Alive! San Francisco

[barose]

Thanks RawTruth!

VP - Ill be at the Ferry Building too today between interviews (yes, I'm looking for yet another job) :) , but more like 11:00 or a little earlier.

[Vegan Princess]

I usually go to lunch at 11. I'm aiming to go...just not 100% positive I can be gone that long - playing it by ear. Good luck at your interview! Hopefully I'll run into you. :)

Cindy

[Vegan Princess]

I loved my lunch from the Alive farmer's market booth today. I got a slice of lasagna and a slice of some sort of apricot cream pie/tart. The marinara in the lasagna was a little more pungent than I make it, but otherwise it was great. The apricot pie was INCREDIBILE. It looked beautiful and was probably one of the yummier raw desserts I've tasted. I was really impressed by it! It was a lightly apricot flavored crust with a nice creamy filling covered with what looked like glazed apricots. I'm not quite sure what he did to the apricots...I think they were soaked in something.

And I got to meet Barose...she ended up behind me in line. Nice to meet you Carla! Hopefully next time we can eat together.

Cindy

[barose]

I too had the lasagna and it was perfect for the running around I had to do today (I normally eat salad for lunch). I had a sample of the apricot pie (cheesecake?) and it was soooo good. The only reason why I didn’t get a piece is because I already had brownies in my purse. Now I wish I had!

It was nice seeing you too!

[the_lab_rat]

Oh, I already posted this somewhere else, but... YES, that apricot pie is amazing, isn't it? That was one of the reasons I wanted to go to the actual restaurant--everything I've had at the farmer's market was delicious! I had the pie last week, and still LOVED it even though I was a bit burnt out on apricots (we have a tree that produced 300+ apricots and I'd been eating 10-12 per day.)

Totally cool you guys got to meet! I go to that market all the time, so maybe I'll run into one of you awesome people someday while in line for raw pie

[Lhorses]

Sorry, I have not found Gratitude to have better service, larger portion sizes, better food, lower prices, and non-communal seating.

I've gone to Alive! and Cafe Gratitude several times and they are totally different. Alive! is much smaller and generally much less crowded. Therefore, it's been generally faster for me there.

It obvious Alive! was purposely made small to insure quality and comfort. The restaurant and garden could easily have much more tables. I really like the fact that the chef/owner, Leland, is usually at Alive! and their Ferry Building Stand actually making the food.

Alive! focus is more with the food and artistry. Gratitude focus is more with lifestyle and philosophy The two restaurants are totally different and both are great.

Also, I don't quite understand complaining about any raw food restaurant being being full. Do we want them to be empty? Cafe Gratitude is always full and has communal seating. The wait times you mentioned are about the same at Gratitude when it's packed, although I've never had to wait that long at Alive! when I've gone there. The final bill you mentioned is the same or less when I'm at Gratitude.

With the closure or conversion to cooked food of almost all the raw food restaurant besides Cafe Gratitude in the Bay Area, I think we should support all raw restaurants. My experience with Alive! has been fantastic. Why slam this small place publicly with just one experience and tell people to go to the giant?

[RawTruth]

Sorry, I have not found Gratitude to have better service, larger portion sizes, better food, lower prices, and non-communal seating.

. . .

With the closure or conversion to cooked food of almost all the raw food restaurant besides Cafe Gratitude in the Bay Area, I think we should support all raw restaurants. My experience with Alive! has been fantastic. Why slam this small place publicly with just one experience and tell people to go to the giant?

Excellent points, Lhorses.

I think many of us new to raw food (by new, I mean in the last 4-5 years) and living in urban areas take raw restaurants for granted. My long-time-raw friends tell how, until recently, the only way to meet, and eat with, other raw fooders was at potlucks. There were NO restaurants. I do feel that we must do whatever we can to support them all. Personally, I'd rather have a mediocre (or even overpriced) meal in a raw restaurant than end up having no choice other than an unimaginative salad in a cooked food restaurant.

In Southern California, we're lucky to have many raw choices. But, several of them are struggling, and a few have added cooked/baked items. None of them survive on only raw food customers; the majority of their clientele are either semi-raw or people who want organic, whole food meals. I'd hate to think any of them are steered away by any of our reviews.

Good food for thought. Thanks.

[barose]

I dont think Lab Rat's goal was to slam a raw restaurant - she was giving her experience. My experience was not hers as I noted; it seems she went on a bad night. If she had a bad experience, I dont see why she has to hide it, raw or not.

[the_lab_rat]

Also, I don't quite understand complaining about any raw food restaurant being being full. Do we want them to be empty? Cafe Gratitude is always full and has communal seating. The wait times you mentioned are about the same at Gratitude when it's packed, although I've never had to wait that long at Alive! when I've gone there. The final bill you mentioned is the same or less when I'm at Gratitude.

With the closure or conversion to cooked food of almost all the raw food restaurant besides Cafe Gratitude in the Bay Area, I think we should support all raw restaurants. My experience with Alive! has been fantastic. Why slam this small place publicly with just one experience and tell people to go to the giant?

LHorses,

Maybe it would help if you actually read the whole thread. If you had, you'd see no one was slamming Alive. My complaints weren't about the fact that it's tiny or full, the sharing of tables, or the price alone. We didn't want to share a table because the people we would've been sharing it with very obviously did not want company. We were perfectly happy to sit outside--as I said, I thought the patio was very cute--but we were freezing after having to wait over 2 hours, and their heaters didn't work. The price was more than we usually pay, and the waitress 'misplaced' half my leftovers. I explained this in my first post.

Also, I didn't tell anyone to go to "the giant" instead. In fact, I recommended to Barose that she try Alive, and even said I would go back because I thought I'd come on an off night. And like Barose said, these are just MY opinions. I'm glad you've had better experiences at Alive, that's great; my experience wasn't so great, and I should be free to write about that. I fully support raw restaurants; I've lived in areas that didn't even have vegetarian restaurants, which is why I'm even willing to pay that much at a raw place. But supporting raw places shouldn't mean I can only write a review if my experience was wonderful. That isn't "slamming," it's just the honest facts.

Peace,
--the lab rat

[BlueKiss]

Well I have read this entire thread and laughed out loud at Lab Rat eating so many apricots. Sounds yummy and glad you did not turn into one:) Also...are you sure about the non-GMO SL being that bad? I finally learned how to get my desserts to set wth it Does anyone know how to purchase the irish moss? Does it come dried and then you re-soak it? Anyway. I am planning on starting a raw catering co. in the bay area and need my desserts to hold up. I also really wanted to take that chocolate dessert class at CG as well but had to work that day. I will for sure be taking the next one.

[Vegan Princess]

Bluekiss: CG sells the Irish Moss in their refridgerator case. I don't think it's dried. It's seaweed - you need to rinse it really well and then I think as long as you keep it in water in the fridge it should last pretty long.