Step into the entryway of Julio's in the recently renovated Skylake Mall and you're likely to see The Low Carb Bible displayed on the cream-colored sofa. You're also pretty much guaranteed of crossing paths with well-toned gym rats from LA Fitness next door stopping in for protein shakes or giant salads.

If the absence of a warm bread basket or piles of pasta doesn't make you feel deprived, this may be the place for you.

Julio's very much pays homage to Miami Juice in Sunny Isles Beach and Juice and Java in Aventura, where owner Julio Valderrama, a native of Bogotá, worked for nearly a decade. The space is calming with its blond-wood furnishings, marble accents and sage-green mural of leaves meandering along the crisp white walls.

Julio's welcomes diners with a platter of cucumber wedges and carrot sticks, and serves an incredibly varied selection of mostly delicious dishes at unfathomably cheap prices.

What is essentially a juice bar on steroids has a menu so enormous you could come every day for a year and never eat the same thing twice. There are dozen of salads, as many sandwiches, wraps and brown-rice or potato platters as well as soups, side orders, desserts and specials. And then there are the 100-plus juices and smoothies with names like Buried Treasure and Skinny Deep.

A sweet potato platter comes with a tuber as big as a football and tasty enough to enjoy unadorned. Add some butter and cinnamon, cheese or mixed veggies for a purely delicious vegetarian treat.

A steamed vegetable plate looked good with its large broccoli florets, green beans and carrots, but the microwave had rendered most of the veggies flavorless. Conversely, an ugly, gunmetal-gray lentil soup with odd-shaped hunks of carrots and plantain tasted great with its unusual flavorings of pineapple juice and garlic.

Grilled tofu with moist and nutty brown rice is another excellent option. Like all the other dishes we tried, it's huge and accented with colorful raw vegetables.

Animal products come mostly from the sea, but there are a fair number of chicken entrees. Here is where I really wish the products were organic, or at least hormone-free. But with no entrees over $10, it's no surprise they're not.

''Going organic is really expensive,'' says Valderrama, ``and I'm just not sure people are ready to pay for that yet.''

Still, a brown rice platter with red snapper is a beautiful thing. The very fresh skin-on fillet had a liberal shake of paprika-based seasoning, but needed salt, as do many of the dishes here.

Fantastically fresh egg dishes, available until 11:30 a.m., are worth a trip. The wake-up special, a sort of huevos rancheros, includes perfectly fried sunny-side-up eggs on a slab of melted Monterey jack cheese. The whole thing is covered in a piquant tomato sauce with a sidecar of refried beans and corn chips.

A standout Hass avocado stuffed with tuna would be worth a visit any time. The tuna has a hint of heat from finely diced Serrano chiles. If that's not hot enough, take it up a notch with one of at least five seasoning sauces.

For now, desserts are limited to frozen bananas coated with organic milk chocolate or baked apples and pears sprinkled with cinnamon, but sweets lovers can look forward to vegetarian tofu cheesecake, Key lime pies and fruit creams. Muffins, made daily, include a moist carrot with walnuts that hits the sweet spot just fine.

Coffee choices are extensive, with all kinds of decaf and frozen options. Though I don't think Splenda or Sweet n' Low qualify as natural foods, they are offered for weight conscious types who don't mind swallowing laboratory chemicals to save a few calories.

Friendly, young servers who routinely forgot napkins, silverware and water glasses could use a lot more training.

All would have been well if I could have enjoyed my various meals here with a fine riesling or pinot noir. Never fear, says Valderrama; that's coming, too. An organic beer and wine list should be available by the spring. If all goes as planned, there will be more Julio's, too. I hope I get one in my neighborhood.