Have you ever eaten nachos made out of completely raw ingredients, or a pizza without a crust? Amerawcan Bistro is an organic, vegan restaurant creating food from homegrown vegetables and herbs.

Upon entering the establishment, patrons are greeted and invited to sit at any one of the available tables.  The space is comfortable but still lends itself to the fine dinning experience.

The colors of the walls are earthy, the tables and chairs are all black, and at every table is a conveniently placed iPad preloaded with their menu. The real focus of this restaurant is the food.  Amerawcan Bistro is designed to promote health and show customers that creativity can turn any natural ingredient into something familiar.

Since nothing on the menu is cooked, the dishes range from chilled soups and nachos, to zucchini spaghetti and pumpkin spice pie.

Appetizers

I had the opportunity to experience a number of these dishes in a bit of a tasting.  The first two were appetizers, the ever-so-famous nachos, and what was named an avocado boat.  The nachos were built like the stereotypical layered treat, but made with slightly different ingredients.

The base was a layer of chips made from seeds either sesame or flax, topped with ground walnut meal flavored with taco seasoning for a meaty texture, tomatoes, a fresh salsa, and two sauces.  One of the sauces was a sour cream type sauce made from cashews, yes a nut cream, and the other was meant to mimic cheese but was overpowered by the other components of the dish.

The avocado boat was made of diced avocado, pepper, raw quinoa (which is a pasta-like grain), mixed with herbs and spices, and topped with one of the seed chips mentioned in the nacho dish. The boat part of the dish was the half avocado skin it was served in.  A beautiful way to present an exquisite dish. The avocado was creamy but the pepper and quinoa gave a crunchy balance to the dish.

Next in the culinary adventure was the chilled thai coconut soup, and the kale chips.  The soup was a completely new and unexpected pleasantry. Though it was chilled, the assumption I had that the soup would be watery and flavorless couldn’t have been farther from the truth. In fact it was one of the most flavor-packed soups I’ve ever had. It was slightly spicy, and yet the coconut and Thai flavors were still pronounced.

I was most frightened by the anticipation of what the kale chips would taste like. Kale is naturally bitter in flavor and I expected that to translate through the chips, but it was almost non-existent.

Coated with an Asian spice called miso and other various seasonings, the chips were delightful. The saltiness was everything expected from a chip even if this particular chip was dehydrated instead of deep-fried.

Main Dishes

The main course was the pizza. The crust was a large, round seed chip like the ones used earlier in the nachos, and it was topped with a vibrant tomato sauce made of all fresh ingredients, bell pepper, other vegetables for crunch, and thinly sliced jalapeños for an assertive spice.

What set the pizza apart from the other dishes was the clever use of basil and even oregano as the main herbs in the dish. Both worked together to produce an Italian flavor you would expect out of a pizza.

Desserts

Finally, came the deserts. Traditionally a dessert would consist of something baked or something that had dairy or eggs, but these desserts had no use for those ingredients. One of the desserts was a pumpkin pie, and the other was a strawberry cheesecake, again not make with cheese or baked like a cake.

The pie was a beautiful auburn color, and was seasoned with spices meant to remind someone of the holidays. The taste was creamy and rich and was settled comfortably in a house-made crust.  The cheesecake was good, but paled in comparison to the pie. The strawberry flavor wasn’t prominent enough, and it was the slightest bit to tart.

Each of these elaborately put together, colorful dishes are well conceptualized and extremely creative. Don’t be discouraged by the healthy, vegan, and organic labels associated with this restaurant, but instead be bold and experience the Amerawcan Bistro for what it is, amazing.