Amanda Cohen

Chef-Owner, Dirt Candy; New York, NY

Amanda Cohen is the chef and owner of Dirt Candy, the award-winning vegetable restaurant on New York City's Lower East Side. Dirt Candy was the first vegetable-focused restaurant in the city and as the leader of the vegetable-forward movement, was included in Paul Freedman’s Ten Restaurants That Changed America as “Ten Restaurants Changing America Now” alongside Momofuku and Eleven Madison Park. New York Magazine named Dirt Candy "The Absolute Best Restaurant on the Lower East Side" and Wine Enthusiast has selected it as one of the “100 Best Wine Restaurants in America.” The restaurant's original location only had eighteen seats and was open for six years, during which time it became the first vegetarian restaurant in seventeen years to receive two stars from The New York Times, was recognized by the Michelin Guide five years in a row, and won awards from Gourmet, Village Voice, and many others. Its new location opened in January 2015, and it was the first restaurant in the city to eliminate tipping. In 2023 it was awarded a Michelin star. Amanda was the first vegetarian chef to compete on Iron Chef America and her comic book cookbook, Dirt Candy: A Cookbook, was the first graphic novel cookbook to be published in North America and is now in its seventh printing. @dirtcandynyc (Instagram)