Raw Food Dinner at Zia's Cafe, Towson, MD

A little over a month ago, I was invited with some local foodie friends to Zia's Cafe in Towson for their monthly raw food dinner. I was a bit skeptical as my prior experiences with eating raw food resulted in me grabbing a slice of pizza afterwards as it just was not very filling, and I was ready to go get a burger across the street should the meal turn out to be not very satisfying.
We started with an slightly sweet apple-butternut squash soup. It was a bit odd at first to have this served not piping hot. The chef told us this was done via prolonged puree in a blender. Because the squash was raw, it had a slight texture of apple sauce. It was a nice starter though.

The second course was a beet root salad with some fennel, greens, and topped with a surprisingly good vanilla vinaigrette.
The combination of flavors was interesting: some earthiness from the beet, the licorice flavor of the fennel, and the sweet vanilla.








The main course was a timbale which was a large greens leaf filled with mushrooms. It arrived on a bed of greens and cherry tomatoes in a sesame, coconut amino and ginger marinade. The leaf was a bit much in it's raw state, but the mushrooms and the small salad were very good.

Dessert was a wonderful fig tart with a cashew butter filling and a walnut crust. This was really good, and by the end of the meal, I was unable to finish this because I was too full. All in all, the dinner was a good experience.
By the way, the next one is planned for this Saturday, Nov. 5th.

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13 Allegheny Avenue
Towson, MD 21204-3908
(410) 296-0799

Smoked coconut club sandwich at Memphis Tap Room, Philadelphia

We found ourselves at the Memphis Tap Room in the Fishtown section of Philly, and just had to try their famous vegan club sandwich. Yep, we said it - the evil V word - "Vegan." The "bacon" was made from smoked coconut, with tofu as the "meat" and a tomato-based "mayonnaise."

The chef did an amazingly great job mimicking the crisp-chewy texture of real bacon, and capturing its smoky flavor. I never would have believed I was eating coconut.

See below to see how it's made:



Memphis Tap Room
2331 East Cumberland Street
Philadelphia, PA 19125
215-425-4460