CAMBRIDGE

Catalyst

Chef/Owner William Kovel’s passion for simple, delicious food is reflected in Catalyst Restaurant’s modern American cuisine. Catalyst celebrates each season by featuring the best ingredients from a wide range of farms and food producers in the region, focusing on locally grown organic produce and wild and farm-raised food from sustainable practices.

Diners can catch a glimpse of the chef at work in the chef’s dining area, while atrium dining, with its floorto- ceiling 30-foot windows, supplies plenty of natural light throughout the year. In the spring, summer and fall months, the covered and heated outdoor patio offers a beautifully landscaped spot for al fresco dining. 300 Technology Sq., Cambridge. 617- 576-3000. CatalystRestaurant.com.

GROTON

Farm To Table Café at Groton Wellness

Located within its Medical and Spa Center, the Farm To Table Café at Groton Wellness offers nourishing meals, homemade soups, rejuvenating smoothies, organic coffee or tea and home baked desserts. The Café serves only the freshest, finest-quality organic and all-natural ingredients, with many gluten-free and vegan dishes offered daily. Ingredients are purchased from local and sustainable farms whenever possible, and meals are prepared without using refined flours or sugars.

Natural Foods Chef Karen Zimmerman creates daily dishes using homemade condiments, nourishing bone broths and sauces and chemicalfree meats and produce. Diners can be assured that meat, poultry and eggs are grass-fed, hormone-free and pasture-raised.

“Food is medicine; food is energy,” says Zimmerman. “Eating sustainably grown vegetables and humanely treated animals is the only way I see for creating health in ourselves and the world.” Mill Run Plaza, 493-495 Main St., Groton. 978- 449-9919. GrotonDentalWellness.com/Farm-Table-Cafe.

NEWTON

Farmstead Table

Husband-and-wife co-owners Chad and Sharon Burns have created an innovative classic American country kitchen, inspired by the fresh, pure ingredients of local farmers. At the entrance to Farmstead Table, a blackboard lists the local farmers and purveyors whose products the restaurant uses. They blend French technique with their own culinary creativity to created dishes with ingredients that speak for themselves. Diners can pair meals with cocktails, often showcasing spirits from local distilleries, domestic craft brews and finely curated wines.

They share, “We are dedicated to being actively involved in our community, contributing sustainable, responsibly sourced product and knowledge, and in doing so, establishing ourselves as a place for our community members to gather.” 71 Union St., Newton. 617- 928- 6000. FarmsteadTable.com.

WATERTOWN

Porcini’s Restaurant

Since 1996, Chef Rodney Moreira has been growing fresh herbs and vegetables on Porcini’s garden patio beginning in late April/early May, and incorporates them into many of the dishes he serves each night. Diners enjoy dishes that include green and purple basil, rosemary, mint, jalapeno hot peppers, tomatoes, eggplant, green and red peppers and scallions. Dining is available on the patio with seating up to 40 guests from late spring through early fall and can be reserved for special family or corporate events. 68 School St., Watertown. 617-924- 2221. Porcinis.com.

ALL AROUND BOSTON

Clover Food Lab

Twelve locations (five restaurants and seven food trucks) are scattered around Boston, all serving a menu that changes day-to-day to stay in sync with the best-tasting seasonal ingredients. Founder and CEO Ayr Muir says, “Clover food is fast food. We are obsessed with speed; our average serve times are around 3.5 minutes.”

Despite their fast preparation, fresh food—they do not own any freezers—is cut as close as possible to when it is served. They typically use 30 to 60 percent organic ingredients depending on the time of year, and 40 to 85 percent of their ingredients are sourced from the Northeast. Headquarters: 7 Holyoke St., Cambridge. CloverFoodLab.com.

Metro Pedal Power

Not a restaurant, but rather a produce distribution solution between the farmer and restaurant produce buyers, Metro Pedal Power delivers farm-fresh produce to restaurants with chefs that want to source as much of their food as local as possible. Deliveries are made on Metro Pedal Power’s fleet of pedal-powered vehicles (bicycles), eliminating gas-powered vehicles from the last mile of inter-city freight routes, a concept that the team of dedicated individuals believes in. Wenzday Jane of Metro Pedal Power says that many of the chefs that are passionate about local produce work in small restaurants requiring small orders, so sending a truck with only 30 to 40 pounds of produce is wasteful. “That kind of trip is really easy for us to make on our pedalpowered vehicles.” They also make to-go deliveries for some local area restaurants, perform waste hauling and offer same- and next-day parcel service. 617-776-3700. MetroPedalPower.com.