South Florida Food 50: Adri Garcia of Verde Kitchen Café
Adri Garcia, Executive chef of Verde Kitchen Café at Verde Community Farm & Market
Why she’s Food 50: She’s helping to lead the charge of Miami-Dade’s most innovative farm-to-table program.
A longtime advocate of plant-based cooking and healthful school lunches, chef Adri Garcia is a natural fit to head up Verde Kitchen Café. The 8-month-old, open-air lunch destination in Homestead is part of Verde Community Farm & Market, a joint effort between Urban Oasis Project and Carrfour Supportive Housing. People transitioning out of homelessness help work a 22-acre organic farm while living at an adjacent eco-friendly housing complex.
The produce they grow is available to the public at the on-site market and on Garcia’s menu, which features the likes of umami sliders, made with grass-fed beef from Ocala, to baked goods and leafy choices like the farmhouse salad, made with red dragon fruit, sunflower shoots and microgreens. “What we’re doing here is trying to get the whole community in on the same level,” Garcia says. “Everything is coming from the ground up, and it’s good for you.”
Where to find her: Verde Kitchen Café, 12690 SW 280th St., Homestead; 305-257-2005
Twitter: @MiseenPlaceChef
This story was originally published February 16, 2016 at 4:00 AM with the headline "South Florida Food 50: Adri Garcia of Verde Kitchen Café."