Raw Adventure #2: Boston!

So as part of my New Year's resolutions (which I'm starting early), I've decided to start blogging more frequently (for real this time!) More specifically, we're currently on our end of 2009 trip to Massachusetts, more specifically to Boston and the awesome town of Salem. The not so great part? Having to wake up at 6am and being on the bus for 8 hours... I don't think my body knows what to do with itself when it sits for that long. Anyhoo, that was lots of time to catch up on some raw food reading, I've been reading up on the amazingly fit and talented Tonya Kay's diet and workouts, and watched a raw documentary called "Raw for Life: The Ultimate Encyclopedia of the Raw Food Lifestyle" I randomly found online.

I think David Wolfe (who was in it) looks like such an awesome guy to know. He just seems so holistically happy and positive. Every time I've seen or heard him interviewed he seems to bouncy and excited and lives life with the wonderment you only ever see in a child. I want to live with that kind of awe my whole life too. That's what I love about everyone I've met who has also adopted a raw food diet, they seem so much more grounded than people in the standard world, so much more in tune with others and everything around them.

But more about our trip: We started our day at 6am. Don't like to eat early, so just headed out. We left our apartment much to the dismay of our kitty who spend all night sleeping on our backpacks to let us know he wasn't so cool with the idea of being ditched again... it's too cute. Shared an orange about 9:30am on the bus, then had an apple around 10:30am. I got hungry around noon so had a slice of dehydrated papaya, a dried apricot, and a couple pieces of ginger (which we bought at High Vibe in NY last week). Yum. Got to NY and had to feed Andrew whose muscle mass makes him need to eat about 3 times as much as I do... With only one hour between buses we were lucky to find the Loving Huton 7th Ave. (near 30th St.?), which serves 100% vegan non-MSG food! Good find! Like most places in NY, the setting was pretty sterile and the place tiny, but the food was just what we needed. I also loved that they had subtle yet powerful vegan propaganda at their counter.

We started out with steamed (not so raw, I know) edamame:

I then had an awesome seaweed salad with ginger dressing, while Andrew had a protein salad (with barley and mock chicken).

Got back on the bus to Boston where we snacked on a couple pieces of the best vegan chocolate ever (will remember its name later). Andrew had a slice of my raw banana bread and of my raw nopal-chia-chili bar inspired by a bar also recently bought in NY (will also post recipe when we get back).

Then, we headed up to the North End of a Boston for a trip to Grezzo ('raw' in Italian) run by the Goddess of all Raw Food Restaurant Restaurateurs in Boston: Alissa Cohen. Oh... My... Raw.. God.

If restaurants could get more than 5 stars, it would get one hundred and fifty six. It epitomized raw food in all its glory. I can't even begin to describe. One of the most appealing things about Grezzo's is their absolutely beautiful platage (which I hope I have captured in these photos). What you see really does add to what you taste.

We started off with the Grezzo Sliders that were recommended to us by a friendly Bostonian we met at Quintessence in NY last week (thank you Sarah!):

We then shared a plate of Raw Gnocchi in a 'Carbonara' Sauce with English peas and sprouts.

And the orgasm of culinary orgasms: teriyaki papaya steak (made to have the texture of salmon) with zucchini-carrot fettucini and a tower of radishes and pickled cucumbers.

To finish off, we couldn't help but get dessert, which was an apple pie pave with clove raw ice cream and lucuma caramel (cloves + ice cream = yum) and a raw sundae (a to die for denseness of raw brownie goodness, raw vanilla ice cream, shaved brazil nuts, and raw chocolate sauce.)

Oh ya, and Andrew had raw nog too, which I only had the chance to photograph post-first sip (it came to us very pretty with a ball of vanilla ice cream in the middle + those pretty Brazil Nut shavings).

Got back to the Radisson (our hotel), and went for a workout after too little digestion time (for me anyway). Attempted 20 minutes of intervals on the treadmill and stretching, which went only moderately well because of too much food too soon. Oh well. At least I got to DO something today. My body really wanted to RUN!

All in all, Grezzo's was by far the most satisfying raw food experience I've had as of yet. We're going to go back tomorrow for lunch when I think I'll also pick up Alissa Cohen's book before we head off to Salem (which seems rather raw food deplete... good thing I've packed enough organic fruits and home-made bars to last us 2 days, just in case!). Join me tomorrow for more of my New England culinary adventures!