BETHLEHEM -- Root Restaurant has one of the most unique menus in the North Country; it is constantly changing to accommodate the foods that are seasonally available in New England.

Opened in January, Root is bringing the farm-to-table ethos to the North Country. The restaurant's chef and culinary staff work with a number of local farmers from New Hampshire and New England to deliver fresh food to their customers.

“If something's in season, we go by what the farmers have on hand, versus us telling them what to grow,” says chef Rich Larcom.

Speaking of the farm-to-table ideal behind the restaurant, Larcom says, “It's been a trend for maybe 10 years, but nobody in the area was doing it at the time, so I think there was a need for it.

“More and more farms … are growing some creative products, so it was due,” Larcom adds. “Vermont has been on board with that concept for quite a while.”

Larcom hails from Oregon, moving to Bethlehem in 2002. He has a long relationship with local, fresh food.

“Growing up, we always had a garden,” he said. “We always had wild game and things like that.”

Larcom was chef at a number of North Country restaurants, including Bailiwicks and Elements, before starting Root with restaurant owner Christina Ferraro.

According to Ferraro, one reason she opened Root was to be able to serve customers with food allergies.

“Because we make everything from scratch, you know what's in it,” Ferraro said.

In addition, there is an open kitchen at Root, enabling any customer with a question about the food to talk to chef Larcom directly.

“I don't know how many times I have had someone walk right up to me in the kitchen and go, 'Hey, this is great,' or ask me, 'Can I get this vegan, or without gluten?' and I can answer those,” Larcom says. “It's a really unique thing, and the first time I've really worked in an open kitchen.”

“I always thought it would be really bad,” he adds, “but there's a lot of mutual benefits to customer/kitchen interaction that a lot of restaurants can't offer.”

To keep their menu consistently fresh means offering food that is in season. According to Larcom, there are benefits and drawbacks from this approach.

“It can be stressful,” he says, “and sometimes your regular customers get a little confused, because something they had really liked is gone.”

The other side, of course, is the freshness of the available food. “It's cliché,” Larcom says, “but you really can tell the difference … and also, I think people take a little pride in it.”

Some of the local farms that Root works with include Meadowstone Farm in Bethlehem and Pinestead Farm in Franconia. They also take produce from local foragers and people whose gardens are growing too much of one particular item. Rhubarb is an oft-donated plant.

A popular menu item is Root's “25 Mile Meat Loaf,” a meat loaf that is made with meats sourced from a 25-mile radius around the restaurant. Currently, the meat loaf is made with pork, beef and elk, but other meats, such as goat, can also be incorporated.

Farm to table cocktails

The restaurant recently won a Best of New Hampshire Award for its signature farm-to-table cocktails, including a Sorrel Mojito and “Barbarita,” a rhubarb margarita. The restaurant makes its own bitters, infuses its own flavored vodkas and makes own limoncello, among other things. It has a full-service bar and serves wine and beer as well.

In addition, Root recently embarked on a project that is meant to give back to the surrounding community. Larcom and Ferraro are helping to revive the Bethlehem community gardens, working with the children of the town's summer recreation program as well as girls enrolled in the educational and transitional program Sovereign Journey.

The children are growing tomatoes, squash and peppers in the community garden boxes, and Ferraro says that Larcom will prepare food for the program participants at the end of the session.

“It will teach the kids just to try to get the kids to eat healthier, maybe spark interest so that they might want to have a garden at home,” said Ferraro.

Root hopes that this program will continue to grow and spark interest in the community gardens once again.