Candle 79 serves up decadent vegan cuisine to Mark and Lynn

Lynn and I went into see the Basquiat exhibition at the Acquavella Gallery on Saturday and she happened to stumble upon Candle 79 as a promising place to eat lunch.  The menu is organic vegan and we enjoyed the whole experience very much.  We had a wonderful waitress named Kim who anticipated our needs with real grace, humor and aplomb.  

As for the food? It was spectacular.  We have eaten at vegan/vegetarian outposts on a few occasions but I can't say we have ever had a decadent vegan meal until our experience at Candle 79.  I had a "Market Plate" which consisted of Ginger Miso Grilled Tofu, Chipotle Grilled Tempeh and Cornmeal Crusted Zucchini.  I don't love Tempeh or Zucchini in particular but the chef managed to really enhance the rather bland qualities of these vegan/vegetarian staples. To complement this a chipotle avocado sauce accompanied my choice.  Lynn had Live Young Coconut Pad Thai the coconut making a  flavorful and convincing substitute for chicken or seafood.  We so devoured our lunch that we sheepishly apologized to Kim for plowing through our food so quickly. 

I had a couple of "eco cocktails" the most interesting of which was the Manhattan Fig which had (of course) fig infused Rye, Red and Dry Vermouth, and maple bitters.  It was particularly difficult to pick a cocktail since they all sounded so interesting and worth a try.  

There are a lot of places Lynn and I love and have enjoyed, particularly in Manhattan.  However, we typically don't make a practice of returning to them for the most part.  This place is one of the exceptions. 

M&L 

Mark and Lynn spend a few hours on the upper east side...

Even in the bitter Northeast spring it is always sunny at the Long Island Children's Museum...

This has been such a brutal winter on Long Island that it has made it necessary to find appropriate indoor activities for not only ourselves but our grandchildren Jackson and Sloane.  Luckily, there are some very fine venues here, particularly the Children's Museums which we have frequently visited on the Eastern End of Suffolk County as well as the Long Island Children's Museum located in Garden City.   Garden City is more of a trip for us but this only makes the LICM more of a treat.  Jackson and Sloane really loved the museum and its energy.  The section of the museum where you can climb up toward the museum's ceiling (with the reasuuring safety of serious webbing and netting) struck the perfect balance of being challenging while also being satisfyingly safe.  The Saturday we went was a grim day weatherwise which made us appreciate the opportunity to have our grandchildren play all the more satisfying.