Dirt Candy @ NYC **

Popcorn Pudding with Whipped Cream, Butterscotch, Hazelnuts, and Salted Butter Popcorn

A friend recently shared with me that being a vegetarian makes his life very simple. Even in New York City any given restaurant is likely to have at most three vegetarian entrées, thus decision-making while dining can be kept to a minimum. While I agree that simplification does have its advantages, exposure to a dizzy world of choice was the goal I had in mind when booking an all-vegetarian restaurant. Even though there are only about ten tables, I don’t think it was an unreasonable expectation that a meat-free kitchen would be able to serve up more than four distinct main dishes. I feel perfectly justified in my disappointment.

That said, the Onion Soup with Farmhouse Cheddar and Kumquat Marmalade was a pleasureable puzzlement ( It was only a few days after the meal that I realized why it had tasted so fundamentally wrong- all the onion soups I had eaten in the past were made with beef stock. This onion-only version had the nerve to be sweet!) Even though I came here specifically seeking vegetables, or as chef Amanda Cohen like to call them- “candy from the dirt,” it was dessert that turned out to be a real winner- velvety, with that winning combinatin of salty and sweet. Final assessment- the desire to eat popcorn pudding probably sells a lot of broccolini.

Details: 430 E. 9th St New York, NY 10009 (+1-212-228-7732)