Michelin-rated restaurant Rouge Tomate in New York City brings diners a modern twist on American cuisine.

Using SPE guidelines sourcing, preparation and enhancement the restaurant relies primarily on local ingredients to prepare its food. Executive Chef Jeremy Bearman and Executive Pastry Chef James Distefano works directly with culinary nutritionist, Kristy Lambrou, to provide a combination of fine dining and nutritious food at their restaurant.

The first Rouge Tomate opened in Brussels in 2001, explained Lambrou. The owner, Emmanuel Verstraeten, really wanted to show that nutrition and gastronomy could be combined and do not need to be mutually exclusive.

The philosophy of the restaurant follows the SPE charter, which Lambrou explains in Latin, sanitas per escam health through food. To ensure this philosophy flows throughout the menu, the chefs at Rouge Tomate do not add any butter or cream to appetizers or entrees and do not fry or grill any of the food.

"We want the guest to have about three servings of fruits and vegetables, Lambrou said So in order to do that we have criteria for each course; appetizers have to have a certain amount, entrees, and desserts."

Together Bearman, Distefano and Lambrou confer about combinations of ingredients, nutritional values and textures to ensure complete customer satisfaction. The chefs work with Lambrou to learn about the nutritional values of their dishes.

The first step of SPE is the S which stands for sourcing or where the products come from. The chefs first look for ingredients they want to use in their dishes that have beneficial nutrients, from local farmers and producers.

Once the specific ingredients are chosen, they decide how to prepare the food.

SPE is really taking these wonderful ingredients that we have and preparing them in a way that not only makes it taste really wonderful, but also keeps the nutritional integrity of the food, Bearman said. It is really important to us and really makes us different from a lot of other restaurants.

Finally, the restaurant pulls the different elements of the meal together before presenting it to the diner.

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Nutrition meets fine dining