Coming off a meat- and cheese-laden holiday week, dining at a vegan, raw food restaurant seemed the perfect antidote. But on a snowy night, when more comfort food is what I craved, an uncooked meal served cold didn’t sound appetizing. Somehow I managed to drag myself to Karyn’s Raw in Lincoln Park last Sunday, however.

Karyn’s Fresh Corner is just one outpost of holistic health guru Karyn Calabrese. It shares a space with a spa and food and vitamin market, and there’s Karyn’s Cooked in Old Town, which specializes in vegan fare. Later this month, she’s opening Karyn’s on Green in the West Loop.

Food served raw seeks to maintain living enzymes that are said to be lost when the heat is cranked past a certain point. Eating raw is easy: think any fresh fruit or vegetable. But eating raw and tasty in the middle of winter takes some serious technique.

My dining partner and I started with what was possibly the embodiment of our worst fears about raw food: Sea Dim Sum ($8). Rereading the menu, we really should have known better. This is not a raw food 101 dish. It looked pretty — dark purple nori squares clutched dollops of pureed avocado — but when we tried to eat them, the filling squished out while our teeth wrestled with the chewy wrap. An otherwise nice flavor lost the battle to a too-big portion size and texture issues.

The only remedy from here was to order the Nachos ($9). For some reason I assumed raw food would be at its best when it was not merely mocking familiar flavors. I was wrong. A mound of sunflower and flax seed chips was covered in tomatos, green peppers and lots of olives, flanked by dollops of guacamole and a cashew-based faux sour cream. The chewy texture of the chips and the strong flavors piled on top renewed our faith in the raw diet.

My entrée, Portobello Napoleon ($13), had many flavors similar to the nachos except they were layered between two slices of mushroom instead of piled on chips. The cashew-based “bleu cheese” was not that different from the cashew-based “sour cream.” Without the addition of a ring of pesto around the plate and a few pieces of asparagus, the dishes would have been nearly identical.

The Wild Rice Medley ($12) featured sprouted barley, adding an unusual chewy texture to nicely seasoned rice and veggies. Although the serving appeared small, it was quite filling.

We could have stopped there, but were curious about the Curry Ice Cream ($8). The menu didn’t list what non-dairy ingredients went into this dish, but there was a banana-y texture to the slightly sweet, cold treat, with just a hint of spice. It was served with rock hard coconut cookies and thick pineapple slices mistakenly described on the menu as carpaccio.

When the plates were cleared, I realized two things. First of all, with the artful plating and abundance of colors, I hadn’t even noticed that the food wasn’t served hot. And I was full but not afflicted with that sluggish post-dinner haze.

My only beef with the menu was some ingredients were listed as what they were imitating instead of what they were. Under the nachos, the menu lists sour cream with no mention of the cashews that comprise this non-dairy version. Other items listed that could not possible be include chorizo, angel hair pasta and béchamel sauce. Our server was more than happy to answer our questions, but we couldn’t ask what every ingredient was.

The bill came to $50 even, perhaps more than I would have expected to spend on the amount of food we were served. But with no pre-made foods for the kitchen to fall back on, it’s hard to compare prices with a restaurant that can pour the base for its nachos out of a bag.

There was much more about Karyn’s that intrigued me than turned me off. I can’t wait to come back and try the pasta, er, zucchini ribbons, and the soups, even if not piping hot, sounded interesting, too.