(202) 234-0505
17th St. btw. P + Q St.
Nearest Metro:
Dupont Circle (North)
http://www.javagreen.net/menu/
Rating: Happy Times
We had a nice time at Cafe Green, the sister restaurant to Java Green, which is unfortunately only open on weekdays. The lunch menu is, sadly, a bit more limited than the full dinner or Sunday brunch menu. But hey, it was good enough for this hippie.
On an aesthetic level, the the restaurant is actually quite pleasant, with a modernist decor and relatively open space, playing an assortment of nice classic rock, i.e. Beatles, that goes well with the new age vibe of the whole place. While we didn't try the soy milk milkshakes, I would wager they are pretty good. I mean, on its own, some shaken soy milk has an interesting creamy/smooth texture that is a bit like a milkshake. No offense to Trader Joe's, which is a great brand, but the Silk brand soy milk is pretty awesome for this purpose. While I'm speaking of Trader Joe's on the general topic of non-animal products, their generic sausage patties are good, and equal to the Morningstar brands, though with a slightly different flavor. By the way, the TJ's potato latkes are outstanding and a couple of them make a fine breakfast.
But, TJ's usual high quality aside, Cafe Green has a nice lunch menu. It was limited to starters, soups/salads, raw items (including raw pizza), and sandwiches, plus a nice selection of beverages, including kombucha tea, which can be hard to find, if you're interested. The organic coffee, however, tasted like regular coffee, though without the burning guilt feeling that one has with regular coffee. Organic doesn't automatically mean fair-trade, so I suppose the sad Colombian peasants struggling to grow that coffee without pesticides may be living in a tuberculitic shanty even now, but I trust in Cafe Green that this is not the case.
We started off with their sampler appetizer platter, which included some mung bean patties (think of a potato pancake of sorts), a couple of pieces of their faux chicken sandwiches, some Korean-style dumplings, and a roasted vegetable skewer. Everything was good and benefited from the sauces, in particular, that were served on the side: a peanut sauce, tamari (essentially soy sauce, theoretically spicier but I detected no difference), and an agave mustard sauce that was quite good and interesting.
Among the entrees, we had a curry soup, a kelp soup, a raw pizza, two avocado salads, and an avocado and tempeh sandwich. Everyone was happy, and the kelp soup did not taste fishy, which can certainly happen with seaweed. I had the avocado sandwich and it was delightful, but most things with avocado are, so the bar was high. But it was good. We didn't share family style as we sometimes do, so my firsthand impressions are limited. But if anyone who was there wants to, comments and additions are welcome. I'm also going to post a couple of pictures; I forgot to take out my camera until we were mostly done, so there are only pictures of the curry soup and the kelp soup.
At least on my part, the only regret is that we didn't get to try more raw options. The idea of raw cheesecake or a raw cinnamon bun is interesting, and I'm still curious about some of those, so I'd definitely like to go back to try some of their other items. Also, I'm very curious about their "steak and cheese" sub, the "steak" part being made of fried wheat gluten (a popular meat substitute in the far east, I've had it in a beef jerky-like form, it's not bad, sometimes called seitan, an unfortunate name in the English-speaking world) and the "cheese" being made of almonds.
Dessert-wise, we presume that the next-door "Mr. Yogato's" is a related vegan yogurt shop. However, trying Mr. Yogato will have to wait.
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