When I first sampled chef Amanda Cohen’s take on candy from the earth (as she refers to veggies), she was being honored (and cooking) at a Star Chefs’ rising star event the Mandarin Oriental in NYC.

This past weekend, I again enjoyed her approach to veggies, including the unusual smoked broccoli dog on a homemade bun, while dining at Dirt Candy. That’s her New York Times 2-star, 18-seat vegetarian restaurant closing its doors at the end of this month, and reopening this fall in a larger space at 86 Allen Street, NYC.

That dining experience is not be be missed when it reopens.

If you can’t make it, live vicariously by cooking from her cookbook Dirt Candy: A Cookbook: Flavor-Forward Food from the Upstart New York City Vegetarian Restaurant or dig out one of her past articles in  Saveur, Eater, Gourmet or Esquire. While she continues to elevate the veggie to superstar status, her own star continues to rise.

– bonnie

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I caught up with her recently and invited her to respond to my Guest Foodie questions.

Which specific food product, ingredient or gadget would you never give up? That’s easy. I cannot give up on parsley. I know a lot of people misuse or misunderstand it, but it gives dishes a blast of bright green flavor. It’s almost like salt in the way it enhances the taste of most vegetables. I’m not really into gadgets, but Dirt Candy would collapse into smoking rubble if we didn’t have hooks. The kitchen is so tiny that everything is on hooks: pans, peelers, spoons, mandolins. I think the last time someone counted we had just under two million hooks in this tiny space.

What do you like to serve when you entertain?  Booze. It’s the best hostessing tip I ever learned: never run out of wine. When people are coming over, I make sure there’s hard liquor for cocktails beforehand, then wine, then after-dinner drinks, and plenty of ice. No one cares what you put on the table so long as you keep their glass filled.

If you got to choose what you ate… describe your “last meal?” An all-you-can-eat buffet. As long as I can pace myself, my stomach can expand infinitely, so I could keep that last meal going for days.

What food is your secret guilty pleasure? I don’t really feel guilty about anything I eat, but if I had one junk food that I’m helpless to resist it’s Wheat Thins. I don’t know why, but they’re like tiny little squares of deliciousness to me.

What is your go-to, neighborhood restaurant, and why? Sabor Taqueria on 1st Avenue between 10th and 11th Street. It’s the best Mexican take-out in the East Village and whenever we have something to celebrate we get family meal for the restaurant there.

What is one food product most people don’t know about, but should…? Speculoos. That stuff is crack in a can. It’s like gingerbread spread and it is so addictive. We used to keep a jar of it behind my station and I would eat a spoonful of it when the going got tough. I had to stop once I found myself dreaming about it.

Describe your worst kitchen disaster and how (if possible) you saved it. Every night is a disaster. It always feels like there are too many people who want a table, or who show up late for their table, or who suddenly drop a truckload of dietary restrictions and allergies on us at the last minute. Or there’s someone who comes in off the street and starts fighting with my staff because of the voices in their heads. Or the deliveries are late. Or the AC stops working. Or the door breaks. Every single night, there’s always something. And we save it by keeping our heads down and telling them it’s all fine and just forging ahead. That’s one thing you learn running a kitchen: you have to keep going. There’s never a point when you can throw up your hands and hope someone else will magically appear and take the responsibility from you.

Who was your most influential mentor? I never had one, really. The people who had the most influence on me are the women I’ve worked with over the years. I learned more from them about organizing a kitchen, being tough, and working a line than I did from any name-brand celebrity chef whose kitchens I passed through.

To follow Amanda on twitter, click here.