Raw Vegan: A Fresh Take on Gourmet Dining

As the number of vegetarian and vegan eateries continues to grow across the United States, so too does the range of cuisine — from fast-food to food trucks to four-star dining. When it comes to gourmet vegan cuisine, a specific niche known as raw vegan is steadily gaining in popularity among vegans and meat-eaters alike. One of our favorites is Elizabeth’s Gone Raw in COK’s hometown of Washington, DC.

Open only on Friday evenings, Elizabeth’s creative menu delivers such an extraordinary dining experience that you’ll want to set aside a few hours so you can take your time to savor every bite of your six course meal, which changes each week.

Eat More Kale: every meal should start with a bottomless bowl of kale chips!

Amusing Pair: Featuring diced watermelon, and pistachios topped with pickled sweet onion, the amuse-bouche is sweet, crunchy, and rich. It lived up to its palate-pleasing promise.

Soup is cool: Pureed sweet corn, pepper, and tomatoes drizzled with oregano infused oil tasted like summertime in a bowl.

Bacon can be vegan. Pictured at the top of this blog, the bacon flan with tomato, horseradish aioli, and purslane may have been the highlight of the night for us. Loaded with a smoky bacon flavor, this coconut meat flan was a decadent delight offset by tart green tomatoes and crunchy, herbal purslane.

Sun fed, tree range. This rich and savory dish — the BBQ Sun Fed Tree Range ‘Chicken’ — is made mostly from cashews, and the is rice is actually a shredded green papaya. Layered with flavors of crunchy apple, sun-dried tomato, and collard greens, this dish was the most unique offering on the menu.

Finish strong: Just looking at this dessert out a smile on our faces. Chocolate Espresso Layer Cake made from coconut, dates, cocoa was sweet and satisfying, making it the perfect final memory of  the meal.

To learn more about raw food and try some recipes at home, check out ChoosingRaw.com.