Ellen Hughes Reclaims and Recycles at Fig + Farro in Minneapolis

Any restaurant worth its salt these days shouldn’t just taste and look good—it should do good, too. Or that’s the idea behind Minneapolis’s Fig + Farro, whose vegetarian menu is winning as many raves as its décor, courtesy of Ellen Hughes. 

Located in a former schoolhouse, Fig + Farro’s 6,000 square feet of dining space, along with a 3,000-square-foot prep kitchen in the basement, is furnished almost entirely with reclaimed items. “We wanted the vibe to be multicultural, but cohesive,” says restaurant co-founder Michelle Courtright; she describes it as “a mix of textiles and textures so you aren’t sure if you are in a coffee shop in Istanbul or a bookstore in Paris.”

The emphasis on reused and recycled items—including rugs, dining chairs and tables, kitchen equipment, and accessories like antique door knockers—helps further the restaurant’s mission to fight climate change by reducing carbon footprints. But they were careful to balance “our effort to have a laid-back, hippie vibe,” says Courtright, with sharp, charming accents like Hygge & West wallpaper inside a child-size tree fort.