Morganna's Profile
Last Minute: Good Eats in Woodstock, Vermont?
If you're still up here, and you're still poking around and haven't been, look at the King Arthur flour store.
[Portsmouth] Jumpin' Jays
I've really been enjoying your reviews, and they're so helpful. I was sitting here reading and thinking "man this person's voice sounds familiar, so does the name..." then I realized, you're the primary person who helped me find traditional fish and chips in York two years ago! I'm so glad you had some lovely meals over here, you helped us have some lovely meals over there! :)
[Portland] Fore Street
You were fortunately, fiddleheads have a short season. :) Did I read that correctly, they put the duck skin on your lentils (which probably would be lovely)? Or did they take it away completely (which would be very sad :( ).
[Freeport] Jameson Tavern
I still prefer my lobster rolls with just melted butter, no mayo. ;)
maple creamy
I'm sure the maple soft serve you had was lovely, and I've had wonderful ice creams in Maine, but... :)
First, it's creemee or creamee, not creamy. ;) Second, the Vermont version is really unique. It's not really "soft serve maple ice cream" (hence the odd spelling). It's a different treat from ice cream.
There are creemee stands all over Vermont, and you find them in the most unlikely places. Often just sitting on the side of the road between towns at someone's farm. Everyone has their favorite stand (and it's not always the one closest to them). :) In the last two years there has been some forays into the production of local milk creemee mixes that seem to be taking off, but I can't find a list of the stands that use it yet. I think they're still working on getting the mix right.
From my experience (I have not driven around the state on a creemee odyssy but that might make a nice "staycation" some summer), my favorite all around creemees can be gotten at Dairy Creme just outside of Montpelier on Route 2 heading towards Waterbury. It's a drive up stand with lots of frozen desserts and your typical snack bar array of grilled items. If you are anywhere near the area from about the end of April through about the end of October (it varies with the weather, they have a website that announces then they're closing at least two weeks in advance of doing so), then they are totally worth stopping for a creemee. Be CAREful about the size you get, these buggers are HUGE.
As for real maple creemees, I have to say the best I have ever had are gotten only at the Tunbridge World's Fair. But if you're not here during that week in September, then I'd look for a maple sugar shack that also sells creemees to get a real, good, maple creemee. If you're visiting a specific area you can ask here and the locals from that area will likely chime in about which shacks have great maple creemees. :)
Wonder if I could get a grant studying the creemee....
Stowe,VT
I did a quick search on Stowe in the board and got a nice list of recent stuff:
http://www.chow.com/search?query=stowe&type=Topic&board_name=Home+Cooking&search_board_id=31&from_date=1+year+ago#!query=stowe&board_name=Northern+New+England&search_board_id=84&type=Topic&from_date=1+year+ago&board_parent=United+States&search_board_id_btn=84&from_date_select=1+year+ago&user_name=&post_title=&search_board_id_btn_pop=84&sort_mode=newest&recipe_source=
Shelburne, VT
Re: Barkeaters (never been there, never eaten in that area of the state at all)...
The website proclaims them to be "Vermont Cuisine" but looking at the menu... four of the five apps are mussels, calamari, crab cakes, and coconut shrimp with mango sauce. They have vermont beef for the burger, and vermont chevre in some raviolis, but other than those things, the rest of the menu seems to be off the back of the Sysco truck (which is NOT me saying "and therefore must be awful"). It just struck me as odd and would give me pause if someone here hadn't recommended.
Are there specific items on the menu that are good there?
Burlington, Vermont area: Best places to hit on a long weekend
Just a note, the weather this weekend is supposed to be wonderful. I highly recommend going to the farmer's market on Saturday and grabbing food/produce for a picnic. The farmer's market has expanded from 68 vendors to 90 this year. It sounds wonderful! Also, if you want to get away from the crowds, come down to Montpelier.
Burlington, Vermont area: Best places to hit on a long weekend
Burlington is one of the most asked about places on this board, so searching "Burlington" turns up:
http://chowhound.chow.com/topics/802204
http://chowhound.chow.com/topics/833046
http://chowhound.chow.com/topics/826138
http://chowhound.chow.com/topics/722671
http://chowhound.chow.com/topics/798511
http://chowhound.chow.com/topics/803827
And a search for Burlington Breakfast turned up:
http://chowhound.chow.com/topics/724609
Some of these threads are a little bit older, but many have recent posts on them.
Breakfast in Brunswick ME?
I'm not much help here but...
Just a couple of weeks ago we ate at Richard's Restaurant (German food), Trattoria Athena, and Flipside Pizza. We had breakfast at the inn we were staying at on Bailey Island (The Log Cabin Inn, really good breakfast included with the rooms and fantastic views), so I can't comment on breakfast in the area. This is the first time in a good ten years since we've been to that part of Maine.
All three restaurants were good, but none of them serve breakfast. Still, if you get a chance to look for a lunch or dinner, I most highly recommend Trattoria Athena, though they're only open for special events on Sundays. Followed by Richard's, then Flipside.
Richard's had good, traditional German food. It's sorta like a blast from the past there, but the food is solid. The schnitzel was perfectly breaded and fried, and not over-breaded at all.
