After Round One

Amanda Cohen, the chef and owner of Dirt Candy, has a very interesting opinion piece in The New York Times. In it, Cohen explores what might become of restaurants after our first encounter with COVID-19 is behind us. Cohen knows the industry and raises several compelling questions in a concise essay. I won’t prattle on about it. If you like restaurants, food, and community, go read it.

I hope Dirt Candy survives. I’m not sure if the menu or focus has changed over the years, but when I first read about it, Dirt Candy was all about vegetables. I think I could make it on vegetables alone, assuming I learn how to cook better. When I cook vegetables, they usually turn out disappointing. That doesn’t happen at Dirt Candy. Have a look at this image and text from their website (hope you don’t mind a screenshot Dirt Candy.)


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Still here? I can’t remember if I’ve been there. When I lived in DC, I’d head up to NYC a couple of times a year to get away. I’m definitely not a foodie, but I love restaurants and the stories behind them. I forget how I heard about Dirt Candy, but I wanted to go immediately after reading about it.

My cousin lives in NYC. She knows that city in and out. Everyone knows a New Yorker like her or has seen someone like her in the movies. We’re all just tourists in their NYC. When I’d visit, we’d always try out a place she’d been eyeing. She took me to my first sake bar. The place was awesome, but I’m not a big fan of sake.

On one of those visits we went to a small place in either the East Village or the Lower East Side. I mean small. I think it focused on vegetables, and there’s a chance it was Dirt Candy in its original location. Only a chance, though. I know we talked about Dirt Candy, so now it’s one of those foggy memories. This is where a journal would come in handy. I’ll ask my cousin – she has a memory for that sort of stuff.