Any restaurant that allows me to walk in casually wearing sneakers and carrying a skateboard is a friend of mine. Remix…Any restaurant that features its own sneaker and skateboard line is what I’d consider to be a very close friend of mine. But let’s not misread the subtext kids; entering a restaurant as such must be done effortlessly with style and class. Which is exactly what I did this past weekend as I “rode” into The Spotted Pig’s Restaurant, located on the quiet west village corner of W11th and Greenwich Street, and was greeted generously by their warm and laid back staff whom never fail to greet you with open arms, a smile, and a good joke, just the same as if they’d run into you on the street.

But don’t call it a restaurant as I’ve been told: “The Pig,” despite an Italian-accented menu crafted by English expert April Bloomfield, belongs to that British subgenre called the “gastro-pub,” a bar serving simple, straightforward food. Now don’t get it twisted, “gastro pubs” are categorized as bars with food, but usually with chefs way too talented to be relegated to equal status. Similar to the upscale American diner, it is an Everyman cultural icon suddenly given a serious focus on good, fresh, often locally grown food.

While there have been many write ups on The Pig, it’s food, and it’s list of highly respected partners/owners that have succeeded in reproducing the comfortably decrepit vibe of old New York taverns, “now personalized with enough porcine paraphernalia to give Babe the willies.” All have failed to mention that for every carved, drawn, or painted pig that graces the brick walls, there’s a framed illustration of a slender bean pod, lettuce leaf, or some other presumably organic green matter. Thus The Pig contributes to the NYC borough and the wellness of its neighbors, beyond its functional role as a chic meeting ground upon which to be fueled with great food and great drinks. With a gifted English chef and a focus on fresh seasonal ingredients, feature stories have mentioned The Pig to be New York’s first gastro-pub that raises the bar on bar food. GreenJAR now informs you that the food is so fresh and so clean, that the majority of it is completely compostable. And done so right on site by (and initiated by) it’s very own employees. Not only a safe heaven for those that enjoy a good burger and nice glass of wine, but simultaneously and ironically for vegetarians and environmentalists as well. The Pig, A Restaurant of many firsts, is also the first green gastro pub in its aesthetics, production, and disposal of food as well.

The Environmental Protection Agency reports that the United States produces approximately 220 million tons of garbage each year. For all you sports junkies, this is equivalent to burying more than 82,000 football fields six feet deep in compacted garbage.Yard trimmings and food residuals together constitute 24% of the U.S. municipal solid waste stream. That’s a lot of waste to send to landfills when it could become useful and environmentally beneficial compost instead! The Pig is aware of this and is doing it’s part to decrease this annual amount by partaking in weekly composting.

Long used in subsistence farming and home gardening for creating garden-ready soil, composting is becoming increasingly important and better understood as a tool for reducing municipal solid waste, and reducing the amount of green waste going into landfills. (*The decomposition of organic material sent to landfills is a principal cause of methane, an important greenhouse gas, making reduction of organic waste being land filled a key element in the fight against climate change.)

Composting offers the obvious benefits of resource efficiency and creating a useful product from organic waste that would otherwise have been land filled; it also saves the restaurant a considerable amount of money.

The Pig may have been conceptually created off of the idea of old taverns, but there is nothing old about this place. From the stand point of this article, it is arguably one of the most revolutionary restaurants (err..pub) in its diverse role that it plays within the environment. With a power team behind it that consists of Ken Friedman, Mario Batali, Joe Bastianich, and April Bloomfield, oh and a landlord named Shawn Carter, it is without a doubt the Future of the “Food” Business. Something tells me these guys have all known this for quite some time.