Conscious Choice: The Raw Deal: Cousin’s Incredible Vitality

September 2006 | Conscious Dining

The Raw Deal: Cousin’s Incredible Vitality

By Lynn Peemoeller

Chances are, if you are a raw foodist, you have already been to Cousin’s Incredible Vitality, one of the few raw-food restaurants in Chicago. For most of us, however, it’s a great place to experience the ultimate vegan diet.

A few years ago, owner and chef Mehmet Ak was overweight and burnt-out, and decided to do a month-long, raw-food detox, which led to a complete lifestyle change. He lost 85 pounds and completely improved his health. Ak says the change had a tremendous impact on his life and his business.

“This has become my joy and I love to spread it around,” he says. “I like to make a difference in people’s health and well-being.” He decided to close his original Turkish restaurant on Irving Park Road last summer and reopen it as a raw-food restaurant.

Before he opened the new Cousin’s, he studied at Living Light International, the premier raw-food culinary institute in California.

The new Cousin’s already has quite a following, which was apparent the night we visited. For a weeknight, it was reasonably full and there were customers at the takeout counter.

Ingredients and freshness are of paramount importance in raw cuisine. At Cousin’s they make 40-50 dishes each day, and everything is made from organic ingredients (except the grape leaves, which are imported from Europe.) Ak is also starting to integrate local foods into his cooking. He buys from organic farmer Vicki Westerhoff of Genesis Growers in St. Anne, IL. Perhaps this is why the food tastes so vibrant.

Raw or “living” foods contain enzymes that are normally destroyed during cooking (over 116 degrees F). Raw foods are also known to have higher nutrient values than cooked food.

When you sit down at Cousin’s, you are welcomed with an aromatic cup of warm clove tea, and soon a bowl of homemade flax crackers appears. They consist of flax seeds that have been soaked for several hours, mixed with herbs and seasoning, and then spread thin and dehydrated until they form a thin bark-like sheet that breaks into pieces. Cousin’s flax crackers are slightly nutty and toothsome with an herbal flavor. They make a great foundation for the thin crust mini pizza, which I recommend. It’s certainly not your typical Chicago-style pizza. The flax crackers are spread with homemade almond cheese, topped with avocado, marinated mushrooms and olive tapanade. The whole thing comes together with nice texture and harmonious flavors.

Entrees follow the Mediterranean theme and include a variety of green salads with nuts and vegetables. Mediterranean noodles are made from squash that has been shredded like spaghetti. The hummus eschews the traditional style with cooked garbanzo beans in favor of sesame seeds and pistachios. If you are hungry, the kofte kebab is a filling choice. The kebab balls look like meatballs but are made with walnuts, flax and mushrooms. The falafel plate is another filling choice, with little green falafels made from ground pistachios. They have a density and taste similar to falafel’s traditional nutty texture but without the deep-fried flavor. They are served on a heaping plate of salad dressed with tahini sauce.

For lunch or dinner, you can opt for the all-you-can-eat Livin’ Salad bar. This is a pretty good deal. You can pile your plate with over 20 dishes that change daily, including a wide variety of vegetable salads, sprouted rice, stuffed grape leaves, mushrooms stuffed with pine nuts, tomatoes stuffed with nut “tuna,” and “spaghetti” marinara.

Cousin’s offers a variety of nutrition-packed drinks. We tried the “Coco-X-treme” a superfood powerhouse with cacao, maca, bee pollen, hemp seeds, mesquite meal, tocnotrienols, vanilla and agave. It has a dense chocolate pudding-like flavor. This in itself can be a meal. “Asian Hydration” was a frothy, bright orange drink with a tangy flavor from goji berries, lemon juice, aloe, and coconut water. Other options have great names like “Beauty Queen,” “Pump U Up,” and “Wild Child,” with a variety of ingredients like coconut milk, acai, goji berries, aloe, enzymes, probiotics, fruit juices, and mixed greens. They also serve several organic herbal elixirs. You can also complete your nutrient intake by getting a fresh shot of wheatgrass juice.

Just because the food is raw doesn’t mean you can’t have dessert. The dessert is, in fact, quite worthwhile. The cheesecake gets its rich and silky texture from coconut butter and a pecan crust. It comes in vanilla or chocolate. A chocolate mousse has a dense texture sweetened with figs. They also have various flavors of ice cream.

Cousin’s also serves as a community for raw foodists. It offers several classes, including a popular 28-day detox program, three levels of raw food cooking classes, and a raw-food meet-up group, and is also a CSA drop off for Sweet Earth Organic Farm.

Cousin’s Incredible Vitality, 3038 W. Irving Park Road, Chicago, is open for lunch and dinner seven days a week. Entrees range from $5 to $12 and the Livin’ Salad bar is $8 for lunch, $12 for dinner. There is also a takeout counter at the front. Alcohol is not served. 773.478.6868.

Lynn Peemoeller works on regional projects that support sustainable agriculture and strengthen the local food system. Wherever there is good food, there is Peemoeller.

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