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Sticks and Stones

What: Winner, Best Organic Food Menu (tied with Sweet Basil’s); winner, Best Restaurant That Uses Local Ingredients; runner-up, Best Pizza

Where: 2200 Walker Ave., Greensboro

Hours: 11 a.m.-midnight Sunday-Thursday, 11 a.m.-2 a.m. Friday and Saturday. Late-night specials starting at 11 p.m.

Information: 275-0220; http://sticksandstonesclayoven.com

To say Sticks and Stones is organic is an understatement. With the ingredients in the wood-fired pizzas and the restaurant’s chairs salvaged from a church, Sticks and Stones takes organic to a deeper level. But that was what owner Neil Reitzel set out to do when he created the restaurant at Elam and Walker avenues in the retail heart of one of Greensboro’s most eclectic neighborhoods.

Reitzel has showcased sustainability in things such as a recycled walnut table big enough to seat the Waltons, ornate detailing sculpted from scrap metal by artist Lawrence Feir and the patio’s railing made from rusting bicycles that speaks to the pedestrian pace of the Lindley Park neighborhood.

And then there’s the pizza: fired in a wood-fueled oven with dough made from Lindley Mills organic flour and fresh, organic seasonal ingredients grown in the Piedmont.

Appetizers and salads spotlight items such as beef and poultry from Cane Creek Farm in Snow Camp, cheese from Goat Lady Dairy in Climax and Italian sausage from Giacomo’s Italian deli.

When Reitzel isn’t crushing the restaurant’s aluminum cans for recycling or hand stamping the restaurant’s logo on pizza boxes made from recycled paper, he’s off someplace tinkering with sustainable ventures.

Sweet Basil's

What: Winner, Best Organic Food Menu (tied with Sticks and Stones); runner-up, Best Restaurant That Uses Local Ingredients

Where: 620 Dolley Madison Road, Greensboro

Hours: 11:30 a.m.-2:30 p.m. Monday through Friday, 11 a.m.-3 p.m. Sunday, 5:30-10:30 p.m. Monday through Saturday

Information: 632-3070; www.sweetbasilsrestaurant.com

The genesis of Sweet Basil's took place at a simple summertime dinner during which Renee Schroeder and her husband mused with friends about where they could get a meal with the same organic and sustainable integrity as the one they were enjoying. So, they opened a restaurant in what had been a farm house in Greensboro's Quaker community.

From the beginning, Renee Schroeder, who had been catering for 23 years, assembled a staff that shared her vision. The staff included executive chef Ted Engstrom, with whom she had previously worked. From there, they created an organic and seasonal menu that required routine trips to the Piedmont Triad Farmers Market.

Two years later, Schroeder says area farmers are coming to her.

The holistic philosophy extends to a wine list selected to compliment natural dishes such as ostrich from Hilltop Farms in Willow Springs, beef from Peterson Farm in Sophia, Berkshire Farm pork and wild or sustainably farmed fish.

And the natural dining experience doesn't stop with the fork, but spills into the ambience of the restaurant and the outdoor patio where special events, such as classic films that are screened and paired with special menus and wine dinners, are held.

Contact Carl Wilson at 373-7145 or carl.wilson@news-record.com