Best Locavore Cuisiney

Zingerman's Roadhouse

Apr 25, 2012 at 12:00 am
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2501 Jackson Rd., Ann Arbor; 734-663-3663 (FOOD); zingermansroadhouse.com

You can't get much more local than sourcing from eight miles away on your own farm. Chef Alex Young's Cornman Farms grows 27 vegetables for the Roadhouse in scores of varieties, including many heirlooms, and raises old breeds of hogs and cattle for diners' barbecue glee. He says varieties are chosen for their suitability to the Michigan climate, bragging that, in the summer, vegetables are served just hours after they're picked. The rest of the harvest is put up for the winter — no need to import from afar. And what goes around comes around: Your leftovers go back to the farm as compost.