Thumbs up for Microsoft!

I have to admit that I'm an Apple person, but I'm not above giving props to the "other guy" when deserved.

Microsoft switches to compostable utensils, cups in cafeterias
Microsoft ditches plastic and Styrofoam in its cafeterias and kitchenettes for compostable knives, forks, spoons, cups, bowls, plates and clamshell carryout containers. That switch is one of several the company is making to reduce the amount of waste generated by the 24,000 meals served daily at its corporate headquarters campus in Redmond, where roughly 40,000 full-time employees and vendors work.

This is relatively old news (courtesy of the Seattle Times), but good news, nonetheless.

Anthony's & Hearthfire Grill

Joe Holmes sent me a little message yesterday letting me know that Anthony's, Hearthfire, and the company's other associated restaurants do not use styrofoam (or plastic bags) for their take-home containers...

I have worked at anthony's and know for certain that they do not use styrofoam, but paper boxes, and paper bags for their to go orders, and I think I can safely assume that this is a company wide policy, meaning that the hearthfire also does not use styrofoam, as well as other anthony's restaurants, such as peir 66, or chinooks in seattle.

That's great news--thanks for the tip, Joe!

Anthony's Restaurants
Locations all over the Puget Sound area (and a few others in Oregon and eastern Washington).
See website for specific locations.

Soy House

New to the Bakerview Square area, Soy House is serving up Vietnamese cuisine.  While I have not eaten here myself, my husband has been there a few times and he thinks it's great stuff.  Not so great: styrofoam take-out containers wrapped up in a plastic bag for carrying convenience.  Ick.

Soy House

414 W Bakerview Rd

Bellingham, WA

(360) 393-3585

Slow blogging week

I have to apologize for not having restaurants to blog about lately.  I recently had an unexpected stay St. Joseph's, so the only food I was eating was courtesy of the hospital kitchen.  Hospital food is certainly nothing to write home about, but I'm really disappointed in the amount of styrofoam that was used in food service.  Hospitals generate a lot of waste anyway, much of it is necessary to maintain sanitary and sterile conditions.  But they could do a much better job at minimizing the non-biodegradable wastes that aren't part of the sterilization process, such as the 20 oz. styrofoam cups that they served drinks in.  I'd be willing to bet that the little plastic cups in which they delivered my meds were thrown away, too.

D'Anna's Café Italiano

I had no intention of throwing D'Anna's a curve ball the other night when we ate there.  I wasn't terribly hungry and just wanted a small bowl of minestrone (which was excellent, by the way).  But apparently they only have one size of minestrone--huge.  When I asked if it was possible to take the rest home, my wonderful waitress went off in search of a container.  I didn't ask for a non-styrofoam container, but I heard her ask the one of the kitchen staff, "do we have anything that isn't styrofoam that I could put some soup in?"  What she came back with appeared to be a paper cup and plastic lid that would normally be used for serving espresso-to-go.  I don't think that plastic lid was recyclable, but they did a bang-up job avoiding the styrofoam.  Kudos!

Whether or not their other carry-out containers are typically non-styrofoam, I can't say.  I'll have to check it out some other time and let you all know.

D'Anna's Café Italiano

1317 N State

Bellingham, WA

(360) 714-0188

UPDATE: D'Anna's uses paper boxes for carry-outs...yay!  Thanks to Shauna for the tip!

Jalapeños Family Restaurant & Lounge

For this post, I have to do a little boasting first.  Tonight was the first time my spouse and I  remembered to BYOC!  It's pretty sad to admit that my Mom gave me the idea of BYOC a few years ago, but because I get so stoked about going out to eat, I usually forget to take my own carry-out containers.  Not tonight, though!  Gold star for us!

As it turns out, I would've done fine if our carry-out containers had been forgotten--I am happy to report that Jalapeños Family Mexican Restaurant has paper clamshells for taking home your leftovers!  Gold star for them!

Jalapeños Family Mexican Restaurant

501 W Holly

Bellingham, WA

(360)671-3099

Italian Tomato

While up in British Columbia today, my co-travelers and I stopped at a little Italian place just outside the Vancouver airport in Richmond, BC...Italian Tomato.

Food: Excellent. Enormous portions of pasta, so I'm willing to bet you'll have leftovers.

Carry-out provisions: Styrofoam.

And to make it just a little bit worse, each of our four containers of leftovers was in a plastic bag. Four styrofoam containers, four plastic bags. Ugh.

Italian Tomato

8380 Bridgeport Rd

Richmond, BC

(604) 247-0040

El Gitano

My co-workers and I frequent this restaurant in Mt. Vernon when we're there for work. Always great food, but unfortunately, they're still doing styrofoam. ¡Que terrible! There are El Gitanos in Bellingham, Burlington, and Smoky Point. I've only been to the Mt. Vernon restaurant, so I can't say with 100% certainty that the others use styrofoam as well, but it's probably likely. BYOC!

El Gitano

1810 Riverside Dr

Mt. Vernon, WA

(360) 424-5514

Also:

1125 E Sunset Dr, Bellingham (360) 714-1065

624 E Fairhaven, Burlington (360) 755-9010

3528 168th St NE, Arlington (360) 653-1400

Jeckyl & Hyde Deli & Ale House

It's not in a neighborhood where you would expect to find many restaurants, but it's a great little place to eat. I like the tabletops coated with blackboard paint. You know...the paint that allows you to draw on it with chalk and erase it as if it were the old-style classroom blackboards. They even have a little cup of chalk at each table--you can create a masterpiece while waiting for your food! Better still, they don't use styrofoam carry-out containers!

