Green Options » restaurants

Five Tips for Eating Out For Meat-Free and Meat-Friendly Couples

Kelli Best-Oliver — Tue, 01 Jul 2008 20:15:19 +0000

Trying to live a meat-free life is difficult when you have a decidedly carnivorous, culinarily-unadventurous husband. Don’t get me wrong, my husband is down for meatless meals, but sometimes his less-than-ambitious palate gets tired of pasta (and I get tired of cooking the same “safe” flavor combinations). Many nights we end up eating out, mainly because we don’t want to do the “What do you want to eat?” dance. Even that can be difficult–he likes bar & grill-type places; I get sick of mushroom sandwiches or salads. I’m emotionally exhausted just thinking about it.

So what’s a couple trying to eat well to do? Here are five tips for eating out if you are a “mixed-eating” couple like my husband and me, after the jump.

Tap Water Is OK

Philip Proefrock — Tue, 10 Jun 2008 21:20:00 +0000

Restaurants in seven cities across the US are part of the initial wave of the Food & Water Watch “Take Back the Tap“ Campaign.

“The consumer advocacy group is working with cities across the nation to urge local restaurants and chefs to sign a pledge to switch to serving only tap water, help educate customers about the benefits of tap over bottled water.”

Read more of this story »

Lettuce Eat Green

Keith Rockmael — Fri, 18 Apr 2008 15:57:16 +0000

Restaurants here in San Francisco open, and close, almost as often as the fog rolls in so we don’t usually pay an extreme amount of our precious attention to another restaurant du jour. Mixt Greens recently opened but they don’t qualify for new kid on the block status nonetheless they do deserve green props. Thus I direct my attention to their third installment of the Mixt Greens empire.

This third location, located in SoMa, just opened and used zero-VOC paints to improve the air quality, and I could definitely smell the food and not the fumes. They even used recycled paint to cover their ceiling. I didn’t find any bamboo or cork for the flooring but something better as they used an unfinished concrete floor with 50% flyash content. That high flyash content along with the fact that the floor will last a long time (plus it’s easy to clean) makes that choice a no-brainer.

Chicago Restaurant Co-op Expands Use of Eco-Friendly Takeout Containers

Jason Phillip — Wed, 23 Jan 2008 22:09:22 +0000

So you’ve made the switch to reusable shopping bags, and you’re feeling pretty good about being able to answer the eternal grocery store question of “paper or plastic?” with a hearty “Neither!” But when you’re not doing the cooking at home, you probably don’t get a choice about avoiding much of the plastic packaging that keeps your food warm and safe on its journey from the restaurant to your home.

If you’ve ever felt a pang of guilt about how much garbage is created when ordering takeout, you’ve got good reason. All those disposable containers and plastic bags made from petroleum create an environmental impact that goes on long after you’ve enjoyed the last of your Pad Thai leftovers. According to one report cited on Treehugger, over 1 million plastic bags are consumed in this country every minute. How many of those bags wind up in landfills after one use or, worse, end up wreaking havoc on marine life in the world’s oceans, is difficult to calculate. But it’s a trend that has been on a troubling upswing for a long time.

To address this problem, an increasing number of restaurants and other food service providers have started to switch from petroleum-based plastic take-out items to compostable products made from renewable resources, such as corn (PLA) and sugar cane fiber (bagasse). One of the major barriers that restaurants face when switching to such bio-based containers, however, is a painful difference in cost.

For example, restaurateur Dan Rosenthal who runs casual-Italian minichain Sopraffina Marketcaffe in Chicago found that he would pay a heavy price to replace the 400,000 non-biodegradable plastic bags he went through each year. The switch would entail 7 cents more per bag, for a total of $28,000 every year.

Lights out SF! - 10/20

Joy — Fri, 19 Oct 2007 19:34:17 +0000

Living in San Francisco most of my life, I feel very spoiled by the amount of attention and high level of interest and support we have for the green movement.

Most recently, the City of San Francisco and partnership with non profit LightsOutSF.org has issued a "Lights Out" ordinance from 8:00 p.m. - 9:00 p.m. The city’s landmarks like Alcatraz, TransAmerica building, and parts of our lovely bridges will shut off their lights to announce the importance of energy conservation.

My friends at SF CityDish tell me that there are numerous trendy restaurants in town that are hosting "romantic candlelight dinners" in support of the Lights Out event on October 20th proving once again that activism is sexy.

California Healthy: A Decent Walking Guide to SoCal

Robin Schidlowski — Sun, 02 Sep 2007 15:30:56 +0000

California Healthy is a new guide book written by Patricia Hamilton, a native Californian. The book claims to be "The adventurer’s guide to local delicacies, fine wine, great walks and the good life." While it doesn’t do all that it purports, it certainly is a useful tool in some regards. As a native to the state myself, I was impressed with some of the book and disappointed by the rest. The current edition is Southern California-based and while I have lived in San Francisco for the last decade, I spent the first 20 or so years of my life in San Diego. Would California Healthy live up to my sustainability expectations and satisfy my green needs?