Saturday night dinner near Norwich, VT
Did you try doing a search on this board? Yama has been suggested as an Asian place in other threads. You might look that one up.
Essex, Stowe and Burlington
I find that the other menu items at Skinny Pancake are more worth their prices. I love the lamb fetatastic (despite it's name). :)
REVIEW: Prohibition PIg - Waterbury, VT
God I wanna go. Wanna go wanna go. I wish they served lunch! I'm going to be working in Waterbury again probably sometime early next month!
Two couple traveling 1st week of April - want Lobster
Yeah, I'm starting to get to an age where I opt for lazy lobsters (which is the meat picked for you, hence the lazy) and I find myself not really struggling to get to the meat in the legs. I eat the tail and the claws, and the "arms" of the claws and I'm good. Those are easier enough to get that I don't mind so much. Or I'll go for a lobster roll (prefer grilled roll with just melted butter to cold with mayo).
To migrants, ex-pats, aliens and transplants, what do you miss?
I suppose if you're living somewhere like Italy, you could end up craving Chinese food on occasion.
To migrants, ex-pats, aliens and transplants, what do you miss?
"I know the no1 restaurant in the world is in Denmark" Which restaurant is that?
Sushi / grass-fed steak in Burlington VT?
Ooo I forgot about the Farmhouse. I've heard great things about it. :) There's a steak house that's going to be opening in downtown I think I read in 7 Days, but my brain is total mush today... hrmph.
Sushi / grass-fed steak in Burlington VT?
That $3 a pound was about two years ago. Fuel and feed price increases have increased their costs, but still, even at $4 a pound it'd be a bargain, when they charge over $8 at the store for the same stuff. :)
Sushi / grass-fed steak in Burlington VT?
There's yummy sushi to be had at Sushido in Williston. It's in the same shopping center (Taft Corners) as the 99 Steak house, but on the other side of the mall. It looks something like a hole in the wall, but it has the best sushi I've had in the area, though I admit I haven't tried a lot elsewhere. Another place that might have good Sushi is the place just up the road from there. I can't remember what it's called, but it's on the right, just next to the road that goes to the farm supply store, you go past Taft Corners mall and just before the next light there's an Asian place. They've got good Thai and Chinese food, and I've not tried their sushi but I like their Thai and Chinese. :)
I don't know if you mean a good steak cooked in a restaurant or for home. In the past there really haven't been great places to get a really good restaurant grass-fed steak anywhere in the area. That might have changed in recent times, but I'm not pulling any particular spots out of my head. Hopefully someone else will know.
If you want to purchase your own grass-fed ground beef or steaks, you can buy North Hollow Farms meats at pretty much every food coop (there's one in Burlington... is that City Market?). They also sell their beef to consumers directly through their website. I bought a side of beef from 'em a few years ago. 8 cubic feet of meat in the freezer, but only $3 a pound for the whole side (which was around 250 lbs hanging weight), and they brought it to my husband's office because he was close enough to the Hunger Mountain Coop in Montpelier where they deliver meat every week. Nice thing about North Hollow is they're a big enough operation that you can specify which cuts you want, and how much ground you want from them. I got a tongue that I still haven't cooked because I'm expecting it to take all day and I haven't set aside a day for it yet.
There are a fair number of farms in the state that sell a wide variety of meats that are locally raised and responsibly farmed. Bought a lamb this winter from a guy I know. :)
Looking for Best Destination Restaurants in VT, NH, ME
Elements is closed or closing soon.
Mad Taco - Montpelier, VT GO... NOW
Yah, we went there. Really liked Mad Taco better (which is unusual, normally it's the Burlington versions of things we prefer, so this time We Win!) ;) It's not a bad place at all, just like the pork better from Mad Taco.
B and B, restaurants near Waitsfield, Warren
If you're looking for uniquely Vermont foods, you'll want to look for restaurants that do farm-to-table, of which there are a lot.
Just for the sake of completeness:
Traditional Vermont foods are kinda comfort foods and fairly British (it is called New England for a reason ;) )
Tuna and Pea Wiggle (I've read of a few places that do interesting takes on this particular dish but none come to mind immediately, otherwise you're not going to find it outside of a church supper or someone's house). This is what *I* grew up with in the midwest that my mother (born and raised in Indiana) called "Tuna Casserole" and that was called "Tater Tot Hot Dish" at church suppers and in the school cafeteria in Iowa and Minnesota, where I spent my formative years.
Chicken pie suppers are held in the fall at various churches at fund raisers, and the recipes for Vermont chicken pie are different from a lot of chicken pies. There are probably restaurants (and diners) that serve a version of this, as well (the Wayside in Berlin serves this as a special some days, along with their regular menu items of pickled honeycomb tripe, liver and onions, and various forms of open face meat sandwiches, the Wayside is a very old Diner that serves the local population well, though they are not a farm-to-table place).
Hunter dinners are mostly venison and pheasant and held during hunting season (which is around end of October through November).
