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Executive chef Gerry Hayden takes a break from the kitchen on a crisp November afternoon to sit down and talk about what makes North Fork Table and Inn in Southold, N.Y., so special. Actually he almost doesn’t have to open his mouth because KK and Ira Haspel have just arrived with armfuls of the organic vegetables that grace the seasonally inspired menu -- and the greens say it all.
Hayden first makes introductions to the Haspels, whose organic farm is less than a mile away, and then to the beets, luscious purple and white globes topped with shiny green leaves that will be married with local goat cheese. “We discussed these beets in the spring,” says Hayden. “Parsnips should be ready next week.”
Open since May 2006, the inn is one of a growing number of Long Island-based restaurants with a commitment to sustainable farming, aiming wherever possible to serve local ingredients. Hayden raves about the quality of the local blackfish, striped bass, monkfish and skate. “We wanted to showcase local farmers and fishermen. Because we’re talking about small operations, we can sit down with them and plan ahead. It’s a win-win situation.”
A long-time convert to sustainability, Hayden spent years running down to Union Square market to secure the freshest local ingredients for his Manhattan restaurant, Amuse. When they made the big move to the East End, he and wife Claudia Fleming, formerly pastry chef at Gramercy Tavern, knew that they would seek out relationships with local growers and farmers.
North Fork Table and Inn follows in the footsteps of a number of U.S.-based restaurants that have made the decision to support sustainability. Flying Fish in Seattle is one example of a restaurant that uses 100 percent organic ingredients.
Hayden believes Long Island still has a long way to go though, and admits the restaurant cannot be 100 percent sustainable year-round. “The idea of being able to get really high-quality meat reared on Long Island is a long way off. I tend to stick to fish and duck for that reason.”
But what the North Fork may lack in one area is made up for in other ways. “We were embraced by the wineries out here,” says partner and general manager Mike Mraz, “and in return we try hard to promote local wines. And because they’re local it’s easy to call up if we need an extra case in a hurry.”
Farm Fixes
Sustainable restaurants are cropping up all over the nation, and one great example is Flying Fish restaurant in Seattle. Often creative solutions are necessary for maintaining a locally grown, locally produced philosophy as chef/owner Chris Keff soon learned.
“It took a year of learning very fast,” she says.”
The idea of going 100% organic was originally inspired by customers inquiring about the provenance of the seafood, she says. Then Keff attended a talk by organic food pioneer, Nora Pouillon, and had an epiphany — organic tastes better, is better for the body and she just had to do it in her restaurant.
In 2003, she began subsidizing Whistling Train Farm, in Kent, Wash., to grow seasonal and organic herbs and vegetables — and it’s working. Flying Fish was named “2006 Culinary Hospitality Restaurant of the Year” by Sante Magazine.
