Cover Story
7 Nights: The ‘Seven Days’ Guide to Vermont Restaurants and Bars (2012-13)
Just a few decades ago, dining out in Vermont might have consisted of a cuppa cheddar soup, steak and potatoes — or maybe a plate of pasta tossed with a then-exotic sauce called pesto. How times have changed! Our food scene has evolved into a dynamic, delicious hotbed of imaginative cuisine, renowned for farm-to-fork fare.…
T.J. Buckley’s Restaurant Pioneered Locavorism in a 1920s Railroad Dining Car
When chef Michael Fuller decided to open a restaurant in 1983, he didn’t take the easy route. First, he committed to using vegetables and meat sourced mostly within a 15-mile radius of Brattleboro, long before locavorism was in vogue. Second, he chose a location as distinctive as it is challenging: a funky, 1920s railroad dining…
Join the Counter Club at Berlin’s Wayside Restaurant & Bakery
A lot has happened since 1918, when Effie Ballou began preparing soups and doughnuts at her home on Route 302 and selling them out of a snack bar on the front lawn. But that early version of the Wayside Restaurant & Bakery, which she soon moved inside, is not so different from the much-expanded eatery…
Sarkis’s Mediterranean Restaurant Dishes Out Mezze and More in Wells River
Chef Paul Sarkis is fluent in seven languages, including the Aramaic of biblical times. In his native Beirut, he earned doctorates in anthropology and psychology. All that might lead you to conclude this extroverted New American is wasting his talents by running a restaurant in the tiny border town of Wells River. That is, until…
Willy Wonka Would Approve of St. Albans’ Cosmic Bakery & Café
Willy Wonka would approve of Cosmic Bakery & Café, where Pam McCarthy and her sons, Mike and Brian, specialize in downsized desserts. Their mini cheesecakes, mousses and “pies-in-a-cup” are both easy to sample and hard to resist. It’s confection perfection sprinkled with fun. The mini cupcakes are front and center, on a rotating purple rack…
Go Loco for Green Mountain Mexican at Waitsfield’s Mad Taco
In Vermont, “south of the border” is more likely to be a reference to Canadian tourists venturing our way than to authentic Mexican cuisine. There’s plenty of demand for tacos and carnitas, but few restaurants get it perfecto. Perhaps part of the problem is the depressingly small population of real, live Latinos in the Green…
Let the Good Times Roll at Williston’s Sushido
Vermont is half a world away from Japan, but lovers of Nipponese nosh will feel right at home at Williston’s Sushido. A corner television flickers with Japanese news and soap operas. The Asian teenager working the counter calls out orders to his mom, who is cooking in the back. Japanese fare can be austere —…
The Farmhouse Tap & Grill Elevates Burgers and Beer in Burlington
Before it became the quintessence of Vermont farm-to-table dining, Burlington’s Farmhouse Tap & Grill was, of all things, a McDonald’s. In 2010, the new owners transformed one of the city’s few fast-food chain restaurants into a cavernous, earthy temple to local fare, and tapped plenty of craft beers to wash it down. Let’s just say…
Sup on Rustic French Fare in Quechee’s Historic Parker House
When chef Alexandra La Noue-Adler and her husband, Adam Adler, purchased Quechee’s Parker House Inn & Restaurant almost a decade ago, it was in something of a rut. The stately 1857 inn had good bones and a plum spot overlooking the Ottauquechee River, but it also had a fusty interior and reputation. Parker House Vermont…
Jeffersonville’s Family Table Cooks Up Cozy Comforts
A clear purpose drove trained chef John Raphael to leave Providence, R.I., for rural Lamoille County: He was ready for a slower-paced life, both in- and outside the kitchen. He purchased the former Jana’s Cupboard on Route 15 in Jeffersonville two years ago and rebuilt the restaurant nail by nail with the help of family…
Rutland’s Palms Restaurant Has Wowed With Neapolitan Pizzas and Pastas Since 1933
The Palms Restaurant has been around for generations. In 1933, cobbler Giuseppe Sabataso, who had emigrated from Naples to Rutland, took the advice of friends and opened a restaurant to showcase his wife Giovannina’s ambrosial meals. The locals ate it up, literally: The Palms prospered through both the Great Depression and World War II. In…
Doctor’s Orders: Try the ‘Pig Mac’ at Bar Antidote in Vergennes
Step through the door of Vergennes’ Bar Antidote, and it’s as if you’re entering either a speakeasy or, as the name suggests, a pharmacy. A warren of dim rooms leads to a backlit bar densely stocked with spirits, microbrews and local wines. A cocktail here may be just what the doctor ordered. Half of Antidote’s…
