Dirt Candy

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Birthday dinner!

This place, as tonnes of others, had been on my list for a WHILE.

You should reserve well in advance for a delightfully edible evening at this place.

East Village – got to love it for the fantastic restaurants and evenings I’ve had here.

So, after a regular day at work – the husband and I decided to meet here for the dinner – it wasn’t a surprise. We had a reservation for 6:30. It always makes me happy to have an early dinner – you get done in a timely fashion and can accommodate something more in the evening.

The husband got me flowers. We greeted each other and we were seated without any wait at a small table for two.

Their menu changes seasonally, and that week, they were celebrating Chinese cuisine. We ordered their special appetizer of crispy eggplant rolled in sesame seeds with rich creamy, and tangy dressings to go with it. Small and delightful.

Jalapeno Poppers ***

Their jalapeno poppers with maple butter are quite popular; the butter complimented the poppers very well. And if I may, the butter was more flavourful than the poppers themselves. Definitely give it a shot.

Pepper Soup **

We also had a pepper soup coming in. You’d be wondering what’s with all the spicy foods? Not much, here. Again, the description of the soup was with fried jalapeno chips. However, what you see here in the bowl were all the chips that were! But the colourful bell peppers were well so finely chopped that you’d almost think they’d used instruments to get perfectly tiny sizes. It was a wide bowl, so they did the pour after getting it on our table so as to not serve it colder than it was supposed to be served.

Coconut Tofu ****

For my entree, I ordered coconut poached tofu with shiso galangal sauce, salsify & hearts of palm. The tofu lay on the sauce and cucumbers. Salsify is a root vegetable also known as oyster plant, so crunchy, but of course.

Vegetables ****

The husband got buttermilk battered cauliflower, waffles, horseradish, wild arugula. The dimly lit place did not do justice to the lovely colours of this dish. They sprinkled it with fresh lemon juice.

For desserts, we got the molten chocolate and the beignets.

If a restaurant has molten chocolate cake, I have to have to get it. They had a healthy take on the lava here – beetroot inside instead of chocolate.

Molten Chocolate ****