10 Fresh Roof-To-Table Restaurants Slideshow
Blue Ribbon Garden: Los Angeles, Calif.
Tucked into the folds of the Walt Disney Concert Hall, nestled high above the traffic, the Blue Ribbon Garden boasts a bounty of plants and herbs so plentiful that the garden is also classified as a California State Park. Make sure to work up an appetite for fresh dishes like Lilly vegetable risotto and wild red king salmon. They say that playing classical music to plants helps them grow, so while Gustavo Dudamel conducts the LA Philharmonic below, your dinner's ingredients are blooming above.
Bell Book & Candle: New York, N.Y.
Think that pulleys are only for construction sites and school jungle gyms? Think again. At Bell Book & Candle, produce like red and green romaine lettuce, poblano peppers, fennel, and cherry tomatoes are hauled from their origins on the restaurant's West Village rooftop to ground level. Hey, it's faster (and more fun) than carrying crops down six flights of stairs! Book a table and order one of their Living Leaf salads to pair with a grilled sausage of the day or the grass-fed steak tartare with heirloom potato crisps.
Bastille Cafe & Bar: Seattle, Wash.
At Seattle's Bastille Café & Bar, the dedication to sustainable agriculture is unyielding, thanks to the raised-bed planted boxes of lettuce and herbs found in the restaurant's 4,500 square-foot garden. As a result, the restaurant produces a fresh crop of vegetables year round to be used in their French cuisine. Menus are seasonal, so you'll try the Challah French toast with honey-roasted apricots one morning and duck confit hash the next.
La Pergola: Rome, Italy
Snag a reservation at the only three-Michelin-starred restaurant in Rome and be prepared for a feast of chef Heinz Beck's innovative, delicious, and sustainable dishes. Situated on the roof garden of the Rome Cavalieri hotel, La Pergola promises detail-oriented and well-thought-out food with seasonal ingredients grown on site. Sample the warm carpaccio of tuna or pappa al pomodoro before moving on to lobster and duck foie gras.
EPIC Restaurant: Toronto, Ontario
EPIC lives up to its name, with a bold menu highlighting the homegrown herbs from its rooftop garden 15 stories up in the Fairmont Royal York hotel. Sample local delicacies like British Columbia black cod and white beans stewed with Dungeness crab or Northern Woods mushroom ravioli and wash them down with local Canadian wines from Prince Edward County, Niagara, and Lake Erie.
Maialino: New York, N.Y.
Atop the Gramercy Park Hotel lays a garden that grows over 50 vegetables, fruits, and herbs used to make the lauded Roman fare served below. A coffee bar by day, Maialino is a wine bar and trattoria-inspired restaurant by night with warm, woodsy tones, a raw bar, and unforgettable pastas. Dishes like baccalà with fregola and cucumber, fried artichokes, and crispy heirloom squash all highlight what was freshly picked upstairs that day.
Uncommon Ground: Chicago, Ill.
Sweet, hot peppers, eggplant, heirloom tomatoes, radishes, beets, okra, and shallots are all being grown on the same roof at Chicago's Uncommon Ground — the first certified organic rooftop farm in the country. Stop by for lunch to tuck into crispy Creole-spiced catfish tacos or summer pizza topped with the freshest vegetables around. Sip on the Agripolitian, a house eco-cocktail and do some good for the neighborhood — fifty cents from every drink sold goes to develop a community orchard in Chicago.
Ledge Kitchen and Drinks: Dorchester, Mass.
Dorchester, Mass., is home to Ledge Kitchen and Drinks, as well as its rooftop garden growing squash, tomatoes, peas, and more. They don't stop at just roof-to-table sustainability either — the raw bar is regional, the lobster roll is a New England specialty, and the Cheddar on their burgers is from Vermont. And with a signature drink like their 2261 (a martini with Prosecco), the rooftop garden seems like icing on top of an already delicious, local, and fresh cake.
Acornhouse: London, England
Who doesn't love taking an unusable space and turning it into a thriving garden? Sprouting deliciously fresh produce from an otherwise not-very-green rooftop is a challenge, but in 2006, Acornhouse did just that and now their menu reflects their roof-to-table success. The English tomato soup with almond and basil pesto, char-grilled English asparagus with speck and black grapes, and the feuillantine of raspberry, chocolate ice cream, and a touch of black pepper will convert any remaining roof garden skeptics.
Noble: Philadelphia, Pa.
Noble's clean, industrial space gives only a few hints of the lush garden situated above. Of course, the greatest clues as to what's growing upstairs is to take one look at the menu — think Bibb lettuce salad with peas, cucumbers, and pickled ramps, crab-stuffed zucchini blossoms, and braised Berkshire pork cheeks with turnips, apricots, and rooftop herbs de Provence. Even the drinks menu gets a hit of the local-and-homemade model with Philadelphia-brewed beers and homemade cocktail ingredients like ginger beer, honey syrup, and fruits.