Chefs who keep a garden steps away from their kitchen bring new meaning to the term “fresh.” It’s a green initiative that yields, well, greens (alongside other colored produce). Trust us: Down and dirty never tasted so good.
Atkins Park Tavern
Chef Andrew Smith’s rooftop garden grows herbs, tomatoes and jalapeños nourished by composted restaurant waste and water that’s collected from the air-conditioning system. 794 N. Highland Ave. NE, 404-876-7249, www.atkinspark.com.
Canoe
Old menus become mulch for Chef Carvel Grant Gould’s half-acre garden where the fall harvest promises late tomatoes, young carrots, beans, peas, squash and figs. Plus two new beehives yield sweet honey. 4199 Paces Ferry Rd. NW, 770-432-2663, www.canoeatl.com.
Park 75
On the Four Season Hotel’s fifth-floor terrace, Chef Robert Gerstenecker maintains edible flowers, herbs and heirloom vegetables including potatoes and peppers for pickled relishes and chutneys. Lettuces and radishes grow hydroponically (without soil), while more than 100,000 bees produce honey. 75 14th St., 404-881-9898, www.fourseasons.com.
Milton’s Cuisine and Cocktails
Chef Boyd Rose’s appetizer and entrée specials showcase each day’s harvest from the suburban restaurant’s quarter-acre organic garden. With 2,400 feet of rows and more than 30 different heirloom vegetables and herbs, variety abounds. 780 Mayfield Rd., Milton, 770-817-0161, www.miltonscuisine.com.
Ecco
Composted restaurant waste feeds six beds of heirloom varieties of cucumber, eggplant, tomato, melon, pepper and herbs in Chef Micah Willix’s rooftop garden. 40 7th St. NE, 404-347-9555, www.ecco-atlanta.com.
—Hope Philbrick
