Every year, in the weeks leading up to the festival, we inevitably pull out all of the old programs.
Fourteen of them now, starting in 2010, with a couple of gaps for COVID. Different covers, different lineups, different snapshots of where Burlington's food scene was at a particular moment in time.
What strikes us every time is how much has changed…and how constant the spirit underneath it all has stayed. The restaurants rotate, and the chefs move on to new chapters. But the same energy shows up every year…a community that cares deeply about what ends up on the plate, and the company they keep while they enjoy it.
14 years of memories.
Year #15 is one month away. June 27th at Hula Lakeside. We hope you'll be there to celebrate with us!
On the Menu…
Starters
Bites & Bottles: Sweetwaters Came Back. You Should, Too.
Tastemakers: Cindi Kozak, Co-Owner, Frankie’s
The Long Pour: New World vs. Old World Pinot Noir
What’s On
Starters…
People (including us!) call it “the wine festival.” And yes…there are over 200 wines. But walk through that door on June 27th and you'll find a lot more than that.
You’ll find chefs from 11 restaurants cooking and serving. Along with places like Vermont Salumi and 5th Quarter and Grafton Village Cheese. Klinger's. Small Oven Pastries. The Chocolate Butcher. WhistlePig and Barr Hill and Silo Distillery and half a dozen more craft spirits producers. Artisan food producers you can have a conversation with, because the person serving it is often the person who made it.
So much of our food and drink community, together in one room…and once you walk through the door, all of it is yours. No running a tab, no digging for tickets while balancing a glass. Really, no decisions to make, except what to try next.
Photo: Katya Andrievskaia
We're also building out what's shaping up to be a full festival week leading up to June 27th. It kicks off Tuesday, June 23rd with Nourish to Flourish…a fundraiser we're producing with our longtime partner Common Roots at the beautiful Wheeler Homestead on Dorset Street in South Burlington. Wine tastings, farm-fresh food, live music, and a live auction, all benefiting Common Roots' food equity and education programs. Tickets are $100 and they are limited. Get yours today.
The following evening, Wednesday June 24th, the Champlain Dinner Club heads out for dinner around Burlington…what better way to meet some new people before the big day? Sign up, fill out the quiz and snag your seat.
All the details are at burlingtonwineandfood.com.
One great week. One month away. Don’t miss it.
Bites & Bottles
When I was at UVM and in the years afterward as a young professional, Sweetwaters felt like a place you'd go to mark an occasion, or just to feel like you'd arrived somewhere. The bar was always busy, it was loud in a good way, and sitting at that corner of College and Church Street with a glass of wine felt like the right way to be a twenty-something in Burlington. I went back many times in the years that followed…
• • •
Next, a couple of quick follow-ups on items we mentioned last week:
Burl's Downtown Kitchenette is the name and concept coming to 189 Bank Street, the old El Cortijo space, with a mid-June opening. The Farmhouse Group is going in the direction of a Southern diner…fried chicken and waffles, eggs benedict, patty melts, house-smoked meats, catfish, fried chicken baskets, and house-made pies and puddings. It’s a different direction from tacos, but it sounds like a good one.
And more news from El Gato: they have now also announced that their Essex location is closing on Sunday, May 31st…but they mention that it’s a move, not a goodbye. A new spot will be announced on July 1st. The Jeffersonville and food truck operations will stay open in the meantime.
• • •
One of the more remarkable auction items we’ve seen this year is happening at the Stand Up for Recovery event for the Turning Point Center on June 3 at Main Street Landing, and the prize is something to behold. Three James Beard–recognized Vermont chefs — Matthew Jennings, Cara Tobin, and Eric Warnstedt — will create a full tasting menu in your home for 12 guests, sourced entirely from Vermont farms. They bring everything, cook everything, and clean up afterward, with all proceeds benefiting Turning Point Center. If you’ve been looking for an unforgettable excuse to gather people around your table, this is a strong one.
• • •
New to Malletts Bay this season: Barbacoa Smoke has set up at 100 East Shore Road in Colchester, parked right by the Pickled Perch, across from Bayside Park. It's a low-and-slow BBQ food truck, and by all accounts they were up and running by Memorial Day weekend. Sounds like a perfect summer detour out by the water.
• • •
And in other excuses to be outdoors…Maquam Barn & Winery in Milton has kicked off its summer season music series. Each Thursday, they feature live music from 6 to 8 p.m., along with food trucks on site, and on Sundays it’s music from 2:30 to 4:30. You can also visit their bar for wine, beer, cider, and wine cocktails.
• • •
Speaking of cider: Stowe Cider has introduced their newest offering, the Cellar Series Imperial Maple. Sugaring season may be behind us, but it’s made with fresh-pressed apples and Vermont maple syrup. Semi-dry, on the fuller end…it’s at the taproom and online only, while supplies last.
• • •
And La Passeggiata has come to Waterbury! If you caught our note last week about Burlington's Wednesday evening stroll, there's now a Waterbury edition. Walkers gather Wednesdays at 5 p.m. in Jack's Alley beside Stowe Street Emporium. Participating shops stay open late, there's live music, and some spots are pouring special cocktails for the occasion. Suggested routes and other details are at DiscoverWaterbury.com.
