The Candle Cafe Cookbook: More Than 150 Enlightened Recipes from New York's Renowned Vegan Restaurant [Paperback]

Joy Pierson (Author), Bart Potenza (Author), Barbara Scott-Goodman (Author)

Book Description

Release date: July 22, 2003

It's hard enough to satisfy choosy diners at a hot New York restaurant—imagine having to do it without using meat, fish, dairy, or eggs! The Candle Cafe has been doing just that for years, offering vegan food that has earned the praise of food critics, celebrities, and countless New Yorkers.

The food at the Candle Cafe expands the horizons of vegan cuisine, proving that the healthiest food can also be the most flavorful and satisfying. From delectable appetizers like Quesadillas stuffed with Portobellos and Red Peppers and Tofu Satay with Coconut-Peanut Sauce to classic dips like Hummus and Babaganoush, veggan cooking never tasted this good. Even the soups are special—Spring Vegetable Minestrone Soup is filled with fresh flavor, and Butternut Squash Soup gets a kick from toasted pumpkin seeds. Hearty, satisfying sandwiches and main courses like Barbecued Tempeh-Chipotle Burgers with Grilled Pineapple, Porcini Mushroom Stroganoff, and Indian Eggplant Curry are infused with delicious flavors from around the world. For dessert, treats like Chocolate Mousse Pie and Lemon-Tofu Cheesecake with Blood Orange Glaze are creamy and indulgent.

With helpful tips on cooking beans and grains, a full glossary of ingredients, and plenty of color photographs, The Candle Cafe Cookbook is a treasure trove of vegan recipes that have been drawing crowds and raves for years.

Editorial Reviews

From the Inside Flap

It's hard enough to satisfy choosy diners at a hot New York restaurant?imagine having to do it without using meat, fish, dairy, or eggs! The Candle Cafe has been doing just that for years, offering vegan food that has earned the praise of food critics, celebrities, and countless New Yorkers.

The food at the Candle Cafe expands the horizons of vegan cuisine, proving that the healthiest food can also be the most flavorful and satisfying. From delectable appetizers like Quesadillas stuffed with Portobellos and Red Peppers and Tofu Satay with Coconut-Peanut Sauce to classic dips like Hummus and Babaganoush, veggan cooking never tasted this good. Even the soups are special?Spring Vegetable Minestrone Soup is filled with fresh flavor, and Butternut Squash Soup gets a kick from toasted pumpkin seeds. Hearty, satisfying sandwiches and main courses like Barbecued Tempeh-Chipotle Burgers with Grilled Pineapple, Porcini Mushroom Stroganoff, and Indian Eggplant Curry are infused with delicious flavors from around the world. For dessert, treats like Chocolate Mousse Pie and Lemon-Tofu Cheesecake with Blood Orange Glaze are creamy and indulgent.

With helpful tips on cooking beans and grains, a full glossary of ingredients, and plenty of color photographs, The Candle Cafe Cookbook is a treasure trove of vegan recipes that have been drawing crowds and raves for years.

About the Author

JOY PIERSON is co-owner and recipe developer of the Candle Cafe. A nutrition counselor and regular spokeswoman on vegetarian eating, she has appeared on Good Day New York and Food Network.

BART POTENZA is co-owner of the Candle Cafe. He founded its predecessor, the Healthy Candle, in 1986.

Both authors live in New York.

See all Editorial Reviews

Product Details

• Paperback: 256 pages
• Publisher: Clarkson Potter; 1 edition (July 22, 2003)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0609809814
• ISBN-13: 978-0609809815
• Product Dimensions: 7.3 x 0.8 x 9.1 inches
• Shipping Weight: 1 pounds (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 3.9 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (54 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #63,644 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)
  • #27 in Books > Cookbooks, Food & Wine > Cooking by Ingredient > Rice & Grains

More About the Author

Discover books, learn about writers, read author blogs, and more.

