Tuesday, October 6, 2009
Trying it the raw way at Bliss, Dallas’ raw food cafe on Greenville Avenue
Bliss Raw Cafe
Check out these photos of items from Bliss' menu!
(Click photo to see entire gallery)
The view from Bliss Raw Cafe is of bikini-clad girls working at a beer barn across the street.
DALLAS — Dallas waited a long time for its own raw-food restaurant, but there ends up being something well-timed about Bliss Raw Cafe & Elixir Bar opening this summer.
Documentaries like Food Inc. and Fowl Play, and stories such as the one about e coli in ground beef that ran in the NYTimes on Sunday, are revealing problems in our food production system and making some consumers think more carefully about what they're eating and where they get their food. Meanwhile, restaurants such as Bolsa and Pyramid are making efforts to use locally grown produce or even grow produce themselves.
Raw food is food that's uncooked, i.e., never been subjected to temperatures over 115 degrees. Exposing food to temperatures higher than that purportedly kills enzymes that have beneficial effects.
Raw food restaurants such as Bliss use vegetables, fruit, sprouted grains, nuts, and seeds, often dried, pureed, or combined. For example, soaking nuts and then pureeing them produces a creamy butter that can be used in dessert recipes to give them a lush texture.
"Cheesecake" from Bliss Raw Cafe had a crunchy nut crust with a thick vanilla-flavored custard on top.
Bliss has a counterculture collective vibe, with no single chef prevailing, especially since the abrupt departure in August of founding chef and elixir whiz Brian Hudson Smith. There's a risk not of too many cooks in the kitchen but not enough.
Bliss is also contending with a small, awkward location and a limited number of parking spaces. In addition, it has a phone that no one ever answers. All of these things present obstacles to potential customers. However, Dallas' vegan community has embraced the place and eagerly looks forward to the opening of a second branch plotted for Preston Center.
Check out the photo gallery for photos of a meal recently consumed there.
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Ah, finally a review to something that I am interested in. Thank YOU! I can't believe that anyone could make a go at this location.
tetsujin28 Anonymous
1 month, 2 weeks ago
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How does one make a custard without heating it above 115 degrees?
Kirby Anonymous
1 month, 2 weeks ago
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Maybe it's "custard" on the "cheesecake".
John McClelland Verified
1 month, 2 weeks ago
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Kind of like "cheese food"?
Kirby Anonymous
1 month, 2 weeks ago
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I'm a vegan, I live 10 minutes from here, and I still haven't tried it. It's not that I have anything against raw food - I just like my meals served hot for the most part, which I suspect won't be happening here...
bc Anonymous
1 month, 2 weeks ago
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I hope this place does well! Always felt sorry for businesses that open in that spot, because of the parking situation.
Travis Bush Verified
1 month, 2 weeks ago
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Parking's really not that bad, there are about 9-10 spots which are shared between the restaurant next door, but patrons from that restaurant seem to be on foot or park in another lot.
The place is so small though, that if all the parking spots are full, it might be a while to get seated anyway.
Hopefully they might get more foot traffic from the Park Lane apartment community as more people move in to that massive place. Also, I would suspect when the new Whole Foods opens, they could potentially get foot traffic from there as well, since you could theoretically park there and it's a relatively short walk.
I get the feeling they knew what they were doing when they opened up there - some pretty smart business people involved in the whole venture.
James Scott Verified
1 month, 2 weeks ago
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The bikini girl photo is scrumptious.
OEsophagus Anonymous
1 month, 2 weeks ago
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(This comment was removed by the site staff.)
OEsophagus Anonymous
1 month, 2 weeks ago
This is great,...and I live very close by to that place. Raw foods are so great for you, I hate to see when people over cook vegetables, they boil broccoli so long that the water turns green and there go all the nutrients, same thing with carrots, asparagus and green beans. All those are so good for you raw!!! Go BLISS,....do they serve wheat-grass juice?
Russ Vandeveerdonk Verified
1 month, 2 weeks ago
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Hey, I just found out that the parking lot (holds about 10 cars) is no longer SHARED ...it's for BLISS patrons only!! There's a sign that says that parking is just for BLISS :).
MariaW Anonymous
1 month, 2 weeks ago
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Sweet! I saw the sign the other day, but I didn't realize it said for Bliss only. Parking should not be a factor in anyone's decision whether or not to go now.
James Scott Verified
1 month, 2 weeks ago
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I read another review of this place that said the portions were small and the prices were high. No mention of this. Is this a review or a news story? Did the reporter even eat there, or even see the menu??
unlisted Anonymous
1 month, 2 weeks ago
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Did the reporter even eat there, or even see the menu??
Did you bother reading the last sentence of this story????
Travis Bush Verified
1 month, 2 weeks ago
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why thank you Travis. to cut unlisted some slack, most of the "review" appears in the photo gallery, and sometimes, those photo galleries are hard to spot. some people don't realize that the photo gallery leads to more photos. (that's supposed to be improved in the future.)
unlisted, not sure what review you saw, but i didn't find the portions small at Bliss nor did i find their prices high. if you look at the photos in that photo gallery, you can see that the portions look pretty substantial
Teresa Gubbins Staff
1 month, 2 weeks ago
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