April 19 • 2017
Restaurants Are Reinventing How We Eat Out; Comedian Kendall Farrell Is Creating a Scene; Can an Arty Beer Can Make You Buy It?
Cover Story
Restaurants That Are Reshaping How We Eat Out
In a chic, dusky wine bar in a former industrial space in Burlington’s South End, servers glide around the room, pouring guests tastes of old-world vintages and funky, quirky natural selections. In the kitchen, an acclaimed chef plates savory snacks meant to showcase the wine’s flavor. In a separate space beyond the bar, sales staff…
The Parmelee Post: Farmhand-to-Table Restaurants Allow Patrons to Harvest Own Ingredients
Maggie Oldenfold walked deliberately through the seemingly endless rows of crops at Nature’s Other, Other Valley Farm in Tunbridge. After careful consideration, she stopped, at long last spotting her prize: the most beautiful stalk of rhubarb she’d ever seen. Oldenfold is part of a large and perpetually growing group of Vermonters who demand to know…
![Walk the Long Trail at Berlin Mall [SIV486]](https://i0.wp.com/www.sevendaysvt.com/wp-content/uploads/2017/04/episode486.webp?resize=1200%2C900&ssl=1)
Walk the Long Trail at Berlin Mall [SIV486]
4/3/17: Almost 600 people have spent the last four months walking the Long Trail…at the Berlin Mall. Participants have logged almost 12,000 miles in the heated indoor space, doing loops around shoppers and raising over $4,300 for the Green Mountain Club, the official stewards of the Long Trail. Sixteen walkers have completed the entire 272-mile…
After Decades of Feuding, Is It Time to Disband the Tiny Town of Victory?
Victory Town Clerk Carol Easter has a lot on her mind these days. Last month, a predecessor sued her, alleging she committed “massive voter fraud.” Meanwhile Easter, one of 72 residents in the tiny Northeast Kingdom burg, is helping to lead an effort to disband the town altogether and transform it into an unincorporated “gore.”…
Vermont Choral Union Commissions 50th Anniversary Song Cycle
Vermont choirs are not exactly fly-by-night ensembles. The Burlington Choral Society is wrapping up its 40th season this weekend with performances of Johannes Brahms’ powerful A German Requiem in Colchester and Barre. The Bach-oriented Blanche Moyse Chorale in Brattleboro will turn 40 next year. Oriana Singers of Vermont has been around for 43 years and…
Find a Classic Shave and Haircut at Winooski’s Old Soul Barbershop
A cop, a lawyer and an ex-convict walk into a barbershop. No, this isn’t the beginning of a bad joke. It’s a typical day at Old Soul Barbershop, which opened in Winooski in October 2016. The shop’s owner, Christian DuBrul, wasn’t joking when he mentioned that particular trio during my recent visit to his shop.…
Movie Review: As ‘Sandy Wexler,’ Adam Sandler Thrives on the Small Screen
Man, do we live in the future or what? It seems like only yesterday Netflix was this kooky company that mailed you movies. After they played in theaters. Then on pay-per-view. And finally hit DVD (even Netflix couldn’t afford the postage for brick-sized VHS cassettes). Seemingly overnight, the company with the kooky mailers morphed into…
The Black Box of Ethics: Proposed Panel Would Operate in Secret
The purpose of ethics laws is to provide a safeguard against abuses of public trust. Right? So what does it mean if an official ethics watchdog does its work behind closed doors? That’s what Vermont would get under S.8, the so-called ethics reform bill currently making its way through the legislature. For reform advocates, the…
Inside the Conservative Takeover of Vermont’s Coolidge Foundation
Six days a week, John Donald walks a quarter mile from his Plymouth Notch farmhouse to the hilltop hamlet’s tiny post office, where he works part-time as its sole employee. The 73-year-old postmaster’s commute bisects the Calvin Coolidge Homestead, a compact collection of buildings that have stood largely unchanged since 1923, when America’s 30th president…
Chefs Speak to the Art of Plating Food
The image is arresting: prosciutto, pink meat lined with creamy fat, spread flat on a circular white plate; on top, thin slices of horned melon, its seeds splayed out like a star; a sprinkle of pepinos, striped fruits shaped like miniature footballs. Small flowers and baby beet leaves bring even more color and delicacy to…
Book Review: ‘Dryland: One Woman’s Swim to Sobriety,’ Nancy Stearns Bercaw
