[Updated] Veggie burgers confirmed for former Dirt Candy space on East 9th Street

An EVG reader has noted a steady stream of people coming in and out of the former Dirt Candy space on East Ninth Street this week. Paper still covers the windows on the storefront between Avenue A and First Avenue.

As we first reported on April 28, a menu for a jokey place called Chickens arrived in the window (Chicken Dip with Chicken Chips!)...


[Photo from April]

... later we heard that this will be a quick-serve restaurant serving vegetarian sandwiches. Eater confirmed yesterday that Del Posto pastry chef Brooks Headley is opening Superiority Burger, specializing in veggie burgers and other vegetarian fare.

Headley's creations have been attracting lines wherever he has sold them, including Christmas Day from the Dirt Candy location.

The space is expected to open to the public very soon. As soon as today maybe.

Dirt Candy closed here at the end of last August to move to a larger space on Allen Street.

Updated 6-25

The space is now open as of tonight.

Previously on EV Grieve:
What the cluck? Chickens in the works for former vegetarian hotspot Dirt Candy on East 9th Street

Rumor: Vegetarian sandwich shop in the works for former Dirt Candy space

Rumor: Vegetarian sandwich shop in the works for former Dirt Candy space

Last Tuesday we noted the fake menu for a restaurant called Chickens (Chicken Dip with Chicken Chips!) on the former Dirt Candy space on East Ninth Street.

Now a tipster passes along word what might really be coming here between Avenue A and First Avenue: A quick-serve vegetarian sandwich shop ... with a tentative June opening date.

Dirt Candy closed here at the end of last August to move to a larger space on Allen Street.

Dirt Candy chef Amanda Cohen confirmed to us last week that she had sold the small space that housed her vegetarian restaurant, but couldn't elaborate on the new venture.

Previously on EV Grieve:
What the cluck? Chickens in the works for former vegetarian hotspot Dirt Candy on East 9th Street

What the cluck? Chickens in the works for former vegetarian hotspot Dirt Candy on East 9th Street

[EVG photo from 2013]

The popular vegetarian restaurant Dirt Candy closed at 430 E. Ninth St. at the end of last August ahead of its relocation to a larger space on Allen Street.

In November 2013, Dirt Candy chef Amanda Cohen told us that she was unsure what would become of the small Ninth Street location between Avenue A and First Avenue.

Yesterday, EVG regular William Klayer spotted this flyer on the former Dirt Candy space... a menu for something called Chickens... specializing in, well, chicken... chicken any way that you want it...



In an email to us last night, Cohen said that she sold the space, but couldn't divulge any other details at the moment.

So we hope to find out who's behind these chickens soon...

More about Big Dirt Candy

As we noted yesterday, Chef Amanda Cohen got preliminary approval for a liquor license for a new Dirt Candy space at 86 Allen St.

As for the current Dirt Candy home on East Ninth Street, Cohen told us: "We aren't sure what we are going to do with the old space. We are definitely going to keep it, but for now all we know is that it won't be a full-service restaurant."

Later yesterday, Cohen had more to say about all this at the Dirt Candy website:

What will happen at Big Dirt Candy? It’ll be Dirt Candy, only bigger! There will be a bar where you can wait for your table! There will be ice! No more two month wait for tables! There will be more than one non-alcoholic drink on the menu! The chairs will have four legs! Most importantly, everything I’m doing, from the design, to the menu, to the kitchen layout, is being built to preserve the best things about Little Dirt Candy.

Sure, this restaurant is tiny, but there’s a fun atmosphere here where the line between the kitchen and the dining room is gone and where you don’t feel like a bunch of isolated tables scattered across the floor of an eat-a-torium where no one cares about you, but where, on its best nights, it feels like you’re all guests in my house having a party. That’s what makes Dirt Candy special, and that’s what’s it’s still going to be, whether it’s Little or Big.

Cohen is looking at a Fall 2014 opening for the Allen Street locale.

Dirt Candy will be moving to Allen Street; will hold on to E. 9th St. space

Last night, CB3's SLA subcommittee OK'd a liquor license application for a Dirt Candy outpost at 86 Allen St. (BoweryBoogie has more on the meeting here.)

Chef Amanda Cohen has also signed the lease for No. 86, which will provide her team with much more space for their well-regarded vegetarian fare. We asked Cohen for a few details on what's next.

"We are hoping to open late next fall. We are planning on serving the same food that we served at the 9th Street location — it will be a vegetable restaurant," she said via email.

And what will become of the East Ninth Street location?

"We aren't sure what we are going to do with the old space. We are definitely going to keep it, but for now all we know is that it won't be a full-service restaurant."

Meanwhile, brokers for the nearby 119 Orchard St. were apparently quite excited about the new Dirty Candy. We spotted this listing back on Oct. 22 that names Dirt Candy as a (coming soon) neighbor even though Cohen hadn't signed at lease yet at Allen Street or secured liquor-license approval...

Door is no long "bizarrely heavy" -- now the springs are just tight

Dec. 15!


Dec. 27!


Dirt Candy on East Ninth Street between Avenue A and First Avenue.

How bizarre!

Dirt Candy on East Ninth Street between Avenue A and First Avenue.