Candle Cafe | |
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![]() Candle Cafe in December 2023 | |
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Restaurant information | |
Established | 1994 |
Closed | 2020 |
Owner(s) | Joy Pierson and Bart Potenza |
Food type | Vegan |
Street address | Multiple locations in Manhattan |
City | New York |
State | New York |
Country | United States |
Website | candlecafe.com |
Candle Cafe, Candle West and Candle 79 were fine-dining vegan restaurants in Manhattan, in New York City.[1][2][3]
Candle Cafe opened in 1994 as a juice bar and health food cafe, and was owned by Joy Pierson and Bart Potenza.[4][5] The Potenzas used $53,000 they won in the New York State Take Five lottery in 1993 to start the restaurant.[6]
Celebrities such as Woody Harrelson were known to frequent the restaurant.[1]
All three restaurants closed as of December 2020. However, a new Candle Cafe location reopened at 388 3rd Ave in March 2023.
In 2015 PETA named Candle 79 one of the six best vegan fine-dining restaurants in the U.S.,[7] BuzzFeed named them one of 24 "bucket list" vegan restaurants,[8] and vegan studies scholar Laura Wright referenced them as one of two "famous vegan restaurants."[9]: 23
In 2013 Travel + Leisure named Candle 79 one of the best vegetarian restaurants in the U.S.[10]
In 2013, Zagat's gave Candle Cafe a 25 rating for food, making it the second-highest rated of the 46 New York City health food restaurants rated by the survey.[11]
Shape named Candle 79 one of the top 10 upscale vegan restaurants in the United States, calling them "one of the 'Grand Dames'" of upscale vegan dining.[12]