ABC KITCHEN

Jean Georges still has the Midas touch: ABC Kitchen, his farm-to-table Flatiron favorite was named best new restaurant of 2011 by the James Beard Foundation. Why? For one, everything here is sustainable. The menus, executed by chef Dan Kluger, are made of recycled paper and placed on cardboard from the store’s delivery boxes, and all leftovers are sent to compost. The menu items are almost all local, like the fried calamari dusted with crushed pretzels from the Union Square Market. Even 90 percent of the wine list is biodynamic, organic or sustainable. Highly recommended are the split pea soup with carrots and mint, and the steamed halibut with shitake mushrooms, avocado and asparagus juice. And just when you thought ABC couldn’t be more virtuous, they offer several ways to balance out all the wholesome goodness: consider the ginger margarita, basil daiquiri, or the mothership of all desserts: the salted caramel and peanut ice cream and candied popcorn sundae.