Milwaukee, WI

[Blazin'Jane]

Are there any Raw Food Restaurants there? I'll be there the first of May and wouldn't want to miss an oportunity to eat raw somewhere. Thanks :)

[banana shake]

Jane... so funny that your post is right near the top... I was just coming into this section to write a review of Cafe Manna, just outside of Milwaukee in Brookfield. Here's the website...

http://www.cafemanna.com

A friend and I went last week while we were in town at a home show to buy Vita-mixes. The Cafe is not all raw, lots of vegan/organic/whole foods recipes, but they have at least one raw item in each menu category. This was my first experience with raw dining outside of my own kitchen, and it was excellent! My friend and I shared...

* the fennel/citrus salad: very good/not listed as a raw option, but I'm not sure what the non-raw component would have been. I wanted to try this because it sounded similar to a salad in RFRW, but I don't think it was the same recipe because it contained a lot of baby greens. Like I said, though, it was very good.

* the crunchy nutty sandwich: I make onion bread at home & usually have it with avo/cucumber/sprouts, but it has never been as good as this one! Maybe it's just the whole thing of having someone else make me a sandwich- it always seems to taste better, doesn't it?! This was served with...

* chopped rainbow salad: it was okay. i felt like I could have made it. The sandwich was also served with...

* a variety of chips: zucchini, yellow squash, and, especially awesome, kale chips. I make kale chips at home every other day, usually with a cheeze sauce, but these (I asked) were just glazed with balsamic & dehydrated, and they were excellent- I'll definitely try to reproduce these at home! And then there was dessert...

* banana-fig pudding: Soooo good! Such a simple combination that is much more than the sum of its parts! And, the very best part, they gave me the recipe when I was asking about what exactly was in it!

Prices were very reasonable. We were under $70 for two, including tip & three organic cocktails (beer/wine) apiece. Overall, an EXCELLENT experience, and I'm pretty darn sure it wasn't just because I have no raw restaurant reference point! So... go there, Jane, and let me know how your experience is!

[Blazin'Jane]

Great news! Thank so much. And thanks for includeing something about the actual food. I'm going to try to get there!!

[Blazin'Jane]

I AM going thee -- May 1st, and taking two non raw friends with me. I'm very excited. Stay tuned!

[Blazin'Jane]

Wow! What a treat it was to go to Cafe` Manna in Brookfield, just north of Milwaukee. I highly recommend this place. Thanks, so much Banana Shake, for publicizing it! My two non-raw friends and I just ate ourselves silly and it was all wonderful. We had a delightful chat with the owner/operator, who has taken pains to make this place beautiful, earth friendly in every way, peaceful, friendly, and full of good, good food. We were very imprressed. I think it's the nicest raw food place I've been to, and I very much appreciate the integrity with which the owner delineates clearly on the menu which items are vegan, which are, raw, and which are vegetarian (he uses a few eggs and dairy in some recipes, but not many, and is very clear in his communication about those. Excellent food! Excellent ambiance! Excellent service and hospitality. I'm going back in July and taking some more people with me!!

[Blazin'Jane]

And another thing about the area in general is that there is a good sized rawfood meetup group in Milwaukee. Check it out. Google rawfood meetup Milwaukee and you'll find it. (I am very grateful for rawfoodtalk.com, which allows us to find each other so well! Thanks, Alissa!)

[banana shake]

Jane... I'm so glad you made it there & so glad you had the same sort of wonderful experience I did! Please let us all know what you ate, what the stand-out items were; I love to hear other people's experiences on a plate by plate basis! :) Thanks again, & enjoy when you go back!

[Blazin'Jane]

I'm not real good at remembering what all I had. I was with 2 non-raw friends and we shared 3 entrees. One was the nutty crunchy sandwich, which was my favorite. We had the marinated portabello mushrooms. They were good, but I could have done 'em. The banana fig pudding was very good. The whole experience was just delightfu.! I have t go to Milwaukee again in July, so I'm going there again. 'Can't wait!