Uploaded to flickr.com by DistractedMind
“Ordering out” is a common occurrence in many households. In our home we find ourselves phoning in an order at the end of a long week (especially during the school year) or Saturdays at lunch, though there are exceptions to those patterns. As I reached for a helping of moo shu pork a week or so ago I noticed the container wasn’t what I was expecting. It was reusable and recyclable. I made a mental note to start compiling a short-list of restaurants that offer to-go or delivery containers that are better for the environment than the old stand-bys of Styrofoam, wax paper, and the like. My criteria were simple: give me packaging I can easily reuse, recycle, or that is biodegradable; bonus points for using organic or locally-sourced products and using other green strategies within the restaurant. I’ve often read to vote with your wallet (or purse) and let establishments know you appreciate the lengths they go to in an effort to be socially or ecologically responsible. Of course, it helps if you like the product the packaging holds.
Here’s the start of my list—not in any way meant to be exhaustive or complete. Please fee free to leave a comment adding information about other restaurants or take-out places on the Hill. I imagine there will be a “part two” to this post in the near future.
I enjoy a good sandwich, and why not a side of deep-fried thingies too? Taylor Gourmet packages their hot subs in aluminum foil, cradles the risotto balls and ravioli in biodegradable paperboard that is then wrapped in foil, and offers paper bags for carry-out. (Aluminum foil is recyclable in DC, by the way.) The H Street location also employs low-energy lighting and green cleaning products. These guys even devote a part of their website to their green efforts and recycle their fryer oil.
The almost-new Ted’s Bulletin does a good job in providing greener doggie bags. Food can be taken home in a paperboard container, which is recyclable, maybe even compostable. A single pop-tart is provided in a paper sleeve. Much of the inside of the restaurant was salvaged and reused from a site in Philadelphia, which kept the stuff out of a landfill somewhere.
To-go containers at Le Pain Quotidien take on a variety of shapes and sizes depending on what you plan to eat, but similar paperboard containers are offered when you can’t finish your sit-down meal. They also bake with organic ingredients and their communal tables are reclaimed wood, which means trees weren’t annihilated to create them.
Pizza has always been the ecological front-runner in delivery foods. The flat cardboard box is recyclable and has been for decades. So we must stop and salute places like Al’s Gourmet Pizza, New York Pizza, and even Domino’s. We don’t really do delivery pizza all that often as I’m originally from New York and, well don’t get THIH started on pizza pickiness again. Now if we can just limit the grease that saturates our recyclable cardboard boxes…Pies come in all types, though, and Dangerously Delicious uses the same pizzeria-esque cardboard transport containers for its decadent desserts. Individual slices also come in recyclable boxes.
Oh yes, and that moo shu pork. Hunan Dynasty has been serving the Hill for years and when you get delivery from them, many of their dishes come in reusable plastic containers. We’ve found the vessels to be dishwasher and microwave safe. The rice still comes in the traditional Chinese food containers, but the cardboard is recyclable (just toss the little metal handle).
Yes, delivery often arrives in a plastic bag. Horrible, horrible plastic…which is recyclable, and reusable.
So what did your take-out arrive in last Friday night?
No styrofoam was accepted in the making of this post.
