These urban restaurants grow ingredients on-site, from patio planters to hydroponic systems, bringing flavors to diners’ dishes.
The Southwark Courtyard is a working herb garden. / Photograph via Neal Santos
Some grow aromatic herbs in their gardens, to stew meats, season pasta dishes, and season cemitas. Others turn edible plants into syrups for botanical mocktails, grow lemongrass to garnish a cheesesteak, and pick edible flowers to serve. as a garnish for drinks. There’s even a steakhouse that produces its own mushrooms in a hydroponic formula in the kitchen.
Below are some urban restaurants that grow some of their own ingredients and what to order when you visit them. Just keep in mind that as seasons and menus change, not all of these pieces will be available at a given restaurant, but ask them what they grow and they’ll probably be happy to tell you.
The Southwark Courtyard is a good seating position – it also houses a functional garden. Basil from the restaurant’s planters, for example, adds a dose of freshness to the ricotta gnocchi, made with chanterelles, capers and cherry tomatoes. And if you order the roast lamb shoulder, it comes with meat seasoned with tasty herbs grown on the terrace.
Lawn herbs also feature on Southwark’s drinks menu, where they’re used in a syrup for one of the bar’s signature mocktails, Drifting Through the Blinds, and are fused with citrus, honey, ginger, egg white, and soft drinks. This frothy and refreshing drink is garnished with lemon balm (also from grass) to give it an aromatic finish. 701 Calle 4 Sur.
Although Ambra doesn’t have its own garden, it uses ingredients grown on the terrace of its sister restaurant, Southwark, just a short walk away. Think of it as the culinary way of borrowing and then never returning your brother’s clothes. incorporate fresh peppers and sorrel to the Green Meadow Farm beef dish, served with stuffed bell pepper, eggplant caponata (topped with sorrel), pine nut crumble, and cardamom juice.
Elsewhere on the menu, basil, oregano and savoury summer herbs (from Southwark Garden) are used to spice up various dishes. 705 South, 4th Street.
At chef Dionicio Jimenez’s Cantina La Martina, the new flavors on the menu are no coincidence: Several ingredients come straight from the restaurant’s backyard. In guacamole, for example, there’s new purslane (an edible succulent similar to watercress or spinach in terms of flavor and also found in Cantina’s enchiladas), tarragon, and papalo. The latter herb, which has butterfly-shaped leaves and a flavor comparable to cilantro and basil, can also be found in cemitas, as is usual in Puebla cuisine.
On the drinks menu, grass rosemary is the star element of Tequila Ocho Rosemary Paloma, which combines Tequila Ocho Blanco or Reposado, rosemary syrup, grapefruit, lime and Topo Chico. They also use rosemary and thyme from the lawn to stew meats. Meanwhile, other lawn herbs featured on the menu include mint (used in homemade Cantina sauces and as a garnish in drinks) and lavender, present in tres leches as a dessert. 2800D Street.
The Logan Hotel Steakhouse grows its own mushrooms directly in the kitchen with its Urban Cultivator, a hydroponic formula that can be used to grow herbs, greens, and greens indoors. And if you request a tour, Executive Chef Sonny Ingui will simply show you around.
Ingui pickles some of the homegrown mushrooms and adds them to some dishes, adding beef tenderloin tartare (accompanied by fennel, salted egg yolk, and toasted marrow bread) and striped sea bass, served with shimeji and shiitake mushrooms, crispy jasmine rice. , spinach, leeks, chili emulsion and furikake nori. They also appear on the abdomen of roasted red meat, with shimeji mushrooms, red grits from Castle Valley Mill, maple glaze, and dijonette dressing, as well as in the local, enriched mushroom garnish. with caramelized onions and chives. While Urban Farmer doesn’t grow enough to meet the demand for all those dishes, Ingui says they’re supplemented by mushrooms he buys at North Philadelphia’s Mycopolitan Farm as part of the restaurant’s efforts to focus on sourcing local ingredients. .
When it comes to staying in-house, Urban Farmer is one of the only restaurants in the city that has its own on-site butcher shop. The steakhouse partners with seven ranches and farms that supply whole farm animals so all the butchery can be done. in the place. The staff includes 3 butchers, plus Ingui and Urban Farmer’s team of chefs are trained, to keep the operation running smoothly. “We make sure to maintain the integrity of the animal and use each and every piece,” says Ingui. The restaurant’s butchery program also includes dry aging, and those meats end up on the charcuterie board. 1850 Benjamin Franklin Drive.
At Sor Ynez, chef Alex Tellez tends to have grass on the restaurant’s terrace, where an abundance of herbs and produce grows, adding radishes, serrano chiles, holy basil, Mexican oregano, sweet basil, papalo, horseradish, and marigolds. This Mexican restaurant incorporates freshly grown purslane into its fresh cheese plate (combined with corn, tomatoes, and salsa macha) and also uses chives from the lawn as a garnish for many dishes. Edible flowers are used, also picked from the lawn. as a garnish for drinks. 1800 North American Street.
Although Sahbyy Food is not a restaurant, the Cambodian food vendor is worth mentioning for its lemongrass cheesesteak. This cutting-edge menu item, a 2024 Best of Philly winner, has had good luck at FDR Park’s Southeast Asian market since Sahbyy Food founder Pidor Yang began selling it there in 2022. Yang grows lemongrass, the characteristic element of the cheesesteak, in the small patio. from his house. Homemade Willow Grove, turning it into a paste to flavor the meat. The sandwich comes with poultry or beef and is made with papaya salad, cheddar sauce, Sahbyy Food pepper chips and cilantro on the side, all served on a toasted bun.
Yang began to develop his lemongrass with stems he had collected at the market, planting the base in a pot or in his lawn to take root. “Whatever, I’ll replant it,” Yang had told Foobooz in the past. I don’t discard it and start the procedure again. ” She uses other portions of lemongrass for the paste as the development season progresses, as some portions of the plant, such as the leaves, take a while to appear. Yang prefers to use the leaves, as they bring more flavor and color to the pasta. plate. 1500 Pattison Avenue.
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