It was quite serendipitous that I should receive an invitation to a media dinner at Tender Greens on the heals of writing a post questioning how one can measure “good enough” in eco-minded companies. Tender Greens has been an eco-aware restaurant from its inception, and with their expanding focus on local ingredients, they continue to find ways to improve the system.

The dinner was arranged to highlight the newest relationship between the Liberty Station restaurant, and a backyard grower named Paul Reeb. Reeb’s home/garden/farm is located just a few blocks from Tender Greens, on an east-facing canyon slope the size of a city block. The plot is worked in a series of terraces and trellises on which he plants vegetables and wine grapes. While Reeb has grown things for most of his life, his current set up has evolved over the past five years.

The story of Reeb’s farm is truly inspired. It started with an interest in wine, and blossomed into a fully functioning organic* garden filled with heirloom varieties and openly pollinated plants. One of the most interesting features of the farm is a 500gallon pond connected to the greenhouse. The pond is home to crayfish, bullfrogs, and bluegill, which produce nitrogen rich water that is then pumped through the greenhouse, providing nutrition to the plants. The plants in turn serve to filter the water before it makes its way back to the pond. It is a wonderful water recycling system that is mutually beneficial for the ponds inhabitants, the young plants, and of course the farmer who oversees the whole operation.

Currently, Reeb is growing exclusively for Tender Greens. Each morning, cooks from the restaurant walk over to the garden and select the produce to be featured as Specials on that day’s menu. They buy up everything, from succulent heirloom tomatoes and sweet baby lettuces, to the custom requested goodies that are unavailable anywhere else.
Our dinner highlighted some of Reeb’s contributions, including wine grapes, heirloom tomatoes, and baby potatoes.

I was enchanted by the fruits of the newly established farm to table relationship, and could find no fault in Reeb or his produce, yet I couldn’t keep the nagging question of “good enough” out of my mind. While I am thrilled by the leaps and strides made by Tender Greens in eco-minded design, and local vegetable procurement, I have been consistently torn about their meat. It is clear that their goal is to provide customers with the best tasting, most local, highest quality meats available that can fit in the established affordable pricing structure. My problem stems from the compromise.

For instance, Tender Greens uses Brandt Beef, from Brawley CA. Brandt Beef, which proudly states that its cattle are corn fed for more than 365 days, is used in many high-end restaurants on both the East and West coast. As far as feedlots go, they seem quite progressive. The animals are fed a vegetarian diet of corn from the Midwest, and alfalfa that is grown on the Brandt family farm. They are not given hormones or antibiotics. The family owned operation is committed to sustainable practices including crop rotation, composting, and providing supportive habitat for natural predators to control pest populations. However, despite all the good that they do, they are still a feedlot giving corn to cattle – something wholly unnatural to their diet, which their bodies are not well suited to digest.

In my perfect world, Tender Greens would use only pastured raised meats, despite the expense and the claim that the American palate prefers the higher fat content found in corn fed animals. I can generate a list of reasons a mile long that explains why it is not a viable option for a restaurant dedicated to affordable dining to use grass fed meats, but all the excuses in the world won’t change the simple fact that pastured raising is better for the animals and better for the environment.

I for one will continue to support Tender Greens for three simple reasons. Their food is delicious and affordable, and their heart is in the right place. I will gladly recommend them to people I meet, and most importantly I will bring my family there. My personal reconciliation has been to exclusively order their excellent vegetarian, or local line-caught fish selections, ensuring that I won’t have to compromise my values or my taste buds.

*While Reeb does employ organic standards and practices, he is not a Certified Organic grower.