What is Dirt Candy?
What is dirt candy? Vegetables, of course. When you eat a vegetable you’re eating little more than dirt that’s been transformed by plenty of sunshine and rain into something that’s full of flavor – candy from the dirt. Dirt Candy. It’s also the name of my restaurant, which opened about three months ago, after a long, long battle with the forces of evil.
I’ve worked in many of the vegetarian restaurants in New York City. I went to the Natural Gourmet Cooking School, was a chef’s teaching assistant at Angelica’s, managed the kitchen at the late Terra 47, was the first chef at Moby’s teahouse, Teany, went from being a line chef to chef de cuisine at Pure Food and Wine and was the Chef de Cuisine at Heirloom (R.I.P.). I also consulted at Blossom and Broadway East (a long time ago). With Dirt Candy I’m trying to do a vegetarian restaurant my way. Most vegetarian restaurants are lifestyle-driven, not chef-driven, and their aim is to present healthy food that conforms to vegetarian principles, often by serving basic meat recipes with soy products replacing the meat portion of the dish.
I don’t care about your health. And I don’t care about your politics either. But I do care about cooking vegetables. Most of the best vegetarian dishes I’ve eaten have been at non-vegetarian restaurants. The gnocchi at Il Bagatto, the vinegar potatoes at Grand Sichuan, the fried watercress salad at Sripraphai (they’ll lose the chicken and shrimp if you ask). I’ve always wanted to work at a place that put cooking vegetables and doing amazing things with them first, and put lifestyle, health and political choices second. It didn’t take me long to realize that if I wanted a place like that I’d have to build it myself, so I did. Just as BLT Fish is dedicated to seafood, and Peter Luger’s is dedicated to steak, Dirt Candy is dedicated to vegetables. It’s taken us almost a year to get here, but we’re finally open, so either sign up for our mailing list (here) or keep checking back to this blog for updates about menu changes and news.
the vinegar potatoes at Grand Sichuan, the fried watercress salad at Sripraphai (they’ll lose the chicken and shrimp if you ask).
((these are two great dishes!!, I am with her you can eat veggie super well all over town inc my fav Bar Masa, where one could go vegan even......looking forward to try this place which is lacto ovo vegg as she serves lots of cheese, butter, eggs.....prices are supposably fair and I hope the wine is a good selection, and natural:>))
((little confused by not caring about my health though, hey i am the customer))
Over on Eater, the Feedbag picked Dirt Candy as one of the “Best Newcomers of 2008″ and Gothamist singled us out for a nice mention in their round-up of “The Way We Ate 2008.”
As for 2009 things don’t look too shabby so far. Gourmet has already weighed in with a first taste review in which they say the hush puppies are, “…so good it’ll stop your heart…” which is really nice to hear unless you have coronary disease, and they call the spinach soup, “…soothing and spiky…” The February 2009 issue of Bon Appetit does a national restaurant round up of “Hot 10 Modern Vegetarian” and not only do they put Dirt Candy in at number 6 (I’m not sure they’re ranked by number, but still…six is a nice number) but we’re the only veggie place in NYC they pick. Not a bad way to start the year
New Yorker review
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What is dirt candy? Vegetables, of course. When you eat a vegetable you’re eating little more than dirt that’s been transformed by plenty of sunshine and rain into something that’s full of flavor – candy from the dirt. Dirt Candy. It’s also the name of my restaurant, which opened about three months ago, after a long, long battle with the forces of evil.
I’ve worked in many of the vegetarian restaurants in New York City. I went to the Natural Gourmet Cooking School, was a chef’s teaching assistant at Angelica’s, managed the kitchen at the late Terra 47, was the first chef at Moby’s teahouse, Teany, went from being a line chef to chef de cuisine at Pure Food and Wine and was the Chef de Cuisine at Heirloom (R.I.P.). I also consulted at Blossom and Broadway East (a long time ago). With Dirt Candy I’m trying to do a vegetarian restaurant my way. Most vegetarian restaurants are lifestyle-driven, not chef-driven, and their aim is to present healthy food that conforms to vegetarian principles, often by serving basic meat recipes with soy products replacing the meat portion of the dish.
I don’t care about your health. And I don’t care about your politics either. But I do care about cooking vegetables. Most of the best vegetarian dishes I’ve eaten have been at non-vegetarian restaurants. The gnocchi at Il Bagatto, the vinegar potatoes at Grand Sichuan, the fried watercress salad at Sripraphai (they’ll lose the chicken and shrimp if you ask). I’ve always wanted to work at a place that put cooking vegetables and doing amazing things with them first, and put lifestyle, health and political choices second. It didn’t take me long to realize that if I wanted a place like that I’d have to build it myself, so I did. Just as BLT Fish is dedicated to seafood, and Peter Luger’s is dedicated to steak, Dirt Candy is dedicated to vegetables. It’s taken us almost a year to get here, but we’re finally open, so either sign up for our mailing list (here) or keep checking back to this blog for updates about menu changes and news.
- Skinny 2-06-2009 3:06 pm
the vinegar potatoes at Grand Sichuan, the fried watercress salad at Sripraphai (they’ll lose the chicken and shrimp if you ask).
((these are two great dishes!!, I am with her you can eat veggie super well all over town inc my fav Bar Masa, where one could go vegan even......looking forward to try this place which is lacto ovo vegg as she serves lots of cheese, butter, eggs.....prices are supposably fair and I hope the wine is a good selection, and natural:>))
((little confused by not caring about my health though, hey i am the customer))
- Skinny 2-06-2009 3:12 pm [add a comment]
Over on Eater, the Feedbag picked Dirt Candy as one of the “Best Newcomers of 2008″ and Gothamist singled us out for a nice mention in their round-up of “The Way We Ate 2008.”
As for 2009 things don’t look too shabby so far. Gourmet has already weighed in with a first taste review in which they say the hush puppies are, “…so good it’ll stop your heart…” which is really nice to hear unless you have coronary disease, and they call the spinach soup, “…soothing and spiky…” The February 2009 issue of Bon Appetit does a national restaurant round up of “Hot 10 Modern Vegetarian” and not only do they put Dirt Candy in at number 6 (I’m not sure they’re ranked by number, but still…six is a nice number) but we’re the only veggie place in NYC they pick. Not a bad way to start the year
- Skinny 2-06-2009 3:33 pm [add a comment]
New Yorker review
- alex 2-06-2009 7:19 pm [add a comment]