Eating local is the latest crazy in sustainability. Across the West innovative restaurants have advocated eating fresh, local foods for many years. Some early innovators in the San Franscisco Bay area were Greens, a classic vegetarian restaurant opened in 1979, in the Fort Mason Center and Alice Waters’ famous Chez Panisse, opened in 1971, in Berkeley.

For folks not familiar with the philosophy behind local cooking and eating, I happened upon this video (from Cooking Up a Story) of Stu Stein, describing the philosophy behind his new Portland restaurant: Terroir. It sounds like a great project. Stu also collaborated on this cookbook The Sustainable Kitchen and another restaurant in Ashland, the Peerless.

Another new Portland eatery has taken sustainable eating in different direction. Tired of drive throughs, Evan Dohrmann created the Little Red Bike Cafe with it’s “bike-thru” window. Customers on bikes get a 50 cent discount. Oregon Live gives the homestyle breakfasts and lunches high marks.