Aside from fireworks and warmer weather, July will bring an indoor hydroponic garden and heirloom vegetables to Syracuse’s oldest commercial district.

Originally slated to open this spring, Eden, a farm-to-table restaurant in Hanover Square, will open this summer. The delay is due to a few minor issues with architecture and meeting codes within the 120-year-old building on Genesee Street. Those involved with the restaurant are currently busy preparing for its opening.

Eden will serve locally-sourced, sustainably-produced cuisine in the old Flagship Securities Building. Partner and Chef Rich Strub said the restaurant will focus on “what the food is, what the ingredients are and how they’re sourced.”

Eden has partnered with a number of local farms that share similar values, including Greyrock Farm and Kilcoyne Farm, to source its ingredients.

Grey Barn Farm, located in Tully, will provide Eden with specialty heirloom vegetables. Owner Dan Button said his farm is “rooted in local pride,” with minimal tillage and zero chemical use. Button is excited about Eden’s opening and said the farm is honored to be part of such a unique concept.

“Chef Rich has used our products in the past. His restaurant will be an adventure,” he added.

Strub’s passion for culinary arts is accompanied by a developing appreciation for sustainability and the processes by which ingredients are produced and procured. He plans to tap into that with Eden.

“For me, it’s not just like planting a seed and letting it grow. There’s a lot more to it than that,” Strub said. “I think that being a chef and being in the food industry, you have a responsibility to look at things ecologically too.”

Sustainable agriculture will make its way to Eden in the form of a hydroponic garden, likely in a spot that affords customers the opportunity to learn about the vegetables they’re eating. Strub stressed the importance of knowing the story behind the food.

Some of the produce grown in the garden will be harvested for use in nightly specials and garnishes, and the eatery will grow its own in-house herbs. Using a portion of Eden’s food waste, a vermicomposting system will produce the system’s fertilizer.

The menu will feature “new American” cuisine, which Strub described as regional fare dependent on season. The menu will constantly rotate with a base structure of six to eight starters, six to eight entrees and four to six desserts. Eden will serve dinner five nights per week, Tuesday through Saturday.

Strub noted that he’s drawing inspiration from famed Danish chef René Redzepi, who said “when you eat at a restaurant, you should know what time of year it is and where you are.”

He will be joined in this endeavor by partners Adam Anderson and Eve De Rosa, who own the building. Both Anderson and De Rosa are researchers and neuroscientists at Cornell University. Anderson studies the neuroscience of human smell and taste and how they relate to emotions, while De Rosa studies the neuroscience of learning and memory. Eden will serve as an opportunity to see their research come to life.

“More than a restaurant, we are starting this venture as an experiment in sensory experience,” Anderson said in an email.

Last summer, Strub experimented with a custom-made grill and a “fire cage” from Grillworks, honing his skills with open-flame cooking. The three partners came to the conclusion that every meal at Eden will be cooked over a live flame.

“We hope it will serve as an experimental food lab to continuously reinvent itself but around the oldest technology available — live fire,” Anderson said. “Fire leaves an indelible smell and taste, something our evolutionary ancestors would find familiar. In this way, live fire cooking (is timeless), and we wanted it to be central to the eating experience.”

As for Eden’s atmosphere, Strub said it will not be “super stuffy” — he’d like it to be the type of restaurant his father would eat at.

“My dad is a steak-and-potatoes guy, and I want him to be able to come in here and enjoy it just as much as a foodie from New York City.”

The restaurant’s renovation process can be followed on Eden’s Instagram account. In total, 12 tons of materials have been removed from the former bank vault, including four layers of wall that resurfaced the original brick.

The eatery’s penchant for reclamation transcends its cooking. Strub said they are planning to build the bar out of the reclaimed flooring and a few four-by-four timbers that were under the original stage area.

Overall, though, Anderson said he hopes Eden adds to the revival of downtown Syracuse.

“More than just food, we hope to create emotional and memorable experiences,” he said.

Published on April 1, 2018 at 10:37 pm

Contact Adam: aglehner@syr.edu