Restaurants celebrate Earth Day with eco-friendly food, drink and more

Monday is Earth Day, a date dedicated to promoting eco-friendly menus and operations. Sustainability is top of mind for many restaurants throughout the year, but April is designated as the month to make an extra push, and April 22 is the day when it all comes to a peak. Here’s a roundup of food and drink specials and events for Earth Day.

Salt & Straw ice cream launched its second Upcycled Foods Series this April in tandem with Earth Month. Head ice cream innovator Tyler Malek created five ice cream flavors through a partnership with five producers, all focusing on reusing or upcycling wasted ingredients, such as whey from yogurt making, imperfect potato chips and spent grain from beer brewing. Salt & Straw is scooping Chocolate Caramel Potato Chip Banana Bread in collaboration with Urban Gleaners; Passionfruit Yuzu Mochi Donuts & Whey Curd with The Spare Food Co.; Salted Caramel & Chocolate Brownies with Renewal Mill’s okara flour derived from soy milk production; Malted Chocolate Barley Milk with EverGrain; and Cacao Pulp & Chocolate Stracciatella Gelato in partnership with Blue Stripes, using cacao pods, pulp and nibs.

Mushrooms are one of the most sustainably produced food crops, and Jersey Mike’s is highlighting that fact on Monday. The sandwich chain is promoting its #64 Grilled Portabella Mushroom and Swiss Sub for Earth Day. Jersey Mike’s is accompanying the earth-friendly promotion with a video post and social media campaign.

About 150 team members from Snooze A.M. Eatery are volunteering at community garden days in 12 markets where the chain operates. In its two larger markets, Snoozers are partnering with Denver Urban Gardens and Urban Farming Education in Phoenix. Snooze is also continuing its One Tree One Snoozer program, planting one tree for every employee, as well as a tree for every member of its My Snooze Bennyfits loyalty program who checks in on April 22.

For the third year in a row, dLeña in Washington, D.C. is celebrating the importance of bees in agricultural production with its Viva Abejas campaign. The fullservice restaurant, one of chef Richard Sandoval’s concepts, is offering food and drink items using sustainably obtained honey, pollen and other bee-derived ingredients. The menu includes Duck Confit Tacos, a Margarita Royale, a Golden Mezcal Old Fashioned and Honey Vanilla Cheesecake.

Foodservice provider Delaware North is also running a campaign in support of bees with The Bee Cause Project. Over 100 of the company’s locations in airports, casinos, stadiums, arenas, national parks and restaurants are offering a Bee’s Harvest Margarita or a Bourbon Bee’s Knees on Monday and through May 20 (World Bee Day) to promote awareness of our planet’s pollinators. Guests will receive educational material about bees through an interactive augmented reality experience and have the opportunity to answer trivia questions. A portion of proceeds will be donated to the nonprofit Bee Cause Project.

Chicagoland RPM Restaurants under the Lettuce Entertain You Enterprises banner implemented a composting program inclusive of glass, cardboard and food waste. The group partnered with WasteNot and that company trained the staff and provided bins and composting bags. At RPM Steak, the kitchen gets in large beef loins and cuts them down into 12-ounce strip steaks, then uses the trim for steak tartare and its Wagyu smashburger. The beef fat is rendered to create “steak butter,” which garnishes every steak instead of dairy butter. Earth Day puts these sustainability efforts in the spotlight.

Sixty Vines, a restaurant chain committed to eco-conscious wine on tap, is hosting events all weekend leading up to Earth Day. Brunch & Learn on Saturday features a roving Sustainability Somm to educate guests on the impact of wine-in-kegs as opposed to bottles. On Sunday, a pop-up market of local businesses offers a curated collection of earth-friendly gifts, and a Sustainable Sips Wine Social on Monday includes complimentary wine tastings. Throughout the three days, consumers are encouraged to bring in corks, clothing and batteries for recycling, and those who contribute a bag of corks will receive a free glass of wine.

Lola 55, a zero-waste restaurant kitchen, and The Plot, a plant-based eatery, teamed up to offer a menu of earth-friendly food and drinks. Davin Waite of The Plot created a plant-forward lineup, ranging from a Beet Pastor Taco to a Carrot Adobada Taco and Quinoa Ceviche Tostadas, while Lola 55 beverage director Gareth Moore mixed up a three zero-waste cocktails. The trio includes the PinAvo Margarita using a vegan fat wash from leftover avocados; Green Gold with house-made cordials steeped with citrus peels; and the Cucumber Guavaloma garnished with repurposed vegetable scraps.

Oakland, California-based Peerless Coffee & Tea released its first ROC or Regenerative Organic Certified coffee blend. The blend combines coffees from Coop Soppexcca Las Hermanas in Nicaragua with bird-friendly washed beans from Coop Asprasar in Colombia. The former is Fair Trade certified known for gender inclusion and empowerment of female farmers. Along with Earth day, the ROC coffee commemorates the 100th anniversary of Peerless.