Gourmet magazine’s October 2007 issue features a guide to “America’s Best Farm-to-Table Restaurants.” gourmet.com:

RESTAURANTS WITH FARM CONNECTIONS: 2nd Street Bistro, Livingston, MT; Amherst Chinese Food, Amherst, MA; Blackberry Farm, Walland, TN; Crook’s Corner, Chapel Hill, NC; Eve, Alexandria, VA; La Provence, Lacombe, LA; Lantern, Chapel Hill, NC; Pacific’O and I’o, Lahaina, Maui, Hawaii; Tree House Pastry Shop and Cafe, Santa Fe, NM
MENU CHANGES DAILY/OFTEN: Aqua Santa, Santa Fe, NM; Bix, San Francisco; Boulettes Larder, San Francisco; Floataway Cafe, Atlanta; Francine, Camden, ME; Harvest, Madison, WI; Literati II, Brentwood, CA; Queen’s Hideaway, Brooklyn, NY
CASUAL: Bay Ave. Trattoria, Highlands, NJ; Blue Bird Bistro, Kansas City, MO; Bona Terra, Sharpsburg, PA; Burgerville, locations throughout Oregon and Washington; Canele, Atwater Village, CA; Duo Restaurant, Denver; The Farmhouse, Emmaus, PA; Fife Restaurant, Portland, OR; The Flying Fig, Cleveland; The Flying Pig on Lexington, Mount Kisco, NY; Local Burger, Lawrence, KS; Market, Del Mar, CA; Prairie Grass Cafe, Northbrook, IL; Sage, Des Moines, IA; Spoonriver, Minneapolis; Steelhead Diner, Seattle; Vindalho, Portland, OR
SEASONAL (CLOSED PART OF THE YEAR): The Back Eddy, Westport, MA; Christina’s (open from February to October), Eastsound, Orcas Island, WA; Clam Box of Ipswich (open from February to December), Ipswich, MA; Five Islands Lobster Co., Georgetown, ME; Hawk’s (open from December to May), Rayne, LA; Hell’s Backbone Grill (open from March to November), Boulder, UT
URBAN: Frontera Grill and Topolobampo, Chicago; Grace, Los Angeles; Josie, Santa Monica, CA; Michael’s Genuine Food & Drink, Miami; Reef, Houston; Rendezvous in Central Square, Cambridge, MA; T’Afia, Houston; Telepan, New York, NY; White Dog Cafe, Philadelphia; Wilshire, Santa Monica, CA
WORTH THE TRIP: The Farmhouse Restaurant, The Inn at Serenbe, Palmetto, GA; Five & Ten, Athens, GA; Guadalupe Cafe, Sylva, NC; Harvest Moon Cafe, Sonoma, CA; Kai, Sheraton Wild Horse Pass Resort & Spa, Chandler, AZ; Journeyman Cafe, Fennville, MI; Restaurant Tallent, Bloomington, IN: The Turquoise Room, Winslow, AZ.
ROMANTIC/SPECIAL OCCASIONS: 610 Magnolia, Louisville; Brigtsen’s, New Orleans; The Fearrington House Restaurant, Pittsboro, NC; The General’s Daughter, Sonoma, CA; Hen of the Wood, Waterbury, VT; Joseph’s Table, Taos, NM; Le Gourmand, Seattle; Manresa, Los Gatos, CA; The Painted Lady, Newberg, OR; Paley’s Place, Portland, OR.
MEAT RULES: Bonnell’s Fine Texas Cuisine, Fort Worth; The Corn Exchange, Rapid City, SD; L&M’s Kitchen and Salumeria, Oxford, MS; The Linkery, San Diego; Pirogue Grille, Bismarck, ND; Route 7 Grill, Great Barrington, MA; Watermark Restaurant, Nashville.
HOTELS + INNS: Cielo at Ventana Inn & Spa, Big Sur, CA; CityZen, Mandarin Oriental, Washington, D.C.; The Inn at Dos Brisas, Brenham, TX; The Inn at Shelburne Farms (open from May to October), Shelburne, VT; North Fork Table and Inn, Southold, NY; Rustic Canyon, Santa Monica, CA.
BAR FOCUS: Cyrus, Healdsburg, CA; FIG, Charleston, SC.
LOCAL PIONEERS: Alice Waters, Chez Panisse, Berkeley, CA; Carrie Van Dyck, Ron Zimmerman, and Jerry Traunfeld, The Herbfarm, Woodinville, WA; Peter Merriman and Neil Murphy, Merriman’s, Waimea, Big Island, Hawaii; Peter Hoffman, Savoy, New York, NY; Greg Higgins, Higgins Restaurant & Bar, Portland, OR; Peter Davis, Henrietta’s Table, The Charles Hotel, Cambridge, MA; Dan Barber, Blue Hill at Stone Barns, Pocantico Hills, NY; Lucia Watson, Lucia’s Restaurant and Wine Bar, Minneapolis; Alan Wong, Alan Wong’s Restaurant, Honolulu, Hawaii; Annie Somerville, Greens, San Francisco; Patrick O’Connell, The Inn at Little Washington, Washington, VA; Alex Young, Zingerman’s Roadhouse, Ann Arbor, MI

IN THE NEWS: The Mercury News’ Aleta Watson gives three and a half stars to Marché (898 Santa Cruz Ave., Menlo Park 650-324-9092, www.restaurantmarche.com), while Steven Chae reviews Betty Burgers (505 Seabright Ave., Santa Cruz. 831-423-8190) … Carolyn Jung notes, “The Zagat San Francisco Bay Area Restaurants guide always has leaned heavily toward the cosmopolitan city mentioned prominently in its title. But eight restaurants south of there have a lot to brag about in the new 2008 guide, which went on sale recently. For the Top 10 for food, Menlo Park’s Kaygetsu ranked seventh (it was sixth in 2007), and San Jose’s Le Papillon came in 10th (it was 16th in 2007). By cuisine, Amber India, with locations in Mountain View and San Jose, came in tops for Indian food; Alexander’s Steakhouse in Cupertino trounced the competition for best steakhouse; and Tamarine in Palo Alto won for best Vietnamese. For the top five for decor, Pacific’s Edge in Carmel came in first (it was fourth in 2007), the Shadowbrook in Capitola came in fourth (it was 11th in 2007), and Navio at the Ritz-Carlton Half Moon Bay came in fifth (it was sixth in 2007).” … Jung also reports that Sean Fleming is the new executive chef of Viognier, the restaurant atop Draeger’s Market, 222 E. Fourth Ave. in downtown San Mateo. mercurynews.com

Compiled by Pat Embry, WhereTheLocalsEat.com

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