A Tall Order of Green

But in Washington, one chef was green long before green was cool.

"For them it's all big news. It is a wonderful thing for awareness. But we've been doing these things for years," says chef Nora Pouillon, who opened Restaurant Nora in Dupont Circle 29 years ago. Eight years ago the restaurant was the first in the United States to be certified organic.

In addition to cooking with all organic and mostly local ingredients, Pouillon has long used recycled paper and soy-based ink for the menus, which change daily. Four employees compost 75 gallons of vegetable waste in home gardens each day. She eliminated fresh flowers in the restaurant when it became too difficult to find blooms that had not been heavily sprayed with pesticides. Pouillon's search for Earth-friendly solutions goes on.

"What I haven't been able to find is certified organic cotton chef jackets and pants," she says. "No one is making organic shirts for the wait staff anymore."

Overall, she says, organic ingredients add 20 percent to her costs, and labor costs are 20 percent higher than for a restaurant of comparable size.

"Someone has to haul the compost. Everything adds up," Pouillon says. "But my business is better than ever, because more and more people are aware and concerned about healthy eating and the environment."

Dale Roberts, owner of Java Shack, a cafe in Arlington that opened in 1996, hopes to be certified by the GRA by the end of February.

"We've been working on the green thing for a long time," says Roberts, whose first step was switching to compact fluorescent light bulbs eight years ago. "We're going to set the standard."

At Java Shack, Roberts has cut his water bill by 33 percent by attaching an aeration filter to the taps, and he saves 66 percent of electricity costs with the low-energy bulbs. That helps offset the expense of corn-based coffee cups, which cost three times as much as standard paper cups. He also composts his coffee grounds, adding some to a neighborhood compost bin at his Clarendon home and sending most to a research farm in Virginia. But there is more to be done before he can post the "certified green restaurant" sticker.

The GRA "asked me to change my coffee cup sleeve to one they say is the most environmentally friendly," Roberts says, and he must eliminate the use of bleach and toxic disinfectants.

Nicolas Jammet, co-owner of Sweetgreen, a salad and yogurt bar in Georgetown, also hopes to be certified in the next month. Energy-efficient wiring was installed before the business opened in August. Walls are made of recycled hickory. The owners use salad bowls made of corn-based materials, and the forks and spoons are biodegradable.

For Jammet, there is more to accomplish on the green checklist. Every step, he says, "adds to our mission."