As the restaurant trend toward fresh and local continues to evolve, a growing number of urban dining venues are compensating for their non-rural locations with some improvisational farming. Taking the concept of restaurant kitchen gardens to new heights, chefs around the country are utilizing the roofs of high rises and other buildings to create rooftop city gardens. In Providence, R.I.’s theater district, Executive Chef Matthew Varga and the kitchen team at Gracie’s Restaurant grow a variety of herbs, edible flowers, berries and vegetables on the roof of a nearby office building.

At Roberta’s in Brooklyn, Food & Wine’s Best New Chef of 2011, Carlo Mirarchi, sources a garden on the roof of the restaurant that’s enclosed in a pair of disused cargo containers. It’s not all figs, French beans and squash flowers, either. Next to its elevated garden overlooking a harbor and the eclectic Ballard district in Seattle, Bastille Cafe & Bar, has a thriving apiary of well-tended bees, where bespoke honey is harvested for the restaurant.

In most cases, local contractors oversee garden planning, planting and maintenance — but if you happen to be at the right establishment and you’re told your entrée is delayed because the sous chef is on the roof personally selecting your eggplant, chances are good that you’re being told the truth.