Environmentalist and UC Berkeley grad Kristofor Lofgren moved to Portland, Oregon, in 2006 to go to law school. Today, he owns Bamboo Sushi, a cozy, stylish eatery that's been rated as the most sustainable seafood restaurant in the U.S.

Bamboo Sushi's bona fides are overwhelming: Powered by wind energy, certified by the Marine Stewardship Council and legally constituted as a B Corp., Bamboo Sushi has partnerships with the Monterey Bay Aquarium, the Blue Ocean Institute and Salmon Nation. Then there's the paper on which the 23-page menu is printed, the reusable chopsticks made of teal, the wood tables….

"Every aspect of the restaurant is certified by an independent third party," declares Kristofor, sounding like the lawyer he didn't become.

But what about the food? Well, Bamboo Sushi catered a reception (sponsored by FMYI) at last week's Net Impact conference in Portland, winning raves from out-of-town visitors like me.

More important, reviewers praise the food, as do diners on sites like Yelp. GQ's well-known food critic Alan Richman named the restaurant's Alaska Black Cod with Smoked Soy and Roasted Garlic Glaze one of his five best dishes of 2010, writing:

Finally, a challenger to Nobu Matsuhisa's iconic black cod with miso. The cod is crunchy and fatty. The sauce suggests caramelized sake, if such a seasoning exists. Did I taste butter? Chef says no. Cracking the Japanese naval code in World War II was easy. Getting this recipe is impossible.

 Before I sat down to talk with Kristofor and Brandon Hill, the head chef at Bamboo Sushi, I figured the only way they could afford to be so scrupulous about their seafood was to charge lots of money for it. Turns out I was wrong.

"We can't afford to sell for premium prices because we're not in San Francisco, we're not in L.A., we're not in New York," Kristofor told me. "People are very pragmatic here." The average check, he said, is $30.28.