Top 5 places in New York City to get good sustainable nosh.
The use of the word ‘sustainable’ has reached fever pitch! What a relief! Thankfully it’s becoming (slightly?) easier to be sustainable in your home and business. But we want to be able to apply a sustainability lens even when we’re out and about. A few years ago, it was nearly impossible to find vegan food in NYC which was tasty and affordable. A couple years before that and even finding vegetarian food, regardless of tasting good, was challenging! Luckily, times have changed. The Holidays are appraoching, so what better time to plan a get together over some food. Whether it’s a fine dining affair or a cheap bite on the run, we’ve got you covered. Here’s the swrm Sustainable Eating Out Guide, 2023 Holiday Edition!
Family Meal at Blue Hill – 75 Washington Place, 10011
Sustainability in the holistic application of the word is ingrained into the operations of this warm and beautiful establishment. Their first priority is local and their second is organic. Situated in Tarrytown is their non-profit farm partner, Stone Barns, which provides much of the food you will devour at any of the three Blue Hill eateries. If they can’t get what they need from there, they have close working relationships with other local farms–none further than a 250 mile radius. They buy rotation grains, like buckwheat, barley, millet and rye to support farmers who value soil health. Farms which provide them with meat utilise pasture feeding and rotating the pastures to ensure the stock get succulent grass and the pastures recover between being dined on; allowing the pigs and birds to be free range; and not using hormones, antibiotics or steroids. And they tick the ‘social’ pillar of sustainability by providing loans to local farmers each January to ensure they’re still in operation in Spring.
Family Meal at Blue Hill is the latest evolution of what was formally known as Blue Hill New York, situated in Greenwich Village. This is now a menu-less dining experience, which ensures the utmost of seasonality and freshness – and availability. It means there’s spontaneity (…”and a little chaos…”, says Director of Communications, Anya Abrams, who I was fortunate eough to have an email conversation with). “The best stuff we do comes out of these moments, when our backs are up against the wall a little bit, and we’re creating new dishes for a particular table.” The Chefs are aiming for each diner to experience a connection between the ingerdients on their plate and the landscape which produced them.
The restaurant is designed to feel just like you’re having a big family gathering in some relative’s home, with share plates laid out down the middle of the generously sized tables.
One of my favourite parts of the conversation with Anya was her sustainable lifestyle tip: get to know a farmer at your local market.
"Learn what they’re excited about this week from the farm, and what they wish they could move more of. That second question can make all the difference: for example, broccoli leaves are delicious, but most people don’t even know they exist. They’re typically composted. But you could ask one of the growers to harvest the leaves. And if enough people are asking, suddenly it’s a whole new product for the farmer."
Anya also recommends keeping in inventory of your fridge, ensuring you plan around what’s already in there and preventing waste. We love her suggestions!
If you’re in NYC over the holidays and beyond, we thoroughly recommend you have a meal, and dining experience to remember, with Family Meal at Blue Hill.
Grilled! Plant-based to make you smile! – 264 Suydam St, Brooklyn, 11237
Well I don’t see how they could fail! Who wouldn’t be smiling? Their menu is full of guilty pleasure and comfort food faves! No one ever said eating vegan had to be boring…or necessarily healthy! This is all vegan fast food and you can find everything your heart desires when you want something a little bit naughty. But possibly my favorite part is that they are offering this food at genuinely affordable prices. One of the oft overlooked pillars of sustainability is that of economic sustainability. Not just to ensure the business in question can sustain itself, but that the suppliers of the business and the customers of the business and the community around the business have financial sustainability. It’s one of the things I struggle with when I see delicious vegan fare priced to a point where I cannot justify that expenditure. If we want people to enjoy and experience the power of plant based and the marvel of meat free, it has to be accessible. Grilled! are making sure of that, and I’m here for it!
Dirt Candy – 86 Allen St, NY, 10002
If you’d like to impress (read: correct) someone who thinks vegetarian food is boring, this is the place to bring them! It’s a bit of a fancy establishment, with its Michelin Star and everything, so expect to leave feeling positively wowed by flavors you thought impossible from a carrot. You’ll be served a seasonal 5 course tasting menu, showcasing vegetables in ways you’ve never imagined. And all things considered, it’s not as expensive as you might expect, especially considering the ‘no gratuity’ policy. Tips aren’t necessary for their staff as they’re paid a healthy wage plus extras. Color me impressed!
