An award-winning chef, Amanda Cohen opened Dirt Candy, her tiny, 18-seat vegetable restaurant in New York City's East Village, back in 2008. She had previously worked in or consulted for almost every vegetarian restaurant in New York City, she was the chef at rock star Moby's teahouse, TeaNY, worked at an intense high-volume diner in Spanish Harlem for several years, and won awards at the late lamented Heirloom on the Lower East Side. But Dirt Candy was the first time she was opening a restaurant herself, her way. Dirt Candy has gone on to be recognized by the Michelin Guide for three years in a row, and to win awards from Gourmet Magazine, the Village Voice, and many others. She was the first vegetarian chef to compete on Iron Chef America and her comic book cookbook Dirt Candy: A Cookbook is the first graphic novel cookbook to be published in North America.