Driftless Café

• WHO: Luke Zahm, chef/owner
• WHAT: Farm-driven café offering lunch & dinner
• WHERE: 118 W Court St, Viroqua, Wisconsin, USA

“When we purchased Driftless Café, we wanted to showcase the amazing farmers and food artisans that call this place home and support our friends and neighbours to create a stronger financial community. We wanted our food to serve as a bridge in our community and as a vehicle for growth into the future. We believe that the growth of our farming community directly translates to the growth of our general economy, making a locally-focused restaurant a vehicle for our community development.

"With over 200 certified organic farms in Vernon County alone, Driftless Café utilizes the vast bounty and passion of the local farming community. 'Our dinner menu is ever-changing and often isn’t finalized until early in the afternoon, allowing our chefs to fully utilize our seasonal focus and freshness in the menu concepts.'”

In recent news: Chef Luke Zahm has hosted an episode of Wisconsin Foodie. In this episode they venture out to Viroqua, Wisconsin where Luke helps pick produce at Ridgeland Harvest. Then, back at Driftless, Luke explains all the teamwork that goes into pulling off a multi-course farm dinner. Check it out here.

To read more about Driftless Café, visit their Truth, Love & Clean Cutlery profile here.

Pigeon Hole Café

• WHO: Richard & Belinda Weston, owners
• WHAT: Cosy farmer-owned café with seriously seasonal food (and peonies)
• WHERE: 93 Goulburn Street, West Hobart, Tasmania, Australia

“Pigeon Hole Café is passionate about sourcing seasonal produce and showcasing what we produce from our own farm – Weston Farm. ‘No waste’ is part of our food philosophy and it all starts from the harvesting; tomatoes are made into passata and the skins dehydrated to make tomato salt. We also turn our fully-blown peonies into a fragrant peony jelly for Christmas.

“All produce is sustainably and ethically sourced – from our free range eggs, to our fish. Our sustainable practices are encouraged even at the farm, with our techniques on harvest and soil preparation and cultivation, along with fertilisation. We also support a closed loop waste system with all cardboard, coffee grinds and egg shells returned to the farm, composted down and returned to the earth. All other green waste and bread off-cuts are fed to our pigs. We pickle and preserve vegetables and fruit so it can be enjoyed all year round and use fully compostable products for takeaway coffee cups and lids.”

To read more about Pigeon Hole Café, visit their Truth, Love & Clean Cutlery profile here

Pigeon Hole Café (West Hobart, Tasmania, Australia)

Mayan Café

• WHO: Bruce Ucán & Anne Shadle, owners
• WHAT: A casual, authentic Mayan restaurant that primarily uses farm-to-table sourcing
• WHERE: 813 East Market Street, Louisville, Kentucky, USA

“We are passionate about running a sustainable business at all levels. This incorporates our ingredients as well as our staffing practices and the environment that we create for everyone.

“Every piece of meat we serve at the restaurant comes from a local sustainable farm, as do our eggs, honey and specialty cheeses. Our produce is sourced locally and is based on seasonal availability. The bulk of our fish is sourced sustainably, our coffee is from a local, organic roaster and all of our takeout containers are biodegradable and compostable. In these cases, we were the first restaurant in the state to begin working with these vendors. We used to have several cuts of beef on the menu and switched several years ago to just ground beef due to the amount of land and water cows use. We switched the fish on one particular dish from a species flown in from Florida, to a fish procured in Kentucky (silver carp, which is super mild and not fishy at all. Great for ceviche!).

In recent news: The Mayan Café owners opened a food truck called Mayan Street Food that functions as the exclusive food partner for Gravely Brewing Co, a new local brewery in Louisville. There, they serve tacos, salbutes, burritos and other snacks which incorporate locally sourced meat, eggs, and veggies into their fast-casual menu. The truck is permanent fixture at the brewery and is open for service seven days a week."

To read more about Mayan Café, visit their Truth, Love & Clean Cutlery profile here.

Chef Bruce Ucán, Mayan Café (Louisville, Kentucky, USA)

Issaya Siamese Club

• WHO: Ian Kittichai, chef/co-owner
• WHAT: Thai cuisine set in a historic Thai villa & tropical gardens in Bangkok
• WHERE: 4 Soi Sri Aksorn, Chua Ploeng Road, Sathorn, Bangkok, Thailand

Chef and co-owner of Issaya Siamese Club, Ian Kittichai, is a pioneer of farm-to-table dining in Thailand and his chefs are at the market each morning.