Nancy Stearns Bercaw was a champion swimmer as a youth and is now a champion again in the YMCA’s masters program. Her new memoir Dryland: One Woman’s Swim to Sobriety is the tale of how she went from there to here. While the analogy of swimming is threaded throughout, more importantly the book is about…
Eat This Week, April 19 to 25, 2017: Whet Your Palate
The eighth annual Vermont Restaurant Week kicks off with a boozy after-work social this Thursday. Gather in Maglianero’s open, light-filled space for springy cocktails, courtesy of WhistlePig’s mixologists, and suds by Switchback Brewing. Let the distillers and brewers walk you through a tasting, then pair sips with small bites from American Flatbread Burlington Hearth and cheeses…
Free Will Astrology (4/19/17)
ARIES (March 21-April 19): After George Washington was elected as the first President of the United States, he had to move from his home in Virginia to New York City, which at the time was the center of the American government. But there was a problem: He didn’t have enough cash on hand to pay…
Pete’s Greens to Offer Brooklyn CSA
Beginning on May 4, Brooklyn residents will have access to something that until now was available only to Vermonters: Good Eats vegetable CSA shares from Pete’s Greens in Craftsbury. The certified organic farm already delivers carrots and greens to restaurants in Boston and New York via distributors, but this is its first time offering a…
Comedian Kendall Farrell Is Making a Scene
Kendall Farrell doesn’t tell people he’s a comedian. This is a little weird given that he spends virtually every waking moment either onstage telling jokes or thinking about being onstage and telling jokes. “I’ve always been obsessive about comedy,” admits Farrell recently over coffee at the Skinny Pancake in Burlington. When they ask, Farrell tells…
Movie Review: ‘The Fate of the Furious’ Is to Keep Getting Faster and Furiouser
The eighth installment of the Fast and Furious series is distinguished by stunts so absurd they could only have been accomplished by someone sitting at a computer, and by lines of dialogue so absurd they could only have been crafted by someone sitting at a computer doing tequila shots. The undoable stunts are standard blockbuster…
Page 32: Short Takes on Five Vermont Books
Seven Days writers can’t possibly read, much less review, the number of books that arrive in a steady stream by post, email and, in one memorable case, a pace of asses. So this monthly feature is our way of introducing you to five books by Vermont authors. To do that, we contextualize each book just a…
In Vermont, a Somali Bantu Youth Finds His Voice
When Aden Haji was 8 years old, he and his family were on the cover of the Burlington Free Press. Haji and his parents, two siblings and uncle were the first Somali Bantu refugees to resettle in Vermont, on July 23, 2003. They left their refugee camp in Kenya and traveled for two days before…
Convict-Turned-Lawmaker Pushes Criminal Justice Reform in Vermont
Rep. Janssen Willhoit (R-St. Johnsbury) stood in the chamber of the Vermont House for 90 minutes last month defending a bill that would allow some ex-convicts to have their records wiped clean more quickly. The debate turned intense as other Republican lawmakers challenged the notion that criminals deserve a fresh start. Willhoit understands better than…
Letters to the Editor (4/19/17)
Clean Up Church Street The City of Burlington, Church Street Marketplace and Chittenden County State’s Attorney’s Office must take immediate, affirmative steps to deter crime on Church Street [Off Message: “Transient Held After Man Fatally Stabbed on Church Street,” March 29]. The recent murders and stabbings on Church Street, rampant petty larceny epidemic, and culture…
Hackie: Little Sister
“They’ve modernized the décor, and it really looks great,” Alex explained to me from the shotgun seat. “Yeah, two of the old bartenders bought the place, and one of ’em’s a friend of mine. Tonight was what they call the ‘soft opening’ — just invited friends and relatives. The official opening is not for a…
Soundbites: Hello/Goodbye
I apologize for starting out this week’s column with a stone-cold bummer of an announcement, but news is news: Brattleboro-based indie rockers the Snaz are calling it quits. The band announced its demise last week on its Facebook page. This might be a bit of a shock to anyone who’s been following the band and…
Ask Athena: Should My Partner Know My Number of Lovers?
