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A Quest For Fresh - CLOSED
Categories: Restaurants Vegan Restaurants Vegetarian Vegan, Vegetarian [Edit]
4009 34th StMt Rainier, MD 20712
(202) 723-2129
- Price Range:
-
$
- Accepts Credit Cards:
- No
- Parking:
- Street
- Attire:
- Casual
- Good for Groups:
- Yes
- Good for Kids:
- Yes
- Takes Reservations:
- Yes
- Delivery:
- Yes
- Take-out:
- Yes
- Waiter Service:
- No
- Outdoor Seating:
- No
- Alcohol:
- No
- Wheelchair Accessible:
- Yes
4 reviews for A Quest For Fresh
4 reviews in English
-
Review from Mikkela T.
11/28/2007
Raw food isn't only salad. But this place makes SLOW FOOD its mantra. If you choose to come here expect to wait a long, uhm, excruciatingly long time for vegan raw food. This place gets four stars for potential. And the food is good for being so raw and meatless (carnivore writing here).
The restaurant is located on a street with potential. There is an organic treasure trove shop next door, a clothing and ladies shop boutique next door, and once the other side of the street gets cleaned up, then this could be a real street of character. One of those pockets of personality that is not gentrified and still has soul.
The inside of this restaurant is small. The kitchen is almost bigger than the cafe part. There are about six tables and the cashier sits right in the midst of it all. There's a cooling counter with organic juice (sour and fresh good for you things... like jewels). The atmosphere is one of elegance like that of the French Quarter in New Orleans. There's a window from the kitchen through which the chefs can pass your food when it's done. The kitchen is open on one side, like the kitchen is a stage set box in the middle of an old stately theater. I noticed the tiles on the floor, and how the pattern changed to lead into the kitchen... nice touch. As I said, I had plenty of time to notice the tiles.
The service is slow so my friend (the non-meat eater) calls her order in. Even so, she usually has to wait. I kid you not, this place can take an HOUR to make your raw food whateverthingajingysalad. That said, the falafel type thingy (made of some sort of super grain) isn't bad. The surroundings are good (let's be frank, it's a salad, or veggie wrap). Because some raw food can be bland, they spice it up here. I don't know with what. It's very salty for raw. I kind of liked it. My friend likes the fruit salad as well. Yeah, whatever. But if you have vegan, super healthy, non-diabetic (they'd fall over while waiting) friends or family, come here. The prices are in the $4-15 range and the servings aren't very big (your body's a temple, not an EZ storage!). The people who work here aren't all that friendly but you're not here for the friends. But the lady who owns her own boutique next door is.
Mostly, it's an adventure to explore this street. A pocket of character (with characters) right over the border from DC. Gosh, I almost forgot. Opening hours are only 11-8 on Friday and Sunday. I know. And they are sloooooooow. But as I said, if you have a vegan friend... (she won't eat you, that's for sure) -
Review from Consumer W.
MD
1/21/2009
The food is amazing! I've never had raw vegan food before and now I'm a fan for life. I had the nori roll and ginger beer, absolutely fantastic. The place is about five miles from Takoma Park, MD very close to Catholic University. They are only open certain days for limited hours. Also, just a little heads up, it can take up to an hour to get food made to order. But recently they started making some of their most popular dishes premade and ready to eat. She also added this out of this world mango desert with coconut milk and nuts and raisins.
ps. Cash only.
240-764-6598 new number. -
Review from Nathan C.
Mount Rainier, MD
5/29/2009
I'm not vegetarian, much less vegan, and I have no particular agenda about fresh/macrobiotic/local/organic except to agree that those are all desirable traits... all other things being equal. I love dirtwater dogs and A-1 sauce and softserve and oreos and all kinds of meaty chemical crap, but this food stands on its own as a genuinely unique vision regardless of it's inspirations. It's like this: you don't have to believe in God to feel Mavis Staples' soulfulness.
If you're interested, there is an ideology at work here, the brainchild of one extraordinarily talented woman, but it's just a delight to taste and feel what she can do within the strict confines she's given herself. As in many creative endeavors, a limited palette has focused the effort and produced a result much more interesting than would have been possible if everything was allowed.
The space itself is pleasant if pedestrian, except that the stainless steel kitchen can be exposed to full view of the entire restaurant. It's interesting to watch if you're lucky enough to see the kitchen in action- no flames or hoods because all the food is raw. There's never a parking problem in Mt Rainier unless you're so unspeakably lazy that you can't bother to walk 2 blocks. So why a 3-star?
They can't get their act together as a restaurant. I don't know what the hours are. After 2 yrs of a "Coming Soon" sign, they opened and posted hours. They didn't stick by them, though. Still, they looked to be doing pretty good business, but trimmed hours at random until they were shut down entirely for a while. When they WERE open, the waits could unpredictable and sometimes unreasonable (up to an hour), but the reason was clear: each item is made from scratch to order by the proprietress. She may be a genius with the food itself, but they've failed to scale up their production process to meet even the modest needs of this small storefront. If they can manage to do that, QFF have a legit and well-deserved hit on their hands.
If Quest for Fresh happens to be open when you pass, go in and order something. Don't miss the opportunity. Just do it. Try the flourless chocolate cake. I regret, though, that I can't recommend anyone but the keenest veggie/raw connoisseurs seek it out. -
Review from Charlotte the Dog t.
Mount Rainier, MD
8/1/2009
It's a shame, really. Their food is great and I love the location. I'm vegan, too, and god knows I tried to support this place when it opened. The service is so slow, even when I'd call in my order an hour ahead, that it made patronizing this place not worth it. I live in the neighborhood and really want to see businesses thrive in our little downtown, but this place is not run by good business minds. People with good food sense, yes. People with good business sense, no. The place is never open, except for a few hours late on Sunday. Its slow service and inconvenient hours make eating here an act of charity. Frankly, I wish they'd let the space go and let Berwyn Cafe open a store in that location instead.
