Bye-Bye, Tofu; Hello, Truffles!

By Janice M. Horowitz

Bare wood tables, macrame wall hangings and macrobiotic menus -- these are the images long associated with organic-food restaurants. And cultlike earnestness: the mushed-up, meatless food might be good for you, but it was surely no fun to eat. Now all that is changing dramatically, as more and more upscale restaurants across the U.S. turn to fare based on products grown by traditional, chemical-free methods. Instead of the omnipresent tofu of yore, they are offering elegant, sophisticated -- and often pricey -- dishes. Some chefs have gone organic for health reasons, others because they believe natural produce is tastier and fresher. Not least of all, the trend reflects consumers' increasing concern with food safety and health, especially in the wake of persistent scares over Alar, pesticides and animal hormones.

In contrast to the monotonous vegetarianism of the '60s (steamed carrots, brown rice and beans ruled), today's highbrow organic restaurants not only offer a wide variety of dishes but also often serve meat. Patrons of New York City's Luma, for example, can enjoy free-range pheasant sauteed with wild morels in a rosemary-sage sauce ($22). Says Luma co-owner Eric Stapelman: "We've bridged the gap between classic gourmet cuisine and natural food." Gingerbread-style Chez Panisse, located in Berkeley, features winter-squash tortellini in a black-truffle sauce as part of its $55 prix-fixe dinner. As an appetizer, Chicago's Printer's Row offers a choice of Brazilian mussel chowder ($4.50) or fresh white and green asparagus steamed with Sauterne and oranges ($7.50).

Some chefs go to extraordinary lengths to ensure the purity of their offerings. Luma boils its pasta in filtered water. Santa Fe's Coyote Cafe serves goat cheese made from the milk of animals that eat only organic feed. Bernard Leroy, owner of Bernard, a French restaurant in New York City, even insists on using organic bay leaves to spice sauces. But the Paris-born chef is willing to compromise on sweets. "We can't go without chocolate cake or souffles, and organic chocolate doesn't exist," he says. "There are just so many desserts we can make from nuts."

Most restaurants featuring natural food concede that they are hard pressed to offer a 100% organic menu year-round. The best they can hope for is 80% to 90% during the spring and summer months, when local farms are in full bloom; in winter the percentage can slip below 50%. Running an organic restaurant presents other problems. The hours are longer than the average restaurant's, and the drill is more tedious. Menus can change daily, depending on what is available. Since there is no federal definition of what is organic, chefs tend to rely on products certified as authentic by various local groups. They rush as often as five times a week to local farmers' markets or grow their own produce in backyard gardens. Appointed buyers search for veal that is "humanely raised" and fed milk from cows that eat organic grain.

All that time and effort inevitably means higher bills: restaurateurs estimate that an organic kitchen costs about 30% more to operate than the conventional kind. "I'm afraid boutique buying means boutique prices," sighs Joyce Goldstein, the owner of San Francisco's Mediterranean-style Square One. "But I'm after flavor first and foremost, and what's grown organically helps you achieve that." The growing hordes of patrons obviously believe the result is worth the extra money.

With reporting by Lee Griggs/San Francisco