Cover Story
7 Nights: The ‘Seven Days’ Guide to Vermont Restaurants and Bars (2015-16)
Locavore cuisine is a trend that’s still catching on in cities across America. Here in the Green Mountains, however, eating low-mileage meals is now the rule, rather than the exception. Savvy Vermont chefs have been working with local farmers and growers for years, sourcing everything from beef to beets to rice and beans. Even greasy…
Sip Foley Brothers Beer and Neshobe River Wine in a Single Brandon Tasting Room
In May 2014, Brandon’s Foley Brothers Brewing debuted Fair Maiden Double IPA, a delicately flavored powerhouse of a beer. Hoppy but not bitter, with notes of citrus and pine, Fair Maiden won over beer geeks at the Vermont Brewers Festival in July. Word spread, and by December the beer had earned a remarkable score of…
San Sai Japanese Restaurant Serves Exceptional Seafood in Burlington
Landlocked Vermont is not an obvious destination for exceptional seafood. And though San Sai is located on Burlington’s waterfront with a prime view of Lake Champlain, the local perch and crappie are not among the exquisite fish served there. Chef-owners Kazutoshi Maeda and Chris Russo specialize in traditional sushi prepared for a modern palate. Their…
Chefs Cook With the Seasons at Mendon’s Red Clover Inn
It’s hard enough to operate an inn — without the added pressure of running a first-rate restaurant. But Vermont’s 2015 Restaurateurs of the Year are at the Red Clover Inn, where chef David Coolidge is cooking up a storm. His menu — classic American fine dining grounded in French tradition — evolves daily, based on the…
Waitsfield’s MINT Restaurant Serves Veggie Food Even a Carnivore Can Love
Tucked into a Waitsfield alley, funky MINT Restaurant and Tea Lounge evokes a casual European corner café. It’s the kind of place that, were it open in daylight, could attract cult tea drinkers clackety-clacking away on laptops as they sampled its offerings of dozens of loose-leaf tisanes and nonalcoholic cocktails. But the restaurant sleeps by…
Culinary Students Cook With Class at Montpelier’s NECI on Main
In the evenings, the lights dim at the New England Culinary Institute’s flagship restaurant, and diners tuck into booths, hungry for sophisticated meals cooked by some of Vermont’s most promising up-and-coming chefs. NECI on Main 118 Main St., Montpelier, VT 802-223-3188 website Students — culinary professionals in training — work the line at Montpelier’s NECI on…
When Not in Rome, Head to Costello’s Market in Middlebury
The heat of slow-roasting meats hangs heavy at Costello’s Market in Middlebury’s historic Marble Works District. It smells good, too — of pork fat and fennel, tomato and freshly baked bread. No wonder this Italian market earned Yankee magazine’s 2014 designation as the best sub stop in New England. Costello’s Market 99 Maple St., Suite 13A,…
‘Pizza Boys’ Hand-Throw the Pies at Bradford’s Colatina Exit
The sleepy riverside village of Bradford isn’t known for its tourist attractions. But for more than four decades, out-of-towners — from surrounding areas and farther afield — have made the pilgrimage to dine by candlelight at the Colatina Exit, which serves family-friendly dinners and romance nightly atop gingham tablecloths. Colatina Exit 164 N. Main St., Bradford, VT…
South Burlington’s Tilt Classic Arcade and Ale House Is a Tasty Pinball Paradise
The rumbles and pings transport you back in time at Tilt Classic Arcade and Ale House. South Burlington’s two-floor pinball paradise twinkles with glowing screens that illuminate the faces of adults and children caught in the act of old-fashioned gaming. But as much as Tilt looks and sounds like the arcades of the 1980s and…
From Schnitzel to Strudel, Derby Line Village Inn Goes Euro
Fritz Halbedl’s culinary skills have sailed to all corners of the world. Born and raised in Austria, the chef spent more than a decade overseeing the dining program for the Royal Caribbean International fleet. Now he’s dropped anchor in landlocked Vermont, where he serves up European-inflected fare and tales of his globe-trotting adventures. Derby Line…
Choose From 80 Pancakes at Stowe’s Dutch Pancake Café
Almost every country has its pancake, be it Indian dosa, Ethiopian injera, Hungarian palacsinta or good ol’ American silver dollars. But only the Dutch pannekoek has its own Vermont restaurant. Dutch Pancake Café 990 Mountain Rd., Stowe, VT 802-253-8921 website Dutch Pancake Café is tucked inside the Grey Fox Inn on Stowe’s Mountain Road. From…
Dorset’s Barrows House Restaurant Puts a Luxe Twist on Tavern Fare
Save for the cars carrying tourists and a few other modern conveniences, th e quiet town of Dorset looks much the same as it did a century ago. An inn since 1900, the elegant Barrows House long served antiquated food to match its historic setting, an early-19th-century manse that was once the town preacher’s home.…
