BERKELEY
The wave of cynicism washing through our culture leaves few things standing in its wake. One of them is Café Gratitude in Berkeley, where you order from a list of affirmations (“I am vivacious,” for instance, means “I’ll have the stuffed avocado”) and the servers, by house policy, pose such questions as “What makes you great?” Your suspicions are correct. This is a vegan restaurant, and for vegans it seems like a solid choice. At its most elemental moments, it even gives the rest of us reasons to be grateful. “I am giving” (kale and sea vegetable salad) arrives crisp in a sesame-orange dressing, and the milk shakes, made with nut milk, are a treat. Less enticing are the vegan knockoffs of pub standards, like pizza marinara on a sunflower seed and buckwheat crust and the sprouted pumpkin seed and walnut “burger.” They just don’t please your palate, no matter what they do to ease your guilt. Café Gratitude appeals to any reservoirs of earnestness that lie within you. But for all its earthy aura—the sweet, granola service and the Lao Tsu sayings posted on the wall—this, in the end, is a fussy restaurant. And the pacing of the place, with raw dishes that seem to take a long time to cook, may prompt you to declare, “I am hungry and impatient. Bring me something to eat.” 1730 Shattuck Ave. (at Virginia St.), 510-824-4652. $$ W *½