For those experiencing “root vegetable fatigue,” there’s some promising news on the horizon. Spring is, indeed, upon us (however belated it may feel) — bringing with it a host of produce items that are not of the potato variety. Think: Fresh peas, ramps, rhubarb, morels. Foods with color. And for residents of Greater Boston, that means farm-to-fork dining replete with dishes that crunch, fresh greens, and fruit-laden desserts. 

So, in celebration of the impending season, here’s a look at what you can expect (read: salivate over) as the weather warms from the Boston area’s finest farm-to-fork restaurants. 

Woods Hill Pier 4

Stationed in Seaport at — you guessed it — Pier 4, this is the most urban constituent of the restaurant group that includes Woods Hill Table and Adelita, all of which serve up some of the most thoughtfully sourced, carefully curated food in the area. Not only does the Woods Hill team operate their own farm based in Bath, N.H., but the 360-acre property boasts cows, pigs, broiler chickens, laying hens, and lambs, as well as beehives and nearly 200 mushroom logs (the likes of which sprout an enormous variety of mushrooms). “Farm-to-table is our way of life and who we are,” says the group’s owner and operator, Kristin Canty. “The menu changes all of the time based on what’s in season and what the farmers bring in.”

As Canty explains it, relying on local produce means that many quintessential spring food items won’t be ready for use right at the top of the season. “In New England, our spring comes later, so our root vegetables are on the menu longer,” says Canty. “Then, in early spring, we’ll start to serve ramps and fiddleheads, which are always the first to arrive from our farm, followed by spring peas and asparagus.”

What’s more: In addition to stocking her restaurants with farm fresh goods, Canty is also working to launch a retail arm of Woods Hill Pier 4, set to open this spring. “We’ll be selling our farm fresh eggs, charcuterie, sheep skins, and meats as well as local dairy products,” Canty explains. “Toast, the team behind our point-of-sale system, is actually assisting us in setting it up through their retail arm, and they’ve been a huge help in getting us organized and ready.”

Urban Hearth

Urban Hearth is all about “slow food.” The women-owned Cambridge, Mass., destination is committed to serving farm-fresh, thoughtfully curated meals. “Our philosophy is simple: the more we know, the more we connect, and the more we care,” says chef and owner, Erin Miller. “Through farm-to-table practices, we’re not just serving meals; we’re cultivating a deeper understanding and appreciation for our food’s journey and the people behind it. This narrative, alongside the ingredients themselves, is an essential part of our product. We are, first and foremost, storytellers.”

When it comes to sourcing, the team at Urban Hearth has worked long and hard to build their network of local farms, fisheries, butchers and more — all in the New England area. “The heart of our sourcing lies in our farm community, which is both extensive and eclectic,” says Miller. “Our sourcing philosophy goes beyond just acquiring ingredients. We actively engage with our suppliers, occasionally working alongside them in their fields.”

And as far as seasonal shifts go, Miller says she’s always looking forward to spring — both for the barrage of tasty produce items, and the changing landscape throughout New England. The transition, as she explains it, begins around March, when foraging returns to favor (and the team’s famed Forager Salad hits the menu, made exclusively with timely produce found in and around Cambridge) — though this is all merely a prologue to the bounty April and May will bring. “By early May, our menu fully embraces the spring season, with every dish reflecting the vibrant colors and flavors of the season,” says Miller. “We incorporate green strawberries, which offer a unique balance of perfume and vegetal notes, alongside tender pea tendrils, peppery wild mustard, and the fir spears of Massachusetts asparagus. The result is a menu that takes on a decidedly verdant hue, mirroring the lush landscape outside.” 

Best of all, the menu is always changing. If you’ve visited Urban Hearth before, you can rest assured you won’t recognize even a single dish on the menu — among the things that make the team so innovative in their use of local lore. “We never repeat dishes,” says Miller. “In fact, it’s a bit of a standing joke in the restaurant that I can never remember what we serve from one menu to the next.”

Forage

“We start with the best local products from the best local farms,” and from there, they do their best not to screw it up, says Stan Hilbert, the man behind Cambridge’s Forage. With a tagline that reads “nothing fancy, nothing fussy,” the zero-waste restaurant is committed to making wildly fresh, tasty, seasonal food that feels accessible. 

According to Hilbert, more than 90 percent of the products used in the kitchen at Forage are sourced within New England (while the wine is not, of course, all local, the list is still built of natural, responsibility-farmed bottles). And, throughout the year, as new produce and protein items arrive, the team changes the menu not just seasonally, but daily. 

“Part of our zero-waste philosophy revolves around using each ingredient at least three times if we can,” Hilbert explains. “Maybe we’ll use the trim of the veggies to make stock, or when making jams in the summer, we’ll save the pulp to use in a drink or make a syrup we can use at the bar. Maybe we’ll dehydrate the scraps and grind them into a powder that we’ll use to amp up the flavor of a different dish.”

Come spring, then, when fresh veggies are in no short order, you can expect a wealth of creative and innovative dishes — the likes of which will remain a surprise…even to Hilbert. In fact, he says the chef won’t even know what inventive variations this spring will bring until he has fresh produce to experiment with. There is, however, an exception: “One thing we do know for sure is that there will be an ‘asparagus dinner’ — we do one every year,” he explains. “The fresh stuff is like night and day compared with the generic or imported stuff. It’s so good, we base an entire dinner around it. We’ve done things like soups, egg dishes, desserts. Last year we did an asparagus flan, and the year before, I think we did an asparagus upside down cake.“ All of which is to say, at Forage, the spring asparagus is that good. 

Saltbox

For Saltbox chef Ben Elliott, the farm-to-table ethos runs deep. Elliott’s grandparents built Saltbox Farm in the ‘40s in Concord, Mass. His mother grew up on the farm, and as a child, he, too, spent a great deal of his youth working (and playing) on the property — before moving in full-time with his wife and kids to helm the whole operation. “I opened the restaurant because of the farm. They’re basically one entity,” he says. “We cook what we grow, and we outsource all else we need. Yes, we’re at the mercy of Mother Nature, but that’s just how it is.”

Elliott is unique in that he serves as both chef and farmer. He sees how crops are growing, what’s thriving, what will arrive en masse, what will be sparse — and as he tends to the crops, he drafts his seasonal menus accordingly. “I have such a close, firsthand relationship with the harvest,” he says. 

Of course, nothing exists in a vacuum — Elliott and his team still rely on other growers throughout the Concord area to fill in produce gaps they don’t meet with their own crops, and vice versa. And as he sees it, that’s part of the beauty of the thing: “We’re so crazy, stupid, lucky to be part of this network of farms and farmers,” he says. “It feels like we’re all united in this goal to eat organic, local food, and we’re part of the movement together.”

At Saltbox, they revel in the few precious weeks when New England reaches its asparagus peak. “We love glazed asparagus with a soft poached egg on a salad of baby arugula — because arugula comes up at the same time,” says Elliott. “Maybe we do asparagus with a classic French gribiche sauce.” But  there’s more: He’s just as excited for rhubarb — a similarly-timed crop that he says can be used in far more ways than just strawberry-rhubarb pie (no shade to strawberry-rhubarb pie). “Rhubarb is such a spring-specific vegetable and it’s more versatile than people think,” he explains. “Instead of pie, we’ll often make a rhubarb shortcake. Or, say, we’ll make a rhubarb compote designed to pair with pork.”