If you go back further for a more indigenous traditional food, you need to look at Abenaki (pronounced ah-BEN-ack-ee according to a member of the tribe I happen to know through my knitting) recipes. The woman I know cooked a traditional succotash for us that was nothing at all like the much-disliked melange of tinned lima beans and corn from my childhood. I can't remember what all was in it, but it was great. However, I don't think there are any restaurants serving the dishes of the indigenous tribe. I'm just adding this for the sake of completeness because I'm a wonk. :)
For a truly wonderful dining experience, I can recommend Salt in Montpelier (about half an hour away or a bit more from Waitsfield). They do creative and eclectic menus that change around every six weeks. The last one I saw was a medieval menu (that was in Jan, I haven't checked since). I have no IDEA what they'll be doing in the summer, but it'll likely include a lot of fresh local produce that they get at the farmer's market and cured meats they buy from Vermont Salumi. This is a tiny place that only does dinner and I strongly recommend reservations.
Despite there being a lot of Italian stone work artists who settled here a century ago (Barre granite and marble used to be famous), you can't really get much that's good Italian food, though there is one place, Sarducci's, in Montpelier (again, around half hour from Waitsfield), that does some good Italian (mostly northern Italian I think).
So the summary here is for Vermont food, you're looking for farm-fresh, or farm-to-table dining to get a real Vermont experience. I did a quick search on the east central Vermont region on the Vermont Fresh Network's website (http://www.vermontfresh.net/member-search/MemberSearchForm?Keywords=&Type=&ProductCategoryID=&RegionID=4&action_doMemberSearch=Search). It turns up a huge list of members who participate in the network (that lists farms as well as restaurants). You can further narrow that search down so it presents you with B&Bs and restaurants that are members.
I hope I've of some help and that you don't mind too much my nattering one. :)
B and B, restaurants near Waitsfield, Warren
Though technically that doesn't answer the OP's question about places in Waitsfield. I'm not as familiar with that area because I seldom drive up into the mad river valley. Mad Taco I know is a favorite place and I think there's a fair number of good B&Bs up that way.
B and B, restaurants near Waitsfield, Warren
There's still great sushi (from Stebu Sushi) and good beer at the Black Back or Back Black (something like that) pub across the street and up a bit from where the Alchemist is (closer to the Stagecoach). And a good Thai place called Ocha Thai just a bit closer still. If you're going that direction.
B and B, restaurants near Waitsfield, Warren
Mad Taco in Waitsfield, totally go there. They just opened up a shop in Montpelier and it's AWEsome. :) I'd always heard good things about the Waitsfield location but hadn't gotten there. Totally worth it. :)
Mad Taco - Montpelier, VT GO... NOW
Mad Taco in Montpelier has finally opened. We stopped on Tuesday night after work and got an order of carnitas, colorado, and pastor tacos. All were pork with just a few different things. All were $8 (two tacos in each order). We also got a side of refried beans ($3). They have an array of like 14 sauces on the counter that you can take with you and they're mostly pretty hot, but very very tasty. My husband was at the height of his bad cold on Tuesday, and so couldn't really taste anything and wasn't even sure if he could eat the tacos (he managed it). I shared everything, and I loved it all. The colorado tacos had avocado on them and the meat was cooked in their colorado sauce, otherwise the tacos come with pork (a good amount of it) and onion (I ask for no cilantro, otherwise it looks like they put cilantro on everything). If you want queso or crema, that's extra. Each taco is made with two corn tortillas (I don't think they make their own but I could be wrong I didn't ask) so they stay together with no problem.
I loved it. Enough that I brought home more last night. He remembered me when I came in, and they were hoppin' busy. I saw tacos lengua on the board last night ($11 for two) and got those as well as carnitas and colorado, also a side of beans, again. Total was around $32 last night.
Fortunately my husband was feeling much better last night and was able to taste the tacos and try several of the sauces. He wasn't sure if they were too hot because his throat was still sore or because he didn't have anything (queso or crema) to help modify the heat, but he didn't really use them. He also loved them, though. We are in serious trouble. This place is just down the road from my husband's office. :)
The pork was fabulous (though very greasy on the carnitas tacos, I didn't mind the dribbly grease one bit, neither did my dog). It was well-cooked and lightly seasoned with a wonderful mouth-feel. The lengua tacos were brilliant, tender, flavorful, just... yum.
They serve breakfast and I can't wait to try their huevos rancheros. They also have patatas bravas for breakfast, burritos (wet and not wet), quesadillas, and a few other things that I just can't recall off the top of my head, and what looks like a changing specials board. There were two other specials that I didn't know what they were last night and didn't ask because I was so excited about lengua.
For those of you who have been longing for a good Mexican place in the area, you got it. Get thee to Mad Taco, NOW NOW NOW! :)
Mexican groceries in Vermont?
Or maybe City Market? Or what's that other whole foody type place... is it over by the U Mall?
Mexican groceries in Vermont?
Well you COULD drive to the Penzey's in MA. :) I wish I were more help, though.
Mexican groceries in Vermont?
There aren't any Mexican groceries in Vermont that I have ever heard of. That being said, I haven't been everywhere and I don't read all the papers.
I know you said you didn't want to hear about online, but maybe that's your only option right now. Penzey's has most of the "lesser-known" chiles you're looking for.
