“Waste” is an ugly word: It conjures rotting banana peels in compost bins, flies buzzing around landfills. But Forage, a cozy Craigie Circle bistro, isn’t afraid of the word — it stakes its identity on the idea of “zero waste.” The restaurant, which proclaims the mantra five times on its website, also hosts “Zero Waste Wednesdays” — all you-can-eat meals for $100/person.
It’s a natural extension of the restaurant’s farm-to-table ethos: If you respect where the food comes from, don’t squander it.
“I have personal relationships with the farmers we work with,” said chef and co-founder Eric Cooper. “I know the work that goes into growing these vegetables, and I hate to see that effort wasted. Plus,” he added, “It’s ridiculous to throw away a third of the asparagus you paid for. That’s just throwing away money.”
There are many restaurants in Camberville that practice zero-waste. Most employ it as an ideology or an aspiration. But Forage hosts its “Zero Waste” dinner each Wednesday night, a tasting table event, where the good eats du jour are not curated days before, but based on what is already in the fridge. These are dishes transformed into something unique through the whim of the chef and the wishes of the diners. “It’s a conversation with the table,” said General Manager Teague Mitchell. “We read them, see how far they want to go, how many rounds they can handle.”
The genesis for the concept, as Mitchell tells it, came when he was bandying about ideas with Cooper. “Eric said, ‘I wish I could just cook whatever I want without a menu.’ And we realized — we already had the restaurant. We just needed to try it.”
The Zero Waste dinner — which follows Tuesday wine dinners (we’re fans) — uses leftovers from the previous night. So, for instance, if Tuesday is a scallop day and diners lean vegetarian, the Zero Waste crowd will reap the rewards of the overstocked fruits de mer, Mitchell said.
The Wednesday meal is for one table only — and you must be a party of five or more. Your plate is endless: Cooper and crew send out rounds of tapas-style dishes until diners throw in the towel — and then, dessert and digestives loom.
Mitchell and Cooper cite some big Zero Waste successes from food pulled from the fridge: marinated brisket left over from a wine dinner and prepared as become taco meat, midsections of asparagus used to make a vinaigrette, and Arctic char belly flaps. The fish was seared with oil and butter, creating a dish with crispy skin and rich, fatty meat.
“The belly of an Arctic char will blow the pants off you,” Cooper said.
Other “Zero Waste” dishes have included a vegan fish sauce made from pink oyster mushrooms, an heirloom Hubbard squash used as a salad bowl, and miso paste made from black trumpet mushroom scraps.
“We don’t plan much ahead. We know what we have available, and then it’s just creativity — spur of the moment,” Cooper said.
“Sometimes we just get wacky ideas, and throw them at the wall and see if it flies,” Mitchell added.
Forage, which Cooper and co-owner San Gilbert started 10 years ago, grew from Ten Tables, the restaurant that previously occupied the space, and where the two creative minds met, worked together, and forged their partnership. Committed to his trade and hyperlocal and sustainable tenets, Cooper radiates bearish charm and has prepared meals professionally on all seven continents. He was living in New York City when he made the spur-of-the-moment decision to take a job cooking at a research facility in Antarctica. He had been disillusioned by the city’s heat, dust, and early morning noise (people in the food industry typically go to bed at 2 a.m. or later) emanating from the school below his window. In India, he taught cooking at a Tibetan refugee camp.
“I’ve wandered the world,” he said, “and brought all of that back here.”
Forage now has a gorgeous new wraparound deck just off the entryway to the subterranean eatery. In past years, the temporary deck was located across the building’s parking lot.
For the Zero Waste dinner, reservations are required, and an early conversation with the Forage team about your preferences will set Cooper’s imagination in motion long before you take your seat.
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