Candle Cafe

Candle Cafe, Candle West and Candle 79 were fine-dining vegan restaurants in Manhattan, in New York City.^[1][2][3]

Candle Cafe
Candle Cafe in December 2023
Restaurant information
Established	1994; 30 years ago (1994)
Closed	2020; 4 years ago (2020)
Owner(s)	Joy Pierson and Bart Potenza
Food type	Vegan
Street address	Multiple locations in Manhattan
City	New York
State	New York
Country	United States
Website	candlecafe.com

Candle Cafe opened in 1994 as a juice bar and health food cafe, and was owned by Joy Pierson and Bart Potenza.^[4][5] The Potenzas used $53,000 they won in the New York State Take Five lottery in 1993 to start the restaurant.^[6]

Celebrities such as Woody Harrelson were known to frequent the restaurant.^[1]

All three restaurants closed as of December 2020. However, a new Candle Cafe location reopened at 388 3rd Ave in March 2023.

Reviews

In 2015 PETA named Candle 79 one of the six best vegan fine-dining restaurants in the U.S.,^[7] BuzzFeed named them one of 24 "bucket list" vegan restaurants,^[8] and vegan studies scholar Laura Wright referenced them as one of two "famous vegan restaurants."^[9]: 23

In 2013 Travel + Leisure named Candle 79 one of the best vegetarian restaurants in the U.S.^[10]

In 2013, Zagat's gave Candle Cafe a 25 rating for food, making it the second-highest rated of the 46 New York City health food restaurants rated by the survey.^[11]

Shape named Candle 79 one of the top 10 upscale vegan restaurants in the United States, calling them "one of the 'Grand Dames'" of upscale vegan dining.^[12]

Works

• Joy Pierson, The Candle Cafe Cookbook: More Than 150 Enlightened Recipes from New York's Renowned Vegan Restaurant, Random House (2003). ISBN 978-0-609-80981-5
• Joy Pierson, Angel Ramos & Jorge Pineda, Candle*79 Cookbook: Modern Vegan Classics from New York's Premier Sustainable Restaurant, Ten Speed Press (2011). ISBN 978-1-60774-012-4

See also

• List of vegetarian restaurants

References

1. James Bernard Frost (2011). New York and New Jersey. Hunter Publishing, Inc. ISBN 9781588438836. Retrieved January 15, 2013.
2. Jared Koch (May 1, 2010). Clean Plates N.Y.C. ISBN 9781458757999. Retrieved January 15, 2013.
3. Mark Fleischmann (2004). Happy Pig's Hot 100 New York Restaurants: A Stubbornly Offbeat Guide. Quiet River Press LLC. ISBN 9781932732054. Retrieved January 15, 2013.
4. Joon Yun, Stephanie Daniel (2007). Low-Stress Food. Lulu.com. ISBN 9780615148090. Retrieved January 15, 2013.
5. Anita Gates (November 4, 2008). The Complete Idiot's Guide to New York City. Penguin. ISBN 9781440653360. Retrieved January 15, 2013.
6. Alex Witchel (August 6, 2003). "Feng Shui and Vegan Fare Battle a Neighborhood Curse". New York Times. Retrieved January 15, 2013.
7. Prater, Danny (June 10, 2015). "The Top 6 Vegan Fine-Dining Establishments in the U.S." PETA. Retrieved February 7, 2019.
8. Paul, Lauren (July 5, 2015). "24 Vegan Restaurants That Belong On Your Culinary Bucket List". Buzzfeed. Retrieved February 24, 2019.
9. Laura Wright (2015). The Vegan Studies Project: Food, Animals, and Gender in the Age of Terror. University of Georgia Press. ISBN 978-0-8203-4855-1.
10. Stewart, Sarah L. (October 10, 2013). "Best Vegetarian Restaurants in the U.S." Travel + Leisure. Retrieved February 9, 2019.
11. "Candle Cafe | Manhattan | Restaurant Menus and Reviews". Zagat. Retrieved February 6, 2013.
12. Yolen-Cohen, Malerie (August 7, 2012). . Shape. Archived from the original on February 9, 2019. Retrieved February 9, 2019.

External links

• official website