In an effort to cook closer to home and reduce the carbon footprint associated with food transportation, a group of chefs is launching Nashville's first restaurant serving only foods sourced from downtown. Dubbed Urbivore's Kitchen, the restaurant will serve lunch and dinner with a seasonal menu of vegetables and meats grown and raised within a 10-block radius of the public library.
"There's a lot of enthusiasm for urban farming these days," said chef Jeremy T. Edgelow, the pioneering "urbivore" (or urban hunter-gatherer) who hatched the idea at a Slow Food dinner last fall. "All these ingredients were coming in from Leipers Fork and Hohenwald; meanwhile, gas was like $4 a gallon. I thought we could do better."
Chef Margaret McCamps will handle the sourcing of ingredients, which will range from various grasses to acorns and crabapples, which are often considered a nuisance when they fall on public sidewalks.
"Despite its complete dearth of arable land, downtown Nashville offers a surprisingly diverse agricultural habitat," said McCamps, who plans to organize volunteer foraging crews, and even the occasional "hunting party." The group is currently speaking with the police department about the rules for guns and other hunting equipment downtown. They are also talking with Metro officials about the city's official dumpster diving policy.
While the menu will change daily, based on what's available, a typical dinner menu will include a $59 prix-fixe meal. Edgelow said he envisions combinations such as acorn-encrusted squab with a salad of dandelion greens, raton au poivre with a window-box petunia reduction, and a dessert of crabapple bread pudding with Bradford pear coulis. Asked if Urbivore's Kitchen will serve his signature honey-roasted cashew-encrusted fish, the no-nonsense Edgelow said it will depend on pollution levels in the Cumberland and the distance between the downtown library and The Peanut Shop.
