Farm-to-table doesn't even begin to define The Millworks restaurant in midtown Harrisburg.

In fact, its owner Joshua Kesler avoids the moniker, preferring, instead to describe the Millworks' menu as "new rustic American."

When the restaurant's doors open in March, diners will find a menu labeled with meats sourced from Thistle Creek Farms in Tyrone and North Mountain Pastures in Newport.

Bread will be baked in a wood-fired oven using Daisy Organic Flour from Lancaster. Produce will be jarred and canned in the summer.

MORE: Sneak peek of Harrisburg's Millworks restaurant and artist studios.

About 20 Pennsylvania craft beers will be on draft while Pennsylvania spirits will be used to fashion artisan cocktails.

"My buzzword is I really think we live in the Tuscany of the East Coast," said Kesler, a Harrisburg developer.

The abundance of local ingredients is what Kesler plans to celebrate at the 100-seat restaurant when it opens March 12.

More than two years ago when the former Harrisburg Academy teacher purchased the brick building on Verbeke Street near the Broad Street Market, he set out on a $2 million project. His vision encompassed combining artist studios with a sustainable restaurant.

The former Stokes Millwork dates back to the 1940s, and was used to manufacture trim, laminates and wood products. Kesler designed the Millworks to be a regional destination where diners can sip cocktails and wine as they browse galleries and artist studios.

The restaurant will include a 50-seat open air biergarten and by summer a rooftop terrace will be added.

The main dining room is comprised of a collection of salvaged elements ranging from 1920's pendant lights found in storage at the Broad Street Market to a side of an old Pennsylvania Railroad Company boxcar and bricks from a Perry County farm. The sturdy wooden bar is built from roof joists salvaged from the biergarten.

"It's contemporary rustic, not faux rustic. This is what it is. This is like the real thing," Kesler said.

As for the Millworks' menu, Kesler said it will be as close to 100 percent sustainable as possible, something he has been told even restaurants in Philadelphia have been able to accomplish.

The only ingredients that won't be sourced locally will be olive oil, sugar and salt and some wines. The Millworks will work in tandem with the existing Harvest stand at the Broad Street Market selling canned goods and prepared foods from the restaurant.

The stand has been in operation for almost two years and focuses on locally-sourced foods. Its name will change to The Millworks Farmstand.

Kesler added that foods originating in central Pennsylvania are sourced by people and restaurants in Washington, D.C. and Philadelphia. "It's just kind of shocking we have what we have here," he added.

The menu will be small with about 20 items offered at one time including five full entrees as well as as small plates and flatbreads.

Millworks executive chef Nicholas Jones has sourced ingredients from more than 30 local farmers.

The restaurant's goal will be zero waste, meaning whole animals will be purchased from farmers and the restaurant will follow a "loyal to the farm, not the cut" mentality, Kesler said. So diners will find strip and sirloin steaks as well as braised beef dishes, he said.

"We really hope our customer base appreciates those efforts that we are being respectful to the farmers' efforts," Kesler said.

The Millworks will be open for dinner-only as well as brunch on Saturday and Sunday.