Vermont's Independent Voice
Browse News
Browse Arts + Culture
Browse Food + Drink
Browse Cannabis
Browse Music
Browse On Screen
Browse Events
Browse Classifieds
Browse Personals
Thursday, August 31, 2017
Beer / News
Long Trail Brewing Makes Vermont's First CBD Beer
Posted
By Hannah Palmer Egan
on Thu, Aug 31, 2017 at 3:30 PM
First there were cannabidiol (CBD) pastries, sold in retail packages at free-thinking retailers such as Burlington's Green State Gardener. Then, restaurants began jumping on the bandwagon with CBD pastries, breakfast and lunches, and special CBD cocktail nights. Now, Long Trail Brewing (LT) head brewers Ian Harbage and Sam Clemens are piloting a beer infused with the cannabinoid compound.
Friday, August 25, 2017
Burlington / Dining on a Dime Dining on a Dime: Lucky Next Door
Posted
By Sally Pollak
on Fri, Aug 25, 2017 at 5:32 PM
You never know what you'll see outside the plate glass window of Lucky Next Door on Cherry Street. It could be vice president Joe Biden stooping to pick up change after a breakfast of blueberry pancakes, or it might be your daughter walking down the sidewalk with friends.
I spotted the latter the other day from my window stool and banged on the glass to get her attention. She detoured right and came inside.
"We put our names in at Penny Cluse," she said, announcing her next-door destination.
A few minutes earlier, by coincidence, I had been to Penny Cluse Café, the neighboring restaurant, which shares ownership, a kitchen and some menu items with Lucky Next Door. I had gone there to eat one of the best restaurant meals around — chicken liver pâté on grilled baguette with pickles, garnish and mayo ($6), and a tossed green salad featuring lettuce you can bite into, plus tomato, onion and corn dressed with red wine vinaigrette ($3.75). The price tag easily meets the monetary criteria for this column. The words needed to describe its culinary achievement present a greater challenge.
I was relieved of that challenge because the café wasn't serving the chicken liver toast that day. So I bopped over to Lucky Next Door for the runner-up: sardine toast. There, I ran into the restaurant's co-owner, Charles Reeves, taking orders at the counter. I asked him about a special listed on the blackboard: chili-lime chicken leg plate ($12).
If you've never had it, Reeves advised, get it.
A few minutes later, from the kitchen of chef Maura O'Sullivan, came a breathtaking plate of food. This meal was as unfussy as it was delicious — chunks of cucumber in a spicy dressing were sprinkled with slices of red onion, chopped peanuts, chili peppers and cilantro leaves. A mound of coconut rice obscured two pieces of chicken: crispy on the outside, moist within, flavorful throughout.
Lucky, indeed.
I spotted the latter the other day from my window stool and banged on the glass to get her attention. She detoured right and came inside.
"We put our names in at Penny Cluse," she said, announcing her next-door destination.
A few minutes earlier, by coincidence, I had been to Penny Cluse Café, the neighboring restaurant, which shares ownership, a kitchen and some menu items with Lucky Next Door. I had gone there to eat one of the best restaurant meals around — chicken liver pâté on grilled baguette with pickles, garnish and mayo ($6), and a tossed green salad featuring lettuce you can bite into, plus tomato, onion and corn dressed with red wine vinaigrette ($3.75). The price tag easily meets the monetary criteria for this column. The words needed to describe its culinary achievement present a greater challenge.
I was relieved of that challenge because the café wasn't serving the chicken liver toast that day. So I bopped over to Lucky Next Door for the runner-up: sardine toast. There, I ran into the restaurant's co-owner, Charles Reeves, taking orders at the counter. I asked him about a special listed on the blackboard: chili-lime chicken leg plate ($12).
If you've never had it, Reeves advised, get it.
A few minutes later, from the kitchen of chef Maura O'Sullivan, came a breathtaking plate of food. This meal was as unfussy as it was delicious — chunks of cucumber in a spicy dressing were sprinkled with slices of red onion, chopped peanuts, chili peppers and cilantro leaves. A mound of coconut rice obscured two pieces of chicken: crispy on the outside, moist within, flavorful throughout.
Lucky, indeed.
Dining on a Dime is a weekly series featuring well-made, filling bites (something substantial enough to qualify as a small meal or better) for $12 or less. Know of a tasty dish we should feature? Drop us a line: [email protected].
Saturday, August 19, 2017
Food trucks Longtime Regulars Purchase Beansie's Bus
Posted
By Sally Pollak
on Sat, Aug 19, 2017 at 7:40 AM
They were high school sweethearts from Winooski who liked to go to Burlington to eat at Beansie's bus by the waterfront. She would order a Michigan; he always got the fries.
