I’ve done my fair share of articles on the increasingly popular trend of placing green roofs on buildings, used to absorb rainwater and cool the structure, thus saving on energy costs. But I knew something was up last night when I followed Chef JW Foster to the roof of the Fairmont hotel in downtown Dallas. Wearing his goofy chef hat, Foster pointed out some of the 2,000 plants up top. We’re not talking grass. There were heirloom tomatoes, sweet potatoes, a half-dozen varieties of peppers, pumpkins that were recently used in the Halloween carving contest, numerous herbs including cilantro and mint, and a small fig tree. He tells me that 60 to 70 percent of all the vegetables he now uses in the hotel’s restaurant, Pyramid, come from the roof’s organic garden. A new greenhouse just arrived so Foster can plant saplings and four beehives are coming shortly so he can have homemade honey for his cheese plate. In the meantime, take the elevator down and sample the braised buffalo short rib, raised on the Broken Arrow Ranch in west Texas, topped with an heirloom tomato chutney. Then ask sommelier Hunter Hammett to bring over a coffee liqueur that he makes in-house for eight months. Life is good when the food and drink are local.