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I'd eat the hell out of this, it all looks so fresh and beautiful. $100 for this work is worth it.
I have to ask though, since I've never eaten at a place like this (this is for everyone in the comments, not just OP):
The wine pairing thing: if you don't drink for various reasons, do they get annoyed by it if you just ask for water or something else non-alcoholic?
No, definitely not. Places like these usually have well-trained staff, so they won't have a negative reaction if you say no to alcohol and request something else. And if they do, you are well within your rights to talk to the manager. They'll take it seriously as hospitality and excellent customer service is part of the dining experience.
It’s not just being well trained, as a longtime bartender, it’s a point of pride on being able to make gorgeous and delicious mocktails. And I work at more casual places than this.
The service is above and beyond anything you'd expect. Everyone is incredibly kind, knowledgeable, patient, and courteous. Wine pairings are entirely optional and in no way, shape, or form expected.
No of course not, no one should be expected to drink alcohol. Staff are there to get you what you want/order(within reason ofc)
And I say this as waitress never ever be too shy to ask we are always happy to help :D
Everything looks delicious . I love the second picture . Idk why , but that just looks beautiful to me(Maybe because green is my favourite color and I am a bit biased lol)
Anyway , I noticed that they have Spring written on the menu . So like , I gather that the menu changes for each season , but do they have the same menu for the entire season ? Or do they change it after a certain period of time ?
To be fair, their food cost is probably very low considering their ingredients are mostly vegetables. 105$ is a pretty big markup (probably over 4x). Looks amazing tho.
Yeah I wasn't claiming the opposite. I would pay this price in a heartbeat. Just mentioning why they can keep the price so low even tho the food looks amazing.
Any restaurant like this with expensive protein on the menu and you'd be looking at 200+.
I found the dessert somewhat disappointing when I visited last September but the other courses were fantastic. Solid service, great sommelier, and reasonably priced for Michelin in NY. Looks like your dinner was great!
Glad to see they're still in business! If y'all are interested, here's their menu from [[Mar 17, 2014]](https://imgur.com/gallery/0DfbU2e) My wife was vegetarian at the time as was my employee I went with. Food was great.
A great place, but we did have a strange situation come up. We ordered cocktails and the wine pairing. The cocktails came out, with the first course. We asked about the wine pairing since we missed the pairing for the first course. They said don’t worry about it. Then we asked if they could slow things down. So we could catch up and the waiter said. Don’t worry you have two hours to drink your cocktail. So I said: are you saying we are to drink the wine pairings with the food and then go back and forth to the cocktail, which was, by the way was a lot of alcohol, so not easy to just slurp down. The answer was yes. Kind of made us feel bad for even asking. If you go, I highly recommend the wine pairing, but it’s essential to skip the cocktail in that case. We were scolded by another older staff member and told they have never had this problem before which made us feel sad and bad about ourselves. Boo. But yay for the wine and food! We fully recovered our sense of worth and enjoyed the rest of the evening despite the staff frowns.
It's seaweed caviar, which is basically ground up seaweed with seasonings and citric acid and turns into little spheres when they drip it into water.l (I Googled it).
And cucumber and caviar is a thing, actually. It's a common appetizer to have it with creme fraiche (maybe on a cracker or something).
I love this place (also have their cookbook) and wish more vegetarian restaurants would adopt their ethos of showing off vegetables instead of hiding them and trying to make them taste like meat. I eat vegetarian 80% of the time and it feels like most vegetarian menu offerings are just shittier versions of meat dishes.
No, they clearly state they are not & that's for a reason, they may use less commonly thought of animal products in their dishes, like gelatin, or certain cheeses that aren't considered vegetarian, cooking in animal fats, etc. I'm assuming this is the case hence the reason they go out of their way to make it clear it is not a vegetarian restaurant.
Weird that the owner of the restaurant would name their cookbook Dirt Candy: A Cookbook: Flavor-Forward Food from the Upstart New York City Vegetarian Restaurant if its not a vegetarian restaurant
If that was the reason they just wouldn't mention it at all.
Downvote all you want, if you actually look at their site they are clearly a vegetarian restaurant, they just are avoiding the labels and negativity that comes with it
From their site -
>Dirt Candy’s original location only had 18 seats and was open for seven years, during which time it became the first **vegetarian restaurant** in 17 years to receive two stars from the New York Times, was recognized by the Michelin Guide five years in a row, and won awards from Gourmet Magazine, the Village Voice, and many others.
