by Joshua Katcher
Rockin’ Raw is a vegan raw-food restaurant serving organic-Peruvian-New-Orleanian-creole-inspired cuisine. It’s located very close to the Bedford L-train, in Williamsburg, Brooklyn, and has a great outdoor, backyard garden area. It is a refreshing and innovative addition to the Willaimsburg restaurant scene, which tends to be very uncreatively meat-centric.
The first thing I tried was the Raw Boy “Tuna” Sandwich, which had a satisfying, seafood flavor. I was blown away by the raw bread. It was tender, chewy, and not too dense or heavy. It’s the sort of bread I could eat every day and not be aware that it’s raw! I don’t even know how they make raw bread. This dish is perfect for anyone new to, or skeptical of raw foods because it’s just like an artisan sandwich.
The Tallarines Verdes de La Lala was a live pesto-pasta dish. Thin strips of zucchini replace traditional semolina pasta. As a hardcore Italian food and pasta-lover, I was surprised at how much I enjoyed this. The pesto was rich and garlicky, and it was sprinkled with cheesy nutritional yeast. The best part was that it didn’t leave me feeling bloated and sick. .
My friend got the Louisiana Gumbo. If you like Okra, you will enjoy this dish. The “sausage” in it was smokey and savory, and the gumbo-base was spicy and very complex.
An Appetizer we shared was the “Crab Cakes” with Creamy Dill Sauce. I believe there was horseradish in the dipping sauce, which matched the cakes nicely. I have never had traditional Crab Cakes, so I can not make the comparison, but they were like little veggie burgers, and quite enjoyable.
I had a refreshing and delicious Cucumber Mojito, and also tried the gingery Watermelon Cooler. I would definitely recommend those drinks, as well as the Strawberry Milk Shake, which was out of this world.
Believe it or not, we made room for dessert! The nut-based Lucuma ice-cream was a new flavor experience for my palate. It’s made from a Peruvian fruit, the lucuma, which has hints of maple, caramel and coffee. The chocolate sauce was outstanding, and the ice-cream itself was creamier than the vanilla (on the Peach Cobbler), which I found to be tasty, but a bit on the chalky-icy side.
Overall, it’s a great spot with a chill outdoor seating area, and a very welcoming vibe. It’s laid-back, relaxed, delicious, and the staff is very friendly! Now go check it out!
Click HERE for menu, directions, and reservations.
Also boo, hiss to TV Host and supposed ‘style expert’, Robert Verdi who I spotted in the lobby, surrounded by plastic fur-hags, wearing this atrocious hood (Did his Court-Dress wig fall back, or was he going for the evil Skeksis look?).
Earlier this week, the Secretary of the Interior placed the polar bear on the Endangered Species List as a threatened species.The listing is clearly a step in the right direction. Much more needs to be done — to save the polar bear and solve the climate crisis. 
