Photo by A.C. McCall
The food and the percussive dance music were so much fun,
I couldn’t resist getting up and dancing--although not on the table!

On my annual food vacation in New York, I feasted on creations from the inventive chefs at Pure Food and Wine, Blue Green Café, and Quintessence. My NY, NJ, and PA friends were wonderful dining companions, adventurers to the core. My friend Amy and I trekked miles in the windy cold to experience the tasty, thrillingly inventive food at The Plant’s Blue Green Café in DUMBO ("down under the Manhattan Bridge overpass").

The Plant is a 4,000 square foot space in which chefs prepare dishes served in the four Blue Green cafés in NYC and CT. Each dish we ate was more wonderful than the next. My faves were the corn tortilla chips with macadamia nut hummus, and the "very berry" (dairy-free, raw) ice cream. The food and the percussive dance music were so fun, I couldn’t resist getting up and dancing--although not on the table!

At Quintessence, in the East Village, I snacked on a raw vegan "bagel and creme cheese," which came close to the cooked variety in both taste and texture, if not looks. And the Mexican Chili--"a hearty stew with marinated garden vegetables and wild rice in an authentic Mexican-spiced chipotle pepper soup, served with a dollop of [raw vegan] sour crème"--was as compelling as any raw dish I’ve ever tasted.

Then there was the wintery Saturday night when my friend Richard and I feasted on a dazzling array in the Union Square hotspot Pure Food and Wine, a dark restaurant abuzz with conversation and lit with tiny halogens, where waiters serve exquisite creations on huge white plates. We shared two appetizers: Spicy Thai Lettuce Wraps with Tamarind Chile Sauce, ginger, mango, nappa cabbage and cashews, and Creamy Cauliflower Samosas with Banana Tamarind Sauce, mango chutney, garam masala and mint.

For our entrées, we shared Chanterelle, Olive and Ricotta Ravioli with Fresh Herbs, pictachio oil and macadamia cream; and Biryani with Coconut Curried Vegetables, cardamom and coriander spiced "rice" and hunza raisins. For dessert, we had Mint Trio: Vanilla Mint, Peppermint and Orange ice creams paired with chocolate and spearmint; and Dark Chocolate Layer Cake, milk chocolate mousse, chocolate sauce, chocolate ice cream. Everything we ordered was splendid, and the chocolate cake was the most decadent tasting raw dessert I have ever eaten. This restaurant alone could get me to move back to Manhattan.

On the train back to Florida, I had dinner with a chef named Ryan, who trained at the prestigious Culinary Institute of America. He ate train food, pointing out that the lemon tart had obviously been frozen and defrosted because its crust wasn’t crisp. I had boarded the train prepared, knowing I wouldn’t get anything remotely interesting from the menu, given what I prefer to eat.

The night before, I cobbled together some ingredients, using whatever I had available in a foodie-unfriendly part of NJ, mixing a few pieces of pineapple with a lot of frozen wild blueberries and, for an unexpected note, some prune water. But hours later, the frozen blueberries had melted, and the dish was now more like blueberry soup. As I sat in the dining car, I poured the liquid into a cup and drank it, but not before offering a taste of the dessert to the chef I was dining with.

I later discovered that I had given the watery sample to a chef whose specialty happens to be making sauces using the reduction method (heating mixtures on the stove to evaporate the excess liquid and thicken them into sauces)! Reduction, he said, brings out the most intense flavor and adds dimension and depth to whatever is the main part of a dish--in his case, meat.

Note: Judy Pokras is the founder and editor of Raw Foods News Magazine and a food consultant helping people to transition to a healthier lifestyle.