Looking for Healthy Take-Outs in Venice and on La Cienega

Tofu Dogs. Cornbeet Hash. Chopped Tempeh. Samurai Smoothy with Spirulina and Bee Pollen. Jambalaya that turns out to be vegetables and pecan pate . It would be easy to take my hip cronies to a health food restaurant and have them do a stand-up routine on the menu.

But more in the spirit of raw and cooked anthropology than in the guise of the Comedy Club, I set out looking for healthy meals to take home. A little internal spring cleaning couldn’t hurt, so I went to I Love Juicy and Racers Cafe; both offer low-cost vegetarian meals, soups, sandwiches, raw food aplenty and Mexican-inspired cooked things.

Juicy’s, around the corner from World Gym and a sprint away from Gold’s, has enormous portions and a big menu. You can start your day with a bowl of organically grown oatmeal tossed with coconut and fruit--it costs $3, is big enough for two and laced with enough honey for three. Fruit juices and “frugan” (an all-fruit frozen treat in many flavors) are impeccable. Who knows what that bee pollen provokes?--it tastes great mixed with bananas and fresh orange juice. Juicy’s soups (I tried split pea and Filibeano) are well-blended, simple and satisfying. At $2 for a good-size “small” and $3 for an ample “large” they’re a good addition to your where-to-get-homemade-soup list.

The big plate of tostadas, as decent as you’d get in a standard Mexican restaurant, includes a windfall of crunchy grated red cabbage and avoids the lard. Mombo Combo, 7 to 10 items from the raw food salad bar spread on lavash (Middle Eastern flat bread), is a dizzying assortment of tastes. I liked the fresh, well-spiced hummus and guacamole and the sharp eggplant caviar, but the carrot beet salad was tired, and tabbouleh was bland in contrast to the strong mushroom pate .

Mock food is a problematic area; still, I’m glad I didn’t pass up the “dairyless French-style quiche.” It may have nothing to do with French cuisine, but it’s a delicious amalgamation of basmati rice, tofu and vegetables that amazingly tastes like the filling of spanakopeta mixed with crunchy rice.

If steamed vegetables are the litmus test of a health food restaurant, then Juicy’s should try again. Macro Erotica follows none of the macrobiotic--or erotic--principles that I know: the vegetables were so lightly steamed you’d have to call them Hot N’ Raw. And they came with a house dressing that is certainly the worst dressing I’ve had this year. Tahini can be a terrific base, but in this case it’s dreadfully spiked with what tastes like parsley juice.

Stir-fried vegetables at Racers ($6.75 for a big portion accompanied by salad and basmati rice) are beautifully prepared in a modicum of oil with first-rate tamari packed on the side. Tacos and tostadas with either tofu or cheese and a California Roll filled with a choice of more than a dozen raw combinations are straightforward and snappy. I couldn’t bring myself to order that tofu dog but had a B.L.T. just to see what “fakin’ bacon” tastes like: everything in the sandwich was as crisp and fresh as you’d want, but the only way you could possibly appreciate that textured soy “bacon” was if you hadn’t had meat in about 14 years.

A number of the raw dishes are so otherworldly, I had to keep looking at the menu and retasting them to figure out what they were. I thought the sprouted bread might be one of the “ pates “ and couldn’t figure out which potpourri salad contained the Filipino jackfruit. Brazilian nutmeat pate (ground black olives, Brazil nuts and curry spices), and the Kashuna pate (hearts of palm, ground cashews and tahini ) have to be tasted to be believed. The salads are melanges of so many different vegetables (all extremely fresh and nicely cut) and flavors, that I felt like Alice eating the food that propelled her into the rabbit hole.

Racers’ natural fruit pies are also uncooked. They contain no flour, yeast, honey or refined sugar. Looking straight out of R. Crumb Comix, these raw pies are deceptively, addictively good. They are $3.25 per slice, certainly full of calories (and with a lot of coconut-saturated fat) and frequently very sweet but what a way to experience the concentrated intensity of mangos, cherimoyas, berries, carrots, etc., set on a chewy all-nut crust.

I Love Juicy, 826 Hampton Drive, Venice. (213) 399-1318. Open seven days 8 a.m. to 11 p.m. Cash only. Street parking.

Racers Cafe, 359 N . La Cienega Blvd., Los Angeles. (213) 652-8896. Open Monday through Saturday for lunch and dinner. MasterCard and Visa accepted. Street parking. Deliveries available in neighborhood with $10 minimum order, $1 delivery charge.