The book is broken into sections by county, and each includes restaurant listings, wineries, walks and local festivals. By far the best part of this guide are the walks, taking you to beautiful and scenic places, and listing dog parks for healthy fun with Rover. The local events section, although not complete, lists seasonal festivals throughout the region and is a useful tool and one of the book’s strengths.

The restaurant listings are on the other hand are weak at best. Granted, some of my favorite joints are listed, but the descriptions are limited, leaving the reader with little idea of why they should go. Most disappointing is that the list is nowhere near comprehensive. There are thousands of restaurants in SoCal, and the organic and local food movement is thriving, yet California Healthy names only of a handful of the good places out there, and gives the reader no sense of what they have in store.

The book is supplemented with recipes and a cooking guide from Chef Biron of Stanford fame. His additions are thoughtful and delicious, and but slightly out of place. Despite its attempt to be more, California Healthy is a walking book, not a health book. Absent are yoga and pilates studios, bike, skate, and surf rentals, a comprehensive listing of restaurants, holistic health practitioners, masseuses and environmentally friendly spa services, among other truly valuable health information.

Grease is the Word: How to Convince Restaurant Managers to Give You their Waste Vegetable Oil

Jessica Jane French — Mon, 20 Aug 2007 21:11:19 +0000

Whether you own a biodiesel vehicle or just covert fryer grease into fuel for a furnace or other appliance, you know that grease is harder to come by than one might expect. Often times, restaurants are the best source for large amounts of inexpensive waste veggie oil (wvo). A problem can arise when trying to find a restaurant willing to donate their used oil to your cause. By understanding a few basic principles about wvo collection, you can greatly increase your chances of persuading a restaurant to hand over the slimy stuff you so desperately desire.

Because many restaurants have an agreement with a grease company, where the company will remove the restaurant’s wvo without charge, some businesses no longer have claim over their grease once it exits the building. The good news is that, oftentimes, these ‘deals’ are only one-year agreements. This means that a restaurant many get their wvo removed free for a year, but after that, they are required to pay for the service. Because the restaurant is used to the service being provided (it is a messy job!), they are usually okay with paying a nominal fee to the company after the initial year. This is where any crafty wvo hunter can get their foot in the door.

In order to find out what a particular restaurant is doing with their wvo, there are a few important things you should remember when attempting to approach anyone in the particular establishment.

Buy Something: The easiest way to get the attention of the people you need to talk to is to buy something. Walk into the restaurant just like you were any other customer, sit down, and order something to eat. Once your food has arrived, ask to speak with the manager. Because most managers (and wait staff) will thing you have a complaint about your meal, they’re in a relatively good mood once they realize you are not their to criticize their product or performance.

Speak to Your Target Audience: Seeing as how all restaurant employees may not have an extensive background in the finer point of biodiesel collection, it is important that you simplify your message. The biggest mistake that you could make would be to walk in and start spewing complicated rhetoric at a manager who has a million other things to do besides deal with your smarty-pants speech about saving the world. Stick to the basics: who you are, what you want and why you want it. If you get a positive response, it is at this point where you could discuss specifics like when and where the wvo can be collected.

Keep it Clean: Everyday, at least on sales rep comes into my restaurant and attempts to sell us anything from new knives to health-care packages. These people are identifiable by their unbelievably crisp suits, blue tooth head-sets and laptop computer cases. Do not emulate these people. When the salesmen arrive, most managers run: they don’t want to deal with sales people just like anyone else. Dress in accordance to the clientele’s apparel. If it is a sports bar, don’t hesitate to wear jeans.

Be Persistent: If the manager is hesitant, or fails to give you the attention you are looking for, do not hesitate to ask for the contact info of the general manager or the owner. Oftentimes, a manager on duty does not have the authority to give you permission to take the wvo. At the same time, they might just be too busy with the day-to-day operations of the restaurant to pay you much attention. This is why the higher-ups can be your key to success

Be a Tool, Not an Inconvenience: Frequently, restaurants stay with the same grease service for years at a time. Given that grease disposal services eventually begin charging for their services, a restaurant’s inclination to continue to pay to have their grease picked up has something to do with convenience. Grease can be nasty: it is messy, can have a stench to it, and it forms residue on any container used to hold it. Many restaurants are just happy that someone else will come and take it away, mess-free, for them. You will have much more success in getting a restaurant to donate their wvo to you if you offer to provide a barrel or a few cubees.

Take a Penny, Leave a Penny: If a restaurant is kind enough to give you their used oils, it makes sense that you should to something for them in return. If you use their oils to make fuel for your car, proudly display a bumper-sticker or decal from that restaurant. Try to increase the restaurant’s client base by spreading the word of their good deed. Most importantly, try to incorporate them into your ‘biodiesel story’: when people ask about your biodiesel car, or wvo furnace, be sure to drop the name of the business that made it possible.

