Restaurant Review: Candle 79

A few weeks ago, I was lucky enough to have my delightful Aunt Edith come into town. She treated us to dinner at Candle 79, a vegan restaurant on the upper east side, and by far the best food I've eaten in New York City. My aunt, who is not a vegan, said it was one of the best meals she'd ever had-- not vegan meals, just meals!

We photographed the event, so I thought I would share some of the artistic food they served us. If you want to see better pictures (I'm certainly no photographer), you can visit the official website: http://www.candlecafe.com/

I ordered homemade ginger ale, one of Candle's many gourmet drinks. It was a perfect compliment to my meal, full of gingery deliciousness, as well as hints of mint and lemon.

As a little pre-appetizer, the house sent out bread with avocado butter.


We then got three (yes, three) appetizers. First, we had hummus.
The classic has been dressed up with olives, an entire head of roasted garlic, and red pepper. After this, we worked on dumplings.
The dumplings were garnished with sesame seeds and chives. They were divine, but nothing compared to the appetizer "dujour," which we couldn't resist:
Curried vegetables, in a phyllo cup, with chutney on top... I would go back just for this, if it was on the permanent menu!

For dinner, I ordered ravioli (what can I say, I'm too lazy to ever make vegan ravioli myself!)
The black-brown stuff on top was really crunchy and delicious (I have a suspicion that it was garlic, but don't hold me to that). Combined with onions, spinach, and tomatoes, the ravioli were definitely a superb blend of flavor.

I was, however, a bit jealous of my aunt's entree. She ordered honeyed seitan.
She let me try some (for the sake of the article, of course), and I was pleasantly surprised by the savory texture and flavor of the dish.

My lovely Aunt let me talk her into dessert.
This first one is chocolate mousse with peanut butter, served over raspberry syrup and chopped nuts.
Finally, I present to you my favorite dish aesthetically. This is a totally raw dessert-- a parfait with nuts, cashew cream, and raspberry ice cream. Instead of a cookie, there is an impossibly thin slice of pineapple.
Ah, how delightful. This post has been painful--I'm so hungry now!-- but hopefully you will enjoy the pictures! I whole-heartedly recommend this restaurant for any one that can scrape together the money.

Chelsea