pure food and wine

pure food and wine
54 irving place
new york, ny
(212) 477 1010
www.purefoodandwine.com

type of cuisine: raw vegan
culinary excellence: 9
vegan friendliness: 10
*recommended*

pure food and wine is not the kind of restaurant that i imagine many people frequent on a regular basis, but whether you're gay or straight or black or white or asian, it is an experience that should be had at least once. i had the good fortune to visit there for the third time on monday night. the space is absolutely beautiful and the garden is a real sanctuary, so i do recommend going in the warmer months. the menu is entirely raw, which might ordinarily be off-putting, but the good people at pure food have elevated raw food to astronomical heights. wines are clearly marked organic, biodynamic, sustainable and/or vegan and they have an assortment of sake cocktails and sangria. i suggest starting with a mojito. they are pitch-perfect and in my opinion, preferable to some of the fancier cocktails, like the white light tini, made with green tea and lemongrass, which was light, refreshing and pretty, but underwhelming. felice got some sort of fruity cocktail that tasted like a fine, slightly alcoholic pink lemonade. the thought of a master cleanse tini was distressing after having attempted an actual master cleanse... yugghh...

my family and i ordered a number of appetizers or "first courses" to share. felice special ordered a giant green salad with tons of veggies in a vinaigrette. i got a plate of assorted dr. cow tree nut cheeses. i have been wanting to try dr. cow cheeses for a long time now and they did not disappoint! there were only three small wedges but they packed a punch, served with rosemary flax crackers, honeycomb, a super-sweet strawberry and mache. i can't remember what each of the cheeses were, but one was really smoky and another tasted kind of like halvah. a really nice starter. we also got king oyster mushroom scallops in a coconut lemongrass broth, which was interesting, but not one of my favorites. craig's hazelnut crostinis were delicious - little crackers with dollops of a pureed variety of dr. cow's. we also noshed on olives and pickled fennel with rosemary.

for our entrees, felice and i both ordered pure food's signature dish, the zucchini and heirloom tomato with basil-pistachio pesgo, sun-dried tomato sauce and macadamia pumpkin ricotta. this was bliss. $24 bliss. the tomatoes were plump and fresh, the ricotta unbelievable and the pesto rich and flavorful. highly recommended. craig got the sweet corn and cashew tamales, which we both agreed was wonderful, though we couldn't really make out any of the different flavors. the cacao mole sauce on the side was very spicy. mom got the three pizzettes, one with spinach pesto and arugula, one margherita pizza and one with crimini and kalamata olives. this was the perfect dish for her. it had very nice recognizable flavors with interesting italian seasonings. the "crusts" were almond and rosemary crisps. dad ordered some sort of seaweed croquettes, which he enjoyed, but i found to be a little dry. unfortunately, no one ordered the squash blossoms, but they sounded totally kick-ass.

even though we were all full from so many beautiful tastes, we order three desserts to share. dad and i got the trio of dark chocolate coated indian spiced ice cream treats. just one of these rich delicacies would have been more than enough to finish off our meal. they were super-rich, particularly the pistachio gelato ice cream sandwich. the mini cone with cardamom coconut ice cream was very special and the chai creamsicle was exquisite. i don't really understand how they got the chocolate to taste like that given the limitations of raw food prep, but it was sumptuous. the kind of chocolate where you only need a bite or two. mom got the chocolate passion fruit tart, which she seemed to enjoy, and craig and felice shared up some sort of coconut and pineapple sorbet in a little tart. very pure and refreshing.

the bill came to about $450. much gratitude was offered and we all left with a good feeling of having enjoyed really interesting, healthy, skillfully prepared and artfully presented food in a lovely oasis in manhattan on a clear early summer night.