Bottega Restaurant and Cafe

2240 Highland Avenue South

Birmingham, AL 35205

www.bottegarestraunt.com/

(205) 933-2001

It’s easy to think of growing and buying locally as a messy process when compared to the corporate method. The image of an individual farmer growing food with the help of a few employees and then throwing the food haphazardly into a basket to be sold does not necessarily inspire. This image is beginning to change as more and more places start looking locally for their supplies. Certainly, the corporate method is organized, cheap, and fast, but quality can occasionally be questionable. This is not to say that big businesses are selling spoiled meat and produce; moreso, it is to say that local farmers that rely entirely on their product to survive will put more effort into to creating their best product because its all they have. For this reason, more and more restaurants and grocery stores that appeal to every walk of life are buying local and organically grown food.

Bottega Restaurant and Café, a restaurant on the upscale end in Birmingham, chooses to buy locally whenever possible. One area Bottega frequently purchases locally grown food from is the Jones Valley Urban Farm in Birmingham. Many of the dishes that include tomatoes,cucumbers, basil, and other forms of produce include items grown at the farm. The farm is a nonprofit organization that invests in the community by educating people on sustainable practices while engaging in those practices themselves. The phrase “we strive to use sustainably, humanely raised meats and produce whenever possible” appears at the bottom of the café menu to express this desire and practice to the customers.

The restaurant is divided into two distinct sections: the dining room and the café. In the dining room, the atmosphere is a bit more formalized and the food quality is a bit higher. The café has a more fun atmosphere that welcomes customers to stop in and have a drink when their day is starting to stress them out. Of course, the price reflects this difference. The average price for a main course in the the dining room is about $27.50 with sides being an extra $5; as opposed to the café, where the average price is about $12.75 including sides. Reservations are recommended for the dining room but none are necessary. The café has a less formal atmosphere and has faster accessibility to customers. Reservations can be made over the telephone or online as early as a month in advance and gift cards can also be purchased online at www.bottegarestaurant.com/. The Bottega Dining Room is open from 5:30 PM to 10:00 PM Monday through Saturday and the Bottega Café is open from 11:00 AM to 10:30 PM Monday through Saturday.

Micah