Dirt Candy
Update: Dirt Candy is reopening on the Lower East Side in January 2015.
Usually I’m not eager to try vegetarian restaurants, so my excitement leading up to dinner at Dirt Candy was pretty much unprecedented. By “vegetarian restaurants,” I’m not talking about food that happens to be meatless. I mean the kind of restaurant that claims vegetarianism as its raison d’etre. The kind of place that throws tofu or seitan in your $20 entree as if that were a worthy substitute for meat. Dirt Candy, on the other hand, sounds like the kind of restaurant I could really enjoy. Instead of trying to replicate meat dishes, chef Amanda Cohen elevates vegetables as the main ingredient using an innovative menu and bold flavors. Since it’s near-impossible to simply walk in and get a table, I made a reservation and let the anticipation build.
The restaurant is squeezed into a narrow, studio-apartment sized space that’s intimate for two people but probably awkward for a group larger than three or four. Our server asked straight away if we were vegan, since Dirt Candy uses dairy but each dish can be made vegan on request (we said we were not). Throughout dinner this server, who was nice enough, kept re-stocking wine glasses on the wall behind my head–a fairly irritating setup, but one I was able to ignore once the food arrived.
First course was a plate of jalapeno hush puppies served with maple butter ($6). They were easily the best damn hush puppies I’ve ever had. Deep fried yet light corn batter with a subtle jalapeno heat is tasty enough, but when lavished with sweet, creamy maple butter, it’s a knockout. I actually had to restrain myself from eating more of that wonderful butter straight from the dish.
Fortunately the next round of appetizers arrived before I could so debase myself. A plate of three steamed carrot buns ($11) was a bit of a letdown due to the fact that the buns were way too bready, detracting from the intriguing, sweet filling. After several guesses on our part (“beets?” “figs?”) our server told us the filling consisted of water chestnuts, sesame, carrots, and barbecue sauce. The buns were served with a small side salad of jullienned cucumber and ginger, with crumbles of sweet, crunchy sesame halvah. All the ingredients really sang in the side salad, and the halvah won me over much the same way the maple butter did.
A second appetizer, and probably the highlight of the evening was the mushroom plate ($13). This was a deconstructed dish, featuring a square of portobello mousse, a pile of roasted portobello mushrooms, a peach and fennel compote, toasted bread with truffle oil, and a drizzle of reduction sauce running along the plate. I have complicated feelings about mushrooms–I’ve found them both delicious and off-putting at times, and I typically don’t eat them by themselves. But I enjoyed this dish. I don’t know if it was delicious per se, but the earthy, complex flavor of mushrooms infused in a silky mousse was a memorable taste sensation.
For my entree, I went with the tomato plate, because while I’m conflicted about mushrooms there are few things I love more than tomatoes. This dish was three perfectly battered and fried green tomato slices atop yellow tomato sauce with toasted coconut and jicama, flecked with little doughy balls of spaetzle. This was satisfying, well-rounded dish, but it didn’t wow me like the hush puppies or mushroom mousse. However, I appreciated it more after tasting the zucchini entree, with mint and terragon pasta, squash blossom relish, and yogurt & saffron sauce. The pasta seemed sodden with bland, tahini-like sauce, and I didn’t catch any mint or tarragon.
By the time we got to dessert my stomach was at capacity and my friend doesn’t do chocolate, so we split the only non-chocolate option on the menu, popcorn pudding. As promised, the pudding was infused with popcorn flavor and came with a side of hazlenut caramel popcorn for dipping. I’ve said it before, but I’ll say it again: many restaurants do a lousy job with dessert. Compared to the rest of the menu, the pudding was pretty basic, but executed well enough that I’d have gladly given any one of the other desserts a try if I could have possibly eaten more.
In total we spent $107 on two entrees, two appetizers, one dessert, hush puppies, and two glasses of wine, not including tip. This isn’t outrageous, but it’s not cheap and I left feeling perhaps my expectations had been too high. I was glad I tried Dirt Candy, but felt one visit was enough. But if you’re looking for a place where dietary restrictions are no obstacle to inventive cuisine, this is a good place to check out sometime.
Dirt Candy
430 E. 9th St. between First Ave and Ave. A
Tue-Sat 5:30pm-11pm
reservation recommended