UKIAH, Calif. – Everything from the salt and pepper to the burgers and beer is organic at the Ukiah Brewing Co., the first restaurant in California to be certified as organic.

Greeting customers by name from one of the pub’s rustic wooden tables, owner Els Cooperrider’s soft demeanor doesn’t betray her fierce dedication to the cause of organic, locally grown food – a drive that led her to fill out a 160-page application four years ago guaranteeing that every ingredient going into the homestyle dishes served up at the brewery comes from a federally certified organic provider.

But meeting U.S. Department of Agriculture standards means much more than just buying organic ingredients. There are dozens of rules to follow, and even the products used to clean countertops and fight pests must conform to USDA guidelines. And many restaurateurs who share Cooperrider’s dedication to local, organic produce say they can assure their customers they’re getting chemical-free food without the federal stamp.

Annie Somerville, executive chef at San Francisco’s renowned Green’s restaurant, says knowing that the farmers who supply her restaurant adhere to standards more strict than those required by federal law gives her the confidence she needs.

“We are totally in support of an all-organic world,” Sommerville said. “But certification would be a very complex endeavor. Our guarantee comes from the chef to the consumer, not from USDA.”

Cooperrider admits the application is expensive and time-consuming: It costs up to $1,600 a year, and takes her and her son a week of work to renew it.

But the former biologist, who believes her restaurant is helping take the lead in satisfying consumers’ growing interest in knowing exactly what goes into their food, says the certainty she can give her customers makes it worth the trouble.

“How else would my customers know that things are really organic?” she asks.

Ukiah Brewing is only the country’s second organically certified restaurant, after Restaurant Nora in Washington, D.C., but the numbers show people are eating more organic every year.

Sales of organic produce have more than doubled between 2000 and 2004 to $12.7 billion a year, and are expected to double again by 2008.

Food service represents only 2 percent of organic produce sold. But Holly Givens, spokeswoman with the Organic Trade Association, expects the market to grow as diners who are already using organic at home start expecting their favorite restaurants to follow the same standards.

The USDA doesn’t require establishments that tout their food as organic to seek certification. Restaurants taking the extra step see it as a way to show their customers that organic standards, verified by a third party, were respected at every step between the farm and their plate, Givens said.

For farmers like Adam Gaska, who grows produce in Mendocino County’s rolling green hills, having an organically certified restaurant just 10 miles away is a guarantee that his fruits and veggies will find a good home.

“They take more, and more consistently, than the farmers’ market, and the customers appreciate what they’re getting,” he said.

Gaska and other local farmers work with Tom Altreuter, Ukiah Brewing’s chef, looking over the list of what the restaurant needs, when they need it, and how much they can pay. Prices may not be as good as in retail, Gaska says, but the farmer knows he’ll make the sale – and get a little publicity on the side, since the restaurant often tells customers where the food comes from.

For Altreuter, whose job is to keep customers satisfied with hearty pub fare – burgers, steaks, hefty salads – while keeping prices reasonable, being limited to buying organic makes running the kitchen a balancing act.

When bell peppers are available for a good price in the summer, he buys enough for the year, roasting and freezing them. He cans apricots and puts the preserves away for the winter, when there is no local, inexpensive organic alternative.

Altreuter’s menu is eclectic, and some of his biggest challenges are finding organic ethnic ingredients like spicy hoy sin sauce, rice noodles or dried chilies. Exhaustive searches often end in Altreuter just making his own condiments – or tossing the entree idea and starting over.

Even common ingredients can give the chef trouble. The restaurant tries to rely on small producers in Mendocino County. But sometimes small farmers can’t come up with 50 pounds of tomatoes on demand. The menu warns, “items are subject to availability of organic ingredients.”

All this makes running the restaurant more expensive.

Organic produce generally costs twice as much as traditional food, and Altreuter says he has four more people in the kitchen than a comparable non-organic restaurant would just to keep up with the extra work.

“This is the hardest kitchen I’ve ever run,” he said, thinking back over his 20 years of experience. But being all organic also makes work more interesting, and more rewarding, he says.

“I generally know the pedigree of everything I have in here.”

Ukiah Brewing hasn’t turned a profit in its four and a half years, but Cooperrider isn’t worried – it typically takes restaurants five years to be profitable.

The organic label can help attract customers. Music teacher Jason Argos said he first wandered in the door at the Ukiah Brewing Co. after he saw the place offered organic fare. He says he keeps keep coming back because the food – and the beer, made on site by Cooperrider’s son, Bret, – is good.

“I saw that it was organic, and I liked that, but I also like real beer, and it’s a good place to grab a beer,” Argos said.