Restaurant Nora
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
| Restaurant Nora | |
|---|---|
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 Interactive map of Restaurant Nora | |
| Restaurant information | |
| Established | 1979 |
| Closed | June 30, 2017 |
| Head chef | Nora Pouillon |
| Food type | Local/organic |
| Location | 2132 Florida Avenue NW, Washington, D.C., 20008, United States |
| Website | noras |
Restaurant Nora was a restaurant owned by chef Nora Pouillon in the Dupont Circle neighborhood of Washington, D.C., that opened in 1979 and closed in 2017. It has been reported as America's first certified organic restaurant.[1]
In 1979, chef Nora Pouillon opened Restaurant Nora on the corner of Florida Avenue and 21st in the DuPont Circle neighborhood.[1] Journalist Sally Quinn and her late husband, Washington Post executive editor, Ben Bradlee were early patrons and financial backers of the restaurant. Quinn offered a piece of advice: "Don't mention anything about being healthy and natural. That sounds so unappetizing. That sounds like hippie food." Pouillon ignored it, making her organic ingredients the focus of the restaurant.[2]
The early reviews for Nora's were mixed, with Robert Shoffner of the Washingtonian less than enthusiastic about Pouillon's food.[3][4] In 1980, The Washington Post's Phyllis Richman noted that "the cooking has matured," calling Nora's "a sophisticated return to old-fashioned home cooking, with dishes from here and there but ingredients only from impeccable sources that raise their meats without chemicals."[5]
By the early 1990s, Nora's became a destination for D.C.'s media and political elite, particularly in the administration of President Bill Clinton.[4] In 1996, Chef Nora was named U.S.A. Chef of the Year by the American Tasting Institute, and she published a cookbook, Cooking with Nora : seasonal menus from Restaurant Nora : healthy, light, balanced, and simple food with organic ingredients.[6]
Organic certification
In the mid-1990s, Chef Nora began to investigate how Restaurant Nora could become an organic-certified restaurant and learned that no certification process existed. She decided to set about creating those standards.[1] She worked for two years with Oregon Tilth, a nonprofit membership organization dedicated to supporting and advocating organic food and farming. The Oregon Tilth Certified Organic Program was established in 1982 and is an Accredited Certifying Agent for the USDA's National Organic Program.[7] The resulting standard required that 95 percent of the food used, as a certified restaurant, must be obtained from USDA certified organic sources. "This meant obtaining proof of organic certification from all our suppliers," she says. Chef Nora complied with the lengthy requirements, and in 1999 Nora's became the first certified organic restaurant in the country.[7]
