RED DEVON’S GREEN MISSION

from Edible Hudson Valley by Lisa Dellwo
Spring 2009

Sustainability rules, from the remodel to the menu.

Tucked into a magazine rack in the lobby of Red Devon Restaurant is an eye-popping document: six pages, single-spaced, describing the building’s environmental and energy-saving features (click here to read it). From the top of its solar-panel-equipped roof to the 400 foot wells that fuel the ground-source heat pumps, the restaurant is a model of green design.

The list goes on to describe measures like recycled flooring, indigenous landscaping, improved insulation, low-flush toilets and compact fluorescents that are familiar to anyone reading up on green building.  But the real innovation and potential energy savings are in the kitchen, where heat from the dishwasher and exhaust system is reclaimed and where sensors in the hood adjust the exhaust and air fan speeds.

Red Devon is situated in Bangall, a tiny hamlet south of Stanfordville, at a site that many will remember as the former home of the Stage Stop Steakhouse.  That restaurant’s large, sprawling building was retained, but remodeled so thoroughly that it looks almost new.  It’s divided into three rooms: a market/cafe serving breakfast and lunch and offering produce, groceries, and takeout meals; a warm, cozy bar; and a formal dining room open for dinners and Sunday brunch.  An outdoor seating area will open in the summer.

The restaurant is the brainchild of Julia and Nigel Widdowson who since 2002 have been raising Red Devon cattle on their farm outside Millbrook.  This heritage breed thrives on a diet of grass, and the small herd–no at about 22 head–is moved to a different patch of pasture every single day.

For the Widdowsons, who are active in environmental and land conservation causes, opening a restaurant was a way of showcasing not only their own Red Devon beef, but also the products of many other nearby farms.  The goal, says Julia Widdowson, is to focus on regional, seasonal and sustainably grown foods.  “The easiest part has been sustainable,” she says, adding that once the spring growing season begins they’ll be able to list more local growers on the menu.

The preference for local goes beyond the menu and includes the baskets in the market, which were woven by a local artisan, and the light fixtures throughout, fashioned from thin veneer that showcases the beauty of the wood grain.  Local carpenters built the shelving in the cafe and market and refinished the oak flooring and the massive bar–which reportedly once belonged to actor James Cagney, who owned a neighboring farm.

The fact that Red Devon is so strongly mission-driven explains the focus on green features in the remodeling.  Julia Widdowson says that, given the emphasis on sustainability in the menu, “it would have strange to turn our back on the question in the remodel”.

Architect Damon Strub of Nomad Architecture was given the task of designing a remodel that made the restaurant not only look better but function better.  “Green” restaurants are somewhat in fashion,” he says.  “However, I have not heard of one that comes close to the level of the commitment of the Widdowsons.”  He says that the restaurant is “a showcase of what could be achieved.”

For most of the green features,m Strub did calculations to forecast the expected energy saved, water conserved or material kept out of the waste stream.  “To our surprise,” he says, “the kitchen exhaust hood is estimated to be the singe greatest energy-saving feature.”  Conventional hoods run constantly, consuming enormous amounts of electricity.

The hood in Red Devon, with sensors that turn it on only when needed, was estimated to create more than $5,000 in annual energy savings.

Like many early adopters, though, Red Devon experienced some bugs with the hood that have taken months to iron out.  The technology was young enough, says Strub, that no one involved in the installation was familiar with it.  But he says it’s now offered by a number of suppliers, and “given the projected savings, I can’t see why every restaurant would not jump to install one.”

RESOURCES

Architect: Normad Architecture, Long Island City, NY
Contractor: Meyer Contracting Corporation, Pleasant Valley, NY
Windows: Integrity from Marvin, Williams Lumber, Hopewell Junction, NY
Kitchen Exhaust Hood: Cadexair
Solar Panel System: Sunpower from Hudson Valley Energy Clean, Rhinebeck, NY
Solar Water Heater: Suda Seido from Phoenix Energy Supplies, Auburn NY
Interior Wood Trim: Locally produced and salvaged lumber, Antique and Vintage Woods of America, Pine Plains NY
Interior Paint: ICI Paints from Sun Wallpaper and Paint, Poughkeepsie NY