21938 Thu Nov 07 11:57:04 -0800 2002 9 1 San Francisco Bay Area 0 80240 Monday night we went to Roxanne's to see what all the fuss is about. Before I go on I will say that we went with a friend who is a business acquaintence of the restaurant GM. That being said, the level of service was high throughout the restaurant and everybody seemed to be enjoying their food as much as we did. We were very impressed with the scope of the menu - we had an enhanced version of the Chef's tasting menu that reminded me of the French Laundry in it's own way. The GM and the chef de cuisine have both worked at the Chicago Ritz Carlton - they know what they're doing. Early on in the dinner I decided to stop analyzing the food and just enjoy the beautiful morsels that were being presented to us. The flavors were bright, clean and very tasty. Started with an herbal potion - the Unwind was a mellow blend with passionfruit, guava, strawberry, lemon balm, etc....others tried the Diamond Mind (for mental clarity & memory) with amaretto java, ginkgo biloba, schizandra and Siberian ginseng root - pleasant but the Unwind was more interesting. Tomatoes - 4 ways - was the first presentation: a large square white plate that had four smaller white square plates - each with a different tomato presentation....one had some 100 year old balsamic vinegar - good tomato flavors through out. I can't remember the exact order so I'm just going to list the dishes we sampled .... a Mediterranean plate with three items: dolma, hummus, greek salad. Sea vegetable salad. Thai sampler plate: Pad Thai noodles (young coconut), summer roll & Thom Kha Soup. Summer fruit soup. Hearts of Romaine salad (Caesar like). Lasagna terrine. Mango sorbet. Dessert fourplex: apple/huckleberry compote, a chocolate banana thing, chocolate layered creation and a lovely creme brulee. Quite an evening - we were there for three and a half hours. Definitely worth a visit. The health benefits are an added bonus. Link: http://www.roxraw.com Thu Nov 07 11:57:04 -0800 2002 0 gordon wing 1 80365 I'm sure the service was wonderful, and the food too, but I just can't swallow (sorry) her line about the so-called health benefits of a raw diet. Fri Nov 08 11:26:29 -0800 2002 80240 0 Janet A. Zimmerman 2 80397 As someone else pointed out, the large amount of oil used to get the desired textures may outweigh the health benefits of the vegetarian meal. Fri Nov 08 14:59:23 -0800 2002 80365 0 Bay Gelldawg 3 80415 I'm not talking about the undeniable benefits of including raw fruits and vegetables in one's diet, I'm talking about the claims by the "raw foods movement" that a completely raw diet is healthy. To claim that cooking is unhealthful per se, or that all raw foods are more healthful than cooked foods, is simply ridiculous. Cooking legumes and grains is what enables most of the world to survive; only the most wealthy societies have enough foods available and can manipulate them without cooking to derive enough calories and nutrients to live. Sure, cooking decreases the nutrients in some foods, but it increases them in others. Fri Nov 08 16:30:52 -0800 2002 80397 0 Janet A. Zimmerman 4 80418 I agree, but I don't think you have to buy into the philosophy to enjoy an imaginative, well-prepared meal. Or was it just Gordon's comment about the health benefits you were objecting to, not the restaurant itself? Fri Nov 08 16:47:28 -0800 2002 80415 0 Ruth Lafler 5 80446 I'm sure the food can be enjoyed on its own merits; I've heard many compliments about the restaurant. As an approach to preparing food, the raw thing is interesting, if unsustainable. I just get a little bothered by the health claims, and wanted to offer an alternative view of that aspect. Fri Nov 08 18:23:06 -0800 2002 80418 0 Janet A. Zimmerman 6 80475 I realize that by adding in my final comment about the health benefits probably gave it added importance but I didn't really mean to do that. More accurately, I should have wrtitten: the health benefits, if you so believe, are an added bonus. I don't have the expertise or the fervor to argue for the health benefits or to disbunk them but I chose to judge our evening on the merits of the food and the service. And although the nut "butters/cream" were rich I definitely felt a lot lighter/better? after eating this food than a comparable menu made with butter/cream/demiglace in each course......not that it's a bad thing (apologies to Seinfeld). Whether or not you choose to believe the health claims, they are taking the preparation of fruit & vegetables to another level of sophistication - I enjoyed their efforts. Sat Nov 09 00:45:18 -0800 2002 80446 0 gordon wing 1 80384 Some questions re this uncooked food emerge: Dolmas: what did they use instead of cooked rice? Hummus: What did they use instead of cooked garbonzos? Creme Brulee: How can you carmelize sugar without flame? Fri Nov 08 13:34:13 -0800 2002 80240 0 Sharuf 2 80470 To make "rice," they puree parsnips with pine nuts. For "hummus," they soak almonds and cashews then blend them (link to story with recipe below). Haven't heard anything about the sugar for the creme brulee. Link: http://www.sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cgi?file=/chronicle/archive/2002/04/17/FD211598.DTL Fri Nov 08 23:15:49 -0800 2002 80384 0 squid-kun 3 80473 thanks for the help on questions 1 and 2....for they creme brulee they do use a torch ....and yes I'm sure that the flame is above 118*F - but hey, it's dessert and I guess a stickler could scrape off the torched part if that bothered them. It's lightly bruleed but heated nevertheless. Sat Nov 09 00:28:54 -0800 2002 80470 0 gordon wing