I Am Curious

So it seems that everyone but everyone (in the blog world) is buzzing about quirky nouveau-hippie Café Gratitude. The restaurant’s dishes, featuring all organic and even mostly live ingredients, sport self-proclamatory names, like I Am Thankful (Thai coconut soup), I Am Dazzling (Caesar salad) and even dipping into multiculti waters with Yo Soy Mucho (shredded kale with warm grains, guac, spicy salsa, Brazil nut parmesan and sprouts). You have to wonder whether, what with all these earthy-crunchy goods, their number-one seller must be I Am Delicious (almond malt smoothie) simply for what it promises.

But perhaps garnering the most attention is the dauntingly named I Am Courageous — organic, fair-trade coffee that is not brewed but steeped for 48 hours in cold water. And yet the concensus is that it’s pretty good. Maybe not the eye-popping cup of joe you crave in the morning but rather, as the kids at SFist point out, "like a cup of tea."

As a recovering vegetarian, perusing the menu full of organic greens, live sprouted grains and … well, actually all the places I used to frequent actually served regular old coffee … sends me back down memory lane to countless shabby veggie joints in places as far flung as Albany (NY), Santa Fe and, yes, even here. (Anyone remember Good Karma?) However, I’m pleased that today’s culinary idealists have somewhat more interesting options. Quinoa is the new brown rice. Move over, chamomile; rooibos rules the roost now. Send seitan back to hell and let the sunflower shine. I Am Curious.

Cafe Gratitude
2400 Harrison St, SF
1336 9th Ave, SF
1730 Shattuck Ave, Berkeley

Weekly Joe: Cafe Gratitude [Curbed SF]We Are Courageous (For Trying This Coffee) [SFist]Cafe Gratitude [Gridskipper]Cafe Gratitude: Vegan Un-Cookery at its best [eggbeater]