The country’s only 100 percent organic restaurant is less than 100 miles to the south – in Manhattan – and it’s helmed by a Latino from Argentina named Alberto Gonzalez.
As reported at Poder360.com, “Gonzalez owns and runs [GustOrganics] the first and only 100 percent organic restaurant in the country—and perhaps the world—and one of the greenest as well, an endeavor that requires both a passion for healthy and sustainable eating and living, but an amount of work that is hard to overstate. That’s because at Gustorganics, located in New York’s Union Square area, every ingredient in every one of the dishes on the menu (Latin-influenced New American cuisine) is certified organic, not just by the U.S. government’s standards but by those of substantially more stringent organic organizations.”
That’s an important tidbit of information. There’s the government’s definition of organic (which allows a lot of restaurants to proclaim themselves organic) and there’s the much more strident definition put forth by organic groups. Ask your local organic restaurant and grocer which standard they adhere to.
As founder and CEO of GustOrganics, which he bills on his website “as the world’s first and only 100 percent certified organic restaurant” and one of the greenest and most progressive restaurants on the planet, Gonzalez has been in the business of making change happen for years. He said his restaurant was inspired by his native Argentina. According to his bio, “At home, his mother always prepared food that was fresh, healthy, and delicious. And as a natural born foodie, Gonzalez welcomed the idea of traveling to more than 40 countries and close to 200 cities, a consequence of his professional career which allowed him to indulge his palate with international cuisines while also whetting his appetite for innovative business models.”
The menu has a “flair for accessible, tasty treats with a Latin twist. It includes familiar favorites like fajitas, quesadillas and ropa vieja plus inventive dishes like quinoa, avocado pepper, carrot, onion and tomato in a balsamic reduction, and high-end dishes like Argentinian-style milanesa steak and filet mignon made from hard-to-find hormone-free, grass-fed organic beef. For dessert, there’s homemade dulce de leche gelato, tiramisu and carrot cake made with quinoa flour. To keep the menu affordable, Gonzalez tries to keep it as seasonal as possible,” according to Poder360.com.
Photo © GustOrganics, NYC
