Lots of restaurateurs are jumping on the bandwagon, which is a solar-powered cart built of recycled materials and loaded with organically produced provisions.

Few, however, have leaped into the driver's seat with as much gusto as Cory Holbrook.

In February, he closed his Roseville restaurant Town Lounge and immediately undertook an industrious redesign.

He restyled not only the quarters but his entire culinary orientation.

On Earth Day in April, he reopened the place as the Greenhouse Restaurant & Brewery, thereby capitalizing on two culinary trends. One emphasizes seasonal, regional and environmentally conscious ingredients. The other is the rebounding popularity of the brewpub.

Whereas Town Lounge was dark and posh, the Greenhouse is sunny and direct. The floor plan is basically the same, but the cocoa-colored fabric that swept down from the ceiling of the central dining room to create the feel of a party tent has been ripped out. Now, the room is bathed in evening twilight washing through the greenhouse roof.

The greenhouse theme is reinforced with live potted plants in orderly arrangements throughout the premises, though the tall and graceful olive tree in the middle of the room is artificial but expensive – $12,000, says Holbrook.

Booths, tables and chairs all look new and are just as comfortable as the earlier furnishings. The color scheme is green, a risky choice for a restaurant, but here carried off with soothing reserve.

Holbrook looks to be serious in creating a restaurant that leaves less of a carbon footprint on Roseville than most. The carpet is made of recycled soda bottles; the takeout containers are biodegradable.

And the place is certified by the Green Restaurant Association, a Boston-based nonprofit that claims to monitor such environmental factors as energy and water efficiency, the use of sustainable food and the recycling practices of participating restaurants.

Holbrook says he intends for 95 percent of the restaurant's produce to be organically grown, all the seafood to be caught sustainably and all meats to be raised free of steroids, antibiotics and added hormones.

None of these serious goals diminishes the potential pleasures that guests customarily seek when they dine out and may enhance the joy of patrons who want to clean their plate with a clean conscience.

Bartenders make a margarita with an organically produced tequila, and it's no less bracing and zesty than any other margarita ($8.50).

While executive chef Roderick Williams may like to source many of his provisions in Northern California – North Coast goat cheese, Placer County fruits, Susanville beef – his New American menu draws inspiration from about the globe, with a tilt more to the Mediterranean than elsewhere.

An asterisk designates gluten-free dishes, while an inverted V alerts diners to vegan choices, and there are several of each.

The summer menu is seasonally appropriate, with dishes light, colors vibrant, ingredients freshly harvested and compositions wholesome and refreshing, if occasionally unwieldy.

He likes Placer County peaches and arugula, which he combines in two dishes. A "pizzetta" of sliced peaches was spiced with leaves of unblemished arugula, sweetened with a port reduction and garnished with a blue cheese that would have been a bit much for the fruit if the peaches weren't so ripe and sweet ($10.25).

In the vegetarian section of the menu, he combines peaches with basil, onions, arugula and balsamico in a risotto that while robust in flavor came up short in risotto's usual creaminess ($10.75).

There was no issue, however, with a vibrant salad of local nectarines tossed with assorted greens, dried cranberries, hazelnuts and beets, with a gorgonzola dressing more silken than chunky and applied with fitting restraint out of respect for the delicate fruit ($7.25).

While dishes at the Greenhouse are grounded in modern awareness, their execution often represents a throwback to the days of overly busy constructions and stack-and-tremble presentations.

Call The Bee's Mike Dunne, (916) 321-1143. Read his blog at www.sacbee.com/appetizers. Back columns: www.sacbee.com/dunne.