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

247 of 260 people found the following review helpful

5.0 out of 5 stars The best vegan book I've ever owned! January 31, 2004

By Kimberly Brown

Format:Paperback|Amazon Verified Purchase

I have a total of 11 vegan cookbooks, and the candle cafe cookbook is the one I always use. I have been so disappointed in other vegan cookbooks because they either have hard-to-find ingredients, are too time-consuming to make, and are bland and boring. This cookbook is none of that! Almost every ingredient can be found at your local supermarket so it's not too expensive to purchase these items. Secondly, being a mom to a toddler gives me very little time to spend in the kitchen, and this book offers delicious meals that are easy and quick to prepare. And most of all, everything I have made from this book has been just like eating a gourmet meal! This is a MUST HAVE for everyone who is vegan or is even thinking about trying a vegan meal. I made the lemon tofu cheesecake with blood-orange glaze, and gave some to my carnivorous husband. He is the type of person who won't touch tofu with a ten-foot pole. And he ate every bite of it and thought it was great. I also made the chocolate cake with chocolate ganache frosting, and everyone LOVED it! Also, recently I prepared the seitan piccata with white wine and caper sauce. I only had the "chicken-style" seitan and used that instead. I have to tell you that it tasted like fried chicken in a wonderful brown gravy sauce! It was excellent! This cookbook is one of those "everyday" cookbooks, but with gourmet flavor. I am not a woman who likes to cook much, and I do not have much experience in the kitchen, but being vegan I have to cook my own meals once in a while, and I have been using this book every day, and every day I have a new favorite dish! I have been writing disappointing reviews on every cookbook I've tried, but this one I would give 10 stars if I could. If you are even thinking of buying this book, please do. You will not be disappointed!

126 of 130 people found the following review helpful

2.0 out of 5 stars Owners: If you want this book to represent your restaurant, please check the recipes -this is NOT the stuff you offer in NYC! April 23, 2006

By Louie Louie

Format:Paperback

I totally agree with what some people have already said here:

These recipes never saw a test kitchen.

Not only that, whoever wrote them didn't think twice with many of them. The proportions are so outrageously wrong one would think they used some computerized formula to adapt their industrial-kitchen quantities to a 6-serving scale. Take for example their Coconut-peanut sauce. When we had it with their tofu-satay at the Candle Cafe, we thought it was just amazing. Look at the ingredients: 1/2 cup peanut butter, 1/2 coconut milk, 1/4 brown rice vinegar, a thai chili, 2 tbsp chopped cilantro, 2 tbsp chopped mint, 1 tbsp fresh ginger... what could go wrong? Well, add a 1/2 cup of soy sauce and that's what's wrong. All these delicious (and not cheap) ingredients go down the drain because after adding so much (light!) soy sauce the only thing you taste is salt! Of course you blame yourself for not having used your common sense but then... Who edited this book???

I'm sorry, I love the restaurant, but now I cannot wait to go again and ask them that same question to their face.

167 of 175 people found the following review helpful

4.0 out of 5 stars Great restaurant, book could be better September 22, 2003

By A Customer

Format:Paperback|Amazon Verified Purchase

The Candle Cafe is one of my all-vegan family's top favorite restaurants in NYC. so I was excited about the prospect of making some of their recipes at home. Somehow, the cookbook is a disappointment, mainly due to inaccuracies in the recipes. I was all set to make the Asian Baked Tofu, for instance. The instructions say to cut the tofu into 3 blocks, then marinate. The recipe is supposed to serve 4, but there is no further instruction on how the tofu is to be cut further. The chocolate mousse pie came out well, but the proportions of the ingredients are enough to make 2 pies; also I'm glad I left out 1/2 cup of water called for in the cake crust, or it would have been too moist and soupy. not to go on, though there are other such examples. These little innacuaracies can make or break a recipe, so though I'm looking forward to trying a few more, I feel I need to be wary.

The photos in the middle of the book are lovely, but the pages and layout of the recipes are pretty dry, The small fractions sent me running for my reading glasses.

For me, the book rates three stars, but I'm giving it four for the general devoted veg/vegan reader, plus the fact that I'm such a fan of the cafe that I don't have the heart to give it just three stars.