Since he opened Café Paradiso in 1993, County Cork-born chef Denis Cotter has been on a mission to attract omnivorous diners by doing away with what he calls the “penitential” reputation of meat-free cooking. In an intimate, gray-walled dining room, local vegetables and cheeses play a central role in dishes such as roasted beetroot, watercress, and blood orange with sheep’s milk cheese, and braised turnip galette of chestnut and Portobello. Among Café Paradiso’s fans: chef Amanda Cohen of New York City’s pioneering, plant-based Dirt Candy.
