Green Restaurants

[Raoul Duke]

I've got a stake in this, so I'll join the conversation.  I grow and produce extra virgin olive oil in Cali.  Do this on a sustainable farm, power from photovoltaic system, drip irrigation for h2o conservation, fair wages to farm labor (meals included & cerveza after the pick), mulch all prunings into the soil, yada, yada, yada.  Trying to maintain a minimal impact on the land and produce a good product that our family consumes as well as others.  The "green restaurants" tout their great works but have little or no compulsion in purchasing imported olive oil leaving a carbon footprint as big as my ex-wifes a-s.  Action talks, b---s--t walks!

←

The carbon footprint argument for olive oil may be hold water on the west coast, but not on the east, where it is about the same assuming that the oil is obtained from similarly green producers.

←

Or shipped in tankers or on jumbo jets, with questionable age and ingredients. I almost agree, but then I think about the candles, dishware, linens and all that come from China. Buying from China may hold water on the west coast but the east?

[Dave the Cook]

I don't think anyone is air-freighting olive oil, and ocean shipping is the cleanest major transport there is -- which also means that materials shipped from China have a relatively low transportation-related carbon footprint.

The major olive-oil producing countries all have regulations about ingredients; Italy in particular is very picky. As for age, who would keep product sitting in a warehouse, when they could sell it?

[edsel]

...

What other restaurants are extremely eco-friendly and what are they doing?

←

We have one "Certified Green" restaurant in Cleveland. Greenhouse Tavern opened recently on E. 4th St downtown. Here's their mission statement. They are certified by the Green Restaurant Association. I assume that they must have met the requirements for renovating an existing building.

From the Plain Dealer:

By taking over the Cort's Building, at 2038 East Fourth, the team had to comply with historic preservation guidelines -- right up their alley -- but often found their personal goals thwarted by the ravages of time. The original floor simply couldn't accommodate the weight of 200 occupants, so it had to be gutted. In keeping with green guidelines, it was replaced with an eco-friendly form of poured concrete that contains a form of ash that's a byproduct of electrical and coal- burning plants.

As repairs were made, in compliance with the green building council recommendations, Sawyer, Seeholzer, Satatyathum and their partners scoured the region for almost anything they could repurpose. Woodwork was salvaged from Civil War-era barns from around Ohio. They shopped salvage yards, built casework from scratch from designs they sketched. And they weren't above snagging a good find from area treelawns.

That sophisticated drop lighting throughout the main dining room? Look closer. The funky metal work is actually old bicycle wheels.

I know that they get as much local produce as possible. Obviously they can't get everything locally.

[Raoul Duke]

I don't think anyone is air-freighting olive oil, and ocean shipping is the cleanest major transport there is -- which also means that materials shipped from China have a relatively low transportation-related carbon footprint.

The major olive-oil producing countries all have regulations about ingredients; Italy in particular is very picky. As for age, who would keep product sitting in a warehouse, when they could sell it?

←

So picky that the EU is compelled to mandate compliance come this July.

www.forbes.com/feeds/afx/2008/09/17/afx5435360.html

or

www.associatedcontent.com/article/238676/italian_olive_oil_ot_always_made_in.html

Any previous years oil not sold (product sitting in a warehouse) is blended with fresh oil as a routine practice in some countries. I've seen harvested olives sitting in burlap bags for days, dripping oil onto the ground before processing, because thay have sat in heat outdoors.

[PLangfordJr]

Everyone might find www.dinegreen.com interesting.

It lays out the standards necessary to receive this certification.

PL

[wax311]

I think most of the real "green" impact comes from the restaurateur, in designing the building, the water sources, heating and cooling and such.

What is your practical restaurant experience, wax? Youre throwing around a lot of "mosts" and "manys" when youre talking about restaurants throwing away scraps. The fervor with which you talk about utiliziing 30% of a beet.. well "most" chefs I think I more worried about the bottom line. Whatever that using scraps is green or not, it saves percentages on the bottom line. A cost mindful chef is simply going to account for a 75% yield on his beets, or whatever it will be. It honestly might cost more in labor in using random buckets of scraps before they go bad, but then I guess you spend $50 an hour to plan out the proper utilization of $50 a week in waste, but then it starts getting really REALLY esoteric.

Our nation's landfills are not overflowing with tarragon stems and carrot skins. But one of my favorite baltimore restaurants uses their woodfired oven to heat the majority of the dining room.. thats something I can get behind but going nose-to-tail on root vegetables, I think I will pass.

←

I've been in the business for 8 years, and have recently had the opportunity to stage at "many" restaurants across the country. I would consider my personal sample size of restaurants enough to throw out some "mosts" and "manys". I do not feel the need to preface everything I say with "in my experience" - mainly because I love writing with such fervor (it's so much more fun)!

A "cost-mindful chef" wouldn't simply settle for a 75% yield on beets - a "cost-mindful chef" would use the whole beet! But the beet thing is only an example. I have seen chefs throw away byproducts of some very expensive ingredients that can and should be used in some capacity.

The truth is, $50 an hour (who makes that kind of dough?) to plan out proper utilization of $50 a week in waste really, really is worth it! I mean we're talking about $2600 of waste in a year that can be turned into pure profit. And "many" restaurants throw away much more than $50 a week of usable scraps.

I am fed up with chefs being so mindful and concerned about the carbon footprint of their olive oil when they're throwing away a quarter of their beets.