Los Angeles

Look, it's me on top of the Capitol Records building!
I recently went to LA for work and had an awesome time. There is so much great food in this city! I was shocked to find raw food restaurants and juice bars all over the place. I could search "raw" or "vegan" on Yelp and find several options just around the corner from my hotel. You don't get that kind of variety in Nashville. 

So, here are a few of my favorites…

Euphoria Loves Rawvolution:

I'd heard Dara Dubinet mention this place several times, so I knew I had to try it. With a little spare time in between work events, I drove to Santa Monica to check out this restaurant. Taking my food to-go, I walked down to the beach and ate alone in the sunset. It was amazing. ELR is a completely raw vegan restaurant with numerous options of delicious, gourmet food. If you don't want to spend all day chopping, mixing, and dehydrating - let ELR do the work for you! I got a raw Italian pizza made with dehydrated raw onion bread, cashew cheese, and loaded with veggies. The great thing about dehydrated foods is that they are all natural, raw, gluten free, plant-based, and living!

Life Food Organic:Key lime pie… yes, please! This was the real deal. Made from nuts and limes, this pie was completely raw, completely vegan, and completely good for me. What I love about raw vegan desserts is that they are guilt-free! When you eat a whole-food such as fruit, you can eat it abundantly. I loved the layers in this pie and would love to try to make my own recipe soon. I went back to this spot the next day because I was craving some green juice. They had several fresh options, and I picked some spinach, kale, apple, lemon, ginger juice. Yum! If you're looking for a quick option, this restaurant has many foods prepared for take-away.

 

Cafe Gratitude:

Cafe Gratitude was about a mile from my hotel…so I went there everyday! They are another raw restaurant with an awesome breakfast, lunch, dinner, dessert, and juice menu. Check out this breakfast - banana chia seed crepe with fresh fruit, coconut cream, and pecans…amazing. Have you ever added ginger to your orange juice? Jenn added a fresh ginger shot to my juice one morning and it was so tasty and refreshing. Two thumbs up!