Dear Athena, I have been with the same man for seven years, but I was promiscuous from the time I was 15 to 18. I am now 29. Is my past relevant? Should he know my “number”? Signed, Promiscuous Past Dear Promiscuous Past, My short answer: Nobody has a right to know your “number” unless…
‘Rebels’ Yell: Protests Build Over South Burlington’s Mascot Change
Some South Burlington “Rebels” are living up to their nickname. Resistance has grown steadily in Vermont’s second largest city since the local school board decided in February to call its sports teams something less controversial. Defenders insist the “Rebel” moniker is not specific to Confederate soldiers in the Civil War and therefore shouldn’t offend anyone.…
Caroline DeCunzo and Jack Braunstein Stake a Claim in Burlington’s Experimental Music Community
For the average listener, experimental music is a hard sell. It’s usually bereft of the comforting hallmarks of conventional, popular music: catchy hooks, identifiable melodies, etc. So-called “other music” can even be downright alienating to some. But for Caroline DeCunzo and Jack Braunstein, Burlington-based enthusiasts of all things musically off-center, the unconventional is their norm.…
Russian Sister City Troupe Performs ‘The Cherry Orchard’ in Vermont
The current political climate between the United States and Russia may be chillier than a Siberian winter, but culturally, Burlington and its Russian sister city, Yaroslavl, still enjoy a warm and fuzzy relationship. This week, Vermonters will have a rare opportunity to take in performances of a play by Anton Chekhov, Russia’s most celebrated playwright…
Album Review: Bluegrass Gospel Project, ‘Delivered.’
(Vital Records, CD, digital download) Bluegrass Gospel Project began with a one-off show for a First Night celebration in Burlington back in 2001. Throughout the years — and lineup changes — since, they’ve built an ironclad reputation for pure, unvarnished traditional music. BGP’s latest album, Delivered., is unfortunately their last. But it’s a fitting capstone…
Art Review: ‘Alnobak: Wearing Our Heritage,’ Amy E. Tarrant Gallery
In May 2012, then Vermont governor Peter Shumlin signed into law the state recognition of four of Vermont’s Abenaki tribes: the Elnu, Nulhegan, Koasek and Missisquoi. The victory had more than symbolic significance: Formal recognition meant that many of Vermont’s contemporary indigenous artists could begin legally to label their work as “American Indian.” According to…
Album Review: Bostjan Zupancic, ‘MicroMetal Volume II’
(self-released, cd, digital download) 1998 is a year I chiefly remember for scoring a job reviewing videogames, then promptly getting such a glorious case of mono that my whole fall semester was wiped out. The two events crossed over with tragic results when I was assigned to review a Japanese role-playing game called Grandia. I’d…
How Breweries Are Arting Around With Packaging
A quick perusal of the beer selection at your local grocery store reveals an almost equal number of cans and bottles. But brewers say it hasn’t always been like this. Back in the day, Dale’s Pale Ale from Colorado-based Oskar Blues Brewery was the only craft brew you could get in a can. Of course,…
New Greensboro Art Center to House Hardwick Street Café
Greensboro is about to get a brand-new town landmark — and a restaurant to match. Builders are hard at work finishing up the Highland Center for the Arts, featuring a main theater that will seat 275 — more than a third of the population of the tiny town. In addition to performance spaces, the building will…
Pingala Café Adds Williston Location and Rebrands
In recent months, visitors to Burlington’s Pingala Café & Eatery may have noticed a few updates. Owner Trevor Sullivan and his team have painted the service window to look like a food truck and taken a more street-food-y approach to service. Now the restaurant is preparing to open a second location, in Williston’s shiny new…
Sing “Stuck in Vermont” Karaoke at Waking Windows
Add your voice to the 500th musical episode of Stuck in Vermont, airing August 18th. Sign up and we’ll record you singing the Stuck in Vermont theme song during Winooski’s Waking Windows music festival on May 6, 12-6 p.m. Where do I go? Once Eva has confirmed your 10-minute time slot, make your way to…
