Living Kitchen (Raleigh)

Raw vegan perplexes me. It's like someone read about probiotics and then took it way too far. Conversely, it also amazes me what raw vegan cooks come up with, especially when dehydrators are involved. I'm open to eating in this style, just not living it.


Enter into my awareness via the holiday gift of a coworker: Living Kitchen, who opened their first location in Raleigh in the dreadful year of 2016. (I wasn't in NC.) Most of their lunch/dinner menu is sandwich and salad-y. There are a lot of beverages, caffeinated and not. There is no subtext in the menu: they are a fan of nut milks.

They also do weird "health food" shit like elixirs and other juicing things. You know, pseudo-scientific tripe to get you to down shots of turmeric pulse-mixed with fruit juice. You know, weird "I get my nutrition info from the internet" shit that is too culturally refined in its emphasis on unrefined foods for my low-class hillbilly ass. But whatever, they didn't invent that, and they make vegan pie and cheesecake, so I'll shut up.

Anyways, it's a good place to go for something light, yet something that has undergone more preparation and care than your standard "chopped veg salad bar in a go box" type place. It's light, healthy fare that isn't too, too high priced and actually puts effort into making an interesting meal out of mostly raw ingredients. The food I ate was flavorful and the rest of the menu piques my curiosity about how they handle the textures of the ingredients listed. Bottomline: I'd eat there again.


"BBQ SLIDERS - locally sourced oyster mushrooms roasted in a smoky BBQ sauce on two classic slider buns spread with cashew mayo, served with bib lettuce and topped with pear, green cabbage and jalapeño cole slaw"

Had a decent ratio of mushroom meat to bread. I liked the slaw, but I didn't taste jalapeno. The BBQ sauce was western NC style, which isn't my childhood fav, but is good now and again for diversity's sake. (I don't even think mushrooms could stand up to eastern NC vinegar BBQ sauce, honestly.)


"SWEET POTATO SUSHI ROLL - avocado, red bell peppers, cucumbers, arugula and sweet potato cashew rice wrapped in nori. served with a lightly spiced Thai chili sauce"

Silly me forgot what I ordered and by the time it go to the table I thought the orange bits were carrots, but then I remembered the restaurant was largely raw and that it must be chipped sweet potato. The veg inside the nori is of course unseasoned, so you need the dipping sauce to make the seaweed-wrapped salad pleasant to eat. The spice level is well-rounded for something termed 'Thai', I think, but those who find black pepper spicy probably shouldn't eat it.