The first thing that’ll wow you at Better Life Cuisine is the water — the delicious, fruit-infused water.

We’re not talking a simple lemon spritz. Better Life takes its unbottled water seriously, steeping it with yummy, flavorful, organic fruits. Just as soon as you sit down, a reusable glass of this thirst-quencher will be placed before you — and your meal will only get better from there.

A mere block from the famed raw restaurant Juliano’s Raw, Better Life’s a raw, organic, vegan restaurant for the masses — meaning that the place has crowd-pleasing nibbles at affordable prices. I stopped by here on Friday with my friend Jolia, Associate Editor at Vegetarian Times, and enjoyed a sumptuous healthy meal at a quiet restaurant that has yet to be discovered by the regular health-conscious Santa Monica crowd.

Better Life’s so committed to organic, raw, vegan food that it actually labels the items that aren’t organic. Granted, only one item — the coconut juice — gets that label, but this goes to show how eco-friendly the restaurant is.

To get a sampling of what Better Life had to offer, I got the Fiesta Platter — complete with “tuna,” “salmon,” fried beans, guacamole, bruschetta on raw seedy crackers, and a fresh pico de gallo — which came with a soup of the day (above).

The tangy spicy sesame soup was cooly refreshing, and my main course (above) arrived just as I finished my bowl. After whetting my appetite with the super fresh and tasty guacamole on the seedy crackers, I moved on to the faux fish yummies. Now, I’m really not a fan of raw food that tries too hard — but I must admit that the “salmon” was a nutty delight with a salmon-esque tang. I was less impressed with the “tuna,” but still took the stuff home — in a recycled content to-go container, no less — and devoured it for dinner.

Jolia said she loved her Spirulla Caesar Salad (below), but she’s a more hardcore health freak than I am. I was both impressed and overwhelmed by the size of the salad –

The piece de resistance: The raw pumpkin pie (below). If you’re like me, and have mixed feelings about conventional pumpkin pie because the filling’s usually too sweet beyond a couple bites and the buttery crust’s too much for your tummy to handle, you’ll find an atheist’s heaven in Better Life’s deliciously moist pumpkin pie with its nutty crust.

Yes, I’ll be back to try the “cheese” cake, chocolate cake, raw oatmeal cookies — and the non-dessert stuff too. I can’t eat there everyday, but I can afford Better Life’s deliciously filling meals a lot more often than Juliano’s.

Better Life. 717 Broadway Ave., Santa Monica. 310.458.7620. 9 am to 9 pm everyday.

6 Comments