(Update January 2010: Leaf has closed. I’m not surprised)

I was hungry but craving something light and fresh, so I figured I’d visit Leaf Cuisine. I’m not totally sold on the whole philosophy of raw food, but I do eat a lot of raw food by default, being big into veggies and salads. A salad was what I’d planned on getting, but the Pad Thai listed as a special seemed too intriguing to pass up.

“Kelp & squash noodles with red peppers in a spicy peanut sauce”. The menu on display did not mention kelp noodles, but that’s the basis of this dish (I see it’s listed in the take-home menu). The display also mentioned mango… while I didn’t actually see any mango on the plate there may have been some well hidden in there. As you can see there’s also a bunch of crunchy little sprouts added to the mix.

It was very different from anything that actually tastes like Pad Thai, but not bad. It wasn’t spicy at all and had a sour lemon or vinegar tang to it. The flavor and texture was ok, but I didn’t want to eat all that much of it as the flavor was overwhelming after a few bites.

Along with the Pad Thai I also had the guacamole and kale chips. The guac was great, the chips even greater. Not sure what herbs were used to flavor them but they where very yummy.

I like the food here but I can’t say that I love it. I’m a pretty open-minded and adventurous eater, but even for me some of this stuff is just a little bit out there (in the sense of not being what I look for in a satisfying meal). Maybe I’m just feeling biased rght now because one of the girls working there gave her other coworker a look when she saw me taking a picture of my food as if to indicate it was the strangest or most annoying thing she’d ever seen in her life. Come on lady! You eat nothing but raw food, ever, and I’m the weirdo for wanting to take a picture of it? Another deterrent to loving this stuff is the price. Fancy shmancy raw food ain’t cheap.