Jeckyl & Hyde Deli & Ale House
709 W Orchard Dr #1
Bellingham, WA
(360) 715-9100

Sandwich Odyssey

Another local favorite, the Sandwich Odyssey (across the street from Bellingham High School) is a great sandwich place. I love the fact that they use hunks of roasted turkey in their sandwiches, not processed, thinly-sliced 'turkey-in-a-tube'. Big props for that! What I don't like is that they're using styrofoam cups to serve their soup and side items--even for the folks who are eating there in the restaurant. They gave me an actual metal fork to eat my macaroni salad, but that salad was served in a styrofoam bowl. Ack! Come ON! You're willing to wash silverware, but not small bowls for the soup and salad?

I'm in a letter-writing mood this weekend...I think I'll be shooting off a letter to them about this injustice, as well. Can this be BYOC? Hmmm.

Sandwich Odyssey
2001 Cornwall
Bellingham, WA
(360) 738-6919

Chuckanut Brewery & Kitchen

After teasing us locals for months, the Chuckanut Brewery & Kitchen opened a few weeks ago. Yay! Food = great. Beer = fantastic. Best of all, no styrofoam! We didn't have leftovers, but I saw a waitress carrying folded paper boxes for those that did.

Chuckanut Brewery & Kitchen
601 Holly St
Bellingham, WA
(360) 752-3377 (easily remembered as 360-75-BEERS)

Diamond Jim's Grill

Wow. Utter disappointment are the words that come to mind. This blog isn't meant to be a place for food critique, but I can't help but rant a little here. In my mind, it's really hard to screw up greasy spoon-type breakfasts. Somehow they managed to do it. Homefries (or American Fried Potatoes, as Jim's calls them) are the cornerstone of my greasy spoon breakfasts and these were awful. They were frozen potatoes, not fresh, and they cooked them with no seasoning whatsoever. The omelet tasted ok, but it was way too big. It was the size of most burritos I've gotten and I had to bring half of it home...
...which brings me to the point of the post...styrofoam. Why am I not surprised?

Diamond Jim's Grill
1906 N State
Bellingham, WA
(360) 734-8687

Maybe it was the awful Pop/Easy Listening 70's, 80's and 90's radio station that was blaring...
Maybe it was having to wait 30 minutes for lukewarm food...
But I don't think I'm going to have to worry about BYOC'n to Diamond Jim's in the near future.

Busara

Ah, Busara. Yet another great Thai place right here in Bellingham. Carry out containers: typical Asian restaurant folded paperboard containers.

Busara Thai Cuisine

404 36th St
Bellingham, WA
(360) 734-8088

Chihuahua Family Mexican Restaurant

I love this place. If I ever have a reason to be in the Ferndale area for work or leisure, this is definitely a place worth eating at. Enormous portions--you're most likely going to have leftovers. That makes this post a bit difficult to submit...styrofoam. What a huge bummer. So definitely go eat there--just remember to BYOC!!

Chihuahua Family Mexican Restaurant
5694 3rd Ave
Ferndale, WA
(360) 384-5820‎

Supon's Thai Cuisine

Since it's in my neighborhood, I've eaten at Supon's a few times.  Food is good--never disappointed with it.  They use those coated paperboard Asian to-go containers.

Supon's Thai Cuisine

1213 Dupont St

Bellingham, WA

(360) 734-6838

The Daisy Cafe

Aside from a couple of goof-ups with my husband's calzone, the food was decent, service was fantastic. Best of all--just fabulous to-go containers...molded paper clamshells! The paper is probably bleached, but it's a good alternative to styrofoam.

The Daisy Cafe (same location as the former Cafe Toulouse)

114 W Magnolia

Bellingham, WA

(360) 733-8996

Bob's Burgers & Brew

Bob's is an institution in these parts. I can't say I've been to every one of the Bob's in the area, but the other day I had my lunch at one of the restaurants and just happened to notice a stack of styrofoam carry-out containers behind the bar. *sigh*

Luckily, I didn't need a container. I made the decision to practice yet another conservation tool--smaller portions (a.k.a. "waste not, want not"). However, I have to admit that my reasons for eating smaller portions was not to avoid wasting food--it was because I have become a bit heavier than I'd like to be. I see a lot of smaller portions in my future...

Bob's Burgers & Brew

All over northwest Washingon--see website for locations

Casa Que Pasa

I was glad to discover that Casa Que Pasa, home of the semi-famous potato burrito, does not have styrofoam take-out containers! Hooray! Folded cardboard boxes for them. Non-bleached paper with not a lot of waxy coating. Tip o' the hat. =)

Casa Que Pasa

1415 Railroad Ave

Bellingham, WA  

(I'd give you the phone number, but no one ever answers when I've tried to call)

Fiamma!

I can't start off with just a negative entry. Here's a couple of my favorites...both locally owned and operated. I can't say enough about these places, but don't want to spend a lot of time doing that here. Check out the websites for more information. Both use biodegradable packaging.

La Fiamma Wood Fire Pizza

200 E Chestnut St
Bellingham, WA

(360) 647-0060

Fiamma Burger

1309 Railroad Ave
Bellingham, WA

(360) 733-7374

Greetings!

Welcome to the inaugural post of Eat Greener!

It is with great disappointment that I have to start off with a non-green restaurant post. The food was good, but we had to haul our leftovers home in styrofoam. I keep forgetting to bring my own to-go containers from home when I go out...my bad.

Lemon Grass Cafe
111 N Samish Way
Bellingham, WA
(360) 676-4102

If you go...BYOC. Bring your own container.