Hi, friends!
Thanks to everyone who voted on the date for our “Mystery Dinner” in last week’s edition. The vote was closer than we expected, and more than a few of you have opinions about costumes. We also loved the notes that came in with your votes, including one reader who took a moment just to thank us for putting these get-togethers together. That was really nice to read.
We're finalizing everything for the October dinner club now, and next week we'll share all the details.
Meanwhile, pour something red and settle in…
On the Menu…
Starters
Bites & Bottles: 9 Vermont Cideries Worth Checking Out This Fall
Tastemakers: Sas Stewart, Founder, Adventure Dinner
The Long Pour: Yes, There IS Another Cab…
What’s On: October 1 - 11
Starters…
This weekend starts the season that Vermont spends all year getting ready for. The leaves are at peak in parts of the state, the orchards are open, and every scenic pull-off on Route 100 has cars in it.
It's also the time of year that menus start to turn and the rosé moves to the back of the fridge. Tomatoes give way to squash, and short rib starts showing up everywhere. At least it’s the kind of comfort cooking that makes it a little easier to let go of summer.
Right now, the dining rooms are packed with leaf peepers, but that won't last forever. In a few weeks, the visitors will head home and stick season will settle in…and a lot of local restaurants will enter one of their quietest stretches of the year. Some may even close for a well-earned vacation. That's when a weeknight table matters most to a restaurant, so when November comes, remember to keep showing them the love…even when it gets harder to move off the couch.
Bites + Bottles
If your idea of hard cider is something sweet from a six-pack at a summer cookout, Vermont's cider makers would like a word with you.
Across the state, cideries are pressing local apples into everything from bone-dry sparklers to rich ice ciders, and plenty of them belong on the dinner table right next to a bottle of wine. The timing couldn't be better, either…the harvest is well underway, and last week, two Vermont cider makers made national top 10 lists (more on that below, and inside).
📷 Instagram/Cold Hollow Cider Mill
Here’s where to start, in no particular order…
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It seems like we’re writing about national awards for Vermont food and beverage businesses nearly every week. As mentioned above, it’s on the cider front this week…two Vermont cider makers made this year's USA Today “10Best” Readers' Choice lists. Vermont Cider Lab in Essex came in at No. 8 among the best cideries in the country, and its Cassa Frass ranked No. 10 on a separate list of must-taste ciders. Champlain Orchards in Shoreham placed even higher on that second list, with its Farmstead cider at No. 3. Winners are chosen by public vote, so it looks like more than a few Vermonters did their part. Both are featured in this week’s article about cideries worth checking out, and both are worth a stop, or at least a spot in the fridge.
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Friends in Vergennes have been hoping for a bagel shop for years, and it's finally happening...Cafe Modo is moving into the Kennedy Brothers building, in theh spot currently home to the Holt (wrapping up service next month). It’s being founded by two couples who met more than a decade ago working at Hen of the Wood…Justin and Sophie Wright (Justin was also the opening chef at The Tillerman in Bristol), and Scott and Lorena Pellegrini. The plan is coffee and Montreal-style bagels four days a week, plus sourdough pizza two nights a week. Dinner will also include whole-roasted fish and chicken, salads, wine, beer and classic cocktails. The team is aiming to open by the holidays, according to Seven Days.
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And there’s good news on the Waterbury front, too…Stone's Throw is reopening its dining room. The new setup is simpler…you order at the counter, find a seat, and settle in with pizza, beer or wine. There are no reservations and no cocktails this time around. A few familiar faces from the original team are back in the kitchen, too, which makes for a good excuse to go grab a pie.
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And Jersey Mike’s fans in the South End have a new option coming, as it’s opening its third Chittenden County location in the Gateway Shopping Center by Shaw’s on Shelburne Road, in the space Subway left earlier this year. It will join Five Guys, Starbucks and Chipotle in the plaza, adding to the chain's existing shops at the University Mall and in Williston. There's no opening date yet, according to NBC5, but a sign on the building says they're already hiring.
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On a sadder note, Haymaker Bun will close its café in Burlington's Soda Plant after service on October 17. The space will become a production bakery for Haymaker's frozen four-packs of buns. Demand for those has grown from cases to pallets, and they can now ship anywhere in the country through Dakin Farm. The original Middlebury bakery will stay open for breakfast and lunch, and fresh buns will also still be sold at Brio Coffeeworks across the hall, at Clover Café in South Burlington, and at both City Market locations.
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Restaurant owners, this one's for you. Love Burlington is running a holiday program called Love Burlington, Get Rewarded from November 23 through December 20. Anyone who spends $50 or more in a single purchase at a Burlington business can show that receipt at any participating business for a discount, a freebie or another perk. Love Burlington will promote participating businesses, and this Q&A covers the details. But listen up…the sign-up closes this Sunday at midnight. It's a simple way to bring some new faces through the door right in the middle of holiday party season.
Tastemakers: Sas Stewart, Adventure Dinner
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 Sas Stewart, who co-founded Stonecutter Spirits and Highball Social before launching Adventure Dinner, the local company hosting dinners on farms, in barns, and just about everywhere in between across Vermont.
Read the full interview, including how she finds inspiration, the less glamorous parts of the business, and the wish-list item she’d pay for first…
The Long Pour: Yes, There IS Another Cab…
by Mike Stolese
Whether you are a wine drinker or not, it’s a pretty safe bet everyone has heard of Cabernet Sauvignon.
What still surprises folks is that its compatriot, Cabernet Franc, is a whole different grape that shares the same first name.
Cab Sauv is a big, powerful, red wine that can be very tannic, with incredible aging potential. It’s the perfect lead varietal in the traditional Bordeaux blend and gives Bordeaux its long life in the cellar…
What’s On…
This first stretch of October has a little bit of everything.
Three Oktoberfests happen on the same Saturday…cider season is in full swing…and somewhere in Burlington, a restaurant is about to take home a 22-pound championship belt for its poutine. Throw in a farm dinner across the border, a Master Sommelier teaching Wine 101, and a strongman contest in a beer garden, and the next ten days are pretty full.
Here's the full line-up of food and drink events worth planning around between now and October 11…
Before we go…
It's National Pizza Month, which gives every pizza fan an excuse to make their case about the best pizza. Here's mine.
I grew up in East Bridgewater, on the South Shore of Massachusetts, where the answer to that question has always been “bar pizza.” Ask anyone from the area, and they’ll let you know that it’s the best in the world (“bar” none).
If you've never had it, bar pizza was born in the neighborhood taverns around Brockton in the 1940s. Each one is a smallish 10-inch pie, baked in a shallow pan that's been seasoned over years of use (some are decades old). The crust is thin and crisp, the sauce is heavy on the oregano, and instead of mozzarella, it's topped with a sharp cheddar blend spread right to the edge of the pan. That cheese crisps up into a lacy, caramelized rim, which is everyone's favorite part.
South Shore bar pizza at Emma’s in Bridgewater 📷 Facebook/South Shore Bar Pizza
There's even a South Shore Bar Pizza Facebook group, with more than 90,000 members.
My favorite is Cape Cod Café in Brockton. The good news for Vermonters is that you can sometimes find frozen Cape Cod pies at Shaw's. That's no coincidence, since Shaw's is headquartered in West Bridgewater, right in the heart of bar pizza country. In fact, as I write this, there’s one in the oven at our house as we speak, cooking up for dinner.
New York and Chicago have been fighting over the best pizza for decades. Adorable. Meanwhile, the South Shore settled the question back in the 1940s. Next time you find yourself southeast of Boston, you know where to go.
Until next week…