GRUB 411:

• RAW SOUL: 348 West 145th Street, (212) 491-5859
• WEBSITE:  www.rawsoul.com
• TYPE:  Raw Vegan
• PRICE:  $$
• QUICKVIEW:  A low-key, neighborhood restaurant, Raw Soul is filled with a sense of care & community. Delicious food with a side of Love!
• SEOULDIVA SAYS:  ♥♥♥♥ / ♥♥♥♥♥

FULL REVIEW
After frequenting Pure Food & Wine, Bonobo’s and visiting Quintessence…there was only one more 100% raw vegan restaurant on the isle of Manhattan left: Raw Soul.
Nestled up in Harlem (145th Street btwn St. Nick & Edgecombe), Raw Soul is reppin’ raw vegan cuisine Uptown, baby!
A very casual environment, it’s set up like a cafe-style establishment.   Customers can either dine in or take out.  Judging by the friendly exchanges and the first-name basis customers…it’s definitely a community staple
Meet Eddy:

Eddy and his wife own Raw Soul.  He’s been a raw vegan for 10 years and he is nothing if not passionate about the lifestyle.  He is the main man behind the kitchen, but he also comes out front to greet customers and pontificate about the raw vegan life.
His philosophy: whether or not you’re raw vegan — his food tastes good!
And I agree with him —  Raw Soul SHINED!  Especially in the dessert category – this is definitely somewhere I am looking forward to re-visiting.
My only critique is that Raw Soul suffers from a common restaurant disorder: Menu Misnomering.  I’m a firm believer in clear communication and managing a diner’s expectation.  A few of the things could have been better-named!
Here’s a breakdown of our meal. (SO sorry, I wasn’t thinking — I forgot to snap photos of the menu, but you can find the basic menu here.  They have a board of Specials that they update regularly.)

• BARBECUE BURGER: Burger made with walnuts, carrots, sun-dried tomatoes, red onion, fresh cilantro, red bell pepper, topped with our home-made barbecue sauce, and sprouts, served on napa cabbage or flax bread. This burger was DELICIOUS!  I’m not even a fan of regular BBQ sauce (in my pre-raw vegan days)…and this burger delivered.  It was savory, full of flavor and MEATY.  The Flax Bread — even though it looked like a thin cracker — was actually quite bendy and easy to maneuver.  I appreciated how thin it was, since it allowed the flavors of the burger to shine through! SEOULDIVA SAYS:  ♥♥♥♥½ / ♥♥♥♥♥

• PLATTER:  your choice of 1 entree + 2 sides. I chose the Enchiladas + Jicama Fries + Jalapeno Poppers.  I’ll break it down piece by piece.
• Jicama Fries with housemade “ketchup”: These were a recommendation by a fellow diner.  I must admit, I’m a huge fan of jicama — these fries were cleverly smothered in a sweet syrup (maybe agave nectar?) with seasoning.  I wasn’t expecting the sweetness, but it still tasty.  Perhaps just re-name the dish “Jicama Sweet Fries”. SEOULDIVA SAYS:  ♥♥½ / ♥♥♥♥♥

←tastes WAY delish!

• Jalapeno Poppers: Ladies & gentlemen — this is the holy grail of yumminess.  First off, I loves me some spicy spicy food.  The jalapenos were fresh so they had a delicious crunch and kick! They were surrounded by some nut meat and crusted!  I would eat these every day if I could! SEOULDIVA SAYS:  ♥♥♥♥♥ / ♥♥♥♥♥

• Enchiladas: Two flax tortillas stuffed with net meat and chile, topped with salsa and pine nut cheese, garnished with black olives. I really wanted to love this dish…especially because I love the enchiladas at Quintessence.  Again, I think this dish suffers from mis-naming.  ”Vegetable Crepe” would have been more accurate.  For starters, I would have loved the tortillas to actually have been made with corn or corn meal.  There was no guacamole, nor sour cream.  The stuffing was not flavored with any “Mexican” spices…but consisted largely of vegetables, capers and olives.  (another thing to note: I don’t think the olives & capers were certified RAW – those are really hard to source).  But regardless, the dish was hearty and filling…just not an enchilada. SEOULDIVA SAYS: ♥♥ / ♥♥♥♥♥

• BUTTERSCOTCH CHEESECAKE: Since they were out of their black & white cheesecake, we ordered this instead.  SO GLAD we did!  It was perfection. The crust tasted like it was made of walnuts & dates…light & crumbly.  YUM. SEOULDIVA SAYS: ♥♥♥♥ / ♥♥♥♥♥

• Cookie Dough Ice Cream: If heaven had a dessert, it would surely be this ice cream.  It was hard, well-frozen and had a consistency that was just like ice cream…except it was 100% raw vegan!  The cookies had nuts (walnuts?)…and it was pure JOY to eat. SEOULDIVA SAYS:  ♥♥♥♥♥ / ♥♥♥♥♥