How to Find Restaurants That Use Organic and Local Food

Chefs everywhere are going local. This 'going back to basics' mentality is probably a sum of a whole lot of things: the recession, the growing interest in all that is 'green', and hey, fresher food is just better. After a recent trip to New Orleans, I know this for a fact. While many farm-to-table restaurants are going out of their way to support local farmers by buying their freshly-grown produce and fairly-raised livestock, the John Besh restaurants are taking this concept one step further: they've got their own farm. I learned all about their farm at La Provence in Lacombe, Louisiana from the chief chef at one of the four restaurants owned by Besh—Luke. Not only do these guys grow organic produce and fairly raise their livestock (they even feed the animals with bread from the restaurants), but they buy everything they don't grow themselves from local farmers.

This is what I'm talking about.

Especially during a recession, we all need to make sure we're putting our money in the right places. While this means fewer meals out on the town for most of us, we should be sure that the food we're eating while dining out is worth our money. Luke wasn't the only restaurant I dined at with local food while in New Orleans— "]GW Fins and Tujague's made the cut, too.

Luckily for all of us, restaurants using organic and locally grown foods are on the rise. But we need to support them.

So do some research.Find restaurants in your area that buy only the best local and organic food—or restaurants that have their very own farm.