May 12th 2008
GustOrganics: A Green Oasis Amidst NYC’s Fast Food Options
Filed under: food & drink, green and famous — michael @ 9:49 am
Continuing our green restaurant series, I had the pleasure of visiting one of New York City’s latest eco-friendly additions to the foodscape called GustOrganics (or GUSTO).
Located on the Avenue of the Americas, Gusto is a welcome sight amidst the Sbarros and McDonalds dotting the area — it’s also New York City’s first first restaurant exercising every aspect of the green movement, and the nation’s first restaurant to offer 100% of its ingredients as USDA certified organic. That’s a pretty incredible challenge to any restaurant owner — and one would expect the effort would be reflected as high prices on the menu. However, we were pleasantly surprised to many items under $5. In NYC!
The restaurant, which was started by native Argentine owner Alberto Gonzalez, has the motto of “Good, Clean, and Fair”. You can see those values in everything from the biodegradable packaging, natural cleaning supplies, efficient lighting, and on-site recycling and composting efforts. I spoke with Eyal — one of the managers at GUSTO — and he filled me in on some of their goals and behind-the-scenes initiatives. “With this restaurant, we first wanted to hire people who actually cared about green issues. Everyone working — from the cooks to the people at the registers — are all passionate about what we’re doing here,” he said. “In addition, the energy used to run the space is powered completely by wind. We receive all of our organic food from local farms outside of NYC. In return, we also distribute our collected compost to these farms.”
Truly, GUSTO should be commended for integrating a sustainable closed-loop between a city restaurant and local farms. But what about the food? Said Gonzalez, “This is food that should be tasty first, organic second.” I couldn’t agree more. I sampled everything from the crusty delicious baked pizzas to the yummy empanadas. Eyal even whipped up an organic banana shake to wash it all down.
Even though GUSTO has only been around for a few months, they’ve attracted a fair amount of celebrity clientèle. For privacy reasons, I’m not allowed to divulge here who may have stopped by, but several have popped up here on the Raz in the past couple weeks.
So, do yourself a favor — skip the regular food joints — and pay a visit to this affordable, tasty, and environmentally-conscious hot spot. Not only will you enjoy the experience, but your consumption will actually do some good for the world. Check out their official site and full menu here. Pics below!
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