"Our produce, meat and seafood comes from farms, ranches and fisheries guided by principles of sustainability"  

This credo lines the menu at Cortez, the new, pint-sized restaurant on the edge of Echo Park. Phrases of this sort, peppered with utopian, food lingo--seasonal, local, organic--have become standard practice all over town.  Yet, how does a diner know if they are true?

Considering that Cortez is run by the pair who own Cookbook, the neighborhood's green grocer, the the proof is in the product. Cookbook's shelves are stocked--by owners Marta Teegan and Robert Stelzner--with artisan cheese & charcuterie, fresh-picked produce, and grass-fed beef. Each visit makes me feel like a kid in a candy store, yet instead of sweets, I swoon for caperberries, purple cauliflower, and olive bread.