Gratitude - a restaurant review

Vegan MoFo Theme: Healthy Vegan Brunch (and Breakfast) from A to Z

I'm taking a little break from the kitchen for letter G to write a restaurant review for one of the best healthier vegan brunches in Los Angeles. Cafe Gratitude - often lovingly referred to simply as "Gratitude". It's definitely what you feel after enjoying a meal here.

The restaurant chain, which has several locations throughout California, including two in the Los Angeles area, started in the San Francisco Bay Area. Each restaurant has a little bit different atmosphere, but all are based on a menu and a philosophy of love. The menu items are written not as descriptions, but as affirmations - "I Am...". When you order it's like making a commitment to yourself. And since Gratitude claims the food is 100% organic, it's making a commitment to the environment and the future of our planet.

My very first experience with Cafe Gratitude was at it's Berkeley, CA location while I was attending culinary school. Upon entering the cafe, I was greeted by a cheerful host offering a question of the day. It threw me off a little to be asked something along the lines of "what makes me feel peaceful?" or "what are you inspired by?" when getting ready to order food, but I played along and gave the question deep consideration. At the time, I was new to a lot of the foods that Cafe Gratitude was serving, and the concept of a primarily raw food restaurant, so I was in awe of what they had to offer. The first thing I tried was the "I am Adoring", their signature almond cake based tiramisu - and adoring I certainly was. To this day, even after trying several other desserts, it remains my favorite.

When Cafe Gratitude opened in Venice a couple years ago, I was thrilled to have them so close to home. With a mix of raw and cooked specialities, it opened a whole new opportunity for healthy, yet decadent, food on the Westside. Until recently, I'd only been there for lunches and dinners and was really excited to try their breakfast/brunch menu as it all looked delicious.

Recently, I convinced Jacques that we should go out for breakfast there and unable to make decisions, we had a little bit of a feast. We really enjoyed everything we ordered, although we probably wouldn't eat as much again in one sitting. It doesn't look like all that much in photos, but it was all fairly dense! We chose a mix of savory and sweet, raw and cooked items and I swear each thing we tasted was better than the last. Here's what we ordered:

I am WARM - Homemade gluten-free muffin with house made preserves. We chose a blueberry muffin and it was delish. Crisp and chewy on top, moist on the inside. 

I am PEACE - Raw onion sesame bagel with cashew cream cheese, nori “lox,” tomato, onion, capers and sprouts. The onion bagel was incredibly flavorful, very dense and filling. Jacques did not love this one, but I was all over it. The cream cheese was perfect and the creaminess of the avocado went so well with the saltiness of the capers and nori. I removed the onions since I'm not a fan of raw onion, and we also did it without tomato, but I really didn't feel like it was missing anything.  I can't imagine how someone would eat a bite of this with everything on it. 

                            

I am GROUNDED - Garlic roasted potatoes served with your choice of spicy nacho cheese or homemade chipotle ketchup. This one I have had several times before and is actually one of my favorite menu items. It's so simple and I could easily make it at home, but it's just so gratifying and homey. The potatoes are perfectly seasoned and crispy, and the nacho cheese sauce is so good I could (and probably would) eat it with nothing but a spoon.

                           

I am FANTASTIC - Raw cashew crêpe filled with fresh fruit and topped with coconut yogurt, maple syrup and pecans. Indeed it was fantastic! I think this may have been mutually our favorite dish of the morning. They could have served me the crepe alone without any filling and I would have been absolutely content. It was just so good! The coconut yogurt added an amazing slightly tart flavor that went well with the slight sweetness of the crepe. The fresh fruit made the whole thing feel healthier. This was probably the densest of all the dishes we'd split. Half of this alone could probably make a very satisfying meal. 

At the end, we passed on dessert and let the crepe stand in for that. Then the gracious server at Gratitude got out their biggest wheel barrow and helped us out the door. 

Hmmm... but I don't remember him asking us the question of the day.