Rawlicious serves healthy, delicious, raw vegan cuisine in a warm, inviting atmosphere.

Is this your first restaurant?

Yes.

When did it open?

April 2008.

Do you want to have more restaurants?

We hope to have many, many more and will definitely expand.

What’s your favorite dish on the menu?

The taco wrap—a seasoned nut loaf, salsa, almond cheese, and guacamole, wrapped in a collard leaf.

What’s your most popular appetizer?

Spring rolls with our Thai dipping sauce.

What’s the most popular entrée on the menu?

Soft corn tacos stuffed with walnut refried beans, guacamole, salsa, shredded romaine, and vegan sour cream.

What’s your most popular dessert?

Our blonde macaroons or cheesecake!

What do you feel is special about your restaurant?

Despite our cold climate and the economic temptation to serve cooked food, we have remained one-hundred percent raw from the beginning!

How often do you change your menu items? Do you have daily or weekly specials?

We have seasonal menu items that change twice a year.

Do you have gluten-free, soy-free, and sugar-free options on your menu?

Rawlicious is completely gluten-free and essentially soy-free (except for two items), and we use no white sugar (but do use agave, maple syrup, and dates).

What do you do to reduce your environmental impact?

All of our takeout items are compostable right down to the napkins and cutlery. We use biodegradable cleaning supplies and we compost or recycle ninety-nine percent of our waste.

What are the most important lessons you’ve learned as owner or chef of this restaurant?

The business is crazy—dead slow one day, ramped the next—so take each day as it comes and focus on the long-term big picture or you’ll go crazy!

What led you to want to open a vegan restaurant, and/or what led you to the vegan diet yourself?

We were put on this path when a family member was sick, and we began searching for alternative pathways to healing. Once we started eating healthier, we wanted to share it with our community—and now owning a healthy restaurant has made it easy to eat healthy!

In the time since your restaurant first opened, how has the plant-based food movement changed? Do you find more demand now for vegan food?

The demand for vegan food has definitely been on the rise over the past few years and now it seems more than ever that the general population is aware of the benefits of veganism to the human body and to the environment, which are truly amazing.

Since your restaurant first opened, has your view of what constitutes healthy or delicious foods changed? Have you changed the types of foods you offer?

Our menu is very similar to what it was when we first opened, but we are aware of the growing demand for soy-free options.

Where do you see the plant-based food movement going in coming years?

In a total utopia, plant-based food would be the only food available. In the next ten years or so, the number of vegetarians and vegans is sure to increase along with the demand for truly healthy food.

This recipe is a great way to satisfy your pasta craving without feeling guilty! A tool called a spiralizer is used to turn zucchini into noodles—they look so much like spaghetti it might even fool a few people!

Zuchetti Pesto

Serves 4

6 medium-size zucchini

¼ cup sun-dried tomatoes

1 cup Rawlicious Pesto (recipe follows)

10 cherry tomatoes

1 sprig parsley

Equipment needed: spiralizer

Peel the zucchini and create the zucchini noodles by pushing them through a spiralizer. Slice the sun-dried tomatoes and cherry tomatoes. Toss the zucchini noodles with pesto. Garnish with parsley.

Rawlicious Pesto

Makes 1½ cups

1½ cups basil

1 cup spinach

½ cup olive oil

⅓ cup lemon juice

1½ cloves garlic

¼ teaspoon sea salt

¼ teaspoon pepper

¾ cup sunflower seeds (soaked 4 to 6 hours and drained)

Add all ingredients, except the sunflower seeds, in the food processor and blend until thoroughly combined. Add sunflower seeds and combine once more. Remove and store. The pesto will keep in the fridge for 4 to 5 days.

The bright green color of these tarts alludes to the pop of flavor you get from the first bite! This dessert is creamy and sweet—a perfect picnic treat.

Key Lime Tarts

Makes 4 tarts

For the crust:

¼ cup almonds

½ cup shredded coconut

2½ tablespoons coconut oil

Pinch sea salt

For the filling:

⅓ cup plus 1 tablespoon lime juice

1 avocado

¼ cup agave syrup

¼ teaspoon vanilla extract

Pinch sea salt

½ teaspoon psyllium husks

¼ cup coconut oil

Shredded coconut (garnish)

4 lime slices (garnish)

For the crust: Add the almonds to the food processor and pulse until they become a powder. Add the coconut, coconut oil, and salt and process again until mixture is thoroughly combined. Remove and press this into tart shells or a pie pan.

For the filling: Blend all the ingredients, except the psyllium and coconut oil, in a blender. Once smooth, add the psyllium and the oil and blend.

To assemble: Pour the filling into the crust and set in the fridge for 1 hour or so. Decorate with shredded coconut and a slice of lime.