We Resolve To…
By Amanda Faison
Ahh, January, the month of introspection. As the New Year–New You fitness and Dry January challenges are in full swing, the Good Food community is also considering the changes it wants to make. This type of resolution doesn’t happen en-mass but instead restaurant by individual restaurant. But with enough momentum, what begins as a small shift can eventually lead to a revolution. That’s what the Good Food 100 Restaurants is all about: celebrating those who boldly push their business—and thus the industry—to do right.
A first step toward transparency includes filling out the 2019 Good Food 100 Restaurants application, which opens on Wednesday, January 23. (All entries must be complete by May 31, 2019)
As a means of inspiration, we checked in with restaurants from around the country to see what’s on their to-do 2019 list:
“We’ve just transitioned all restaurants to using heritage flour (wheat, rye, buckwheat, and oats). We’ll work through the year to transition our sandwich breads to the heritage as well. Our local miller is Sunrise Flour Mill. Many people who are what they think of as ‘gluten sensitive’ are sensitive to commodity wheat. They find that they can eat the heritage grains without trouble. These heritage grains are also more nutritious and taste better.” —Kim Bartmann, owner, Tiny Diner, Barbette (6 links), Bryant-Lake Bowl (6 links), Pat’s Tap (6 links), Red Stag Supper Club (6 links), Minneapolis, Minnesota
“In Western North Carolina, we're fortunate to have a strong farming heritage and passionate local farmers. Over the years, we have deepened our relationship with these farms, creating a bit of a symbiotic relationship with several local providers. In 2019, we are taking it one step further! At the end of the 2018 growing season, we began sitting down with our local purveyors to reflect on the year, and plan for 2019. These conversations covered the crops and varietals that we used most, pricing comparisons, timing, products that we are getting elsewhere that could potentially be supplied locally, etc. The goal of these discussions is to increase the farmer's profitability, reduce waste, take the guesswork out of planting and pricing, and take steps to eliminate reliance on factory farming by focusing on the things that our community can work together to control.” —Katie Button, owner-executive chef, Curate (6 links), Asheville, North Carolina
“A New Year’s resolution of mine is to get my kitchen to look at how we look at a single ingredient. Our team will come up with two specials a week designed around pickling, fermenting, and preserving seasonal ingredients and create a dish utilizing the ingredient more than once. It may be fermenting it, dehydrating it, or preparing any way, as long as it’s cross-utilized. This year I want our team to understand how important it is to think outside the box when cooking or preserving a single ingredient. The ultimate goal is no waste.” —Jason Greene, executive co-owner, The Grove (5 links), Albuquerque, New Mexico
“At EVOO we are going to continue trying to expand our sourcing to include more local dry goods, such as salt, vinegar, and spices. We are also going to encourage our local farm partners to go organic, prioritizing our purchases to local and organic first.” —Peter McCarthy, chef-owner, EVOO (6 links), Cambridge, Massachusetts
“My resolution for 2019 is to make sure that my dishes and my work make people more driven on fresh organic and natural ingredients. Even the wine will be natural biodynamic and organic.” —Nicholas Poulmentis, executive chef, Akrotiri Taverna (6 links), Astoria, New York
“We’re implementing something new at Santo as a conservation effort to deter wastefulness. The majority of our guests take home food at the end of their meal, and many others call in orders for take-out. As a result, we use a lot of paper goods and containers. We want to try to reduce our carbon footprint—even though we only buy compostable boxes—we’re enforcing an environmental surcharge of 50 cents for any to-go container. It’s a fraction of the cost we pay for the products, but just the way Boulder grocery stores charge for plastic shopping bags in the hope consumers bring their own re-usable bags, maybe people will start keeping Tupperware in their car for their leftovers. Depending on how this goes, we might start this at Blackbelly too.” —Hosea Rosenberg, chef-owner, Santo (6 links) and Blackbelly (6 links), Boulder, Colorado