Interestingly, the reason for Chef and owner Amanda Cohen to serve only vegetables apparently has nothing to do with the planet and saving it. She doesn’t even do it to help improve the nutrient intake of the average New Yorker. But rather only to show the world that vegetables should be coveted. But whether she likes it or not, her menu is more environmentally responsible than the steakhouse down the street. And if only by accident do we end up with a future where everyone eats–and LOVES–their greens, and we have a healthy, stable climate, I’d still take it!
Jerrell’s BETR BRGR – Soho and Hoboken, NJ
This is another testament to not all vegan food being nutrition-rich and healthful, in a similar vane to Grilled! This late night joint is ready to give you an amazing burger and shake fix, sans meat and dairy. Impossible ‘meat’ is used for the perfect burger patties. While the owner openly admits to not being vegan, he understands the necessity to move towards plant and away from meat if we are to sustain life on this planet. He is moving towards becoming vegan, and we really like his approach – it’s not all or nothing, it’s a step by step process. Jerrell’s BETR BRGR motto is: “Do Betr, Live Betr, Eat Betr, Be Betr” ,which really speaks to us! And they are doing the right things to embody that. Predominantly dealing in takeaway (but you can absolutely dine in their colorful premises too), they’ve gone that extra mile of using compostable packaging, recyclable bags and burger wrappers made from 100% post consumer material. They actually have compost bins in their kitchen and staff will ensure that you dispose of everything correctly. Are they doing everything they could be to be sustainable? No. But are they aware of this and on a journey towards improvement? You betcha! And that, to us, is far more honest and worthy of support than a super fancy restaurant using all the right words but not being able to back it up with actions. So next you time you need a burger, consider making it a BETR BRGR – and while you’re there, chat about their sustainability work and offer encouragement and motivation to keep striving for Betr.
Le Botaniste – 5 locations in NYC (Soho, Midtown East, Bryant Park, UWS & UES) and 3 in Belgium
Much the way I do when I’m devouring a delicious meal, I’ve saved the best for last! This wholly plant-based restaurant really takes #SustainabilityGoals to the next level! They are not content with just providing their hungry customers with organic, nutritious and delicious fare – they also want to make genuine moves towards planetary health and sustainability! So each dish is made with produce that’s local, organic, in-season, nutrient dense and gluten-free (yep, you read that right – everything is gluten-free!). The meals are designed to be a ‘botanical prescription’ for better health. And if you don’t like any of their suggestions, you can DIY a bowl. There’s also sweet treats and alcohol…what’s not to love?!
If you’re there for takeaway, plastic is nowhere in sight. They will give you compostable containers to keep your meal fresh. Food waste is another burden for restaurants and cafes, and another that Le Botaniste is tackling head on. They’ll use all parts of fruits and veg possible, and then use the pulps from juices to make the base of dips. Plus, they’ve partnered with Too Good To Go, which enables TGTG app users the opportunity to buy food which would otherwise be thrown out at the end of service, at very reasonable prices. Speaking of waste, trash is a constant and growing problem, so Le Botaniste have partnered with River Cleanup to do just that – remove trash from local rivers. Lastly, although offsetting projects would often include tree planting, they’ve taken that further too, planting forests in Peru and Armenia with Go Forest. They plant a tree for every member of their company and involve you too, if you ‘add a tree’ to your order for $3. They’ve planted in excess of 2,500 trees thus far.
We have to be honest though, and one of their claims doesn’t sit right with us: it’s impossible for them to be carbon-neutral…offsetting is not the final destination in achieving a decarbonized Earth. And there are plenty of snake-oil offsetting projects out there. Thankfully, Le Botaniste have signed up to a genuinely certified one. If you do *need* to go down the offsetting path–temporarily–Gold Standard are a good place to start to find an offsetting project which is genuine and certified.
That aside, Le Botaniste are actually doing *all the things* to help make this planet more sustainable for future generations! And we genuinely appreciate that!!
Are there any sustainable restaurants or cafes which you think should make this list? Do you know a place where they’re trying really hard to do right by the planet? Please share! Out of NYC? Even better…we’d love to hear about them!
Always remember that sustainability and being sustainable is a whole lot more than using those words. It’s journey, we can’t be perfect (and shouldn’t try to be…we all know perfect is the enemy of good). And we should be encouraging to ourselves and one another on the way. But if you see greenwashing, on the other hand, that’s another story altogether. Name and shame! Greenwashing businesses damage the validity of trying to do the right thing. Greenwashing businesses make it exponentially harder for genuinely environmentally responsible businesses to succeed. Greenwashing is the work of the Devil. (too far? Maybe, but don’t come at me, I’m just passionate about it!). Hyperbole aside, we can’t progress this movement if we buy into and support (ie., not call out) greenwashing. You can check out something we wrote about it here. But we’d love to know, what do you think?
