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Angelica Kitchen and Pure Food and Wine alum Amanda Cohen opened this appetizingly named veg house. Though we're wary of cutting flesh from our diet, we daresay the menu sounds appealing. Cohen doesn’t hate meat (she even cooked buffalo wings on the line at Diner Bar in Harlem), she just abides by the cute philosophy that vegetables are “candy from the earth” (our own mother used to say that about grapes). What we love: the sound of dishes off her starch-heavy menu that starts with jalapeno hush puppies and maple butter and ends with grits topped with pickled shiitakes and a tempura poached egg, as well as lemon-sage gnocchi tossed with Brussels sprouts and brown butter. Desserts like popcorn pudding and sesame-caramel cake by pastry chef Debbie Lee might be enough to lure us in. — Alexandra Vallis

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