In recent years, chefs have turned increasingly toward local, seasonal ingredients. As a natural extension of this, some are taking it a step further — or closer, really — growing their own in pots, on roofs, occasionally even on farms started for the purpose. Forget house-made. We’re on to house-grown.
High-profile restaurateurs around the country have long been on board, from New York chef and sustain able-food advocate Dan Barber (Blue Hill at Stone Barns) to Chicago’s Rick Bayless (Topolobampo) to Cambridge’s Ana Sortun (Oleana). But restaurants are increasingly raising rooftop gardens — in Atlanta, Baltimore, Beverly Hills, Brooklyn, Dallas, Houston, Philadelphia, Portland, Ore., Providence, Seattle, and more. Many cities offer tax breaks or other financial incentives to convert rooftops into green space. So-called “green roofs’’ reduce storm water runoff and help combat urban heat, among other benefits. In Boston, Sam Yoon, the former city councilor and mayoral candidate who is relocating to Washington, D.C., has been perhaps the biggest advocate of such incentives.
Local establishments from quick-casual chain Vapiano to bastion of fine dining L’Espalier are flexing their green thumbs — the former with an in-house herb garden, the latter over several acres on chef-owner Frank McClelland’s Apple Street Farm in Essex. In Cambridge, Henrietta’s Table recently put in a rooftop garden with the help of the Farm School, which teaches children and adults about sustainable agriculture. Green City Growers, which installs residential and corporate vegetable gardens, is working with several food businesses this year: Ledge, burger chain b. good, and Roslindale catering companies Tables of Content and Gourmet Caterers.
“We’re definitely seeing more of it,’’ says Green City owner Jessie Banhazl.
Some of the advantages for a chef are clear. If you grow and harvest it yourself, you know it’s good.