"Of course we shared," Chris Corron said. "And we're still together."
Chris and Tammy Corron have been married 33 years. They have three daughters, six grandchildren — and one yellow food bus parked near the waterfront. The Corrons, who live in Williston, purchased Beansie's during the off-season. In the spring, they started serving Michigans, French fries, burgers, creemees and more at their erstwhile teenage haunt.
"We've been coming to the bus a long time," observed Chris, 52. "It's a tradition, it's a landmark. I wouldn't buy just any bus."
"Of course we shared," Chris Corron said. "And we're still together."
Chris and Tammy Corron have been married 33 years. They have three daughters, six grandchildren — and one yellow food bus parked near the waterfront. The Corrons, who live in Williston, purchased Beansie's during the off-season. In the spring, they started serving Michigans, French fries, burgers, creemees and more at their erstwhile teenage haunt.
"We've been coming to the bus a long time," observed Chris, 52. "It's a tradition, it's a landmark. I wouldn't buy just any bus."
Friday, August 18, 2017
Dining on a Dime / Food trucks Dining on a Dime: Pingala Café in Williston
Posted
By Sally Pollak
on Fri, Aug 18, 2017 at 2:03 PM
Kismet, the sign on the building announced — and my date with destiny came none too soon.
I'd been driving and walking around one of Vermont's least appealing landscapes: Taft Corners and environs. I was looking for Pingala Café, the Williston branch that opened in June.
By the time I found it — housed in a building called Kismet in one of a series of shopping development off-shoots — I was starting to think my fate would preclude an ELT. That's Pingala's "world-famous" eggplant BLT, minus the B ($8.95).
Once I found the building, it was easy to locate Pingala. The eatery is in a stationary replica of a food truck parked in the lobby. Customers order and pick up food at a window-like cutout on the side of the faux truck and, when finished, bus their things to a dish tub set between headlights, where the grill would be.
The ELT is made with eggplant in place of bacon, plus tomato, scallion, lettuce and dill tahini on multigrain toast.
Yum.
It was a sunny day in the suburbs, and I ate my sandwich at a picnic table by the parking lot. Mounds of dirt and the whine of a power saw suggested that sprawl was still creepin'.
But the sandwich was interesting and tasty enough to hold my attention: It had crunch, it had glop (plenty of dill tahini sauce), it had flavor and raw veggies. The ELT also had an element of mystery: What process transforms eggplant into bacon?
After my meal, I asked the women staffing the truck how the eggplant became a pork-product substitute. They told me the vegetable was sliced thin, marinated, dehydrated and kept in a sealed container until needed.
On any given day, bacon and eggplant might vie for being my favorite food. They come together at a pretend food truck in the vestibule of Kismet.
I'd been driving and walking around one of Vermont's least appealing landscapes: Taft Corners and environs. I was looking for Pingala Café, the Williston branch that opened in June.
By the time I found it — housed in a building called Kismet in one of a series of shopping development off-shoots — I was starting to think my fate would preclude an ELT. That's Pingala's "world-famous" eggplant BLT, minus the B ($8.95).
Once I found the building, it was easy to locate Pingala. The eatery is in a stationary replica of a food truck parked in the lobby. Customers order and pick up food at a window-like cutout on the side of the faux truck and, when finished, bus their things to a dish tub set between headlights, where the grill would be.
The ELT is made with eggplant in place of bacon, plus tomato, scallion, lettuce and dill tahini on multigrain toast.
Yum.
It was a sunny day in the suburbs, and I ate my sandwich at a picnic table by the parking lot. Mounds of dirt and the whine of a power saw suggested that sprawl was still creepin'.
But the sandwich was interesting and tasty enough to hold my attention: It had crunch, it had glop (plenty of dill tahini sauce), it had flavor and raw veggies. The ELT also had an element of mystery: What process transforms eggplant into bacon?
After my meal, I asked the women staffing the truck how the eggplant became a pork-product substitute. They told me the vegetable was sliced thin, marinated, dehydrated and kept in a sealed container until needed.
On any given day, bacon and eggplant might vie for being my favorite food. They come together at a pretend food truck in the vestibule of Kismet.
Dining on a Dime is a weekly series featuring well-made, filling bites (something substantial enough to qualify as a small meal or better) for $12 or less. Know of a tasty dish we should feature? Drop us a line: [email protected].
