Nutrition

America's 25 best farm-to-table restaurants

Advisors: Chris Cosentino, Jim Denevan, Katrina Heron, Greg Higgins, Peter Hoffman, Patrick Martins, Frances Moore Lappe, Jean-Luc Naret, Vitaly Paley, Maria Rodale
Published: February 2009   [ Updated: Feb 19, 2009 - 10:28:48 AM ]

Eating out has become way too complicated. Is it more ethical to eat wild salmon or farmed? Which chicken is more nutritious: organic or free-range? And what's the fuss over grass-fed beef? Thankfully, there's a new kind of dining destination that answers all these questions so you don't have to. It's called the farm-to-table restaurant, and it serves food that is fresh, local, and sustainable—three qualities that add up to tastier, healthier meals. Who would have thought a guiding principle for eating could be so simple? Here we present the best of the bunch, according to the food luminaries who have been practitioners of the sustainable movement long before eating was complicated by matters like carbon footprints.

Applewood
Brooklyn, New York
Tucked away in leafy brownstone Brooklyn, this destination for Manhattan foodies is owned by David and Laura Shea (he cooks, she serves). Much of the produce is grown in an urban garden, and the Sheas frequently host meet-the-farmer dinners, where suppliers explain--during a meal centered around their products--what it takes to run, say, a heritage pig farm. applewoodny.com

Blackberry Farm
Walland, Tennessee
Located in the foothills of the Great Smoky Mountains, this working farm features a luxury hotel modeled after "agri-tourism." The culinary centerpiece is The Barn, which houses a wine cellar, a dining room, and a cooking school that draws such notable instructors as David Chang of Momofuko (see below). blackberryfarm.com

Blue Hill at Stone Barns
Pocantico Hills, New York
A year-round working farm and agricultural-education campus 30 miles outside New York City, Stone Barns, pictured above, is home to one of chef Dan Barber's Blue Hill restaurants (there's an outpost in Greenwich Village too). Instead of getting a traditional menu of starters and main courses, diners are simply presented with a list of all the foods that have been harvested that day, which are then assembled into a five- or seven-course tasting menu. bluehillfarm.com

Bolete
Bethlehem, Pennsylvania
This restaurant, about an hour's drive from Philadelphia, relies on produce selected from a weekly list sent around by farmers in Coopersburg. Chef Lee Chizmar butchers and smokes his own fish and meats (his house-smoked salmon makes an amazing Benedict). Bolete is Latin for "wild mushroom" (specifically, a porcini), and although the menu isn't mushroom-centric, homage is paid with some dishes, such as the mushroom lasagna with house-cured pork belly. boleterestaurant.com

Candle 79
New York City
Snuggled away in a town house on the Upper East Side, the food here is so tasty and fresh (ingredients are sourced from the greenmarket each morning), you'll almost forget there's no meat or dairy on your plate. Yes, it's vegan. But when New York Times restaurant critic Frank Bruni recently reviewed the food (admitting that he'd never given vegan cuisine its due), he claimed that it showed him the light and left him "with a sense not of deprivation, but of relief." candlecafe.com

Chez Panisse
Berkeley, California
In 1971, Alice Waters decided to open a place that resembled a dinner party she'd likely throw. As a strong advocate for sustainable agriculture, Waters also decided the food should be sourced only from nearby farms. Today she is recognized as the doyenne of the slow-food movement, and her restaurant is hailed as the birthplace of California cuisine. Reserve a table up to a month in advance and choose from one of the two nightly seatings. chezpanisse.com