Countdown: The 10 Best Sustainable Restaurants In The U.S.

They say it's not easy being green. But, honestly, it's gotten easier lately, especially with so many great restaurants making efforts to operate sustainably. But these days it's more than just serving foods sourced from local, organic farms.

Sustainability in 2012 is about designing an efficient, eco-friendly environment, reducing waste, recycling, composting, using biodegradable products when possible, conserving water and generally paying more attention to one's impact on the environment when eating and drinking -- whether it's serving organic wine or knowing where your meat comes from. Here are 10 restaurants whose small footprints are making a big impact:

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Comments

[Ian Applegate]

07:39 AM on 01/16/2012

Miya's sushi in new haven is an award-winning sustainable restaurant. http://miyassushi.com

[elsquibbs]

01:41 AM on 01/16/2012

Is the food any good?

[liberalbug]

01:21 AM on 01/16/2012

Applebees?

[foodfeud]

12:47 AM on 01/16/2012

Sustain Restaurant in Miami, should be on your "best of" list.

[ClevelandLib]

10:44 PM on 01/15/2012

No Greenhouse Tavern in Cleveland? Last year's Food and Wine Best New Chef Jonathan Sawyer?

Are you kidding me? Leaving him and his restaurant off of this list is a travesty. He's been a pioneer and outspoken advocate of local food and sustainability in the Midwest for years.

http://tedxcle.com/talks/2011/jonathon_sawyer.html

[KarenT]

09:37 PM on 01/15/2012

Chez Panisse in Berkeley, CA should be on this list. They've been doing green for 40 years and Alice Waters has trained so many Chefs in the world now following in her footsteps.

[Xtazia]

08:49 PM on 01/15/2012

I expected to see McDonald's on the list...smh

[Unaffiliated Indy]

10:50 PM on 01/15/2012

You joke
But Those leftover scraps of chicken that go into a mcnugget are actually one of the greenest foods you will ever eat
When you only select the choicest stuff, you are wasting a lot. Buying boneless skinless chicken breast from a supermarket is infat less green than the mcnugget

[Fromageball]

05:54 PM on 01/16/2012

I don't think anyone would call boneless skinless chicken from supermarket "choice" - not sure if it's any better than what McDs uses either. I think the sustainable restaurants are more likely to use more parts of the chicken - I would bet that the people who frequent the restaurants are a bit more adventurous than the average American and are probably more willing to eat more parts of an animal than just the white or dark meat. Plus the sustainable restos probably make sure to use the whole animal for making stocks and sauces, etc.

[DingoBuzzy]

08:07 PM on 01/15/2012

If you're ever in the Chicago area, also check a place called "Glen Prairie." Everything on the menu is seasonal locavore fare. The prices are very reasonable, and the menu changes per the availability of each ingredient, and each ingredient is purchased directly from small farmers as opposed to agribusiness.

In 2009 it was rated the best new restaurant in the Chicagoland area by Chicago magazine.

[Midway Muse]

07:39 PM on 01/15/2012

My personal favorite: Hell's Backbone Grill in Boulder, Utah.

[reachrobinw]

07:21 PM on 01/15/2012

With respect to the size of our population, any truly sustainable restaurant should be vegetarian.

[pepper1311]

08:05 PM on 01/15/2012

Yes they are a dime a dozen.

[ClevelandLib]

10:45 PM on 01/15/2012

I know quite a few small local organic farmers that would disagree with you.

[pepper1311]

04:18 AM on 01/16/2012

I'm a large organic farmer, beef, chickens, turkeys, as well all the grains and hay needed to raise animals to maturation. I would ask all to start businesses ,but avoid two, restaurants and bars, the difficult businesses to operate.

[reachrobinw]

10:40 AM on 01/16/2012

I've read that it takes 10 times the land to feed an animal that we ultimately eat, than it does to feed us directly with plants. Most of the land that people take up is not the physical amount of space, but rather the space which is required to sustain them. There are precious few impact free places left in the world. It definitely helps to eat local and organic, and I hope the trend continues, but I would love to see less meat consumption.

[NoWayMan]

06:18 PM on 01/15/2012

where is chez panisse?
they've been doing the sustainable thing for over 40 years now.

http://www.npr.org/2011/08/22/139707078/alice-waters-40-years-of-sustainable-food

[garystartswithg]

08:46 PM on 01/15/2012

not enough trendy toilets and lightbulbs. i have a hard time not laughing at people who change out their lightbulbs and crank the ac to 72. how far would you drive to eat at a no carbon footprint restaurant?

[crimminy]

09:12 PM on 01/15/2012

I also commented on that. Again, it kind of makes you wonder who wrote this...

[jonathan6773]

06:01 PM on 01/15/2012

Top of the Hub in Boston.

[CubfanBudman]

05:26 PM on 01/15/2012

Chipotle Mexican Grill has done so much to change the industry for the better. They are the biggest buyer of naturally raised meat in the country. They buy every organic black and pinto bean they can find expanding the market demand and assuring that more farmers will be able to go organic. All their pork comes from family farms. And they also buy locally sourced produce whenever the season allows.

No, they don't run a 100% sustainable operation, but for a quick service chain they are really doing some amazing things.

[seehowtheyrun]

06:15 PM on 01/15/2012

They do a very good job. I used to find their food was too salty. I complained about. I think others did as well. It seems to be better now.

[garystartswithg]

08:48 PM on 01/15/2012

your kitchen is much more sustainable, unless you walk to chipotle, and their employees do too, and so on and whatnot.

[sheapaige]

05:26 PM on 01/15/2012

Sustain Restaurant and Bar in Miami needs to be on this list...it is amazing...

[czs5056]

04:31 PM on 01/15/2012

yea, but how expensive are these places? it's one thing to offer healthy food at a high price (which will not encourage the masses to eat it because they cannot afford it) and offering healthy food at cheap prices so that everyone can afford it.

[mia8485]

05:51 PM on 01/15/2012

But you gotta start some where. I'm old enough to remember when pocket calculators were prohibitively expensive. And computers. It's the same with any new idea...takes time and money and a few people to get the ball rolling.

[NoWayMan]

06:19 PM on 01/15/2012

there are plenty of non-sustainable restaurants charging just as much or more.
what's their excuse?

[czs5056]

11:04 PM on 01/15/2012

greed? catering to rich folk? take your pick