From his kitchen at Sassafras restaurant in downtown West Palm Beach, chef John Thomas can see the South Carolina Lowcountry and Sea Islands, where his menu’s heirloom rice and grits are grown.
He can see the dairy farm in southwestern Georgia that produces the French-style tomme cheese he melts into his mornay sauce. He can see the Treasure Coast and Panhandle oyster farms that grow the delicate oysters he serves.