Farm-to-table. You’ve definitely heard of it. It's one of those food trends that actually make sense because it's a legitimately healthier life choice than the alternative.
Restaurants all across the country have started incorporating farm fresh foods into their menus more with increasing regularity, avoiding many of the pesticides, chemicals, and preservatives that are typically added into store-bought foods.
Not only are these restaurant options traditionally healthier than your usual New York City dining hot spot, but they naturally offer more of a homier feel, as well.
Taking the freshest, locally produced fruits, vegetables, grains, and even meats, these restaurants perfectly synthesize great eats and healthful options that result in some of the best seasonal delicacies the city has to offer.
With summer already beating down on our backs, there’s no better time to try out some of these seasonal noshes.
So check out these 5 farm-to-table New York City hot spots for some incredible seasonal summer eats.
1. Cow & Clover (291 Kent Avenue - Brooklyn)
Located in Brooklyn, Cow and Clover tops the list of must-eat, farm-to-table restaurants in NYC.
Offering everything from brunch to dinner, and drinks anywhere in between, this Williamsburg restaurant has a great eye for seafood specialties, with options like Ontario Brook Trout paired with upstate ramps, sugar snap pears, quinoa, and charred lemon.
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The seafood is absolutely great, but they also pull tasty right out of the ground with Grass Fed Bavette Steaks, and amazing spring vegetables brought straight from Sparrow Arc Farm.
Although, their brunch (you know, the most important meal of the day?) of sourdough French Toast and Wood Oven Smoked Trout might just take the cake.
Speaking of cake, Cow & Clover also offers house-made ice cream and Calvados Panna Cotta, among other mouth-watering options, to top off your meal. Um, yum.
2. The Green Table (75 9th Avenue)
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Gathering all of their food options (even the drink menu!) from local farm fresh vendors, The Green Table provides a hugely delicious, locally grown menu.
If for whatever reason this whole "food trend" hasn't turned you on to eating better, The Green Table's amazing Harvest Salad, featuring Hudson Valley fruits, or their Vegetarian Mushroom Pot Pie will probably do well enough to absolutely win over your heart!
Part of The Cleaver Co., a food company that wholly believes in the critical importance of farm-fresh foods, The Green Table acts as an integral part of the food network of farmers, vendors, and farm-to-table restaurants that help to bring organic, fresh, and sustainable food options to local dining spots.
The Cleaver Co. not only operates The Green Table, but also The Table Green, located in Battery Park, featuring locally produced drinks, sandwiches, salads, and all that healthy, locally-sourced goodness.
3. Rosemary's (18 Greenwich Avenue)
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Rosemary’s definitely takes farm-to-table to another level: Italian food. Yeah. Italian food.
Rosemary’s combines farm-to-table ingredients to make some of the best Italian food around. Oh, and it has it’s own rooftop farm where much of the herbs and produce used in the meals are grown. Yeah, it’s that local.
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Also, Monday through Friday, they have an amazing happy hour, but it only gets better from there: they deliver.
Yeah, you read that correctly. Food delivered from farm to table to your doorstep. As long as you're within their delivery zone (Houston to 14th Street, and Hudson Street to 5th Avenue), you can get crazy good, crazy local Italian food delivered right to your door.
,4. Hu Kitchen (78 5th Avenue)
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Hu Kitchen really is one of a kind. Tired of the slow droll the healthy food movement has kind of meandered at for too long, chefs at Hu Kitchen have taken matters into their own hands.
They're turning the wheels of the farm-to-table revolution, plating food that is highly unprocessed, low ingredient, and absolutely delicious.
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A lot of their menu focuses on organic creations that emphasize green eating and getting back to the (literal) roots of unprocessed and healthy meals.
Where the motto is, “Get Back to Human,” Hu Kitchen knows how to cater to exactly what your body needs.
And their approach is holistic. They've abandoned any notion of a "trending diet", so they don't cater to specifically gluten-free or paleo palates.
5. Fresh & Co. (various NYC locations)
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If you’re looking for a quick, incredibly fresh meal on-the-go, Fresh & Co. is the perfect spot to grab a healthy lunch.
Using locally sourced seasonal ingredients, Fresh & Co. locations across NYC offer everything from soups and salads to paninis and sandwiches.
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They even sell delicious organic, paleo, and vegetarian/vegan snacks like chocolate chia pudding and peanut butter chocolate chip cookies...Um, healthy chocolate? Who could possibly turn that down?
Fresh & Co. gathers many of their ingredients from sustainable farms in the Hudson Valley, Long Island, and New Jersey, so all of their food comes from local, and unprocessed, sources.
Check out 9 Quintessential NYC Summer Foods Every You Simply Must Have ASAP.
[Feature Image Courtesy: Rosemary's NYC]