Most chefs talk a good game these days about organic and sustainable, even sourcing a few items from farmers’ markets. But Waiel and Kelly Majid’s Mediterranean bistro has what at times is a seamless connection between earth and plate. Kelly says she and her chef husband spend an hour each morning — and two to three full days a week — cultivating a half-acre garden in East Oakland that supplies a significant amount of the produce and all the eggs served at their Berkeley restaurant. That’s partly why Zatar is open only four days a week, according to Kelly. We recently munched on their lettuces and oranges in a powerfully aromatic orange, date, and almond salad. Presumably whatever we couldn’t finish met a useful end. “Vegetarian leftovers are fed to our laying hens, Iris and Ruby,” Zatar’s menu proclaims. Hey, we’re a sucker for any place that lets us share an entree with a chicken.
.Most Sustainable Restaurant: Where the chickens feed you, and you feed them
Zatar