Meghan Drinks Local: Juice Week!

Photo: faithfulprovisions.com

This week, Meghan Eats Local will become Meghan Drinks Local, as I focus on three awesome raw juice bars I’ve recently discovered. I make a lot of juice myself at home, but after finding myself in a bit of a recipe rut (a girl can only drink so much beet juice), I decided I needed some inspiration.

Since pressed raw juice is absolutely delicious, establishments dedicated to creating and selling it are popping up all around southern California. I am not sure why pressed raw juice is just becoming cool now. It seems like it should have been one of the very first cool things, when the first snarky cool kid demonstrated his worth to his community of hunter-gatherers by crushing the hell out of a mango.

But, like stand-up paddleboard yoga, some seemingly obvious things take a surprisingly long time to catch on (seriously, what could go wrong?). And hey, when you need a pick-me-up during the day, fresh juice is clearly a much better option than, say, a chocolate bar you found kind of melted into the lining at the bottom of your purse.

A lot of these new juiceries proudly serve “cold-pressed” juice. If you’re thinking to yourself, “I know what pressed juice is! That’s when I use my hands to squeeze the very last drops out of my Motts apple juice box during snack time,” just listen to yourself. Don’t be ridiculous. – Self

Pressing the juice out of produce (rather than grinding it) keeps vital nutrients, minerals, and enzymes from oxidizing. All the good stuff stays in the juice and when you drink it, your body can absorb it quickly. The raw fruits and vegetables are pulverized into a pulp, from which juice is then crushed. About three pounds of produce yields one bottle of cold-pressed juice!

The “cold” part just means the juice is “raw,” in that it hasn’t been heated above 105 degrees Fahrenheit. People who commit to a raw diet won’t consume anything that’s been cooked, and that can be difficult and limiting – so raw juice is a great option for those of us who don’t want to grow dreadlocks or figure out how to make our own pasta out of shredded zucchini.

I’ll be covering three juiceries that use fresh, raw, locally sourced ingredients. Reviews to come over the next week! This week, “drinking local” doesn’t mean getting tipsy on wine tastings.

Say "YES!" to Gratefulness

Yesterday, my sister and I met our cousin, Laura, and her boyfriend, Jan, for lunch at Café Gratitude on Larchmont. It’s become quite the vegan hotspot and a whole section of its menu is dedicated to raw food.

The first thing I noticed after sitting down was the chalkboard directly in my line of vision. On it in big, pink script was written, “Question of the day: What are you saying YES to?”

Hmph. What am I saying YES to? Right off the bat, I was torn between giving in to my deep-down touchy-feely hokey-pokey instincts and raising one eyebrow in a combination of skepticism and scorn. Skeptiscorn, if you will.

I was distracted from my skeptiscorn because our menus arrived. Café Gratitude is not satisfied with just being grateful itself. It wants its customers to be grateful, too, and the titles of the menu items are constant reminders.

Instead of indicating in some way the food you will be served, each title strives to be more empowering than the last. They all follow the formula: “I Am [insert positive new-agey adjective here].”

For example, I ordered grilled organic polenta with puttanesca sauce (which is just seasoned tomato sauce), cashew ricotta, and brazil nut parmesan. It was called “I Am Warm-Hearted.”

"I Am Warm-Hearted"

My sister ordered the handmade corn tacos with brown rice, black beans, salsa roja, guacamole, and cashew naco cheese. It was called “I Am Transformed.”

"I Am Transformed"

This might be obvious, but the food titles didn’t necessarily offer any insight as to what the food itself might be like. They did, however, influence my choices a bit. Did I feel “vibrant”? “grounded”? “dazzling,” perhaps? Apparently my cousin Laura felt “complete:” almond hummus, olive tapenade, live falafels and mint tzaziki sauce.

"I Am Complete"

The coffee is not called coffee. Instead it is called “I Am Courageous.” When my sister ordered it, the server who delivered it came to our table and instead of saying, “Here’s your coffee, lady,” she said, “You are courageous.”

I don’t know if my sister felt particularly courageous for drinking coffee, but I can tell you this: after eating “I Am Warm-Hearted,” I sure felt warm-hearted. And not in a bad, acid-refluxy way. Maybe it was the power of suggestion, I don’t know.

We all agreed that our meals were flavorful and satisfying, even if they didn’t all fulfill the implications of their names (Jan ate “I Am Magical,” but it’s not like he’s pulling off an Expelliarmus spell anytime soon).

The best part about Cafe Gratitude, in my opinion, is the meal called "I Am Grateful." It's by donation, meaning if you can't afford to pay for it, you don't have to. The suggested donation is $7, or you can pay $14 and the rest of the money will go toward someone else's meal. This is the first restaurant I've been to with an option like this, and I hope it catches on. I'd much rather provide someone in need with shredded kale, quinoa, and black beans with a garlic-tahini sauce than a few spare coins.

And that is how I overcame my skeptiscorn. The next time someone asks if I want to eat at Café Gratitude, I’ll “say YES!” to that.