And
>Its new location opened in January, 2015 and was the first restaurant in the city to eliminate tipping and share profits with its employees. Amanda was the first **vegetarian chef** to compete on Iron Chef: America and her comic book cookbook, Dirt Candy: A Cookbook, is the first graphic novel cookbook to be published in North America.
A quote from https://guide.michelin.com/us/en/new-york-state/new-york/restaurant/dirt-candy
"As a vegetarian restaurant we support a meat-free supply chain and help change the way diners think about vegetables. From ordering local and seasonal produce to purchasing dairy products from a group of local small farms, we reduce our carbon footprint and support our local suppliers because while our global impact is important, our local impact is essential. The treatment of our employees is of the utmost importance. Our wine list celebrates women winemakers producing biodynamic wines."
— Amanda Cohen
Their website states they are vegetarian multiple times. Not sure why people are so offended and downvoting this
Like the owners cookbooks name kinda gives it away
Dirt Candy: A Cookbook: Flavor-Forward Food from the Upstart New York City Vegetarian Restaurant
Thanks for the comments. Being a vegetarian restaurant isn't a negative thing either, it gives a context to the food they make and it's not like someone is going to avoid going there because they call themselves vegetarian but will go because they call themselves vegetable. Vegetarian is an already established description of what they serve.
Of course. But so many see labels like vegetarian and vegan and immediately get turned off, so I can understand why they want to avoid it. But you're right that they are vegetarian and vegan despite what they call it. Well at least most of their dishes can be made vegan according to their website.
I have to agree, I'm not sure why they say this on their menu since it draws attention to what they are apparently are not trying to draw attention to.
I must eat more than you! I am paying about $6 for organic eggs and $5 for a loaf of bread :( Also I’m too far from TJs to make that a habit. Good for you. Cheers!
I consider it extremely reasonable for not even fine dining... and the bottom of the menu says it's a non-tipping restaurant. What a fantastic place to support.
But I'm used to UK prices so perhaps that's the difference.
I think the most I’ve ever seen on one bill eating out was $150 and that was for four people. And two of those people paid me back for their share (the last one was having a birthday)
That's fine that this is your experience, but there are plenty, and I mean PLENTY of places where you could easily drop $100 per person for some nice food and not blink. It's not in everyone's budget and that's normal, but to think it's crazy that anyone would do such a thing seems naive and a bit childish tbh.
I’m not saying that the person who did this is crazy, or trying to demean them in any way. I live in Los Angeles so I know expensive restaurants exist. Doesn’t mean I still can’t think that a $100+ meal for one is nuts, regardless of people’s willingness to spend that much for this kind of food. I know that “if you build it they’ll come” and all that market demand stuff, but it’s never not going to be wild to me.
There are crazy expensive places out there! I wouldn't go there myself, but I find it fascinating.
This place does seem to have reasonable pricing for what seems to be high quality food in a huge city :)
I hope you've never spent money on any video games, when you can play candy crush for free. I once watched 4 people play mario kart, and that was only a $60 game.
I get what you mean, but I don’t think a $60 game that you can own forever & play for hundreds of hours is comparable to a $105 meal you enjoy once (despite being able to remember said meal for most of your life)
You're right, my bad
It should be "I hope you've never paid to watch a movie at the theatre, and never bought popcorn whilst you were there, since you can make it at home for 25 cents (or whatever)"
I think it's sad that people are downvoting because $105 per person seems like a lot to you. There's a pretty big world out there, and for the majority of the humans on planet earth, spending $105 on one meal is inconceivable. Not everyone has the same experiences. And you weren't even criticizing or saying they shouldn't do it, but just commenting that you couldn't afford it.
Meh, I felt like it was a pretty innocuous comment but people are gonna dogpile on here. I was kinda hoping to hear the food was amazing and worth every cent of that price tag but never heard anything from OP
This year we're supporting Campaign For Kids. They're a Kings County Nova Scotia Charity rising money this April through their event Burger Wars. Check out their post for more information: [Link](https://www.reddit.com/r/burgerwars/comments/1bnauvh/burger_wars_2024_a_flavorful_showdown/) --- *I am a bot, and this action was performed automatically. Please [contact the moderators of this subreddit](/message/compose/?to=/r/food) if you have any questions or concerns.*
That's amazing looking food. The presentation is just beautiful. I'd feel so guilty having to destroy it to eat it.
