New: Denver restaurant offers 5-course Raw Food Night on Tuesdays

You may note that I have added an event to my list of recommended links over to the right. Denver restaurant Root Down is now offering five courses of raw food on Tuesdays nights. News of this addition to our Mile High cuisine is exciting. If ones wants to eat out, Denver has a dearth of raw food options, so I applaud this idea of chef Daniel Asher.

From Westword blogs:

"I've been doing raw food for six years and was shocked when I moved from meat-and-potatoes Chicago to healthy Boulder and saw that there was such a big gap in raw food restaurants," says Daniel Asher, chef of Root Down ... .

A former vegan, and later, vegetarian, Asher, who's also a certified raw food chef, joined the kitchen of Root Down last spring, and since then, he says, customers have expressed an interest in raw food ... .

... "I wasn't sure what to expect, but so far, people are really jazzed up about it," he says. "Its almost as if people have been waiting for something like this to take root -- for a mainstream menu to offer raw food."

I wholeheartedly agree with him; people have been waiting.

And from Examiner:

[C]hef Daniel Asher will create a new menu each week ... . For those of you who have not experienced raw vegan cooking – you will be surprised at the brightness of flavors and the increased texture of each dish.  Raw menu items

are not heated over 118 degrees, which allows the natural enzyme and nutrient activity of the ingredients to remain complete. ...

“Raw food preparation is a very pure way of working with food,” says Asher. “There is nothing to manipulate or mask with cooking techniques like grilling or sautéing or steaming. The ingredients just speak for themselves.”

Root Down’s raw food menu will rotate weekly, with new creative combinations each Tuesday.  Expect innovative dishes such as Lacinato Kale & Citrus Salad, Roasted Wild Mushroom Bisque, Dim Sum, Fresh Pasta Primavera, and 70% Cacao Mousse.  All ingredients in Root Down’s raw food menu are organically sourced and completely gluten free.

Chef Asher is offering Raw Food Night on Tuesdays from 6 to 10 PM. The price is $42, excluding tax and tip. Reservations are recommended; call 303-993-4200, or click here. The restaurant is located in Lower Highlands at 1600 W. 33rd Street, Denver, CO 80211.

Note: The raw food menu was originally planned to last through the summer. Because of demand, it will now be offered on the first Tuesday of each month, beginning November 2. It will cost $37 per person. More about the next event:

Four Course Raw Vegan Dinner
Tuesday, November 2  |  6:00 - 10:00 p.m.
All Organically Sourced/Completely Gluten Free

100 Degree Deconstructed Ratatouille
Roasted Tomato Consomme', Micro Zuchinni,
Baby Pattipan Squash, Herb Pistou

Thanksgiving Salad
Pickled Cranberries, Microgreens, Brunoise Sweet Potato,
Candied Onion, Celery Sage Vin

Shish Kabob
Moroccan Style, Skewered & Marinated,
Sprouted Black Quinoa, Mint Tahini

Brownie & Milk
Dark Chocolate Almond Cherry Brownie,
Fresh Pressed Spiced Almond Milk

Image credit: Adam Larkey Photography.