Arroyo Trabuco Golf Club's Green Kitchen

On a cool, foggy morning, Chef Jeff Platt stoops over his vegetable garden.

"That guy's actually coming back," he says as he leafs through a Black Zebra heirloom tomato vine.

The garden is one of several eco-friendly ideas Platt brought to O’Neill’s Bar & Grill at the .

Another is disposable cups that are corn-based and compostable.

Yet another is a giant food waste dehydrator that reduces the restaurant's overall garbage. With it, they went from trash pickup seven days a week down to about four or five, Platt said.

Why the green push?

"It just seemed like the right thing to do," the chef said.

Platt lives in Ladera Ranch. On bike rides through the hills, he would look at Arroyo Trabuco and think what a nice place it would be to work at. The open, outdoorsy atmosphere appealed to him, he said.

In July 2009, Platt got his chance to take over the restaurant, which is better known for lunches and drinks after a round of golf. Platt wants to change that.

"I definitely want people to think of this restaurant as a place to eat dinner," he said. "We do more than just bar food."

With that mission in mind, Platt set out to improve the food quality at O'Neill's. He said one advantage he brought to the restaurant is his wine knowledge.

"A good wine is like a well-constructed plate of food. We make food that's very wine-friendly," he said.

He explained the food is not too spicy or too salty, and many of the sauces incorporate wine. Happy customers buy more wine, and that brings revenue to the restaurant.

Although food quality matters to Platt, he says where the food comes from is taken into consideration, too. He avoids tuna and wild scallops, which he says are overfished. Dredging for wild scallops might harm the ocean floor, he said, so they're off the menu, too.

While those tasty vegetables in the garden do sometimes make it onto guests' plates in food like caprese salad or marinara sauce, Platt says most of the food is shipped in. The garden vegetables are there to inspire the menu, he said.

That underscores the size of the operation Platt is leading. In the summer, he says, the golf course uses over 1,000 disposable cups. By switching to compostable corn cups, he's making a tangible difference in the amount of trash stored inside local dumps.

At the end of the day, it's all just a matter of priorities, Platt said. Thinking about the whole process of food, from farm to table and eventually to the waste bin, all goes into the menu.