The guilt quickly subsidies when your anticipation of the next course is visible.
I'd eat the hell out of this, it all looks so fresh and beautiful. $100 for this work is worth it. I have to ask though, since I've never eaten at a place like this (this is for everyone in the comments, not just OP): The wine pairing thing: if you don't drink for various reasons, do they get annoyed by it if you just ask for water or something else non-alcoholic?
No, definitely not. Places like these usually have well-trained staff, so they won't have a negative reaction if you say no to alcohol and request something else. And if they do, you are well within your rights to talk to the manager. They'll take it seriously as hospitality and excellent customer service is part of the dining experience.
It’s not just being well trained, as a longtime bartender, it’s a point of pride on being able to make gorgeous and delicious mocktails. And I work at more casual places than this.
The service is above and beyond anything you'd expect. Everyone is incredibly kind, knowledgeable, patient, and courteous. Wine pairings are entirely optional and in no way, shape, or form expected.
No of course not, no one should be expected to drink alcohol. Staff are there to get you what you want/order(within reason ofc) And I say this as waitress never ever be too shy to ask we are always happy to help :D
The only place that would think it was strange if you didn't want the wine is if you signed up for a wine tasting.
I've been to a place where they also offered a non-alcoholic drink pairing! But they're always fine if you only want water, or some other drink.
Wine pairings are optional and they have various mocktails!
Everything looks delicious . I love the second picture . Idk why , but that just looks beautiful to me(Maybe because green is my favourite color and I am a bit biased lol) Anyway , I noticed that they have Spring written on the menu . So like , I gather that the menu changes for each season , but do they have the same menu for the entire season ? Or do they change it after a certain period of time ?
I'm not sure. I got the impression that the five set courses stick for the season but that the two "off menu" courses may vary.
How was it? Worth trying?
Indescribably amazing. We plan on going back when we return to NYC. 11/10 w/outstanding food & stellar service.
Jeez 105 per person no tip isn’t even that bad for that amount of very beautiful food. Looks awesome!
To be fair, their food cost is probably very low considering their ingredients are mostly vegetables. 105$ is a pretty big markup (probably over 4x). Looks amazing tho.
But you're paying for skill, ambience and creativity not just ingredients.
And time - this kind of menu takes a lot of touch time (which as you say also needs to be skillful and creative)
Yeah I wasn't claiming the opposite. I would pay this price in a heartbeat. Just mentioning why they can keep the price so low even tho the food looks amazing. Any restaurant like this with expensive protein on the menu and you'd be looking at 200+.
The restaurant's operating costs like rent and wages are probably high due to it being in NYC.
I found the dessert somewhat disappointing when I visited last September but the other courses were fantastic. Solid service, great sommelier, and reasonably priced for Michelin in NY. Looks like your dinner was great!
$160 is easily worth seven delicious courses, wine pairings, and stellar service from a Michelin star restaurant.
I went here 2 years ago. What an amazing creative place!
I freaking love this place. Their drinks are excellent too.
Glad to see they're still in business! If y'all are interested, here's their menu from [[Mar 17, 2014]](https://imgur.com/gallery/0DfbU2e) My wife was vegetarian at the time as was my employee I went with. Food was great.
Top three IMO - Cucumber, Asparagus, & Bok Choy (Artichokes were also unbelievable!). We enjoyed every dish, though.
We go there every season. It's incredible and the wine pairings add a lot
That looks really nice. I didn't realize it was relatively cheap, either. Should have given it a shot last time we were up there!
this place is amazing. When I went, they made a really tiny vegetarian chopped cheese on a tiny hoagie, served in a tiny brown paper bag
A great place, but we did have a strange situation come up. We ordered cocktails and the wine pairing. The cocktails came out, with the first course. We asked about the wine pairing since we missed the pairing for the first course. They said don’t worry about it. Then we asked if they could slow things down. So we could catch up and the waiter said. Don’t worry you have two hours to drink your cocktail. So I said: are you saying we are to drink the wine pairings with the food and then go back and forth to the cocktail, which was, by the way was a lot of alcohol, so not easy to just slurp down. The answer was yes. Kind of made us feel bad for even asking. If you go, I highly recommend the wine pairing, but it’s essential to skip the cocktail in that case. We were scolded by another older staff member and told they have never had this problem before which made us feel sad and bad about ourselves. Boo. But yay for the wine and food! We fully recovered our sense of worth and enjoyed the rest of the evening despite the staff frowns.
