Root of the Matter

At one North Carolina restaurant, vegetables grown on-site turn into plated works of art

- EMORY RAKESTRAW

In Wilmington, North Carolina, the Green House is not just an homage to the restaurant's plant-based menu-it's an entire experience. Attached to the restaurant, a small greenhouse comprised of 18 tower gardens is overseen by in-house horticulturist Michelle Lyon-Heatherly. It was over a lunch date that Green House owner and longtime vegan Anastasia Worrell first spoke of these restaurant plans with LyonHeatherly. Worrell's idea to bring vegan fine dining to Wilmington was thanks to her friend and now business partner Laura Tiblier, a fellow restaurateur who previously opened Ceviche's with her husband, Hunter. Then came Peruvianborn executive chef Mauricio Huarcaya, who now looks to his fine-dining background to bring a "new" kind of ceviche to the Green House. At the merging of these paths, the Green House is finding its identity while sticking to its roots as a restaurant meant to evolve the idea of farm-to-table.

Local diners go for the unexpected, while those from out of town-often members of one of the many film crews regularly shooting productions in the area, or related actors-find comfort in a concept familiar to their West Coast home base. Yet Worrell, a seasoned restaurateur, is still determining if Wilmington is ready.

"Sustainability, being vegan, and part of our bar program being zero-proof is something we believe in. It's a passion project," she says. "Our menu is fluid. We're constantly adjusting based on what's available and what's in season. We're here embracing vegetables as art and putting our farmers on a pedestal."