RAINBOW LODGE
RAINBOW LODGE PHOTO COURTESY OF RAINBOW LODGE
Rainbow Lodge 2011 Ella Blvd.,713-861-8666, rainbow-lodge.com
Owner Donnette Hansen planted Rainbow Lodge’s first garden at the restaurant’s former location on Birdsall in 1995, and the tradition has continued and grown since the restaurant’s move to Ella Boulevard eight years ago. Right outside the restaurant is a small fenced patch where a few crops such as microgreens and garlic grow, as well as the herbs, which are cleverly planted in hanging shoe organizers. Across Ella Boulevard on 21st Street is the restaurant’s second and larger garden where crops such as kale, radishes, carrots, bok choy, tomatoes and citrus fruits find their home. Hansen has begun to expand her 21st Street garden by adding blackberry pots, drip irrigation and more frames for vines to climb. The kitchen attempts to use the harvest wherever possible, but the crops are predominantly highlighted on the chef ’s tasting menu. “I can write a menu for three weeks from now knowing what we are about to harvest. That way we can really highlight the ingredient rather than blend it in with others,” said Hansen.
PHOTO BY BECCA WRIGHT
PATRENELLA’S
Patrenella’s 813 Jackson Hill, 713-863-8223, patrenellas.net
Urban gardener Camille Waters first borrowed Patrenella’s land 18 years ago to start her local lettuce business. Appropriately nicknamed the Lettuce Queen, Waters sold her harvest to high-end Houston restaurants, and each year Patrenella’s would host a “Lettuce Entertain You” garden party to celebrate the garden’s bounty. Typically 12 or 15 restaurants set up booths and created dishes featuring the goodies from Waters’ garden. Hundreds of guests wandered the rows, sipping wine and exclaiming over the lush springtime harvest. When Waters relocated to the west coast of Mexico seven years ago, Sammy Patrenalla Sr. decided to take up gardening. “It was such a show-and-tell feature of my restaurant that I decided to continue it,” says Patrenella. Depending on the season, the one-acre garden is full of herbs, lettuces, tomatoes, peppers, carrots, beets, fruits and the restaurant’s famous cucuzza squash vines that drape over the patio. “The garden is a big asset to our menu,” explains Patrenella. It’s also part of the fun eating here. PHOTO BY KEVIN MCGOWAN
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