For chef Jonathon Sawyer, "green" goes beyond what's served on the plates in his Cleveland, Ohio restaurant, The Greenhouse Tavern. It began with the restaurant's build-out in a former hat and wig store on the city's revitalized East Fourth Street. Sawyer and his partners worked with U.S. Green Building Council-affiliated interior designer Jonathan Sin-Jin Satayathum to create Ohio's first nationally certified green restaurant.

The Greenhouse Tavern has an instantly old patina, thanks to salvaged and repurposed details throughout--woodwork made from Civil War-era barns and light fixtures built around old bicycle wheels, for instance. When recycled materials weren't practical, the greenest possible new materials were chosen. Eco-friendly poured concrete that contains ash byproduct from electrical and coal-burning plants was used for the floors, and there are LED light fixtures throughout. There is low-VOC paint on the walls and water-saving fixtures in the restrooms.

Of course, the food served is green too, with all ingredients carefully sourced, mostly from local farms. As Sawyer told the Nature Conservancy, "Upwards of 90% of what we get is local or organic, or both." And Sawyer and his six-year-old son even forage for mushrooms and greens for the kitchen.

So how does all this greenness taste? In 2009, Bon Appétit named The Greenhouse Tavern one of the ten best in the country, and in 2010, Food & Wine named Sawyer one of the nation's best new chefs. Chef Sawyer's ability to produce award-winning cuisine while sticking to green principles makes him Character Approved indeed.

[Images: The Greenhouse Tavern, Metromix]