The Farmplate Blog

Greens Restaurant was a pioneer in establishing vegetarian cuisine in the United States. Long affiliated with the San Francisco Zen Center (for many years, Zen students were the only employees at the restaurant), Greens has traditionally been a place for students to work together, extending their Buddhist practice into the workplace.

Serving local and healthy food goes hand-in-hand with the restaurant’s service orientation. "Sourcing locally, organically and sustainably is the heartbeat of Greens,” says Executive Chef Annie Somerville. “We support our local growers and producers, and they in turn support their families, employees and the greater community,” she says.

Somerville has earned a national reputation for her imaginative approach to vegetarian cooking. She is a popular teacher of cooking classes throughout the Bay Area, and is the author of two vegetarian recipe books. 

Chef Somerville provided FarmPlate a list of a number of the local food producers from whom she purchases ingredients. She says most of the food she buys for the restaurant comes from the Ferry Plaza Farmers Market in San Francisco, though many of the producers deliver directly to Greens.

Here is her list of local suppliers. Don’t forget to click on the business name to visit their FarmPlate profile. And show your support for the businesses by rating and reviewing them.

Green Gulch Farm • Muir Beach, CA - Lettuce, chard, kale, potatoes, fresh herbs 

Star Route Farms • Bolinas, CA - Spinach, beets, frisee, escarole

County Line Produce • Petaluma, CA - Lettuce, chicories, green beans 

My Little Farm • Santa Rosa, CA - Dry farmed French fingerling and German butterball potatoes

DeVoto Gardens • Sebastopol, CA - Gravenstein apples, Mutsu apples 

Knoll Farm • Brentwood, CA - Kadota and black mission figs, sweet 100 and sungold cherry tomatoes 

Everything Under the Sun • Winters, CA - Juliette tomatoes, zephyr summer squash

Dirty Girl Produce • Santa Cruz, CA - Early Girl tomatoes, broccoli romanesco 

Heirloom Organics • Hollister, CA - Broccoli di ciccio, kale, bok choy

Blossom Bluff Orchards • Parlier, CA - Peaches, nectarines

Tory Farms • Dinuba, CA - Oro blanco grapefruit, page mandarins

Hamada Farm • Kingsburg, CA - Apriums, dried fruit, cara cara oranges   

Yerena Farm • Castroville, CA - Strawberries, tayberries, squash blossoms 

Iacopi Farms • Half Moon Bay, CA - English peas, fava beans, dried Italian butter beans

Catalan Family Farm • Hollister, CA - Onions, summer squash, broccoli

Cowgirl Creamery • Point Reyes Station, CA - Point Reyes Original Blue, Cowgirl Creamery Wagon Wheel, Cowgirl Creamery Mt Tam

Andante Dairy • Petaluma, CA - Picolo, Rondo, Crottin

Sciabica’s California Extra Virgin Olive Oil • Modesto, CA - Marsala and Arbequina olive oil

Images courtesy of Greens Restaurant

Jeff Gangemi is FarmPlate's Director of Partnerships and Communications. A lover of both local and far-flung foods like soup dumplings and carnitas tacos, Jeff believes in the power of food, writing and entrepreneurship to effect social change.