I had the good fortune to go to Belmonte Raw with my mother, and got served directly by the owner and chef, Carol Belmonte. She is super nice and is a really good cook (I guess that’s un-cook). Right when I walked in to the little cafe-like space, I knew I was in for a real treat. The little blackboard listed very good organic ingredients and I immediately knew that I was going to get the Raw Burrito. Walnut “meat”, jicama, peppers, sprouts and other amazing ingredients were stuffed and rolled into a big collard green, used as the wrap. It was tied up with rope (make sure to remove prior to eating!) and sitting on a bed of sprouts and spinach. On the side were dehydrated crispy nacho chips (the best I’ve had – although I’ve only had one other), guacamole (I licked the container clean it was so good), pico de gallo (Carol was surprised when I knew it was called that!) and my favourite thing about the meal was the cashew “cheese”, which I was just tempted to eat alone with a fork it was so good.
Next out, Carol brought out a platter of Jicama “Fries” which were absolutely amazing. I was pretty happy when I saw the cashew cheese on the side for dipping them in. As far as juices go, Carol makes the best! My favourite is her green juice combo which has cucumber, parsley, spinach, apple, lemon, and ginger (I have had this before in her glass takeout bottles – I am happy that she doesn’t use plastic bottles). She also made us a juice called “Happiness”, which had granny smith apple, red grape and grapefruit and had a beet swirl garnish on top.
Because my sister has a severe nut allergy, we cannot go to raw vegan places with her because of all of the nuts, and I had never tried Cashew Mylk before. It was very white and creamy, I didn’t love it on it’s own, but would absolutely recommend it in breakfast cereal. She gave me 2 oatmeal raisin cookies, warmed up slightly in the dehydrator that were awesome. They were chewy-ish and very rich and flavourful – I loved the cinnamon and raisin combination.
I thought I was done after that, but little did I know, the best was saved for last. Carol’s Chocolate Thimble with peanut butter filling was supercalifragilisticexpialidociously awesome. It looked small, but on the inside it was HUGE flavour-wise. It’s worth an hour drive through traffic to get one (or ten) of these. I wish it wasn’t made with nuts so I could have brought some home, but I guess it’s part of Carol’s secret recipe.
Carol was so nice and she gave me another one of her Green Juices to take home, which I enjoyed just before writing this post.
I used the word “amazing” so many times yesterday when visiting Belmonte Raw (ask Carol yourself), and I bet you will too!
A little note from me: Belmonte Raw’s website wasn’t complete when I posted this, so I suggest you get in touch with Carol or just go in!
