If you are looking for one of the healthiest restaurants in the Tampa Bay area, you should head over to Rawk Star Cafe. There are two locations with the Healthy Giraffe group venturing over to the Oldsmar location this past weekend. When I was going through my health transformation a few years ago, Keith Crouse introduced me to this gem.
Owner Adam Kantrovitz opened the restaurant in 2010 and seems to be always there. I don’t think I’ve visited without Adam graciously welcoming me. This gentleman knows his plant-based intricacies that’s for sure. On Saturday we asked countless questions regarding ingredients and he explained with passion how the dishes were prepared.
Adam’s standards are quite high as stated in his mission – All our food and beverage ingredients are always 100% organic/wild-crafted and guaranteed GMO-free, as well as corn free, dairy free, soy free and gluten free. The restaurant is all raw which means food is prepared by not cooking at temperatures above 115-118 degrees.
The menu includes wraps, salads, specialty dishes, smoothies, and desserts. I love their Raw Chili Wrap (add avocado) but on this day Adam prepared a special menu option for us to consider and I took him up on it. It was a stuffed portabello mushroom that was full of flavor. It had cashew cream, walnuts, and much more. If you are a mushroom lover you need to ask for this specialty.
Adam brought us samples of their salad and cheese balls. Not the unhealthy cheese derived from cows but this cheese was made of cashews, walnuts, peanuts and I believe nutritional yeast if memory serves me right. What a treat they were.
They serve kombucha on tap and on this day they had St. Petersburg’s own Mother Kombucha with a choice of Blue Rose or Trop. I like both and it had been a while since I had the Blue Rose so that was my choice.
Everyone who joined enjoyed their meals and we had a great time talking about healthy choices, life, and how much Elia can eat. I thought I could eat a lot but this guy takes it to another level… Maybe we train as hard and long as we do so we can eat everything…
In addition to Oldsmar, Rawk Star Cafe has a location in St. Petersburg – 740 Central Avenue. I will have to try the south location but with the service Adam provides it might be a while.
The next Healthy Giraffe Event is back in the Giraffe’s Den July 13 and will be posted this week via Facebook. For information on future events you can always select the Events option from the menu bar.
– Add Health to Your Life
The Healthy Giraffe 
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