Pure Food and Wine
Contact Info:
Address: 54 Irving Place at 17th St
City: New York, NY
Zip: 10003
map: View the Map
Phone: (212) 477-1010
Food Info:
Cuisine:
Vegetarian
Cititour Review:
As you probably know by now, Pure Food & Wine, Matthew Kenney's first restaurant since he shuttered Commissary in April 2003, is a raw food restaurant—the menu features fruits, vegetables, seeds, nuts and sprouted grains that can be heated up to 118 degrees. (Keeping the food under 120F preserves enzymes, vitamins and minerals, allegedly helping digestion and absorption of vitamins and minerals.) Rabbit food to some, this is a full time diet for many, including Matthew and his chef-partner (and girlfriend) Sarma Melngailis, who claim that it yields a calmer mind, sounder sleep, constant supplies of energy and clear skin. Funny, I get those results with wine, expensive moisturizers, caffeine, and Tylenol PM, but I guess there's more than one way to reach your own personal Zen.
Kenney's raw magic—the art of turning sprouted seeds and nuts into "cheese" (by pureeing and dehydrating them with olive oil, lemon juice, sea salt and spices), of making rice from finely diced jicama, of transforming silky young coconut flesh into squiggly noodles or sheer sheets of pasta, of rolling out pizza dough from wheatberries, flax, hemp and amaranth (it is "cooked" in a dehydrator—a contraption that resembles a mammoth toaster), of fashioning soft corn tortillas from corn, red pepper and golden flax seeds (also "cooked" in the dehydrator)—was first made chic and delicious by chef Roxanne Klein, at her eponymous raw restaurant in the Bay Area.
Over the past few years, the raw food-vegan movement has grown, helped along by super-fit celebs like Woody Harrelson, Sting and Madonna. But with Pure Food and Wine, Matthew and Sarma hope to do to raw food what the Queer Eye do for Straight Guys every week—turn it into something hip, hot, tasty, and irresistible. From the looks of the place—low lit and swathed in deep red and rich wood, with an expansive and seductive outdoor garden—the Fab Five would be proud. Indeed, aside from the absence of fire, Pure Food seems like yet another chic boite; nothing overtly raw about it. The menu at Pure Food and Wine features satisfying, vibrant, and robustly-flavored (and very tasty) eats. So all you vegetable-fearing carnivores—banish visions of maniacal crudité from your heads. Appetizers are quite easy to devour with a smile on your face. Lots take the form of wraps or rolls. The mock sushi rolls are filled with shiitake avocado and pickled cucumber and served with a ginger and wasabi-soy dipping sauce. Thai Lettuce Wraps ($11) stuffed with mango, napa cabbage, ginger and cashews come with a tangy tamarind and chile sauce, and summer rolls—ribbons of cucumber tightly wrapped around green papaya and radishes—arrive with a great chile-coconut dipping sauce ($10). If you don't feel like dipping your appetizer, there's also a lovely tomato tartar gussied up with Thai basil, kafir lime and a green mango chutney.
Course number two will score you a killer zucchini and green zebra tomato lasagna ($20) layered with basil-pistachio pesto, sundried tomato sauce, wild mushrooms and pignoli ricotta—the best entrée on the list in my book. It is richly flavored, and truly delicious. I also liked the soft tacos (the tortillas are made from corn and red pepper, ($17), filled with avocado, tomato-lime salsa and spicy beans, and the thin "crust" pizza ($16) topped with hummus and marinated cucumber with green olives, tomato and za'atar. Did it look or taste like pizza? Not on your life. Was it tasty? Yes, if you set aside notions of what pizza is. Then again, while I thought it was good, but my friend said, "It's a cracker with hummus, and I can get one for $4."
There are also several "pasta" dishes. The red beet ravioli with yellow pepper puree ($18) is a cool dish—ruby red packages fashioned from sashimi of beets filled with a lemony-cashew filling. Ditto for the linguine-like pasta ($23) made from thin noodles cut from golden squash tossed with a creamy summer truffle sauce. My beef with this dish is that while the squash noodles approximated the taste of a bowl of pasta, the sauce was flat—too much truffle and not enough flavor. It needed a hit of salt, or spice, or both.
Desserts are quite good, especially when you consider that they are made with no sugar, butter, cream, or dairy. Chocolate Pudding ($7) is creamy and rich, and tastes terrific, topped with raspberries and mint. The chewy dark chocolate cookie ($9) with chocolate and pistachio ice creams, did not fare as well. It tasted like a Power Bar one night, but another, after the recipe was refined, was much more pleasant, though still not what you crave in a cookie—that soft, pliable texture in general doesn't do it for me. The watermelon carpaccio ($8) with lime basil and coconut lime ice cream drizzled with galangal syrup, however, is great—a bright and refreshing slip of summer, as is the frozen lemon mousse ($8) with blueberries and ginger snap crust. So what's the verdict on PFW? You should go. I think it is stunning food that is really quite enjoyable to eat, not to mention in a setting that takes you to a serene and far away place. My only issue with the food is that after a while it can start to taste the same—like salsa, rich hummus and vibrant pesto—all good—just replayed in your mouth over and over. Also, I must warn you, in as delicate a way possible, that if you are not used to eating raw (and I was not), you may not want to eat here either (a) on a date when you may be interested intimate activity afterwards, or (b) with your husband, wife, partner, or roommate with whom you share an apartment with only one bathroom.
Review By: Andrea Strong
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