Raw Pad Thai from Cru

We only went to one raw vegen restaurant while in California, but I had the pleasure of visiting twice: once with a local friend of mine and again with Stewart in tow.

Here is the first dish I tried at Cru, formally the Jade Cafe: Raw Pad Thai. The noodles were described as “root” on the menu with no other specifics, and they were impossibly long and unbelievably thin. It came with bell peppers, cucumbers, cabbage, cilantro, lime wedges, and a spicy sauce which my server informed me was not peanut based. Whatever they used, it was sure tasty. I finished my entire meal, washed down with a glass of watermelon juice.

My friend had the Bento Box:

Lots of tasty marinated vegetables including collard greens, mushrooms, avocados, sprouts, cucumbers, carrots and red cabbage. She at all of hers as well.

Desert! Desert was amazing. A raw key lime pie:

It had pistachio “crust” which wasn’t crusty at all, but was still appreciated. The filling was tart, smooth, and unidentifiable. It was topped with fresh kiwis and coconut cream. This was so good I ordered it again when we stopped in the next day, but the second iteration was way too tart for my liking.

We also got a scoop of their chocolate gelato after a strong recommendation from the server, and it was delicious. I was afraid it’d be gritty or have a disturbing vegetal aftertaste, but it was perfectly chocolaty and creamy:

Black Lentil Strudel from Fatty’s

The worst pictures of the trip were taken here, at Fatty’s and Co in Pasadena. I had to battle the romatic low-light ambiance with nothing but a camera phone. My apologies.

First up was my meal, their Black Lentil Strudel: crispy wedges of strudel balanced on freshly steamed broccoli, surrounded by a nut based bechamel sauce. It was topped with a balsamic reduction and little purple flowers. The whole thing was delicious, and I nearly licked my plate clean.

Stewart ordered the Cacciatore:

I’m still uncertain as to what the little sand castle-like structure actually consisted of, but it seemed to be vegetables (specific, I know) that were tossed in a marinara sauce that Stewart was quite fond of.

The vegetables were surrounded by a barbeque sauce and wedges of zucchini. He said both parts of the meal were good on their own, but not mixed together.

We didn’t have room for dessert, but we ordered the Apple Pie A La Mode anyway:

It was a very decent specimen of apple pie. Delicious and served warm, but not by any means spectacular. The soy ice cream was standard, no surprises there either.