Epilogue
O. ELLERY RICE
Los Angeles Times Restaurant Critic
It takes a confident chef to put the word “crap” in the name of her restaurant, and let me tell you, twenty-six-year-old Clementine Cooper, owner and executive chef of Clementine’s No Crap Café, has good reason for that confidence. Her terrific new vegan restaurant opened last night on Montana Avenue in Santa Monica with a line wrapped around the block.
From the moment you step inside the gleaming ten-table eatery with its Cali-meets-Moroccan décor, you feel instantly healthier. Raised on an organic farm in northern California, Clementine believes in offering delicious food in its natural form, and with a range of cuisines, this fabulous eatery has something for everyone.
From her famed Butternut Squash Ravioli in Garlic and Sage Sauce to melt-on-the-tongue Curried Chickpea Cakes, Clementine’s entrees are healthy and incredibly satisfying. Offerings include Spicy Vegetable Curry, Asian Macaroni and Cheese, Crepes with Raspberry Sauce, Caramelized Eggplant with Red Miso, Lentil Tacos, and some fantastic soups and salads, from the incredible Red Potato Black Olive Salad, to the blissful Kale and White Bean Soup.
A former sous chef at Fresh and several top vegan restaurants, Clementine Cooper has brought to Santa Monica a vegan restaurant so good that it’s easy to see why the competition has always run scared from her. Famous for her Skinny Bitch empire, Clementine sat down with me over dessert—a slice of her incredible German Chocolate Cake—and explained that being a Skinny Bitch has always meant cutting the crap out of your life. Clementine’s No Crap Café will give you a great way to do just that.