I never had dreams of a big elaborate wedding, but the one detail I was set on was vegan food. Delicious vegan food that omnivores could say, “wow that was really good!” My first plan was to get lunch from The Cinnamon Snail. I’ve been dying to try this gourmet food truck but our paths never seem to cross. I contacted them, and we had everything all set, until we realized they wouldn’t be running the truck that day, and a delivery charge from Jersey was more than the food order itself. I was disappointed it didn’t work out, but we opted for a sit down dinner after the ceremony instead.

Candle 79 was the perfect choice because it is vegan (and organic, and sources local ingredients), reasonably priced for NYC, and was only 3 blocks away from where we were in the park. I called them two weeks in advance and they were great with getting my reservations all set.

We ordered Guacamole Timbale and Vegetable Nori Rolls for the table, and they also brought us Crostini with nut cheese. These were all really, really good. I loved the ginger sauce that came with the nori rolls so much that I’m going to try to make it this weekend.

For my main course I ordered the Live Zucchini Enchiladas (cashew cheese, crunchy sprouts, guacamole, cashew sour cream, toasted pumpkin seeds, cucumber-jicama salsa, mole sauce). And wow, the cashew cheese inside the zucchini was SO good. I kind of figured it would be good, but it blew my mind. I devoured every bite, literally getting all the sauce off my plate (with my fork of course). My mom had the same thing and said she really liked it, she only wished it had been bigger because she could’ve eaten four of them.

I also tried the Cornmeal Poppers (fall vegetables, ancho chili aioli), and they were great too. The crunchy texture and mixed with the really tasty sauce was delicious.

Also ordered that I didn’t try were the Spaghetti and Wheatballs, Moroccan Spiced Chickpea Cake, Chanterelle Crusted Tofu, Rosemary-Balsamic Grilled Seitan, Tri-color Beet Salad, and the Apple Cranberry Pie. Everyone said their meals were great.

For dessert I got the Cannoli (chocolate chip-vanilla cream filling, coconut ice cream, chocolate drizzle) and shared with the 6yo (he ate 90% of the ice cream before I got a chance to fight for it). It was delicious…the filling tasted so much like cannoli filling I used to love in my pre-vegan years. I also tried my mom’s Chocolate Peanut-Butter Bliss, and my husband’s (sounds so weird to say “husband”) Mexican Chocolate Brownie. They were both super rich and awesome.

My mom told me if I can recreate the chocolate peanut butter dessert that she had, that I will be her hero.

My only regret from dinner is skimming over the non-alcoholic menu way too fast. I really don’t drink (like, at all), but I wanted something fun so I went straight for the cocktails and ordered the Hudson Valley Sangria (Whitecliff Vineyard Red Trail, Santa Theresa Rum, Fruitlab Orange Liqueur, clove, cinnamon, pomegranate, star anise, ginger-agave, fall fruit). It was strong, but very tasty. A few people ordered the housemade ginger ale and said it was really good, and I tried the Mango-Pomegranate Fresca which was fizzy and awesome. I looked the menu over after coming home and noticed a Pumpkin Chai (pumpkin, vanilla ice cream, soy milk, chai) that I would’ve loved.

My husband (yep, still sounds weird) ordered the Schneider Edel-Weiss Organic Hefeweizen. It was really citrusy and had a really full flavor.

I got a cookbook and I plan on cooking my way through it, preparing a three-ish course meal every two weeks.

Two of the people with us are vegetarian, and we were talking about how wonderful it was to be able to have a whole menu to choose from, instead of being stuck the salad menu or reading through the list of ingredients.

Thank you Candle 79 for making my wedding dinner so special! I’m already thinking of coming back for our anniversary.

(I’ve already hit Quintessence, and we’ve been to One Lucky Duck several times. Next is Pure Food and Wine, and I definitely have to track down The Cinnamon Snail.)