Northern Spy Food Co. (CLOSED)

Part of the problem with eating well—healthfully, deliciously and environmentally correctly—is that it’s expensive. Enter Northern Spy Food Co., a restaurant that serves locally sourced meals at reasonable prices (no dish costs more than $15). Chef Nathan Foot’s frequently changing menu is based almost entirely on what’s in season (Northern Spy is an apple indigenous to the Northeast). Rounding out the farm-to-table experience is a general store filled with locavore staples—grass-fed milk, McClure’s pickles, salted caramels. Though the urban-rustic conceit is reaching critical mass—the clapboard walls and beat-up school chairs are by-the-books at this point—value sets Northern Spy apart. The food isn’t fancy, but it satisfies. A “chicken and egg” sandwich memorably combines pan-crisped dark meat, zingy chimichurri, arugula and a poached egg on Sullivan Street bread. A runny egg also graced a hearty salad of escarole, country ham and roasted turnips in a mustard vinaigrette. Toothsome pastured pork loin shared the plate with rich pork jus and a “green saut” of leeks, green cabbage and brussels-sprout leaves. Less successful was the Montauk squid, an ill-defined mass of bland calamari, navy beans, carrots, more cabbage and tough-to-detect pasilla peppers. Red quinoa, meanwhile, found a bitter mate in radishes in an unpalatable side. As for drinks and dessert, we felt obligated to try a glass of dry, tart Northern Spy hard cider—offered along with other wines and local beers—plus a so-so wedge of Northern Spy apple pie, packed with slices of dry, al dente fruit. We preferred the bread pudding—eggy bites topped with whiskey-laced whipped cream. If this is eating well, we’ll take seconds.