Rockin' Raw

Rockin'n Raw is a raw vegan restaurant at 178 North 8th Street, Brooklyn, NY. It specializes in organic, Peruvian, New Orleans, Creole style, living cuisine. The atmosphere is calm and welcoming. Defiantly the sort of place you need time to enjoy, unless you're ordering food in advance to go. Though the restaurant was almost empty, service was slow.

I ordered Tallarines ala Huancaina. A spicy zucchini pasta in Peruvian aji/nut cheese sauce, choclo, mushrooms and peppers (as shown above). They weren't kidding about the spicy description either. This dish has bite, in the most positive way imaginable. If you love spicy food, this cheesy pasta dish is a definite recommendation. Perfectul portioned to fill you up and reasonably priced for the size and quality at $14. I scraped my plate clean which is always a good sign.

For dessert, I ordered the Lucuma Cheesecake (as seen below) and a piece of Banana Bread to go. The cheesecake was a good texture. No overwhelming flavor so probably best for classic cheesecake lovers, though they have a classic cheesecake option as well. They had a crusted cacao layer on the top and bottom which didn't seem necessary and could have been far more chocolatey for my taste. However, I enjoyed it and couldn't complain about the $9 price for NY raw vegan cheesecake. The banana bread was too sweet for my taste and the cinnamon cream filling (which I was really looking forward to) was more flaky than anything and didn't really add much to the dessert at all. As far as desserts go this restaurant has one of the best selections I've seen though. It would be a great place to go, even for a treat. All desserts are visible in a glass display case so you can let your eyes do the choosing for you.

On top of their vast food variety, Rockin' Raw also has a wide array of smoothies, milkshakes, fresh juices, tea, coffee, cocktails, wine and beer. No shortage of choice anywhere here, which I love. It's places like this that keep me coming back so I can try everything. It all just looks and sounds amazing.

Rating: 9.5/10
http://www.rockinraw.com/

Pumpkin Recipes

I bought a pumpkin this Halloween and am still coming up with creative ways to use the leftovers. Here are just a few of the recipes I came up with that turned out absolutely delicious.

-Raw Vegan Pumpkin Pie-

Crust:
1/4 cup pumpkin seeds
3/4 cup walnuts
1/2 cup pecans
pinch of sea salt
10 deglet dates or 5 medjool dates

Filling:
2 cups of raw pumpkin
1/2 a can of coconut milk
1 medium carrot (washed and unpeeled)
1/2 cup soaked raisins (30m or so)
4 deglet dates or 2 medjool dates
pinch of sea salt
pinch of nutmeg
1 tsp of cinnamon
6 tbsp soy lecithin

Instructions:

In a food processor, blend up all the nuts and sea salt for the crust until they're just a bit crumbly. Then add the dates and blend until it forms a ball or gets pasty enough to hold together if you press it with your fingers. Press it into a glass pie dish and place in the fridge or freezer.

For the filling, first blend the pumpkin and coconut milk in a high speed blender until smooth. Then add chopped up carrot, raisins, dates and spices, blending again till smooth. Finally, add the lecithin and give it a good blend until it's thoroughly disputed throughout the mixture.

Remove crust from the freezer and fill with the pumpkin filling. Place in the fridge over night so it can set. The next day it should be ready to serve.

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-Pumpkin Pie Smoothie-

Having not much in my fridge one day, i resorted back to my frozen pumpkin for breakfast ideas. This was the result.

1 cup unsweetened almond milk
3/4 cup frozen pumpkin
2 medjool dates
1 tsp coconut oil
1 tbsp hemp seeds
3 tbsp plain goats yogurt (soy or coconut would work if you're vegan)
1 tsp cinnamon
3 cardamom pods (seeds)
a pinch of sea salt
5 ice cubes

Blend it all together in a high speed blender and you're all set. Pumpkin pie filling in a glass. This smoothie is pretty thick and filling so it makes a great breakfast.