Photo: Maggie Faircloth
April 2007 | Conscious Dining
Chicago's Green Restaurants
By Tanya Fritz
As a Conscious Choice reader, you most likely support, and are well-educated about, local producers and organic ingredients. Do you feel as well informed about Green food businesses in Chicago, specifically green restaurants? Do you feel if you knew which restaurants in Chicago practiced Green habits, you would patronize those restaurants more often? In this special Green issue you undoubtedly are learning about new initiatives in the Green movement and new ways you can support this very important issue facing each of us on a daily basis.
As we are all well-aware, Chicago is known for its vibrant and varied culinary offerings but we may not be as knowledgeable of the undercurrent of activism in the restaurant community in our great city. Many of our favorite chefs are strong supporters of recycling, saving energy and cutting down on water usage for example.
These practices not only address the bottom line of the restaurant business, but more chefs supporting them enthusiastically do their part in helping restore our environment with the qualities of health we have, unwittingly or not, taken from it over the past few decades. Chefs such as Gale Gand of Tru, Rick Bayless of Frontera Grill and Topolobampo and Arsen Avakian of Argo Tea are leading the way in restoring the vitality of Chicago’s restaurant scene, however, in a very different way than the awareness that our world-famous five star restaurants have given this city. These chefs are working toward a goal of less waste, and simply put, more conscious business practices.
Howard Lerner, Executive Director of the Environmental Law and Policy Center’s Midwest Office explains, “Chicago’s restaurateurs understand the public’s concern with environmental progress and they want to address that concern in their business practice.” The ELPC reports that 30 percent meals in 2006 were eaten outside of the home making both dine-in and carry-out restaurants significant sources for potential consumer waste. Along with that, they report that nationwide, the restaurant industry consumes 33 percent of all energy used. (greenrestaurants.org) For these reasons, the ELPC found this industry in particular to be a major target for evangelizing the need for Green practices.
Green practices in restaurants include everything from reducing energy consumption and waste production to choosing environmentally sound design mediums such as bamboo. Also, purchasing design elements from the Midwest region rather than places farther afield, reduces transportation and energy costs.
Lerner explains that the Green movement is gaining ground in Chicago in the past year that the ELPC’s Green Restaurant initiative has been underway. They have seen incredible strides in chef and patron awareness of the benefits of Green living. He says that the ELPC has been working closely with companies like Lettuce Entertain You to create, yes, a “Greener Lettuce.” Lerner describes the way Chicago chefs are coming aboard the movement with vigor “because they know it is the right thing to do” both for their businesses and for the environment. It’s a great marriage.
For ELPC’s list of Green restaurants in Chicago, visit greenrestaurants.org or elpc.org.
Tanya Fritz is a professionally trained chef, oenophile, slow-food fanatic and yoga enthusiast.
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