Sutra

25/25 - Outstanding ecotarian!

I visited Sutra for a lovely dinner last Valentine's Day. The style is conscientious, creative, and thoughtful. There are a few communal tables, but even the individual tables are rather close together - so there is a community feel, wherever you sit. Reservations required. Your reservation gets you a spot at a specific seating time, which also adds a nice touch for the feeling of eating with a group. There is a set menu each night, and the menu changes often. Outstanding selection of local and organic wines; they had 4 the night i ate there, including 2 biodynamic wines. They suggest pairings with the menu. There was also a non-alcoholic drinks flight, which i ordered and was absolutely amazing.

This was some of what i ate:
First course - Nettle lemongrass soup (Drink: Triple carrot juice, made by hand)
Second course - Shiso, coconut noodle and watercress salad
Third course - Celery root, yellow foot chantrelle, roast beet daikon, thyme

The quality of the food was outstanding, and the attention to detail was impressive. Highly recommended.

Yay, Sutra!

Ratings for this restaurant:
5/5 organic ingredients
5/5 local ingredients
5/5 vegetarian friendliness
5/5 sustainability overall

Key: Sustainability

Specific measures the establishment takes to attempt to be sustainable. For example:

• If there is take-out, are the containers of a recyclable or compostable type?
  
• Is water by request only?
  
• Is there a lack of disposable items, such as chopsticks, napkins or cultery? If not, are you given a choice whether or not to use such items?
• Are there any indications of green building, energy or water efficiency?

Key: Vegetarian friendliness

Many restaurants do not have a good selection of vegetarian options. Eating vegetarian is often the quickest way to minimize the ecological footprint of any given meal, since it means eating "lower" on the food chain than eating meat.

• Does the restaurant serve meat? If so, does the menu point out vegetarian options, or have more than one option for a full course vegetarian meal?
  
• Are the vegetarian options only a meat-substitute, or how well is vegetarian integrated into the menu? Do there seem to be enough variety of vegetarian options (generally more than two choices for a dinner, say)?
  
• Can substitutions be made (comfortably), for not consuming meat? Is the restaurant staff friendly and open about offering such substitutions?
  

Key: Organic indgredients committment

Organic (according only to USDA standards). For meat, i extrapolate to mean no hormones, no cages, no things fed to the animals that they were never meant to eat, and no genetic modification. Specific considerations:

• Does the restaurant utilize organic ingredients? Does it appear that more than 75% of the ingredients used are organic?
  
• Does the restaurant have an agreement with an organic farm, butcher or product line? Are these organic arrangements for local food?
  
• If there is meat served at the establishment, is it possible to find out where the meat came from, how it was raised, or what it was fed? Is there information on dairy products served at the establishment, and was it similarly from a healthy animal?
  

Key: Local ingredients committment

This item will be assessed using the following considerations:

• Does the restaurant utilize locally sourced ingredients? Does it appear that more than 75% of the ingredients used are local?
  
• Does the restaurant have an agreement with a local farm, butcher or product line? Are these local arrangements for organic food or happy meat?
  
• Are the origins of ingredients listed on the menu, or posted somewhere visible in the establishment? If not, is this information available when requested?

Why am I here? What is ecotarian?

When i moved to Seattle, i was overjoyed with the preponderance of local, organic, vegetarian, eco-conscious food options. This was in stark contrast to other cities i've lived in, and more close to my ideal-food situation where there is affordable access to locally grown and produced whole foods. However, despite the occurrence of a weekly farmer's market, even in the dead of winter (kudos to you hearty souls that brave the weather to bring me my root veggies!), and restaurant reviews galore, there were no guides for the intrepid ecotarian on where to eat out in the city. There are reviews based on price, quality, and cuisine-type, but i wanted something that would tell me which restaurants were doing the best job at providing low food mile ingredients, plus organic (not to mention taking sustainability into account at the restaurant itself). Simultaneously, a group of people that i talk food with had been bouncing around the idea of needing a new word for the way we eat. Not just vegetarian - we'll eat meat if its sustainable and verifiably so. Not just organic - sometimes low food miles is better than industrial organic. But taking into account the entire food system, and how to eat in the most sustainable way. There was no term to identify this consumption strategy; so thus was born the term ecotarian.

Now back to Seattle, i decided to create this food blog, dedicated to reviewing eateries (and maybe on occasion some markets or drinking establishments) in and around Seattle. Each post is one review, and i will update reviews as necessary. Enjoy, eat well, and keep in touch!