Apparently, it’s not enough for some lodgings to provide “green” guests with simple eco-friendly amenities such as organic cotton sheets and hybrid shuttles, now, just in time for Earth Day, an increasing number of hotels are offering environmentally correct menu options at their in-house restaurants as well.
The on-site eateries are serving up organic and locally grown foods, much to the delight of tree hugging guests. For example, in celebration of Earth Day next week Tuesday, Blue on Blue, a poolside restaurant at the Avalon Hotel in Beverly Hills is offering guests a $55 prix fixe menu showcasing organic and sustainable food from local farms. (For an extra $25 you can have your dishes paired with biodynamic and organic wines.) Don’t have time to sit down for a four-course meal? Then try the hotel’s environmentally-friendly “Beverly Hills Breakfast,” which consists of fresh fruit, bee pollen, wildfire honey, an organic muffin and banana soy smoothie.
Heath-conscious “green” travelers in Colorado looking for an Earth Day deal should head over to Aspen’s swank Little Nell. The lodging employs Ryan Hardy, a 2008 James Beard “Best Chef” regional finalist, who oversees Montagna. The in-house restaurant serves organic vegetables, pork, eggs and chicken, which are raised on a farm Hardy bought outside the city. He also makes his own cheese for the restaurant.
The same goes for the 20-room Canoe Bay resort in Chetek, Wisconsin. The resort’s owners not only serve organic products, but guests can also forage for mushrooms, leeks and blackberries on the property with the resort’s chef. If you don’t feel like wrestling fresh mushrooms from the earth you could opt to join the chef to pick herbs such as lemongrass, cilantro, rosemary, and mint for dinner.
And it’s not just smaller properties that are going “green,” the Marriott chain has also jumped on the organic bandwagon by introducing a program that encourages its chefs to use locally sourced food. The initiative is said to be costing the chain a pretty penny, but executives say eco-friendly guests are more than willing to pay more for products that benefit the environment.
Related Articles:
Take an Earth Day Safari or Barbecue in Uruguay
Going Green On The Road-Part 2
State Natural Areas–An Adventure in Nature