Although biodiesel collection can be a daunting task, building a good connection between yourself and a few local business can make all the difference. If you treat your collection agreements like business contracts, you will not only prove your professionalism, but you will lay the foundations for an arrangement that could benefit you for years to come.

For more information, check out the Collaborative Biodiesel Tutorial and Biodiesel America

Supporting Local Restaurants…And Get Money Back!

Kelli Best-Oliver — Wed, 18 Jul 2007 17:14:13 +0000

I’m not ashamed to admit it: I’ve got food on the brain these days. Who can blame me? The farmers markets are teeming with a variety produce at the height of their flavor. I wrote Tuesday on some of my favorite food blogs where I glean recipes to test out in my kitchen. But what about those days when I don’t feel like cooking, when it’s too hot to fire up the stove, when I just don’t have much in the fridge? What about special occasions? Going out to eat, particularly for a special meal with good wine and a group of friends, is a treat I look forward to. But how to find greener options? In a word: local.

Local restaurants are more likely to use local ingredients (read: less food miles), cook seasonally (again, less food miles), and invest in the local community. In fact, local restaurants often partner with farmers markets for cooking demos or classes. I see one of the chefs of my favorite local restaurant at a farmers market every Saturday, checking out produce and talking to farmers.

Here in St Louis, along with several other cities in the US, there’s another incentive to dine locally: the DineOriginals program. Started by independent restauranteurs looking to promote their restaurants in the face of expanding chains, DineOriginals offers a rewards program for diners, and a fairly decent one at that: for every $150 you spend at DineOriginals restaurants, you earn a $10 credit. For my husband and I, it’s not hard to earn credits, particularly since our, ahem, local microbrewery participates. It’s free to join, you can sign up at any participating restaurant, and a no-brainer for those of us who try to eat local anyway. See if your city participates, and find a list of restaurants, here.

Q&A: Options for Large-Scale Composting

Megan Prusynski — Fri, 29 Jun 2007 17:24:38 +0000

The Earth Tub

Question: What are some ways that hotels who produce large volumes of food sraps minimize wastes? Currently all food scraps are thrown into a large commercial compactor bin. Any ideas how this can be overcome and a more eco-efficient strategy adopted?

Answer: My local co-op recently implemented one solution for large amounts of food waste. It's called the Earth Tub, a commercial duty composter made for businesses like hotels and restaurants that produce large amounts of food scraps. It's a self-contained system that quickly composts food scraps, is easy to stir, and can be used year-round.

The Earth Tub is made by Green Mountain Technologies, specialists in composting technologies that describe their product as a perfect sustainable solution for businesses such as hotels:

The Earth Tub is a small scale, in-vessel composting system for recycling organic waste materials at the site where they are generated. Complete with a bio-filter for odor processing and control, this system provides a neighborhood friendly efficient composting technology. The Earth Tub has been developed specifically to meet the composting needs of universities/schools, restaurants/cafeterias, commercial food processors, hospitals, multi-unit residential dwellings, camps and other institutional organic waste generators.

The Earth Tub can process up to 500 pounds of waste a day, and it compacts as it composts. It is also a modular design so it's easy to expand. It is designed for food scraps, yard waste, and needs a bit of dry material like sawdust or shredded paper to control moisture levels. It sounds like a great solution for a large operation like a hotel, and then you could use the compost it creates in your landscaping.

In addition to a large composter, there are many practices that can be implemented to help reduce waste and become more eco-friendly in your operations. One idea is to adjust the portion sizes at restaurants so that less waste is produced. At most restaurants, the portion sizes are much too big for one person to finish in a meal (not that this keeps people from trying). Adjusting portion sizes can be a trial and error process until you notice that less food is thrown away.

Another option would be to change the types of meals you offer so there are more sustainable options. For instance, offering more vegan and vegetarian meals would not only make healthier food available to your customers, but plant-based foods are less wasteful to produce and thus more sustainable. This will also make more fodder for the Earth Tub, since the majority of food waste given to it should ideally be non-meat and non-dairy.

Other things you can do to become a more sustainable business are to source local and organic ingredients whenever possible. You could go as local as possible by growing some of your own ingredients! Herbs and spices are easy to grow in windowboxes, or on a larger scale, a rooftop garden could provide not only fresh ingredients, but insulation and increased energy efficiency. There are many things a hotel or other large business can do to become a more sustainable operation, from using natural laundry detergents and non-toxic cleaning materials to using an Earth Tub.

By adjusting your hotel operations and looking into composting options like the earth tub, I'm sure you can become a greener business. Don't forget to advertise all you're doing to be sustainable, it may just help attract new customers!