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Amanda Cohen’s Lekka Burger Is Perfectly 2020, in a Great Way
The Dirt Candy chef enters the veggie burger ring with her new fast-casual restaurant in Manhattan
If we must keep selling veganism through “comfort food” — one of those phrases that seems neutral on its face but is all about white American preferences — then the brand-new Lekka Burger from Dirt Candy chef Amanda Cohen is a great marketing tool. Bright, a bit boozy, and with cheese sauce made from butter beans, here the chef who made vegetables fun and fine-dining does a burger joint that’s perfectly 2020: recycled everything, reusable ceramic cups for ketchup, a cauliflower Waldorf salad, a broccolini Caesar packed with the umami of seaweed.
Lekka (a name that comes from South African slang meaning “awesome and delicious,” inspired by her business partner who hails from that country ) is a funky, filling addition to the city’s vegan landscape, which has achieved most of its success through burgers who think (sorry) outside the bun at places like Superiority Burger and Toad Style. All three lure in folks with burgers, then offer far more interesting sides. But the Lekka burger is beyond reproach, hearty, flavorful, and well-attuned to the various toppings, whether Peri Peri, Masala, Guacamole, or classic, with ketchup, mustard, mayo, tomato, onion, and housemade pickles.
“I’m always surprised how many people like very specific but different burgers and I guess it’s the same thing with like pizzas or hot dogs,” she tells me, of the various editions on the menu. “You know people are like, ‘Well, I definitely wouldn’t ever put a tomato on a burger.’ ‘I would never eat it with guacamole’ So it seems sort of fun to play into that.”
As for why she’s opened this fast-casual spot while still running the tasting-menu restaurant Dirt Candy, it’s all about providing a more everyday experience that is still a luxury. “Most people in the States and Canada grow up eating them,” Cohen tells me. “And it’s either like, you know, a fast weeknight meal at home or it’s a treat when you’re young and your parents take you out. A lot of people eat at McDonald’s and Burger King, or even the pub on the corner. I just feel like a burger is something that everybody eats and when you transition into veganism…
