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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: Dirt Candy. It’s also the name of my restaurant, which opened in October, 2008.

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Since opening, we’ve been named the “Best Vegetarian Restaurant in NYC” by both amNew York and L Magazine, Citysearch readers have voted us the “Best Vegan Restaurant in NYC” for multiple years in a row, and the Village Voice singled us out for having the “Best Grits in NYC.” I was named one of the twelve Rising Star Chefs in New York by Starchefs, and for four years running, the Michelin Guide has included Dirt Candy as one of their Bib Gourmand choices, one of only 85 restaurants in the entire city to receive that honor. Oh, and the late, great Gourmet gave us an award for having the “Funniest Restaurant Blog.” I’m also the co-author of Dirt Candy: A Cookbook, North America’s very first graphic novel coobook.

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Over the last 10 years, I’ve worked in a lot of vegetarian restaurants in New York City, but Dirt Candy is a vegetarian restaurant done 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.

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At Dirt Candy, we don’t care about your health. And we don’t care about your politics either. Just as Le Bernardin is dedicated to seafood, and Peter Luger’s is dedicated to steak, Dirt Candy is dedicated to one thing: cooking vegetables. For us, flavor comes first and lifestyle, health and political choices come second.

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The menu is always changing and there’s always something going on over here so either sign up for our mailing list (here) or keep checking this blog for updates about menu changes and our latest news. And we’re on Facebook just like the cool kids, so you can keep up with us there as well.

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