Thursday, August 17, 2017
Farmers Market Kitchen Farmers Market Kitchen: Amazing Awesome August Pasta
Posted
By Hannah Palmer Egan
on Thu, Aug 17, 2017 at 2:00 PM
I made this pasta the other night and it was too lovely and simple not to share. I'll break it down more specifically below. But the recipe is basically: Set pasta to boil. Boil chopped kale with pasta for 30 seconds, spoon kale into mixing bowl. Add crumbled feta, diced tomatoes, lots of basil pesto. Toss well, add strained pasta when ready, toss well again, garnish with more cheese and basil, crushed chiles and pepper.
Monday, August 14, 2017
News Vermont Gelato Has a Meltdown on the Highway
Posted
By Sally Pollak
on Mon, Aug 14, 2017 at 6:44 PM
Last Friday, Peter Solley, owner of the Vermont Gelato Company in Brattleboro, was driving north on Interstate 89 in a van filled with his product when the check-engine light came on and the temperature gauge dropped to zero. Solley pulled over and popped the hood to find black smoke coming from the car. Next thing he knew, the engine was in flames, Solley told Seven Days.
He was just north of Montpelier on a delivery run to Burlington when the mechanical failure occurred in his 2005 Toyota Sienna. Solley was able to pull just one of the five freezers of gelato from the back of the van, he said.
He was just north of Montpelier on a delivery run to Burlington when the mechanical failure occurred in his 2005 Toyota Sienna. Solley was able to pull just one of the five freezers of gelato from the back of the van, he said.
Saturday, August 12, 2017
Dining on a Dime Dining on a Dime: Positive Pie Barre
Posted
By Hannah Palmer Egan
on Sat, Aug 12, 2017 at 8:00 AM
There's something cool and casual about restaurants during lunch: They're often fairly quiet, and no one's yelling or banging around much in the kitchen. The service staff is relaxed; friendly waiters will often take a few minutes to chat, if you're amenable. Back in my waiting-tables days, I always loved day shifts. The money wasn't ever as good as in the evening, but the quality of life was often much better.
At Positive Pie in Barre, daytime dining is especially pleasant, owing to the ample afternoon light flooding in through the picture windows along Main Street, and AC that's always set to just the right temperature. Sports fans can take in pro tennis or baseball, or whatever feats of athleticism appear on big TVs behind the bar.
Then, of course, there's the two-slice deal, available all day, every day, at the bar or near the takeout counter in back, which provides two slices of pizza and a Coke (or other Coca-Cola product) for $6. If you're partial to day drinking, which I personally support whenever possible, you can swap soda for a PBR or Switchback ale for an extra dollar.
Slices come in a handful of options, plus the day’s specials, which happen at the chef’s whim. You might opt for one topped with sliced tomatoes and pesto, or marinara, sausage and pepperoni (or both, as I did!), or maybe a white slice, dappled with garlic and herbs.
Whatever you choose, you'll definitely be treated to two huge wedges of thin-crusted pie, crackly on the bottom, crisp at the crust, with cheeses and sauces commingled in a fine, lacy way that can happen only when pizza is reheated. IMO, chewy, cheesy lace is just one of the reasons that pizza reheated is often pizza superior.
Added bonus: Unless it's crazy-busy or there's some disaster in the kitchen, your lunch will appear in a hot five minutes. So, if you're a fast eater, you can probably be in and out in 20 minutes.
How's that for a lunch special?
At Positive Pie in Barre, daytime dining is especially pleasant, owing to the ample afternoon light flooding in through the picture windows along Main Street, and AC that's always set to just the right temperature. Sports fans can take in pro tennis or baseball, or whatever feats of athleticism appear on big TVs behind the bar.
Then, of course, there's the two-slice deal, available all day, every day, at the bar or near the takeout counter in back, which provides two slices of pizza and a Coke (or other Coca-Cola product) for $6. If you're partial to day drinking, which I personally support whenever possible, you can swap soda for a PBR or Switchback ale for an extra dollar.
Slices come in a handful of options, plus the day’s specials, which happen at the chef’s whim. You might opt for one topped with sliced tomatoes and pesto, or marinara, sausage and pepperoni (or both, as I did!), or maybe a white slice, dappled with garlic and herbs.
Whatever you choose, you'll definitely be treated to two huge wedges of thin-crusted pie, crackly on the bottom, crisp at the crust, with cheeses and sauces commingled in a fine, lacy way that can happen only when pizza is reheated. IMO, chewy, cheesy lace is just one of the reasons that pizza reheated is often pizza superior.
