Dirt Candy is run by Amanda Cohen, a vegetarian chef who competed with Morimoto on Iron Chef! Its a tiny restaurant in the East Village (only 18 seats available), definitely make a reservation before coming and keep an eye out for the restaurant otherwise you may walk right past!
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Front of Dirt Candy- keep an eye out or you may just walk right past! |
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Dirt Candy's menu - each item is named after the primary vegetable in the dish |
To start, Piggy KL and I went with the Jalapeno Hush Puppies and the Mushroom. Both were excellent!!!! The Jalapeno Hush Puppies were freshly made and served warm. The jalapenos gave it just that bit of a kick (but don't worry - its not spicy spicy). The maple butter that accompanied the hush puppies was amazing and went really well with the dish. I was scooping that onto each bite by the spoonful!
The Mushroom dish was gorgeously plated and served with truffle toast, portobello mushroom mousse, and pear & fennel compote. The mousse had such a smooth texture and a subtle yet true fragrant mushroom flavor. The toast was served crispy (like a large crouton yum!) with a light truffle taste. I highly recommend!
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Jalapeno Hush Puppies with Maple Butter |
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Mushroom with truffle toast, mushroom mousse, pear & fennel compote |
Cauliflower was served with buttermilk battered cauliflower, waffles, horseradish, and wild arugula. The cauliflower was perfectly crispy and delicious but sadly only served with three or four pieces. The waffles were thin (I prefer thick waffles) but soaked up the flavorful sauce - you could taste the horseradish, which was more like wasabi. While not a large portion, this was able to fill me up.
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Corn - stone group grits, corn cream, pickled shiitake mushrooms, and a tempura poached egg |
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Cauliflower - buttermilk battered cauliflower, waffles, horseradish, and wild arugula |
And no dinner is finished without a bit of dessert! I'm a huge fan of anything minty so I convinced Piggy KL to share the Ice Cream Nanaimo Bar with me. This was a sort of minty ice cream sandwich - nice and minty way to close out our meal!
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Dessert Menu |
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Mint Nanaimo Bar |
Piggy says Yes!
Dirt Candy
430 E 9th St (btwn 1st Ave and Ave A)
212-228-7732
Thanks for reading - Piggy KK
It's Dirt Candy time! This crowd-pleaser/vegan-friendly restaurant is so remarkable that it deserves its own segment in my Dining Out Vegan ...click here
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