All with flax seed chips. My large intestine was singing campfire songs. The wrap was almost decadent with all its textures and very filling. I was so happy to have split the pad thai and the wrap with Joan because it would have been too intense to eat each plate alone. My other dinning companions ordered off the cooked menu. The sweet potato curry with quinoa was excellent: aromatic and bright, but I don't think the Lady Friends could finish the entire bowl. Vegan food is filling, people!

We had all begun to flirt ridiculously with our waiter, Kyler, who Diana has bequeathed her first born son's name to. And it was about that time to order desserts. The brownie ala mode was spotted and wanted. Pronto. But to our dismay, there was only one left in the kitchen and therefore just one to share amongst five TALFs. We supplemented with a slice of the Chocolate Truffle Cafe and the Pistachio encrusted Chocolate Mint Ganache Cake. Joan rumbled in the back that we've had enough, but we were all like Pfff, please we're eating raw, vegan and we can handle this ish. Oh boy, were we in for it.

I'm sorry, but once you've tried this cake, you no longer have any deep chocolate fantasies to dream about. But only for a few bites, because it's raw and ultra dense. Ahk, shoulda listened to Joan.

Not kidding, the chocolate truffle cake is a force to be reckoned, but I liked the mint chocolate and pistachio version better.

Everything was delicious and I really really liked CRU, but I still went to eat gelato at Pazzo's afterwards with Diana after. I want to come back to CRU. Soon. And BYOB.

CRU

1521 Griffith Park Blvd.

Los Angeles, Ca 90026

tel: 323-6671551tel: 323-6671551

http://www/crusilverlake.com