At the Jonathan Club downtown, not everyone took it well when an infrequently used paddle tennis court on a fifth-floor roof was sacrificed to gem lettuce, swiss chard and microgreens.
Executive chef Jason McClain, of course, was thrilled. His father, a retired landscape architect, flew in from Alabama to build the garden, installing neat rows of galvanized horse troughs in which vegetables and herbs now grow.
Club members walking on the artificial turf track nearby pass tubs filled with citrus and fruit trees. The dinner menu lists "our home-grown items": broccolini, baby carrots, yuzu, blueberries, figs, snap peas and heirloom tomatoes.
"I mean, you cut a tomato and it's like a real tomato. The juice runs down your arm. It's never been refrigerated," McClain, dressed in crisp fresh chef's whites, said Tuesday morning to a busload of visitors on a daylong tour of urban agriculture and local food systems."