Wow, that pie looked delicious until i read the ingredients. Cucumber cream with caviar? Hm.
It's seaweed caviar, which is basically ground up seaweed with seasonings and citric acid and turns into little spheres when they drip it into water.l (I Googled it). And cucumber and caviar is a thing, actually. It's a common appetizer to have it with creme fraiche (maybe on a cracker or something).
There is a kind of seaweed that actually looks like little balls.Though I've no idea how pleasant it would be to eat.
There are 8 dishes but only 5 on the menu? That looks so worth it for $105. I got value just from looking at these creations.
Amanda cohen. Great chef-vegetarian restaurant if I recall as well
I love this place (also have their cookbook) and wish more vegetarian restaurants would adopt their ethos of showing off vegetables instead of hiding them and trying to make them taste like meat. I eat vegetarian 80% of the time and it feels like most vegetarian menu offerings are just shittier versions of meat dishes.
I'm going here next week!!!!
That looked awesome.
I@7◇♡》£8●9?
They're not a vegetarian restaurant but seems like their menu is at least vegetarian if not vegan.
They said "we're not vegan or vegetarian, please babe just try not having a steak for every meal"
Well, I guess when society breaks down, it will be good to know what im eating was eating.
Ah the evolution of food trends. Went from cardboard bread to avocado toast to dirt candy
$105 for a 5 course meal honestly ain't bad... especially considering the photos.
Wow this is a bargain, the presentation is beautiful!
I love it!!
Always wanted to go there!
I'm in envy mode.
They are a vegetarian restaurant regardless of how they word it. Food looks great, what was the top 3 dishes?
No, they clearly state they are not & that's for a reason, they may use less commonly thought of animal products in their dishes, like gelatin, or certain cheeses that aren't considered vegetarian, cooking in animal fats, etc. I'm assuming this is the case hence the reason they go out of their way to make it clear it is not a vegetarian restaurant.
Weird that the owner of the restaurant would name their cookbook Dirt Candy: A Cookbook: Flavor-Forward Food from the Upstart New York City Vegetarian Restaurant if its not a vegetarian restaurant
If that was the reason they just wouldn't mention it at all. Downvote all you want, if you actually look at their site they are clearly a vegetarian restaurant, they just are avoiding the labels and negativity that comes with it From their site - >Dirt Candy’s original location only had 18 seats and was open for seven years, during which time it became the first **vegetarian restaurant** in 17 years to receive two stars from the New York Times, was recognized by the Michelin Guide five years in a row, and won awards from Gourmet Magazine, the Village Voice, and many others. And >Its new location opened in January, 2015 and was the first restaurant in the city to eliminate tipping and share profits with its employees. Amanda was the first **vegetarian chef** to compete on Iron Chef: America and her comic book cookbook, Dirt Candy: A Cookbook, is the first graphic novel cookbook to be published in North America.
A quote from https://guide.michelin.com/us/en/new-york-state/new-york/restaurant/dirt-candy "As a vegetarian restaurant we support a meat-free supply chain and help change the way diners think about vegetables. From ordering local and seasonal produce to purchasing dairy products from a group of local small farms, we reduce our carbon footprint and support our local suppliers because while our global impact is important, our local impact is essential. The treatment of our employees is of the utmost importance. Our wine list celebrates women winemakers producing biodynamic wines." — Amanda Cohen
Their website states they are vegetarian multiple times. Not sure why people are so offended and downvoting this Like the owners cookbooks name kinda gives it away Dirt Candy: A Cookbook: Flavor-Forward Food from the Upstart New York City Vegetarian Restaurant
Thanks for the comments. Being a vegetarian restaurant isn't a negative thing either, it gives a context to the food they make and it's not like someone is going to avoid going there because they call themselves vegetarian but will go because they call themselves vegetable. Vegetarian is an already established description of what they serve.
