At Sylvan Table, a restaurant and farm focused on food sustainability | Eater Detroit

"Built inside a 300-year-old barn that was disassembled in Maine and rebuilt on three acres in Michigan, this neighborhood, farm-to-table restaurant is run by Nicole and Tim Ryan and guided by a tight-knit team that includes farmer Rick Rigutto and executive chef Chris Gadulka. The renovated barn houses multiple intimate dining areas — including a glass solarium, two open-plan downstairs rooms, a mezzanine, a bar, an open kitchen, an 8-foot wood-burning grill, and a wood-fired pizza oven — and exudes a warm, rustic charm with handcrafted details like dried flower clusters and inlaid wild grass. Menus are hyper-seasonal and locally focused (sourcing mostly within ~50–100 miles), shifting with the farm’s yields and regional partners; examples include bone marrow with Michigan apple mignonette and wood-fired chicken seasoned with rosemary and lemon salt, and past offerings have featured rabbit from a nearby organic farm. The on-site farm includes hoop houses, beehives, chicken coops, a mandala herb and edible-flower garden, an outdoor smoker, and a storage barn whose roof will host vegetation as part of a permaculture plan; Rigutto grows boutique microgreens and inoculates shiitakes to supply the kitchen. Sustainability is central: the operation composts on-site, is integrating a bokashi system to process meat and dairy scraps, uses an artesian well for irrigation, repurposes materials like cardboard and glass, and plans solar panels and educational programming (workshops and school field trips). The owners emphasize stewardship over profit, aiming for continual improvement toward a near-zero-waste footprint while using seasonality as a creative constraint and teaching tool." - Kim Hew-Low