Farmers open Agraria

by Nicole Weston, Posted Jul 19th 2006 @ 10:37AM

A group of farmers from North Dakota opened Agraria Restaurant, a high end restaurant in Washington DC, to show "urban diners" exactly who is raising their food. The restaurant cost $4 million to open and was a big risk for the co-op, which has approximately 40,000 members and almost no experience in the restaurant industry. They felt strongly that there was too much of a disconnect between people and their food, and wanted to bring the two closer together.

The menu uses seasonal produce from family farm suppliers, purchased directly from the farmers and/or their co-ops. For example, most of the their produce comes from Tuscarora Organic Growers, an organic farm co-op in Pennsylvania, flour and beef come from North Dakota, and their seafood is from places like Louisiana and Alaska. The ultimate goal is to expand the "limited bistro menu" of the newly opened restaurant to one that varies widely and changes daily, letting diners know how dependent meals can be on the seasons and how much higher quality the food is when the restaurant stocks don't come from Sysco.

Agraria Restaurant
Washington Harbour
3000 K Street NW
Washington, DC 20007
202-298-0003

Source

Filed Under: Business, Trends, Newspapers, Chefs & Restaurants, Restaurants
Tags: agraria, dining, east coast, farmers, farming, haute cuisine, local, ny times, NyTimes, restaurant, restaurants, seasonal, seasonal produce, trend, trends

Chew on This

Royal Wedding Cake Details Revealed! - YumSugar

Make Your Own Pop Tarts - CHOW
Denny's Introduces a Maple Bacon Sundae - Eater
Whole Foods Opening Bars in Stores - USA Today
Rules Of Bar Etiquette -- For The Bartender - HuffPost Food

Reader comments (Page 1 of 1)

7-19-2006 @11:30AM rainey said... Hooray for them! Perhaps it will get legislators to think about what they're missing when they funnel farm support to wealthy agribusinesses like Conagra and Archer-Daniels-Midland and affluent non-farmers on their suburban homesteads. Did you know that the US spends $1.3 BILLION of farm support every year on people who don't grow much more than a lawn and a few perennials? Here's the story http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2006/07/01/AR2006070100962.html
Reply

Vote upVote downReport

7-21-2006 @11:43AM T. Allen said... Sysco. I am learning to hate that company. The restaurant I work for is part of a hotel chain, and they REFUSE to let us step out of "network" for local products, at CHEAPER prices. And HIGHER quality. It is so shortsighted, and corporate does not seem to realize that it is the customer who suffers, and in the long run it is we who will suffer by default. If the customer isn't happy, they will go elsewhere.
Reply