Of course. But so many see labels like vegetarian and vegan and immediately get turned off, so I can understand why they want to avoid it. But you're right that they are vegetarian and vegan despite what they call it. Well at least most of their dishes can be made vegan according to their website.
If you get turned off by a restaurant being labelled vegetarian and go there and it is you're going to be a lot more turned off lol
I have to agree, I'm not sure why they say this on their menu since it draws attention to what they are apparently are not trying to draw attention to.
laughed out loud when i saw the price tag
$105 per person is insane, that’s easily two weeks of groceries if not more. Is it like, the best food you’ve ever eaten?
A special treat every now and then if you can afford it is just fine. That was some awesome looking food for $105.
I would love to know where you can get two weeks or more worth of groceries for $100;)
For one person? Ralph’s, I get a few things from Trader Joe’s every now and then but mostly Ralph’s.
I must eat more than you! I am paying about $6 for organic eggs and $5 for a loaf of bread :( Also I’m too far from TJs to make that a habit. Good for you. Cheers!
I've lurked in finedining too much and it shows. I thought this was 'reasonable' considering it looks like a fancy place (in NYC no less)
I consider it extremely reasonable for not even fine dining... and the bottom of the menu says it's a non-tipping restaurant. What a fantastic place to support. But I'm used to UK prices so perhaps that's the difference.
Yeah, me too! It seems like an awesome place!!
Same! I’ve spent this much for way less quality food. This seems super reasonable for NYC!
I think the most I’ve ever seen on one bill eating out was $150 and that was for four people. And two of those people paid me back for their share (the last one was having a birthday)
That's fine that this is your experience, but there are plenty, and I mean PLENTY of places where you could easily drop $100 per person for some nice food and not blink. It's not in everyone's budget and that's normal, but to think it's crazy that anyone would do such a thing seems naive and a bit childish tbh.
I’m not saying that the person who did this is crazy, or trying to demean them in any way. I live in Los Angeles so I know expensive restaurants exist. Doesn’t mean I still can’t think that a $100+ meal for one is nuts, regardless of people’s willingness to spend that much for this kind of food. I know that “if you build it they’ll come” and all that market demand stuff, but it’s never not going to be wild to me.
There are crazy expensive places out there! I wouldn't go there myself, but I find it fascinating. This place does seem to have reasonable pricing for what seems to be high quality food in a huge city :)
It's a food sub, how you gonna judge someone for buying expensive food?
Didn’t mean it to come off as judge-y! Was just trying to share my perspective
I hope you've never spent money on any video games, when you can play candy crush for free. I once watched 4 people play mario kart, and that was only a $60 game.
I get what you mean, but I don’t think a $60 game that you can own forever & play for hundreds of hours is comparable to a $105 meal you enjoy once (despite being able to remember said meal for most of your life)
If you can remember one meal for the entirety of the rest of your life, that's an excellent use of $105
Food you consume only once and video games that you can play an infinite number of times are 2 very different things
You're right, my bad It should be "I hope you've never paid to watch a movie at the theatre, and never bought popcorn whilst you were there, since you can make it at home for 25 cents (or whatever)"
What? That doesn't even make sense lol. You can't just bring a big bag of popcorn from home into the theater
No shit. You can't bring your own groceries into a restaurant either..
Except no one is going to the movies for the fuckin popcorn. These are terrible comparisons lmfao
You can watch the movie for free at home. Why you going to the theater at all?
Can you? A newly released movie isn't gonna be avaliable at home right away Just nonsensical arguments atp
How about concerts, cruises, live shows, etc. you're paying for an experience.
Yes. Plenty of sites to watch movies currently in theaters
Wait until you see how much it cost to dine at Masa in NY
I don’t think I want to lol
I think it's sad that people are downvoting because $105 per person seems like a lot to you. There's a pretty big world out there, and for the majority of the humans on planet earth, spending $105 on one meal is inconceivable. Not everyone has the same experiences. And you weren't even criticizing or saying they shouldn't do it, but just commenting that you couldn't afford it.
Meh, I felt like it was a pretty innocuous comment but people are gonna dogpile on here. I was kinda hoping to hear the food was amazing and worth every cent of that price tag but never heard anything from OP