Restaurant Spotlight: ROOT

About a year and a half ago, Hollygrove Market & Farm made the push to start supplying local restaurants with fresh, local produce. Since then, the support of restaurants has become a critical part of the market and farm and ensuring our long term sustainability. In recognition of their support, we like to highlight some of our biggest supporters and learn more about how local produce plays a role in their restaurant. In our first of (hopefully) many chef & restaurant spotlights, we talk with co-owner & Executive Chef Phillip Lopez of ROOT. 

Chef Phillip Lopez (Photo Courtesy of ROOT

Chef Phillip Lopez, originally from New Orleans, is the son of an Army family and spent his childhood living in Germany, France, Spain, Austria, Holland, and Puerto Rico. Following graduation from high school, Phillip began his culinary career in Virginia Beach, VA before landing a job in New Orleans with Chef John Besh. Being displaced to Washington, DC following Hurricane Katrina gave Phillip the opportunity to train under Chef Michel Richard, the highly celebrated culinarian behind Citronelle. Returning to New Orleans several months later, Phillip again joined Besh and eventually worked at five of his restaurants, including Restaurant August and American Sector at the World War II Museum.

 I had heard from our restaurant sales manager, Mike Fabianski, that Chef Lopez was interested in working with Hollygrove even before ROOT opened in November of last year. As someone who has quickly become one of our biggest supporters since then, I had to ask why buying local was so important to him personally. "Growing up in a food environment and working in restaurants all my life, I thought it kind of strange that chefs would go out of their way to make sure the customer knew they went out to the farmers market to buy their produce, but I always thought "Isn't that what you're supposed to do?". It's a chef job every day to source out the best ingredients, the freshest ingredients and you only do that from a local standpoint. I think no matter what part of the country you're in, it's your responsibility to source out the freshest ingredients possible", says Lopez.

 Local produce is sure to be incorporated into all dishes at Root regardless of the time of year, but I wanted to know what his favorite items are to cook with during the winter growing season. "All the citrus...Meyer lemons, blood oranges, grapefruits...and radishes. I will eat a bushel of radishes myself", says Lopez.

 And if you think those blood oranges and Meyer lemons only make an appearance in the salad course, never to be heard from again, you got another thing coming. Chef Lopez isn't one to toss some local veggies into a salad and call it a day.

"The biggest thing about the produce we bring in is that we are not only utilizing it one aspect, we have to find four or five different ways to incorporate it into a menu....The beet greens go to stewed greens, the stalks go to make swizzle

This ever-changing list of produce sits front and center in ROOT's kitchen. Chef Lopez is dedicated to educating all of his staff about the farm  from which the produce came.

sticks, and the beetroot gets used in salads and desserts", says Lopez.

 In a restaurant where the dishes are meant to be playful and creative, it's nice to know Chef Lopez maintains a sense of frugality with the produce he purchases. "Especially in this economy, when prices are running high it only makes sense. For the farmers on their end, it costs money to make the product and for us it costs money to bring it in and make it. I think it helps us all in the long run. By using the produce to full potential, it ensures I can keep buying it and keep experimenting", says Lopez.

 When Chef Lopez isn't at his restaurant (which isn't much considering his 16-20 hour work day), he prefers to keep it simple. One pot dishes with whatever is in the fridge and potlucks with his wife and friends are the norm instead of the carefully crafted cuisine at his restaurant. And while his food at home may vary drastically from his restaurant, one thing remains key whenever he is cooking, "Whether you are in the restaurant or at home it doesn't matter what you do, as long as you cook from the heart and feel good about, the food is going to come out good in the end."

 All the local produce in the world doesn't mean anything if the food doesn't come out good, but judging by the reviews on Yelp, that's not something ROOT has to worry about. ROOT is open Monday through Friday for lunch & dinner and Saturday for dinner only. To learn more about ROOT and to check out their menu, click here.

 Before I left, I had to make sure to get a recipe on radishes since it's the one thing that I am completely lost on and one which Chef Lopez can't get enough of.