Announcing Eight Snail of Approval Establishments to Visit This Autumn

Slow Food NYC is thrilled to announce our 2022 autumn cohort of establishments recognized with the Snail of Approval designation. For those who may not be familiar, the Snail of Approval (SoA) program is run by Slow Food NYC to recognize and celebrate exemplary restaurants, bars and food and beverage artisans based in New York City that contribute to the quality, authenticity and sustainability of the food supply.

All eight of our awardees were previously recognized by the Snail of Approval program and applied for a renewal of their award. To be eligible for renewal, each establishment shared how they continue to embody the Slow Food values of good, clean, and fair and their answers then underwent a voting process by the Snail of Approval committee to approve them.

Throughout the thoughtful (and delicious) renewal process, a number of common themes emerged among this season’s cohort:

  • Each establishment actively demonstrates a commitment to local, regional and seasonal sourcing practices. Many of our awardees form close relationships with their respective vendors and actively choose their vendors based on their location and practices. For example, al di la Trattoria has actively made changes in their vendors to source locally and City Saucery has built their own supply chain with more than 31 regional farmers over the past 10 years.

  • We also noticed a commonly held value of pride in the artisan quality and taste of their respective food and drink products, as emphasized by how they make their products by hand and in house. Waterfront Wines tastes each product before adding it to their shelves and Chambers Street Wines only offer handmade wine as compared to mass-produced conventional wines.

  • These food businesses also prioritize sustainability in their approach. Runner & Stone often purchases “seconds” fruit to keep produce out of landfills, Marlow & Daughters takes on the challenge of utilizing the whole animal through seam butchery, and the Marshal burns no gas but only replanted wood gathered from within New York State.

At this year’s Terra Madre Salone Del Gusto, the flagship international festival of the Slow Food movement, the theme was regeneration. As we’re coming out of two years of a public health crisis that heavily impacted the restaurant industry, our autumn cohort of food establishments embodies regeneration in their ability to continue their good, clean, and fair practices throughout a time of uncertainty and instability.

Martina Regina from Gustiamo, one of our awardees, shared hope for the restaurant business to stay committed to honesty in the form of craftsmanship—and above all, to allow superior quality and taste to shine through. Charlie Marshall, another awardee, expressed a similar sentiment and shared with us that for The Marshal, healing our world is something each of us must take responsibility for however we are able.

Establishments that are recognized as meeting the Snail of Approval standards will receive a variety of benefits, including promotion across the Slow Food NYC audience, the opportunity to attend (or host) events, and the chance to build stronger business relationships in our community.

We hope you’ll join us in celebrating our autumn cohort of Snail of Approval establishments for this year. We can confidently vouch for all of our eight awardees in terms of an excellent and quality experience based on the vetting process, and we’re happy to continue growing our network for a better food system. 

Do you have a food establishment in mind that you feel strongly embodies the good, clean, and fair values of the Slow Food movement? Please let us know by completing our Snail of Approval Nomination form.

For information about the national Slow Food USA program and other Slow Food chapters doing Snail of Approval work, please click here.

Written by Richa Mehra, Slow Food NYC Volunteer