Whenever a fellow health food freak visits the city, I always jump at the opportunity to take them to my favorite restaurants.

Tonight, Chelsey and I paid a visit to my all-time favorite vegan restaurant: Candle 79, on the Upper East Side. This place can do no wrong!

What I love most about Candle 79 is that it doesn’t have a “vegan” atmosphere. It just feels special yet welcoming.

First, they brought us an amuse bouche featuring spelt berries with an avocado sauce. Since Chelsey is gluten-free and couldn’t eat it, I got two. Lucky me!

To drink, I tried a new-to-me beer: a gluten-free Greens’ Dubbel Dark Ale. I really enjoyed it- it was fizzier than most beers and had a very unique, almost caramel-like taste.

Meanwhile, Chelsey got a glass of white wine sangria:

For my meal, I chose the live heirloom tomato-zucchini lasagna.

I wanted to see how this compared to Pure Food & Wine’s version, and while it certainly didn’t disappoint, I think the latter wins out. This dish was fresh, creamy and flavorful, but I think the mushrooms made it less appetizing overall. Comparing the two almost feels unfair, though- I love both restaurants and both dishes for different reasons.

Chelsey ordered the Moroccan chickpea cake, which I’ve had before and raved about. I learned tonight that Candle has an entirely gluten-free menu, which certainly came in handy tonight!

I warned Chelsey that we couldn’t skip dessert, so we made sure to save room for the best part of the meal. I chose the chocolate peanut butter bomb, a chocolate coated tower filled with the most amazing peanut butter and chocolate mousses with a solid chocolate bottom:

And she went for the Mexican chocolate brownie, drowned in chocolate sauce and served with pecans and plantains.

I’m pretty sure we both wanted to lick the plates, but restrained ourselves for civility’s sake and used our spoons to scrape up every last bite.

After dinner, the two of us headed to my favorite bar, the Frying Pan, for a drink. I had a Checker Cab blond ale while we sat and watched the skyline turn dark. Gorgeous.

It’s still pretty early, but we’re about ready for bed. Busy day planned for tomorrow- plus, it’s only Monday. Gotta save the energy :)