JG Domestic

My sister works as a hostess at Iron Chef Jose Garces’s flagship restaurant, Amada. This Friday, Garces is opening JG Domestic, his seventh restaurant in Philadelphia. In order to train his staff and test the menu, Chef Garces opened the restaurant this week for staff-on-staff meals. Meaning, this afternoon I was able to have a delicious lunch with my sister (for free!!) in what is slated to be a Philadelphia “hotpot” seated only 20 feet from the iconic Jose Garces.

JG Domestic focuses on US domestic ingredients. According to our server, Chef Garces scoured the country for the best ingredients, which changes with the season. Some of these ingredients come from his very own farm in Pennsylvania, but some are flown from all the way from California. This restaurant highlights the best of American growers in the peak of their season.

According to NBC Philadelphia, Jose Garces describes “all domestic” as the following: "I don't want to say farm-to-table, because people get this idea about local farms growing and raising all of the ingredients. This is really about sourcing the absolute best ingredients wherever possible. If that means it's coming from the producers around here, all the better. I am getting my lamb from Elysian Fields right here in Pennsylvania. It's about the best ingredients coming from where they show the best. Wherever that may be.”

The restaurant is located in the lobby of the large Cira Center, a 29 story high rise. Within the restaurant, however, the atmosphere is far from sterile. Tables are long and wooden with cutouts for live trees. The periphery of the space was outlined with trellis, further promoting the earthy feel. There was even a “live wall,” which lined one side of the restaurant and housed hundreds of herbs. I asked if these were used in the cooking, and though the specific herbs were the ones found in the food, it was not from the plants on display due to health code regulations. That would have been local food!

We had access to the full menu, and though I was tempted to go with the Wagyu after reading of Steingarten’s experience with the Japanese meat, I could not resist the classic burger. The menu includes a second page listing where each ingredient is found. My menu for the lunch was the following:

Heirloom California popcorn with Vermont cheddar and homemade horseradish
Wolfe Neck’s Farm (Maine) Beef burger with New Jersey Tomatoes and California Point Reyes Blue Cheese
Duck Fat Fries
Our desserts included pumpkin and cream from a Pennsylvania farm

I found the concept behind JG domestic interesting because Garces focuses on quality ingredients, and thus went searching small farms, but chose not to limit himself to local. For him the benefits of small farms is in the quality of product, whereas others may be looking to support local businesses and reducing their carbon footprint, supporting the larger social, economic and environmental benefits of local eating.