"Raw food" is a notoriously difficult cuisine to make palatable to all but the most hardened of health food freaks. The fact that Rasayana is able to lure die-hard omnivores to its mosquito-peppered, four-table patio says a lot about the wide range of the menu, quality of the ingredients, and creativity of the cooking featured at the Living Foods Café. The thinking that went into the menu betrays a real love of eating, despite the almost draconian restrictions imposed on the cook. Rasayana claims that cooking ingredients at high heat strips them of all the nutrients the body needs when it signals its hunger to the brain, leading to overeating and dissatisfaction. As a result, the menu bans all dairy, carbohydrates, preservatives, salt, sugar and, of course, meat. Even the complimentary glasses of water are served at room temperature to make the water easier for the body to process. All of this leads to some pretty interesting "cooking." The Sun Burger features an almond-celery-sage patty encased in cabbage leaves. Thai pasta isn't pasta at all: the noodles are slivers of coconut bathed in an onion, chili, garlic, ginger and tamarind sauce. And if "comfort food" is what you're looking for, there's always the Spaghetti & Meatballs: zucchini "noodles" with meatballs made of almonds and topped with a marinara sauce. There's even dessert: apart from the expected sorbet of strawberry, mango or passionfruit, there is Key Lime Pie crafted from avocados, organic honey and lime, and Carrot Cake, which is not baked but is instead a clever amalgam of carrots, raisins, nutmeg, cinnamon and macadamia nuts. Unfortunately, just like in nature, there is the occasional misfire that hits the diner like an Oklahoma twister: dry, unhappy-looking "sushi" rolls; a persistent dearth of wheat grass juice (why is it on the menu if it is never available?); service that is occasionally slow and listless; salads that, on the whole, taste the same (they're all good, by the way); and, sometimes, pretentious fellow diners who make us want to commit homicide. But these are just minor irritations. For lunch or a very early dinner, nothing is more virtuous or less painful than a meal at this café. And that's hardly faint praise.
