But! The good news is that it's not that hard to find food in the neighborhood and stick by these rules the book ("In Defense of Food" by Michael Pollan) convinced me to follow.
Mt. Pleasant Farmer's Market
This is obviously the best choice for locally grown and organic. The amazing thing is that while some food is way more expensive - $9 for a pound of arugula - other food can be cheaper here than at the grocery store. Honey crisp apples, for example, are up to $.25 a pound cheaper here if you find the right booth.
I also bought this awesome looking orange head of cauliflower and didn't have time to cook it for about a week. It stayed good AND I was able to turn it into an awesome puree (microwave steamed cauliflower, a few tablespoons of organic butter, sea salt, one clove chopped garlic, two grinds pepper, all tossed in the blender).
Giant
Our local supermarket has a surprisingly good amount of organic options. The organic stuff definitely costs more - about a $1 more for most single items, but Nature's Promise is prevalent in every section of the store and almost any basic item (apples, tomatoes, yogurt) had 1-2 organic options. If you look carefully, you can even find locally grown stuff on occasion in the produce section.
Target
Not so organic and nothing is fresh. I guess I have to stop buying so much food at Target. Oh! But they have the Annie's palak paneer frozen dinner I like (also at Giant). I would say they have some options for what I might call "processed organic" - dry and frozen but technically organic.
Pete's Apizza
Pete's uses all organic ingredients and lots of locally grown stuff. Their salads are delicious and you can tell it's super fresh. Sometimes they have a "farmer's market salad" from whatever they were able to buy over the weekend. Love this place.
Commonwealth Gastropub
You'll notice that at the bottom of the Commonwealth menu they have a "thank you" to the local producers that are currently supplying the restaurant.
Any other suggestions? Places I'm forgetting to acknowledge?
4 comments:
While not in CH, the Harris Teeter in Adams Morgan sells produce from local farms.
It isn't Columbia Heights, but I find that the Bloomingdale Farmers Market (which is likely wrapping up for the season) is significantly cheaper than TP or SS, which I remember being in line with MP when I went.
I was just at Room 11 last night, and they had a lot of local food on the menu.
Radius Pizza in Mt.P. uses numerous local and organic products. Almost all of the produce is sourced locally either from Tuscarora Organic in Pennsylvania or from Northern Neck Farms in Hague VA. We they say it's local it's local!
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