Pure Food And Wine - Raw Cuisine

Rating:




Name: Pure Food And Wine
Location: 54 Irving Place and 17th, NYC
Price: $302 for 4
Server: Courtney
Cuisine: Raw Food/Vegan
Chef:Who Knows Really - but the PROPRIETOR is: Sarma Melngailis & Matthew Kenney

Pure Food and Wine is a Raw Food Vegan Restaurant in the Union Square area of Manhattan. When you first enter the restaurant, an amazon hostess tall enough to play professional basketball greets you and takes your coats. She gives you a ticket just like a fancy schmancy nice restaurant. Our party of 4 got seated right away and presented with the menu's.

The colors in the dining room are nice. Harlot red and dark wood, but the tables are all really close together. Since Myste doesn't shower much, we felt bad for the true vegetarians who had to breathe her meat sweat in. The lighting is low and sexy, but the music sounded like chanting in the background. Evidently it was a mix of New Order, White Stripes and Hendrix - but it was so crappy sounding you couldn't make it out. There's a series of duck paintings on the wall that seem to mock your inability to have any meat, but do look pretty cool.

The napkins on all 4 place settings were practically country kitchen table cloths. They can double as a blanket should you get cold. Seriously. One is enough for 4.

The crowd is just not cute. No getting around it, these are not your supermodels, but then neither are we. To quote our friend Charles "so buckled they can hold my pants up." Or another Charles quote "money is no cover for a good face." He's even saltier (and perpetually single) than we are. (this is Charles)

















And this is a guest, notice Myste pointing at our subject here:


We thought the crowd was dressed well and upwardly mobile. Maybe even transplants from LA. They most likely all went to liberal arts colleges and read blogs (hopefully not this one). They're probably buzz hunters in search of the newest Eco-friendly swanky restaurant around. They found it, they were nice enough to let us in too.

The wine list has a guide on it for the non-consciously aligned wine buyer. You have O for Organic, S for Sustainable Farm Practices, B for Biodynamic (big word, no translation), V for Vegan (no shit). The wine list was admittedly pretty crappy, even without said guide. Their choices are probably limited, but come on. We ordered a Yamhill Pinot Noir for the first course. It was raisiny and light bodied, but pretty good. Our server paused mid wine service to hold the bottle aloft above Myste's head while she yammered at another table. Pretty cool.

Between the 4 of us, we ordered Sushi rolls with asparagus and some other stuff in it. The star of the night was a pear salad with a cashew nut cheese that knocked us out. Just order at least 2 of those and no one will fight. We also had the mushroom croquette thingys. They were tangy and stringy and texturally strange, but good. Final appetizer was the thai lettuce wrap with tamarind sauce. We need spice, and there weren't none. They were otherwise ok.

The service really was great. They were on top of their Mis En Place (that's fancy for get me my silverware bitch). The water was always full, and they wiped our tables in between courses. They employ the fancy fold napkin whilst you're peeing technique as well.

Courtney patiently re-answered all our ignorant menu questions. She knew her shit.

With our second course, we had a bottle of Donorara (or sumthin like that) Malbec. Fresh glasses and uninterrupted wine service. We ordered the Stuffed Red Pepper, Chilli Lime Tortilla Wraps, a Smoked Portobello Something, and the Zucchini Lasagne, which was a freaking disaster - more on the Lasagne later.

The Red Pepper was awesome. Again, that cashew nut cheese is a miracle. We loved it. It was beautifully plated (see our blurry photo) and very well balanced in flavor.

The Chilli Lime Tortilla Wraps made Charles more happy than the crowd did, but we thought they were gooey guacamole fests. The Smoked Portobello Thingy was delicious and savory. Smoking a portobello is genius. Seriously. Finally, the Zucchini Lasagne. Wow. Just wow. This thing was fucking horrid. It was purdy, and clearly took a long time to prepare. Pesto, fresh sliced and layered zucchini and tomatoes with that cashew cheese. That's all good on paper. But it was also SOAKED in this tomato paste that tasted like a sugar bowl was dropped into it. No savory, no texture, just blah.

For desert we had the Ice Cream Sundae with 4 spoons. This was a party in your mouth. Coconut/Cashew and Cherry goodness. MMMMM No espresso to lube you up though. Only $5 teas. Get real. Witness how much was left over:

















Bottom line: We had a great time. The food is mostly good, and actually filling. The wine list needs some help, but bring good company and maybe your own wine (or get trashed earlier than your reservation somewhere else) and it's a great night out. A grown up restaurant with a future forward menu. So hot this year.