MEDICINE EATSTATION: UNFORTUNATE NAME: WILL YOU NEED SPOONFUL OF MEDICINE TO MAKE FOOD GO DOWN?

Medicine Eatstation (Crocker Galleria, 161 Sutter Street, 3rd floor;wwwmedicinerestaurant.com; 677-4405; weekdays 12-6) is a culinary oddity. I coaxed PJ who Maxed out his credit card for a lovely jaunt to this "real Shojin" temple in the heart of the Financial District. Dr. Brian Waits is the chef; he "waits" for no one, if you come after 3:00. Not even if you are a yoga teacher or the Dalai Lama? Medicine has an unfortunate name, it's true, and the last time I ate there, the service was on the slowish side. In fact, the kvetchers on my last trip quipped slow service can make a trip to the Doctor seem like fun.

Medicine is in flux. It used to be a serene, stark place where you sat at wooden benches at long mahogany tables while video screens showed landscapes. That area has been cordoned off for remodeling and two benches are left. Most of the harried 9 to 5ers do take out, sit under the glass canopy of the Crocker Galleria, or trek up to the roof garden. Tuesday was a spectacularly sunny day, but we stayed indoors for me to meet Brian.

Brian it seemed had stepped out. Whereabouts unknown. The Medicine formula is haute Japanese vegan cuisine. A refreshing change from the Crocker Galleria's fast food joints. If you are a committed carnivore, skip this place.

I remembered Harold Pinter's line from the Caretaker about the monk, as I slipped onto the austere wooden bench:

I said to this monk...I heard you got a stock of shoes here. Piss off, he said to me.

I go to Refuge to the Buddha
I go to Refuge to the Doctrine.
I go for the Refuge to the Order of [monks].
(Pali Canon - Last words of the Buddha c 500-250 BC)

8 fold path: RIGHT VIEWS, RIGHT ASPIRATIONS, RIGHT SPEECH, RIGHT CONDUCT, RIGHT LIVELIHOOD, RIGHT EFFORT, RIGHT MINDFULNESS, RIGHT CONTEMPLATION.

Medicine's motto: loving kindness to your body/simple food for jaded palates. The signature plate is the medicine roll: 9-grain rice, avocado, sour plum, nori carrot, shiso leaf, spicy sprouts and flax seed (5).

Mountain monk: tender baby salad greens tossed with seasonal fruit, pinenuts, walnuts and Daitoku-jinatto in our special sake-kasu dressing (9). Subtle and plentiful, a perfect lunchtime snack.

I had the Clarity: a cornucopia of seasonal vegetables (broccoli, cauliflower, rice, tofu) steamed to perfection served with our housemade peanut sauce and 'germinated' sweet brown rice. (9) Not enough peanut sauce and had to imbibe some of PJ's Sappora to wash it down. "If feel like bombing Pearl Harbor all over again," he blurted out!

The add-ons are a great addition: jumbo prawns, chikuzen salmon, whitefish marinated with sweet-soy. (5). If you come after 3:00 p.m., guess what? the chef is out to lunch. Literally! You have to settle for deep-fried or steamed tofu. No baked here, which is fortunate.

We skipped the yuzu shaved ice specialty and headed for Union Square and settled into the IT'S IT, a San Francisco treat (ice cream sandwich) to people-watch.

MEDICINE IS A SYMBOL OF SOLITUDE, SECURITY AND IS AS IMPORTANT AS A SHELL TO A HERMIT CRAB! MAY IT THRIVE IN ITS FUTURE REINCARNATION