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candle cafe frozen dinners now available in los angeles!
13June 28th, 2011stores, vegan stuffwhoa, i can’t believe this crazy day and age in which we live! the folks behind two of the best vegan restaurants in the country, candle cafe and candle 79 (both located in manhattan), have now created a frozen brand that’s available at whole foods right here in los angeles.
as of last week, two of candle’s new dinners were available at whole foods in beverly hills: seitan piccata with lemon caper sauce and ginger miso stir fry. we have professed our love for both candle cafe’s and candle 79’s seitan in the past…so i was anxious to try it in convenient, microwaved form.
the seitan entree came with capers (which my husband hates) and the ginger miso stir fry was loaded with bell peppers (which i hate), so we decided to suck it up and buy one of each. we ate them last night, and neither of us tried each other’s meals. here’s what we thought:
my husband’s miso stir fry (pictured above) was good. it was super bell peppery…so just looking at it made me kinda queasy, but he ate it all up! the nutritional stats on it were good as well….around 2-300 calories and low fat. it was a bit small for a dinner portion, though, and he ended up making some more steamed vegetables to satisfy him for the evening.
on to me! taste-wise, my seitan entree was FANTASTIC! it was healthy too…it weighed in at around 200 calories with 3 grams of fat. impressive! my only cautionary point would be: it’s not enough for dinner. i also partook in some more steamed vegetables to feel satisfied.
don’t get me wrong, though…it was delicious! candle cafe did a great job of re-creating my favorite seitan, and the healthy nutritional info just endears the product to me more. i can definitely see myself buying these by the bundle and eating them in the office at lunch.
well done! check for candle cafe frozen entrees at your local whole foods! and comment where they are/aren’t available.
PS: today i was at whole foods on third and fairfax, and they had even more candle cafe entrees. behold:
mac n cheese, here i come!!!
PPS: the security guards at whole foods are cunts. i got yelled at for taking that photo. for real.
Tags: candle
12 responses to “candle cafe frozen dinners now available in los angeles!” 
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Check the nutritional stats on the mac & cheese too – uses daiya, but like half the calories & fat as the amy’s mac & cheese (with a similar portion size.) I’m told its really tasty.
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Ooo yay! I’ve been wanting to try these! I don’t do gluten so sadly the seitan is out (cause that one looks bomb)…. but that tofu one looks great. So nice to have something other than Amy’s in my freezer when I’m in a pinch.
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Gregalor June 28th, 2011 at 21:56
More variety in my brown-bag working-stiff lunches is ALWAYS welcome.
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Gauri Radha गौरी राधा June 28th, 2011 at 23:23
How cool!!:-)
I’ll be checking my local WF for these next time I go. -
No Meat June 28th, 2011 at 23:29
They’ve had Candle Cafe desserts (refrigerated but not frozen) at the Whole Foods in Santa Monica for a while.
I’m not Al Gore but do we really need to truck this stuff across the country? Aren’t there pretty good vegan desserts made within, oh, two thousand miles of Los Angeles?
This just seems to defeat the purpose of a lot of the good that being vegan does.
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Gregalor June 28th, 2011 at 23:51
They aren’t necessarily made in New York. The fact that you can pretty much only find them in a few Whole Foods stores in a single city in California suggests a regional factory.
I haven’t examined the boxes or anything, so who knows…
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Thomas June 29th, 2011 at 09:24
Yes, the security guards are cunts there. I was once going out with one their security guards and she insisted that I always wear a condom when I boned her. What a weirdo!!!
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I will be eating one of each during my trip in August. They look glorious!
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BurbankVegan June 30th, 2011 at 12:22
Why is it that NO frozen meals are ever enough food? My guess is since they are trying to look low cal, low fat, etc.,they become “Low FOOD.” But anyway, thanks for the post. And I laughed at your security guard comment!
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They had these today at Whole Foods in Framingham, MA…the piccata, mac and cheese, stir-fry, and ravioli. I got the same ones you did, the stir-fry and piccata. Can’t wait to try them.
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I just tried the ravioli yesterday. When I opened the box, I saw the typical frozen meal: pasta without any sauce on one half and then all the sauce and frozen cheese on the other half like the package was processed on its side and thrown in the back of the truck.
Then I tasted it (which, btw, only took 3 minutes to microwave instead of the standard 10 for meat meals I used to eat back in the day). and it was F’ing amazing!! SO GOOD. Cheesy richness, didn’t taste like fake cheese or anything. The sauce was perfectly salty and rich with a little sweetness and the ravioli were delicious.
Can’t wait to try the piccata now!!
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We just had the Seitan Piccata with Lemon Caper Sauce our only comment is, “It’s horrible!!” We hesitated before giving it to our dogs.
Anyone who likes this is not a vegan cook and is desperate.
Further, the price is exorbitant, i.e., at $5.99 (plus tax)for barely enough for 1 person, we won’t make the mistake again.
A oouple of days ago, we found several candle cafe products and were very excited. We had the Ravioli and found it edible – though not as good as home-made vegan ravioli. Even so, the price (see above) was prohibitive, so it’s back to the kitchen for us.
Thanks for the effort, Candle Cafe, it’s appreciated….not the food, the effort to provide it to the masses.
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kevin June 28th, 2011 at 19:41