Adam's Place Becomes Sustainable Table: Eugene's greenest restaurant turns over a new leaf

These days, more and more restaurants can say that they use organic and local ingredients. But how many can say that they recycle their fryer oil into bio-fuel, serve rainwater harvested from nearby skies and are powered by the wind? 

Since 2000, Adam’s Place restaurant has quietly been making sustainable choices behind the scenes as well as on the menu. Now the restaurant’s philosophy will no longer be as quiet: In early February, Adam’s Place will become Adam’s Sustainable Table. 

The new restaurant will offer a more accessible menu, moderately priced and
with simpler dishes. The dishes will still be made from scratch using the same
ingredients but will include fewer expensive add-ons.

The change is occurring for economic as well as philosophical reasons, says executive chef and owner Adam Bernstein. In the economic downturn, “the high cost of fine dining has been a challenge for our guests,” he says. “We’re trying to become more economically sensitive to everyone.” 

Since the economy shifted, Bernstein says, Adam’s Place has seen 25 percent fewer customers. It has also experienced a “significant loss in revenue” and a round of layoffs. “This echoes what’s happening to all my peers,” he said.

Sustainable Table’s menu might be described as comfort food with a flair. Gone are squid ink, ginger cream sauce and fennel pollen along with the amuse-bouches (treats typically served before the appetizer). New are dishes like gnocchi with browned butter and winter pumpkin, chicken crock pie, creamed spinach and spicy goat stew with flatbread. Certain favorite dishes, such as chicken picatta, remain.

The new menu features small plates in the $7 to $8 price range, with most large plates hovering around $15. All-natural, hormone- and antibiotic-free steaks will now cost less, between $14 and $28.    

“We’re looking for simple perfection and trying to bring out the best characteristics of the ingredients,” Bernstein says. “It’s about the heart of the cooking — great food and nothing else.” 

The new restaurant will also feature a more casual atmosphere. Formal white tablecloths will be replaced by Marmoleum, a surface made from natural cork. Crisp button-downs will give way to T-shirts that read “Vote with Your Fork,” and new murals will lighten up the walls. 

Despite the challenges of the current economy, Bernstein speaks with easygoing pride about the sustainable choices he and his staff are still making. In 2000, he says, the company redrafted its mission statement to make sustainability a priority. 

Since then, Bernstein and his staff have focused not only on serving local, organic food, but on reducing the restaurant’s carbon footprint and reliance on petrochemicals. 

The restaurant serves only Northwest wines to reduce the carbon cost of transportation. Carpets are made from 100 percent wool with natural dyes. The restaurant bakes its own bread made from organic grains grown and milled in the Northwest by small family farms. Kitchen towels are made from 100 percent cotton and are reusable. Tables are refinished using natural oils. Even the cocktail picks are made from biodegradable bamboo. 

Bernstein talks about doing right by the community as much as he talks about food. “I’m sort of compulsive about this stuff,” he says, smiling. 

While Bernstein could have cut back on expensive sustainable practices when the economy dove, he says he chose not to on principle. “The ethical dilemma was whether to compromise our belief in the importance of local, sustainable food service or our level of fine dining. We chose sustainability,” he said. 

“The level of conscious decision making we’ve been doing is unequaled. Being ethical has not been a positive [financial] part of our business model, but it feels right,” he says. “Hopefully this new business model is designed for staff and community success.” 

Bernstein compared the current economic crisis to a tsunami. “We’re going to do our best to hang on and not get swept away,” he says. “But if we do, we went out fighting.” 

“I’m a romantic.”

Adam’s Sustainable Table, 30 E. Broadway. 344-6948.