We’re making it even easier to go green this Earth Day with our list of the Best Eco-Friendly Restaurants in America on OpenTable.
The restaurants featured are working to have a positive impact on the environment, ranging from reducing food waste and sourcing responsibly to supporting local farmers and more. With this year’s list, we’re excited to highlight those restaurants that are making a conscious effort to increase sustainability and leading the industry in a more eco-friendly direction.
As part of the curation process, restaurants were invited to submit their restaurant and eco-friendly practices for consideration in this year’s Eco-Friendly list. The list, which included submissions from ZeroFoodprint and Good Food 100 Restaurants, was then reviewed by OpenTable to determine which restaurants are demonstrating sustainable practices. Through a variety of efforts, such as developing certified organic roof-top farms, using eco-friendly construction for their space and committing to zero food waste, this year’s featured restaurants are setting the standard for environmentally-conscious dining.
Here are a few examples of restaurants featured on the list:
- 3030 Ocean (Fort Lauderdale, Florida) – As part of its environmental initiative, 3030 Ocean donates $1 for every sale of its Tipsy Turtle cocktail to a sea turtle conservation fund.
- Founding Farmers (Washington D.C.) – Widely considered one of the greenest restaurants in the D.C. area, Founding Fathers is completely owned and supplied by thousands of North Dakota farmers. It also employs a number of ecological practices including recycling and composting and was the city’s first LEED-certified environmentally designed restaurant.
- In Situ (San Francisco, California) – In Situ’s operations are carbon neutral every day; and SF MOMA is a LEED Gold-certified building, one of the first museums in the nation will all-LED lighting. Check out the eco-friendly living wall – it’s the largest in the United States.
- La Condesa (Austin, Texas) – La Condesa supports several local sustainable food movements including Urban Roots, which introduces local youth to food gardening. Part of the Farm Project, where consumers are connected directly to local farms, everything from the authentic mole to the roasted calabaza at La Condesa has a direct link to the region.
- Plant Food + Wine (Los Angeles, California) – An innovator of plant-based cooking, Chef Matthew Kenney runs a plant-based advocacy program, PlantLife, that helps get healthier more sustainable food options into local elementary schools. Plant Food + Wine was honored with a Sustainable Restaurant Award by the Sustainable Business Council of Los Angeles.
- Red Feather Lounge (Boise, Idaho) – Red Feather Lounge in Boise participates in the Urban Worm composting program, with a composting system set up in its basement. The worms work through up to 150 pounds of food and paper waste per week, transforming it into rich, garden-ready soil that they sell at the Boise Farmers Market every spring.
- Root Down (Denver, Colorado) – 100 percent wind powered and constructed out of 75 percent recycled materials, sustainability is built right into the core of Root Down, a HiLo area culinary mecca. Listed on the Good Food 100 Restaurants, Root Down also only uses seafood certified by the Marine Stewardship Council and meat, dairy, poultry, and produce from a network of over 50 different responsible local producers.
- Taranta (Boston, Massachusetts) – Taranta has adopted 46 different eco-friendly practices, from zero waste to social engagement, that have earned it a City of Boston Green Business Award.
- Trattoria No. 10 (Chicago, Illinois) – As the first restaurant in Chicago to be Green Certified, Trattoria No. 10 sources ingredients from local, sustainable producers and the eatery implements an array of ecological best practices designed to reduce water and energy usage at all levels.
- Tilth (Seattle, Washington) – Tilth is certified organic through Oregon Tilth, a non-profit organization promoting sustainability in restaurants. James Beard Award-winning chef Maria Hines creates dishes around certified-organic or wild-sourced ingredients primarily from the local region.
For more information and to see the full list of eco-friendly restaurants, please visit https://www.opentable.com/lists/green-restaurants/usa. And let us know your picks for the most eco-friendly restaurants here or over on Facebook, Instagram, Pinterest, or Twitter.
