Many restaurants say they support local agriculture and livestock by promoting a “farm to table” menu, but where are they really getting their food from? Unfortunately, the word “farm” may refer to a place thousands of miles away, unless you are Chef Kevin D’Egidio or Chef Michael Griffiths.

Notable Philly food destinations like Fork, Rittenhouse Tavern, and Stateside are on the culinary resumes of D’Egidio and Griffiths. Recently they teamed up to open Helm at 1303 N. Fifth Street in South Kensington. These guys embrace the idea that what’s best is fresh and local—often hyperlocal. So when they say farm to table, that means they are sourcing produce from as close as a few blocks away.

Urban farming is not a new phenomenon, and neither is farm to table, but there has been a recent growth in farming all over the city. Helm is taking advantage of this trend and acquires produce from growers like Urban Roots Farm, which transforms vacant properties all over the city into gardens and farms. The trend isn’t just confined to the ground level either. Helm also sources produce from Cloud 9 Rooftop Farm: An organization takes unused roofs around Philly and turns them into green spaces for growing vegetables.

“La Finquita” or “The Little Farm” has operated for 25 years, and is the closest urban farm to Helm. They grow fruits and vegetables for the surrounding community and local food pantries and also runs a low cost produce stand around the corner from Helm at 428 Master Street on Sundays during their growing season. Helm uses a lot of La Finquita’s produce that would otherwise go to the compost pile. That’s not because it’s inedible but because average chefs and the general public simply don’t know what to do with it. With a little culinary magic, the throw-away produce from Kensington is enhancing the presentation of a delicious plate of food.

Cliff Brown has been working at La FInquita for five years, and is glad people are finding uses for some less popular items.

“Stuff that has no value to us like beet thinnings, kale thinnings, stuff I wouldn’t even put in the compost pile, they can use that to make their food look beautiful,” Brown said.

It’s true that you can find a chicken in the city at one of those live poultry markets, and if you walk down the right street in Kensington, you might just stumble across someone’s private chicken coop. Helm buys their meats from outside the city, only using poultry from Lancaster County.

“We buy all our poultry from Lancaster,” D’Edigio said. “They have amazing poultry out there.”

The chefs even forage their own morels, ramps, dry saddle mushrooms and nettles.

The sun is shining brightly through the front windows as I’m deciding what to order. I chose soft shell crab with basquaise and potatoes. The base is a tasty basquaise sauce, which is like a rich tomato sauce with a kick. The little potato halves prop up the half soft shelled crab and it’s topped with a couple long hot slices. Eating the whole crab is not for the squeamish, but I’ve had it served a few different ways, and this was one of the best. The legs and claws are perfectly crispy so each bite has that crunchy, fried goodness. You get a little more meat and that yellow gooey stuff you either love or hate as you tear into the shell. The basquaise sauce really adds a different flavor that isn’t often found with soft shell crab.

I also tried the lamb. It’s served with just enough pink (each tender bite melts away) and comes with pesto, garlic puree, turnip and escarole slaw, mountain greens and “Cliff’s” turnips from La FInquita.

Urban farming is a concept that is taking hold in cities all over the country. The idea that you can’t live an agriculturally sustainable life because you live in the city is being challenged with every farm and rooftop garden. People are generally becoming more conscious of the way our lives interact with the Earth, so it is a natural progression to see blossoming relationships between restaurants, urban farms and community.