Tastemakers: Cindi Kozak, Frankie’s
Each week, we feature three quick questions with someone bringing something creative, thoughtful, or fascinating to the food and wine scene here in Vermont and beyond.
This week, we caught up with Cindi Kozak, co-owner and general manager of Frankie's, the Cherry Street restaurant she opened with chef Jordan Ware after a many years working alongside each other at Hen of the Wood in Burlington
Read the full interview, including what it felt like to take over a beloved Burlington space, why a menu that changes every day keeps the whole team sharp, and the approach to a wine list that feels like a conversation.
New World vs. Old World Pinot Noir
by Mike Stolese
With summer coming, many folks look for lighter-style reds, and this is where Pinot Noir shines.
That said, there are pretty dramatic differences between the Burgundian Pinot Noirs of France (the original home of Pinot Noir) and our “much later to the party” domestic Pinots, mainly from California and Oregon.
What’s interesting here are the similarities between Burgundy and Oregon Pinot Noirs…
What’s On…
Why not kick off the weekend early with some live music and wine? The Tenderbellies are at Shelburne Vineyard tonight, May 28th, from 7 to 9 p.m. They’re a Vermont string band that moves comfortably between Americana, bluegrass, newgrass, jazz, and rock. Tickets on Eventbrite.
• • •
This weekend continues an epic celebration of the true Vermont type…Hill Farmstead celebrates its Anniversary Week through Sunday, May 31st, marking 16 years. The annual tradition marks the brewery’s original 2010 opening…expect rotating cellar releases, extended Friday hours, food trucks throughout the week, and the kind of pilgrimage-worthy beer lineup that sends serious beer people to the Northeast Kingdom every spring.
• • •
On Saturday, May 30th, Four Quarters Brewing in Winooski is doing a Country Music Fest that’s free for the whole family…there’s all-day music starting at 2 p.m. with Houston Bernard, Chris Gendron, and Tom Paquette Band. Burly Axe rolls in from 4 to 6 p.m. with mobile axe throwing, and Split Spirits is pouring cocktails out of, yes, rubber duckie floats. In other words, a pretty solid way to spend a Saturday.
That same afternoon, Village Garage Distillery is doing a tasting at Hare and the Dog in Middlebury from 4 to 6 p.m. The Bennington-based distillery will be pouring four of their spirits, including Bonfire, their smoked maple bourbon that just took a silver medal at the 2025 San Francisco World Spirits Competition.
• • •
Vermont breweries keep finding new ways to fill the calendar between pours. Queen City Brewery is hosting yoga with The Not So Flexible Yogi on Sunday, May 31st, at 1 p.m. Twenty dollars gets you the class plus a taproom drink of your choice. All skill levels welcome (which, in brewery yoga context, probably means a pretty wide range).
• • •
Looking ahead to next week…on Friday, June 5, Bread & Butter Farm is throwing its first Burger Night of the summer, with live music from Sap Line and a full spread: 100% grass-fed beef burgers, hot dogs and black bean burgers from Vermont Bean Crafters. It all takes place at their regenerative farm in Shelburne.
Meanwhile, Cold Hollow Cider Mill in Waterbury is giving away one free Original Cider Donut per person on that same day, June 5th. They've been pressing cider since 1974 and the donuts have the reputation to prove it.
• • •
The weekend of June 6th and 7th is a busy one. On Saturday, Jitters Café in the new AC Hotel in downtown Burlington is hosting a Summer Soiree starting at 6:30 p.m. Head on by for drinks, music, and what the post describes simply as "vibes” and “summer magic”…surely, this can only be a good thing.
Also on Saturday the 6th, there’s a Hike & Beer Crawl kicking off at Red Rocks Park at 11 a.m. and working through four Burlington breweries — Switchback, Burlington Beer Co., Queen City, and Zero Gravity — by afternoon. Join for the hike, just the breweries, or the whole stretch.
If you're looking to pick up some new baking skills, here are two workshops for you: on Sunday the 7th, Laura's Cookies is teaching a cookie-decorating class (royal icing, no experience required) from 2 to 4 p.m. at Queen City Brewery. Tickets. And over in Waterbury, The Goose Chase Cake Design and Red Poppy Cakery are teaming up for a torched meringue squiggle cake workshop…you'll work with fresh flowers and leave with a finished cake.
Before we go…
There hasn’t been a whole lot for Red Sox fans to celebrate yet this season, but Fenway’s concession team appears determined to keep morale alive.
Ballparks have continued to up their food game (no pun intended), and I just happened upon this article about Fenway’s lineup this season. It reads less like stadium concessions and more like someone handed a top New England chef a baseball schedule (and a generous budget).
This season’s additions include plenty of nods to New England, like the Lobstah Poutine (topped with lobster meat, clam chowder, and bacon)… the surf-and-turf hot dog (topped with lobster salad)… … the “Boston Dog” (topped with baked beans and caramelized onions)…and a spicy grilled cheese made with Cabot cheddar, along with mango-habanero salsa on sourdough.
There’s even a North End cannoli and King’s Hawaiian bread pudding, if you’d prefer to drown your sorrows with dessert instead.
At this point, it seems Fenway may be having a stronger season in the kitchen than on the field.
Have a great weekend.