American Grocery Restaurant. You Need to Eat Here.

A few weeks ago, I wrote a post about a movie everyone needs to watch called Food, Inc. I’m sure you all scrambled to add it to your NetFlix queue. If you haven’t seen it yet, you really, really need to take the hour or so and educate your brain on the world of food production. The movie really inspired Ken and I to take our efforts to eat organic and local beyond Whole Foods. We’ve since joined two CSAs and found a local source for all of our beef…more on that in future posts. This post is about American Grocery Restaurant, a local establishment that is passionate about using locally sourced ingredients to produce wonderfully delicious food. Now, if you don’t live here you may be tempted to think this post has nothing to offer you, but please read on. Even if you are in a different city or state, there is probably an “AGR” in your area and I’ll explain why you need to eat there.

Real professional Chefs make great food. PF Changs and Olive Garden are not real restaurants. They are really no different than the factory-type setting that produces a Stouffer’s frozen lasagna. No one’s heart and soul are in your chicken lettuce wraps! Do you think the “chef” at Olive Garden really cares if the presentation of your chicken parmesan intrigues your palate? Eating at a real restaurant with a real chef versus eating at a chain is kinda like riding in a limo and a Ford Pinto. Both will get you to from Point A to Point B, but the experience getting there will be completely different. A real chef will inspire you to appreciate food in new and different ways and even expose you to foods you may never eat or prepare on your own.

Local is fresher and tastes better. If you haven’t had fresh butter from cows that get to walk around and eat grass and live happy lives, then you’ve never had butter. Most Americans eat mystery butter from mystery cows that live in industrial parks, not on the farm you see illustrated on the side of the box. As a result, there’s no richness or depth to the flavor. That goes for all the ingredients a chef at a restaurant like AGR uses to prepare a meal. Food grown by people who care and prepared by a professional who cares will taste better than food stripped of nutrients and fiber so it has a long shelf life and can be pre-cooked and shipped to your local chain to be re-heated and served.

Whole, local, seasonal, organic, sustainable foods are better for you and the environment. Do I really need to elaborate? If you don’t think fresh food is healthier and tastes better than old or processed food, there’s probably nothing I can say to change your mind anyway. And hey, we only have one  Earth…we should all be doing our part to use Her resources conservatively.

Support your local economy. Not only are the chef and staff local, but their suppliers are also your neighbors. Don’t send your food dollar to some headquarters for a chain restaurant in another state. Don’t send your food dollar to another country to provide us out of season fruit and veggies that have to be harvested early, artificially ripened and shipped thousands of miles. Help grow wealth and prosperity in your own community by keeping your food dollars local. And you know what, many real restaurants are not much more expensive than a “higher end” chain place. But, dollar for dollar you will have a much richer experience at a locally owned and operated restaurant.

So, that’s why you need to find your local version of American Grocery Restaurant. Last night I learned that they actually grow rice in South Carolina! The expertise of the sommelier (co-owner and wife of the chef) ensured each glass of wine enhanced every course that we ate. Let’s face it, my knowledge of wine pretty much ends with how to open the bottle. She answered all our questions about the food and where it’s from. She knew the names of all the farmers and fishermen that provide the food…even the breeds of animal raised on the farms (right down to what makes one variety of lamb better than another)! Our server was equally as knowledgeable,  attentive and enthusiastic about the food and mission of the restaurant.

One of the highlights of the evening was having a chance to chat with the chef when he stopped by our table. I was thrilled to thank him in person for letting me know that there are more to collards than the cooked-to-death, fatback laden pot of green slop I remember from my grandmother’s kitchen (sorry, Grandma…you fried a mean chicken, but I could never eat your collards). Lo and behold, I actually like collards! And beets – which I tried for the first time last night! It was great to meet the man who can make turnips sexy and delicious…mmmm….turnip flan, that’s great eating. Light, airy, smooth, turnipy…it will blow your mind.

If you live near Greenville, you simply must eat here. Make your reservation and go there soon! Go ahead, pop on over to Open Table make your reservation right now.

And because their food is local and seasonal, it will always be a fresh and exciting place to eat. Ken and I are looking forward to eating and learning our way through the seasons with our new friends at American Grocery Restaurant.

Tags: Food