Maggie's Raw Love Cafe: Vegan & raw in RVC
Strips of spiral-cut sweet potato act as "spaghetti" in the sweet potato pasta with puttanesca sauce at the vegan Maggie's Raw Love Cafe in Rockville Centre, September 2012. Credit: Handout
What’s cooking at Maggie’s Raw Love Cafe in Rockville Centre? Technically, nothing, since the eatery, situated in the Blue Firmament Holistic Center, serves only raw vegan fare. But that doesn't mean the place doesn't generate any heat.
Sheiva Gourdai, who co-owns the center and cafe with its chef/namesake Maggie Fils-Aime, said it evolved from a juice bar and had been operating weekends only for the past three years. This summer, though, it became a full service eatery offering lunch Tuesday to Sunday and dinner both Tuesday and Thursday.
A typical dish, said Gourdai, is sweet potato pasta with puttanesca sauce ($12.50): thin spiral-cut strips of sweet potato standing in for cooked spaghetti, its sauce made with kalamata olives, grape tomatoes and garlic. Corn lasagna ($15) layers strips of zucchini “noodles” with walnuts, several vegan cheeses, basil pesto and kernels of corn.
Maggie’s Raw Love Cafe is in the Blue Firmament Holistic Center, 202 Merrick Rd., Rockville Centre, 516-665-3641.
