The Kitchen

The Kitchen Restaurant Review:

About the restaurant: Fresh-from-the-earth ingredients. Check. Seasonal, sustainable menu. Check. Local growers and purveyors. Check. Wind-powered electricity. Check. The Kitchen, Boulder's beauty and the bistro, is as eco-friendly as it gets, but that's just a fragment of the fig, so to speak. Owner Hugo Matheson raises his own pigs and sheep on a nearby farm; customers can drop off their old wine corks for recycling; and the nifty beer list celebrates rare Belgium ales and local microbrews. Certified foodniks congregate downstairs to nosh from the chalkboard menu, which changes daily.

Food & Drinks: The contemporary American foodstuffs have included braised veal ribs with harissa couscous; seared Hawaiian spearfish frolicking with fava beans; and summer squash risotto with toasted farro, lemon and chèvre. The Kitchen [Upstairs] is an inviting space in which to sip and sample from one of the state's most coveted wine lists.