Photo provided by Christopher's Kitchen

Chef Christopher Slawson

Raw food has been dubbed as a revolution, a movement, a diet, a trend. But chef Christopher Slawson is so dedicated to eating raw foods -- or, as he calls them, "living foods" -- that he has opened a raw foods eatery, Christopher's Kitchen, in Palm Beach Gardens.

Clean Plate Charlie: How do you cook food that's tasty while still being healthful?

Chef Joey Giannuzzi: You just use bigger, bolder flavors. Americans are so into salt. Instead of tons of salt, we just use bigger spices like cumin, coriander...whatever the day brings.

Is DIG vegetarian or are you serving meat?

We will serve meat. I found a grass fed Waygu beef that's Florida raised. We're doing Filet Mignon and short ribs.I'm making pork chops with an apple cider vinegar glaze. 

Are you finding any special challenges by going green when it comes to distributors or finding products?

There are some products that we order where we're the only restaurant in our area that purchase them. That means there are no local purveyors and we have to get a lot of products shipped in.  For example, we're going to have all organic sodas on the soda gun. No Coke or Pepsi. I finally found a company in Colorado that makes organic sodas in cola, mandarin, lime, strawberry rhubarb, ginger ale and root beer. Well, the syrup in the box is the same price as, say, Coke, but Coke will set you up with the system and the guns. These guys are small so they can't pay for the setup. Plus, the shipping is the same cost as the boxes of syrups.  But that's OK. I'll fight the fight.

What about local farmers and growers?

We work with a lot of those, too. We buy from Alberto at Universal Living Sprouts. Eevery morning I call him and he cuts the sprouts and delivers them to me. He does garbanzos, split peas, whatever's in season. This is a completely different mindset when it comes to eating.  If you took a pork chop and threw it in the grass it would return to nature. It would rot, decompose. But if you threw out the sprouts they would grow. A lot of people feel like they're putting life into their bodies instead of death and decay. We're providing good food for people.

Chef Joey Giannuzzi is all set to open DIG on Friday.

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The 5,000-square-foot restaurant, which takes over the Greenfield's on Atlantic space, has been transformed to incorporate a green theme. From food to soda to décor, every effort has been made to make the restaurant as sustainable, clean, and waste-free as possible.

The restaurant is set to open this Friday, but Giannuzzi, in a fit of "calm before the storm," spent an hour talking to Clean Plate Charlie about DIG -- its concept and its food.

Clean Plate Charlie: Are you all set to open DIG on Friday? You seem pretty calm.

Chef Joey Giannuzzi: Yeah, the food is ready, and the front of house looks fantastic. We're partnering with Farmer Jay from Farmer Jay Organics, and we're going to have a working garden on the premises, so while you're dining, you're going to be able to see the farm. That's not finished yet, so that's one of the projects that's making me nervous.

You're starting at the end of South Florida growing season. What are you planning to grow until fall?

We're going to start out with edible flowers, eggplants, and long beans. In the fall, after the growers come back to South Florida, we're going to do a greenmarket here too. We'll start around Thanksgiving time. The restaurant is so big, we've got plenty of room to have some great vendors. We're going to do it on Sunday mornings.