Chris Douglass was just trying to hold down expenses for his new restaurant when he and his brother-in-law sorted through dumpsters in Shelburne Falls a few years ago.
"It made it kind of more interesting for me, sourcing these materials and doing what I could do," said Douglass, whose Ashmont Grill on Talbot Avenue in Dorchester opened to rave reviews in 2005. "I had to stretch the budget to get this place open."
To the untrained eye, the arranged dumpster dive in the Western Massachusetts community yielded little more than sheets of metal used to stamp out spatulas and other utensils. But to Douglass, a Dorchester resident with 20-plus years in the restaurant business, the sheet metal could be recycled into funky and functional light fixtures for his new dining room. He asked the factory owners to send him interesting patterns and hired a designer to make the lights.
The trash-to-treasure result was an array of lamps featuring the silhouette of smoothed-edged cooking utensils that hang from the pulpy black ceiling of his new restaurant.
Diners and restaurant critics aren't the only ones to honor the trendy Peabody Square eatery. Last month, Governor Deval Patrick bestowed the restaurant and the City of Boston with one of five 2007 Smart Growth/Smart Energy Awards. The award, in its fifth year, is presented to municipalities and their private or public partners that design and build projects that conserve energy and other resources, enhance the local environment, and meet other criteria of the governor's Sustainable Developmental Principles.
Brookline also received an award for the Train Memorial Health Center, which is the headquarters for the town's health department. The renovated municipal building was designed to significantly reduce greenhouse-gas emissions and includes a solar-paneled rooftop that provides up to 40 percent of the building's electrical needs.
At the Ashmont Grill, the lighting fixtures are complemented by gleaming, remilled hardwood floors. "I wanted something that would feel like it was here for a while," said Douglass, who is chef and owner.
The black ceiling is dyed pulp that provides a thermal and acoustical finish. "It saved me money and it was also a smart way to go," said Douglass. The patio provides more than just additional seating. The former parking lot features permeable flooring that absorbs storm-water runoff.
Only locally grown produce is used at the restaurant, and used grease from the kitchen is sold to a vendor who filters it into fuel for biodiesel vehicles. Typically, restaurateurs must pay to have their kitchen grease picked up.
Some of Douglass's ideas strayed from the practical to the creative, such as his original reuse of leftover and, more importantly, unused sewer pipes. They are stacked over the bar to display the grill's collection of Spanish Ostatu Rioja Crianza, California Honig Sauvignon Blanc, and other organic reds, whites, and bubblies.
"Having been granted the award has sort of spurred my interest into what more can I do," said Douglass, adding he is considering photovoltaic cells on his roof to convert sunlight into electricity.
The Smart Growth/Smart Energy Award also commended Douglass for beefing up the neighborhood.
In addition to the Ashmont Grill, Douglass will open an Italian bistro in the soon-to-be completed Carruth, a six-story retail and residential building on the same site as the newly renovated MBTA hub.
Douglass, who is also chef and owner of the tony Icarus Restaurant in the South End, had wanted to follow up that success for some time. But he might not have followed through if not for the prodding he received from parents he socialized with at his children's sporting events.
There was also a little nudging from fellow representatives of the St. Mark's Area Main Street, the neighborhood branch of the Main Street Project, a nonprofit corporation that works with local businesses to revitalize neighborhoods. The St. Mark's group eventually provided a grant to help Douglass start the restaurant.
"I've lived in the area for 20 years and I realized that it was really underserved in terms of a restaurant," said Douglass. "Jamaica Plain has Centre Street, and Roslindale has an art gallery and a bookstore. Dorchester really didn't have anything, so I saw it as a wide-open market."
After buying the former Ashmont Grille, Douglas dropped the "e" from the name and cut large windows into the walls so sun could stream into the former dive. Diners can now lunch on the River Rock Burger (local pasture-raised beef with cheese, mushrooms, and grilled onions) or sip an organic libation while dining on grilled, free-range chicken with baked polenta and exotic mushrooms.
"Dorchester gets such a bad rap," Douglass said in reference to stories about violence in the area. "This is a real neighborhood place."
