Candle Cafe, New York City

We stopped by Candle Cafe for a late lunch. It was very busy but we were able to get a table right away in the back. I loved the atmosphere in this restaurant.

From Food

We tried the Seitan Chimichurri as an appetizer - citrus herb marinated seitan skewers. I've been veggie for 11 years and these were the first and only thing I have ever eaten that was so much like meat that it kind of freaked me out. The seitan was soo tender and just fell off the skewer in a manner that was a lot like meat. The citrus herb marinade was very light and they were delicious, but I had a hard time getting over the appearance of it.

From Food

For entrees we ordered the Tuscan Lasagna - Grilled zucchini, peppers and onions, tofu basil ricotta, tapioca cheese and seitan ragout topped with tomato sauce. Served with sauteed greens. This was good, but not spectacular. It just tasted like a standard lasagna. Good, but not amazing or anything special.  

From Food

We also tried the Paradise Casserole - Layers of sweet potato, black beans and millet over steamed greens with country gravy. Without the gravy this was just so so. The gravy however tasted like turkey gravy and really pulled the dish together. The sweet potatoes tasted like pumpkin pie - hints of cinnamon and nutmeg. It tasted like a thanksgiving dinner casserole.

From Food

For dessert we tried the Chocolate Mousse Pie. We were pretty full from the other food and the dessert didn't come instantly, but we didn't care. We weren't in a hurry and it really wasn't taking long, but when the waitress brought it over she was so apologetic for the length of time it took to get us our dessert. They ended up giving it to us free of charge because of the wait, which I thought was nice but unnecessary. The pie itself was very good, very rich. It was hard eating much of it because of how rich it was. but man was it good.

Overall if I lived in NYC and wanted to go somewhere different for a special occasion I might come back here. The entrees were all over $15 a piece so it is not somewhere I would go often and I think we had better food at a similar restaurant, but once and a while it would be a nice treat.