Restaurant Kitchen Gardens

[Suzanne F]

Given your experience with serious kitchen gardening, what are your hopes for it for restaurants here in the U.S.? Particularly kitchen gardens that are a part of the restaurant's property (such as Primo in Maine, or Harvest on Hudson in Westchester), but also farms on the order of Chef Eberhard Muller and Paulette Satur's?

[Amanda]

i worked at a restaurant in italy that had its own garden and it was wonderful. if you needed rosemary, you went outside and cut it. when the roses were fully bloomed. we picked them and made rose petal jam. it was so satisfying that i can't imagine restaurants with the space and right climate not having one. of course, it's probably more difficult to maintain than it seems. you would probably need a gardener and a kitchen staff that is good enough to adapt to an ever changing menu.