Myra's Kitchen Blog » My Favorite Farm-to-Table Restaurants in Lower Manhattan

City Bakery, on 18^th St. between 5^th and 6^th. They have a beautiful fresh pay-by-the-pound “salad” bar with green market choices, as well as soups, hot foods, and lots of baked goods. I stick to the savory food and avoid most of the baked with one exception. I relish the pretzel croissants, which are strikingly fresh and buttery and sprinkled with sesame seeds.

Hu Kitchen, a new addition to Union Square (they are on 5^th Avenue ½ block below 14^th street), has pasture-raised rotisserie chicken, cauliflower-coconut milk mash, chia seed puddings, and lots of fresh pressed juices.

Greensquare Tavern on 21^st between 5^th and 6^th, right off of 5^th Avenue. All of their animal food is pasture-raised, they use good-quality fats (French fries cooked in tallow, kale in coconut oil), and they have substantial down-to-earth food. It gets a little loud at night, so I tend to go on the early side.

For upscale meals, I favor Veritas, located is on 43 E. 20^th street. It has an especially relaxing ambiance and it is a bit of a sleeper still, so I’m usually able to get in without reservations. I go there when I want a lovely meal out of the New York city fray.

A wonderful place for brunch is Locanda Verde, located on 337 Greenwich St on the corner of N. Moore and Greenwich, in Tribeca, in the Greenwich hotel. It has beautiful ambience. Eggs are from an upstate farm. They have breakfast every day 8 to 11 and Brunch on Saturday and Sunday from 10 to 3 p.m.

Northern Spy Food Company on 511 E. 12^th St. is a hole-in-the-wall farm-to-table with really delicious food, good for lunch and dinner.

Il Buco Alimetari on 53 Great Jones St. is a rustic Italian with gorgeous bread made on the premises. One of my favorite dishes is a harissa-roasted pastured chicken, and they have a scrumptious short rib sandwich as well. This is one of my favorite brunch spots in the city.

One lucky Duck (all food is raw) is a great place to get dessert (2 locations, one at 125 E. 17^th St. and one in Chelsea market at 425 W. 15^th St.) or a juice, smoothie, or even a big salad. The best dessert is the malamar.

For two more upscale restaurants there’s also Blue Hill, 75 Washington Place. They grow a lot of their own food on their farm up at Stone Barns and ABC Kitchen, on 35 East 18^th street, is in the beautiful ABC building.

If you visit Chelsea Market, The Green Table on 75 ninth avenue (between 15^th and 16^th) has local market comfort food.

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