Husband-and-wife restaurateurs Paris Smeraldo and Meg Lipke, owners of Northeast Kingdom in the up-and-coming Bushwick neighborhood of Brooklyn, are bringing new meaning to the terms farm-to-table and nose-tail. The restaurant is shifting to buying whole animals for Chef Kevin Adey to butcher himself, and it will then use every single part in a changing daily menu. Compared with the convention of buying meat piecemeal, they expect their profit margin to increase about 20 percent.
It’s not just about revenue, though, explains Smeraldo. “We could make more money doing it a different way,†he says. “It’s a much larger commitment. This is what good food’s about—greater connection to understanding where our food comes from and having relationships with farmers.†And, as you might expect in these corners of Brooklyn, it’s not just for meat: Smeraldo and Lipke forage for their own micro-vegetables when they’re in season around their second home in Hudson, N.Y.