click to enlarge - Courtesy Of Billy Farrell
- Fish croquettes
Crooked Ladle Catering and Everything Nice, a retail store that supports a pay-what-you-can meal program called the Giving Fridge, have partnered to open a restaurant, shop and event venue at 51 Main in the heart of Middlebury.
Since the last week of March, married Crooked Ladle co-owners Loren and Jennifer Urban have been offering dinner Wednesday through Friday nights, with a full bar and local music on Wednesday evenings.
On weekdays, Giving Fridge founder Bethanie Farrell presides over a relocated and expanded version of her Everything Nice plant and home décor store. All sales help fund the meal program she started in November 2020 in response to the pandemic spike in need. Since then, the Giving Fridge has distributed 25,000 healthy, restaurant-prepared meals; it was the Addison County hub for the now-ended federally funded Vermont Everyone Eats program.
51 Main will continue to serve as the distribution point for Giving Fridge meals, which are purchased from Crooked Ladle and other area restaurants with donations, grants and Everything Nice revenue.
click to enlarge - Courtesy Of Billy Farrell
- Japanese barbecue turkey wing
The Urbans founded Crooked Ladle Catering in 2019 as the food truck and catering arm of Bristol's Bobcat Café & Brewery before establishing the business independently in 2022. Jennifer said the couple looked all over Addison County for a commercial kitchen before finding the 4,200-square-foot Middlebury location, which seats 62 in addition to a 60-person event space. 51 Main was most recently the home of Rough Cut, a barbecue spot that closed in 2018.
Loren, Crooked Ladle's chef, has developed a menu of small plates such as a Japanese barbecue turkey wing with kimchi and coconut-green chile fish croquettes with ginger-soy pickled veggies. Larger dishes include fried quail on a corn bread waffle with bacon-braised collards and truffle mac and cheese.
Jennifer said the couple do not plan to add more days, due to their busy catering schedule, but they hope to facilitate pop-up dinners by other chefs and cooks. For her part, Farrell will hold workshops on cooking, food and agriculture. Learn more at 51mainvt.com.