“We try to source locally, organically and ethically as much as possible with over seventy-five per cent of the ingredients on our menus from Thailand. We work with a fishmonger in Chantaburi, Thailand to source local fish such as sustainable sea bass, and we serve a selection of wild-picked tea from Monsoon Tea. We also serve free-range poultry from a farm in Khao Yai and work with farmers in Chiang Mai to grow produce.”

To read more about Issaya Siamese Club, visit their Truth, Love & Clean Cutlery profile here.

Issaya Siamese Club (Bangkok, Thailand)

Brix Restaurant and Wine Bar

• WHO: Paul & Laura Moir, owners & Logan Webber, chef
• WHAT: The farm-to-table linchpin of a sustainable food company changing how Northern Arizona dines
• WHERE: 413 North San Francisco Street, Flagstaff, Arizona, USA

“At Brix, we attempt to source as much of our menu from local farms as possible. We talk to many farms and discuss the season and what produce they will be growing in order to plan our menu accordingly. When the Flagstaff Farmers' Market comes into season my sous chef and I scour the stands. This is a great venue for small farmers to sell their products to us, who would otherwise not have a chance to sell to restaurants such as Brix.

“We utilize fishing companies that practice sustainable fishing and have some of the highest standards in the fishing business. All of our proteins are ‘never, never’ which means that the animals have been humanly raised and never been fed hormones or antibiotics. Flagstaff also has a great harvest of local mushrooms during the summer months which we forage ourselves, as well as partnering with local foragers to spotlight these amazing fungi on our menu when available.”

To read more about Brix Restaurant and Wine Bar, visit their Truth, Love & Clean Cutlery profile here.

Brix Restaurant and Wine Bar (Flagstaff, Arizona, USA)

Arthur’s Farm Kitchen at Fordhall Farm

• WHO: The Fordhall Community Land Initiative, owner
• WHAT: A community-owned organic farm offering a unique experience to all who visit
• WHERE: Tern Hill Road, Market Drayton, Shropshire, UK

“Our beef, pork and lamb is sourced directly from our own farm; free range eggs, organic oats, and bread are all from local farms and suppliers – all of our produce and suppliers are selected based on being organic and/or local small businesses. Our vegetable supplier has full traceability so we know exactly where our fresh produce been grown and even who the farmer is!

“We grow herbs, edible flowers and a small selection of fresh produce in our community garden, which is run by our care farm (local adults with learning disabilities). In the summer months we also receive a vegetable box delivery from the local prison allotment run by inmates. Strawberries and asparagus also come from the local pick-your-own farm when in season. We love integrating our produce with the community and especially like it when we get our foraged delivery from our resident care farm group.”

To read more about Arthur's Farm Kitchen at Fordall Farm, visit their Truth, Love & Clean Cutlery profile here.

Arthur's Farm Kitchen at Fordall Farm (Market Drayton, Shropshire, UK

Percy’s

• WHO: Tina Bricknell-Webb, chef
• WHAT: Country hotel on fifty acres of undulating pasture & woodland
• WHERE: Coombeshead Estate, Virginstow, Devon, UK

“At Percy’s we have our own flock of organic sheep and pedigree pigs (not to mention the only un-fenced wild beaver colony in the UK). We have Soil Association accreditation and grow much of our own produce – what we don’t grow ourselves, we source locally and seasonally. Most of our fish is sourced from the day boats in Looe, taking care to use only sustainable fish supplies.

“We mostly use local suppliers and minimize our shopping trips and transport by careful planning and organization. We use LED lighting, have a soakaway, and recycle all tins, bottles and plastic. We also recycle our mineral water bottles for our own home-produced apple juice, which we serve for breakfast.

"We are happy to arrange early evening meals for guests who wish to wander down to the hides and watch the beavers at dusk. The valley is brimming with wildlife at this time of year and we should be catching sight of this year’s beaver kits soon, also baby badgers and fox cubs. Guests also have the option to enjoy the dawn chorus and sit quietly in one of the hides as the sun comes up watching the beavers build and repair dams, nibble on wood or vegetation or simply swim around."

To read more about Percy's, visit their Truth, Love & Clean Cutlery profile here.

One of the resident beavers at Percy's (Virginstow, Devon, UK)