Greenbriar Inn
By Lauren Duncan

Chefs have a pretty nice life at the Greenbriar Inn and Restaurant. Nestled at the base of Left Hand Canyon, the longtime Boulder landmark boasts 6,000 square feet of produce gardens that directly source the restaurant’s kitchen.

“The chefs go out and pick the vegetables and come in and cook something,” says proprietor Philip Goddard. “They get to go outside instead of into some back alley somewhere. It’s a pretty unique experience.”

Perhaps it’s this uniqueness that has solidified the Greenbriar as a Boulder standby for so long. The site began as a general store and post office in 1873, was transformed into a gas station in the early 1900s and finally, in 1967, became a spot for fine dining. When Goddard purchased the restaurant in 1995, he immediately set to work planting produce for use in the kitchen.

“It started out as a very large herb garden,” Goddard says. During the growing season, typically from early May through September, the restaurant serves up plates laden with produce grown in its own backyard.

“In the middle of the summer, as much as 80 percent of our greens come from the garden, 90 percent of our herbs and about 40 to 50 percent of produce,” Goddard says. During the off-season, the restaurant uses its dried herbs in oils and pesto and keeps squash fresh in sheds that act as root cellars.

Shifting seasons dictate menu changes six to eight times a year. Garden ingredients serve mostly as supplements to the menu, such as seasonal side dishes that accompany filet mignon or chicken breast, and daily specials feature more fresh produce.

“We even have a vegetarian entrée that completely highlights things from the garden,” Goddard says.

Nowadays, a number of local chefs have incorporated gardening into their restaurant models.

Yet for Goddard, the motive came not because it was a trend — the ’90s saw little in the way of farm-to-table projects — but because it was his passion.

“I love having my hands in the dirt and seeing the fruits of our labor come up,” he says. “One of the reasons I started the garden more than anything else was that it’s a good excuse to be outside.”

The garden, which lies on part of the Greenbriar’s 20 acres of land, offers customers an opportunity to spend time in a natural environment. There are flowers, some of which are used in salads, and ladybugs that thrive alongside the plants.

“It’s a beautiful kind of a balancing act that goes on,” Goddard says.

The backyard garden is just one of the features that makes Greenbriar unique. Goddard attributes the restaurant’s longtime success to its careful attention to quality and customer care.

“[Greenbriar] has always been run by people who are passionate chefs and owners,” he says. “It’s really about taking care of the customer.”

Yet the success of any restaurant usually boils down to the food, and Greenbriar’s garden ensures top quality in its produce.

“It’s more vibrant and it has more flavor,” Goddard says of produce grown in-house as opposed to those ordered from a third party. “Even when you buy fresh [produce], it’s not the same as when you bring it in from the garden.” On-site production of ingredients is also much more cost-effective.

Dealing with nature does have its drawbacks, however, as Goddard experienced last year when a hailstorm took out some of his tomatoes and peppers. Yet he’s willing to take that risk for the enormous benefit his gardens bring Greenbriar.

“You don’t always get the perfect round tomato,” he says, “but it’s more natural. It’s just nature doing its own thing.”

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