Post Punk Kitchen Forum

I read that Candle Cafe was launching a line of frozen meals at Whole Foods this month.
Seitan Piccata was one of them.
Has anyone seen them?

I saw Candle Cafe cupcakes at WF about a month ago.

I saw the seitan piccata in the prepared, not the frozen, section in the Columbus Circle Whole Foods last weekend. Awesome! But that's all I've seen. And I've been to like 7 different Whole Foods in the past month. hahaha.

I haven't seen them. I emailed two nearby stores to see if they were going to carry them, but no response. They NEVER respond to my product requests, it's infuriating.

They've carried Candle Cafe products for a long time (at least 3 years). I used to get the seitan chimichurri all the time.

They have them at the Whole Foods in northern Virginia. I bought two and had the seitan piccata yesterday. Very disappointing. The serving was extremely small, and the sauce was bland - reminded me of a Lean Cuisine. Hopefully, the ravioli one will be better. I still really want to go the restaurant some day - I'm sure the food does not taste like this.

we've found all three meals at the WF in providence.

the seitan piccata is my all-time favorite thing at the restaurant. the frozen meal doesn't even come close. even if i didn't know what it was supposed to taste like, i'd be disappointed. it was borderline gross.

the ravioli and mac and cheese were both tasty. the mac and cheese is a slightly fancier version of the amy's. they use different pasta and the pasta was cooked nicely rather than your average slightly overcooked frozen pasta. i'd get either of those again.

not frozen though, right? in the deli. I'm pretty sure these frozen things are new. east coast whole foods have carried candle cafe desserts and deli stuff for a while, but this is different.


anyway, how much are the frozen meals?

They don't respond to thoughtfully written out complaints, either, but that's a different topic.

We've had Candle Cafe desserts (cheesecake, one other pie or cake; no cupcakes) at my WF for a couple of months now, but I've never checked the frozen section for anything. It's always good to get a PPK review of what is good and what is gross before shelling out what is probably a pretty decent amount of money for a frozen meal.

i want to say either $4.99 or $5.99 and they had a $1 off coupon on the box. knowing WF, it was probably $5.99 and we paid $4.99 with the coupon.

Tried the ravioli today. It was better, but just okay and not worth the price (and there were no coupons on the boxes where I got them). SoyBoy ravioli with jarred sauce and Daiya would accomplish the same thing for a fraction of the cost.

I bought the seitan, ravioli and mac frozen dinners at Chelsea (NYC) Whole Foods yesterday. I was worried the seitan picatta would be gross, but I actually liked it. Of course it is no where near as good as it is in the restaurant (or home made), but I liked it well enough. The small portion works for me since I'm on a diet. I would definitely buy it again, although it was expensive at $5.99. The nice thing is I can buy it on my lunch hour and keep it in the freezer at work for days I don't have time to make lunch. In that case, at least it is cheaper than buying something else around here like Chipotle or Loving Hut.

I'm looking forward to trying one of the others for lunch tomorrow.

I tried a few of them. The seitan picatta was just OK, but I don't really like capers, so I'm not the best judge. The ravioli was pretty good, but nothing special -- it kind of reminded me of the Lean Cuisine ravioli. I liked the mac and cheese, but I think it could have used a little more cheese. The macaroni was better than frozen pasta usually is.

Just had the mac and cheese. It was good! I like Amy's a bit better, because it reminds me of Stouffer's orange box and I used to love that stuff. But CC's is nearly half the calories (only 8 pts per bowl vs. Amy's 14 pts) so I'll be eating Candle's from now on.

I had the mac & cheese today for lunch. Pretty good. If you don't like Daiya though, you won't like it. The cheese, while not listed on the ingredients as Daiya brand, tastes exactly like it. I bought all 4 varieties of the frozen meals though and will test out a different one each day this week for lunch. From this one I've sampled, $5.99 seems pricey (I don't mind spending money on good food but this isn't cutting it). Maybe the other varieties will be worth it.

Is the Candle Cafe Mac-and-Cheese GF, like the Amy's one?

I think I paid $7 after the $1 coupon! Damn, expensive state.

I had the ravioli. The texture is really nice, but there's a weird, sweet aftertaste. Maybe from the Daiya?

I had the macaroni and piccata last night, I don't think I'd buy either again. I just didn't find the piccata very tasty and the macaroni was good, but not as good as Amy's. You had to really mix it to coat the noodles with the cheese and that's like 100% more work than I want to put into my frozen dinners.

This makes me sad. I love their seitan piccata too. Thanks for the review.

when in doubt..... : )

I just tried the ravioli and mac n' cheese. Really disappointed in both. I will say I thought the mac n' cheese was better than Amy's, but at $7 I'm good.

it is not.

I guess I just must not be that picky. I had the ravioli today and liked it. Sure, I could boil my own soyboy ravioli at home and it would probably be better, but it's the convenience factor. I'd buy all three again.

I'm seriously not picky either, but I thought the raviloli was just soooooo boring. There was no flavor, not enough filling to pasta ratio, and the sauce was like "hi! I'm terrible!"

So I made it through all 4 varieties. Even in a quick pinch, these are not worth it. The Seitan Piccata and the Ginger Miso stir fry were two of the worst (and most expensive) frozen dinners I've ever tasted. I would not eat any of the four again. Sorry to be harsh! Gladly back to the cookbooks this weekend :)