M.A.K.E. Likes It Raw

And you might too, when you try Matthew Kenney's Santa Monica Place restaurant

Comments (0) By Besha Rodell Thursday, Dec 6 2012

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Texture does occasionally become an issue. I found both the nut cheeses appetizer and the white chocolate cheesecake dessert cool for a minute — the cheeses intensely tangy, the cheesecake (made with cashews, among other things) mellow — but both have a disconcerting pastiness. The chocolate walnut cake is dense and rich and awesome, but the "ice cream" alongside it is like the uncanny valley of dairy and dessert, just close enough to the true nature of ice cream to make it unsettling.

As with fake meat in vegetarianism, I find raw foods' failures often come when trying to imitate off-limits techniques and ingredients. Raw zucchini in place of pasta in a lasagna works because raw zucchini in itself is delicious — the cool snap of the vegetable doesn't so much fool you into thinking you're eating semolina as it makes you happy you're eating a vegetable.

PHOTO BY ANNE FISHBEIN

M.A.K.E. serves a dish featuring black pepper kelp noodles, Chanterelle mushrooms, haricots jaune, olive crumb and pea vines.

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While the focus on cleverness is necessary in order to create interesting and diverse textures, it would be nice to see some raw-food items that emphasize vegetables. For all the nut cheeses and nutritional yeast sauces, I would have liked to see a simple, huge salad made from everything that's fantastic and in season right now.

But I suppose any old carnivore can make that salad anytime they want. M.A.K.E. is about showcasing the tricks and discoveries Matthew Kenney has come up with, in presenting the raw-food recipes with the biggest wow factor. As a novelty, or a treat that's far healthier than much of what's out there in the dining world, M.A.K.E. displays the inventive and often delicious potential of raw food. The question now is whether the odd location can support that effort.

See more of Anne Fishbein's photos of M.A.K.E.