Restaurant Review: Ithaca, NY’s Famed Moosewood

Many of us have had Moosewood cookbooks on our shelves for years. Well, I finally got a chance to sample the famous restaurant itself in Ithaca, New York recently.

Established in 1973 as “worker collective,” the restaurant self-published its first cookbook in 1974. (The name comes from a character in a book.) Meat was served at its original incarnation, but the focus later became vegetarian. Today, the menu has numerous vegan and gluten-free options as well.

In 2022, Danica Wilcox, the daughter of original Moosewood collective member Kip Wilcox, bought the restaurant and worked with original Moosewood collective member Wynnie Stein to make the menu more vegan, local, and sustainable.

The design of the restaurant is very casual, but elegant, and the staff was decidedly friendly. My friends and I chose to eat outside on the lovely patio.

I ordered the Moroccan stew since I have a recipe of my own that I love and wanted to compare. Moosewood’s version consists of chickpeas, Yukon potatoes, carrots, bell peppers, zucchini, roasted eggplant, tomatoes, currants, housemade harissa, herbed lemon couscous, apricot-date chutney, almonds, and labneh if you eat dairy products. The mixture of flavors was scrumptious! Honestly, even if you’re always a meat-eater, I don’t think you’d feel cheated if you ordered this dish.

My companions each chose the black bean burger with pickled red onions, NYS sharp cheddar (or plant-based cheddar, if you’re vegan), and black garlic aioli on a toasted brioche or gluten-free bun with roasted potatoes. One of them opted to skip the bun entirely, and the restaurant accommodated them by serving the burger on a bed of rice. They both loved it.

For dessert, I tried the vegan chocolate cake with orange-chocolate ganache and coconut whipped cream. While the chocolate was rich, the consistency of the cake was light, and the combination of the chocolate, orange, and coconut flavors was special.

Since we were eating lunch, we chose not to drink alcohol, but the restaurant has a nice wine, beer, and cocktail menu, as well as zero-proof cocktails. There is also a special kids’ menu.

If you’re in Ithaca, eating at Moosewood is a must unless perhaps you feel you absolutely must be carnivorous at every meal. The restaurant also has a nice gift shop that you can peruse before or after you eat. Enjoy!