Added bonus: Unless it's crazy-busy or there's some disaster in the kitchen, your lunch will appear in a hot five minutes. So, if you're a fast eater, you can probably be in and out in 20 minutes.
How's that for a lunch special?
Dining on a Dime is a weekly series featuring well-made, filling bites (something substantial enough to qualify as a small meal or better) for $12 or less. Know of a tasty dish we should feature? Drop us a line: [email protected].
Thursday, August 10, 2017
Cider / News Stowe Cider Moves to Larger Production Space, Throws Party
Posted
By Hannah Palmer Egan
on Thu, Aug 10, 2017 at 6:07 PM
This weekend, Stowe Cider will celebrate its fourth anniversary with a festive move from its original production facility north of Stowe village to the larger fermentory it's been building across town at 17 Town Farm Lane.
Stowe Cider purchased the building this summer. With financing through Union Bank of Vermont & New Hampshire and the Vermont Economic Development Authority, the company began construction on the 6,000-square-foot space in May. The move follows the cidery's growth into a new tasting room at 1799 Mountain Road last summer.
Stowe Cider purchased the building this summer. With financing through Union Bank of Vermont & New Hampshire and the Vermont Economic Development Authority, the company began construction on the 6,000-square-foot space in May. The move follows the cidery's growth into a new tasting room at 1799 Mountain Road last summer.
Monday, August 7, 2017
Farms and Agriculture / Locavore Movement The Big Feed at Shelburne Farms: Vermont Fresh Network Dinner
Posted
By Sally Pollak
on Mon, Aug 7, 2017 at 4:01 PM
The Vermont Fresh Network held its annual gala last Sunday evening at Shelburne Farms. The occasion is billed as a "forum," but it's perhaps better described as a mass feeding.
About 400 people attended the sold-out fundraiser for the VFN — a statewide nonprofit that connects food producers and restaurateurs, and works to strengthen partnership between the groups. The network's membership includes 113 chefs and 140 farmers/food producers.
Sunday night at the Coach Barn, farmer-chef connections were on display in a delicious and creative array of mini-meals, from complex (smoked beef with pickled blueberries and radishes, garlic-chili aioli, basil and mint) to simple (ham and butter on baguette).
To honor the event, we recognize seven contributions:
About 400 people attended the sold-out fundraiser for the VFN — a statewide nonprofit that connects food producers and restaurateurs, and works to strengthen partnership between the groups. The network's membership includes 113 chefs and 140 farmers/food producers.
Sunday night at the Coach Barn, farmer-chef connections were on display in a delicious and creative array of mini-meals, from complex (smoked beef with pickled blueberries and radishes, garlic-chili aioli, basil and mint) to simple (ham and butter on baguette).
To honor the event, we recognize seven contributions:
Sunday, August 6, 2017
Beer / Dining on a Dime Dining on a Dime: Zero Gravity Craft Brewery
Posted
By Sally Pollak
on Sun, Aug 6, 2017 at 1:39 PM
There are tougher choices in life, to be sure. But, when I became a regular at Zero Gravity Craft Brewery last winter, the burning question of the day was often: lamb sausage or bratwurst? Coney Island dog or Italian sausage?
Those Frank Pace-made bar snacks are available at the Pine Street brewery, where you can eat and drink for less than $12.
As with most crucial decisions, a number of factors figured into my choice: Was I alone or with a pal? In the mood for Dijon or yellow mustard, kimchi or kraut? Did I feel like smushing a sausage down into its roll so I could take a bite without peppers and onions spilling onto the bar? Or did I desire a less messy eating event?
In short, I became a pro at making the call.
The other evening, after a failed search for the now-you-see-it-now-you-don't Lake Champlain swing, I decided to cool off with a beer rather than a flying dip into the lake. A friend and I snagged a picnic table on the patio of Zero Gravity and opted for the Coney Island hot dogs — two for $7.
The grilled McKenzie dogs are topped with beefy chili, chopped raw onion, and a squiggly squirt of yellow mustard. I drank a 10-ounce pour ($4) called London Calling, an English-style session ale to go with my all-American meal. Two Coney Island hot dogs and a beer totaled $11.
Six months ago, when I was passing time at the bar with Tmave (a dark lager) and bratwurst, taproom regulars were sometimes on the receiving end of a culinary treat courtesy of Pace. He was trying out stuff for the Great Northern, the adjacent restaurant he would open in May, and would pass around things like little oyster po' boys and pork belly something-or-others.
Those days are gone. If you want to eat Pace food that isn't a sausage, go next door. Still, a couple of hot dogs and a beer are themselves a treat.
find, follow, fan us: