During wedding season, Lisa Curtis might bake as many as 100 ornate layer cakes, conjuring rustic-chic birch bark or gilded art-deco glamour from frosting and flowers. But Vermonters need not wait for a special occasion to sample the goods from Curtis' kitchen.
At Sweet Simone's, the self-trained baker turns out pretty pastries on a daily basis: pink cranberry-curd tartlets, sugar-sparkled pâté de fruit, meringue-topped spice cupcakes, golden croissants, and other sweets and savories inspired by local, seasonal ingredients.
[location-1]A New Jersey native, Curtis followed her food-loving siblings to Vermont. "My mom gave us all the passion and the drive to cook," she says. "The passion just grew." Curtis' brother, Jason Gulisano, ran Waitsfield's celebrated Green Cup restaurant — until it flooded during 2011's Tropical Storm Irene.
"With the void in town, we wanted to start something," Curtis recalls. "All the stars aligned," and she joined forces with her sister and brother-in-law, Sarina Gulisano and John Vitko, to open the Sweet Spot in the former Green Cup space. The aptly named café was part pastry shop, part ice cream counter: Curtis' baked goods were sold under her Sweet Simone's brand, while Gulisano and Vitko still serve Scout's Honor scoops (and much more) there.
When a storefront in Richmond became available, Huntington-based Curtis went solo in early 2015, excited to serve her own neighbors. "Richmond has been such a welcoming community. This is my community," she explains.
Over the years, Sweet Simone's has grown to meet the needs of the town, adding a popular, short-term Monday Night Eats dinner service and, in late 2018, a full lunch menu. Regulars line up for tangy Reuben sandwiches, mushroom-and-leek flatbreads, flaky croissant grilled cheeses and Greek lemon chicken soup.
"Employees get to know people's names and what they're drinking and form relationships with them," says Curtis. "With all the stuff going on in the world, we're really creating happier moments in people's lives, whether it's someone's coffee in the morning or someone's wedding cake ... We're just trying to capture those moments and celebrate them."