Yet another article on Pure Food & Wine in NYC (from Detroit Free Press)…

Chefs Can't Stand the Heat–Take on Raw Food Preparation

Just a few years ago, chef Matthew Kenney was ascending to the height of success and celebrity, with a string of thriving New York City eateries, two well-received cookbooks, and, early on, a ranking by Food & Wine as one of the "Ten Best New Chefs in America." But after Sept. 11, 2001, his empire collapsed in the economic fallout. And the French-trained chef took a surprising turn.

After a three-year culinary journey, he and his partner (in life and in the kitchen), Sarma Melngailis, have coauthored a diary cookbook, "Raw Food/Real World: 100 Recipes to Get the Glow" (Regan Books, $34.95), and opened a raw food restaurant, Pure Food and Wine in New York City.

Unlike many health-oriented cooks, Kenney, 40, and Melngailis, 32, both graduates of the French Culinary Institute, approached their raw food adventure from the standpoint of taste, after hearing about the culinary style while they were pondering their next project. But the couple became hooked on a personal level, as the health benefits became evident. They had more energy, slept sounder and felt great. After a year of navigating the nutritional maze, Kenney and Melngailis reached the point of deciding to share their newly developed food style with others.

They opened their restaurant in June 2004 in the Flat Iron section of New York City, with a raw vegan menu that runs from sushi to stylized beet ravioli, green curry coconut noodles to flatbread pizza with hummus. Kenney and Melngailis don't miss "cooking" at all, he says, as they find preparing tasty raw food even more of a challenge. Raw food recipes can be as simple as blender pureed soups or drinks. Their Watermelon-Tomato Gazpacho, for instance, which uses watermelon, tomatoes, cucumbers, bell peppers, scallions, cilantro, ginger and jalapeno, can be easily blended "to taste."

Other raw food preparations can be labor intensive and ingredient-heavy (and not necessarily low-cal). Nuts and grains are made more edible by soaking and sprouting. Some foods are slowly "cooked" at low temperatures by dehydration. The payoff is no greasy pans to scrub. As for equipment, all you'll need, says Kenney, are a dehydrator, a powerful blender and good, sharp knives. The food processor is also useful. "And a juicer is good to have," Kenney says, "though I never got into juicing much. I just use a blender." Committed raw foodies can turn their ovens into storage space and use skillets for sprouting.

As exciting as the food is, it's the satisfying desserts that tend to lock in converts, says Kenney, items such as a dark chocolate ganache tart — one made with organic cacao beans but without the usual butter, eggs or sugar. The new eating style may seem drastic, so Kenney suggests easing into it. "In the beginning, keep it simple," he says. "Take little bites of the philosophy. Go slowly. It can seem overwhelming. It did to us."