GustOrganics Goes for the Green with Rice

What do you get when you combine an Argentine entrepreneur, an Italian recipe and an organically grown American grain? You get the wildly popular Risotto of the Day ...

What do you get when you combine an Argentine entrepreneur, an Italian recipe and an organically grown American grain? You get the wildly popular Risotto of the Day at GustOrganics, a 100%-organic and green-certified restaurant in New York City.

“Risotto is one of the dishes that bring people here,” says owner Alberto Gonzalez, whose stated mission at the 74-seat eatery is to bring organic foods into the mainstream. His choice for the dish is U.S.-grown short-grain organic rice. As with all of the ingredients he uses, Gonzalez purchases domestic rice to reduce the ecological impact of shipping. “We request as much local product as we can,” says Gonzalez. “If we have the same product here, it doesn’t make sense to bring it from across the world.”

Risotto variations, priced $13 at lunch and $16 at dinner, include mixed vegetables, spinach, portabello mushrooms, beef tenderloin, chicken and butternut squash. “We’re so used to eating things without much flavor, it’s a real discovery when you taste fresh, organic ones,” declares Gonzalez.