In a city with so much to offer, it becomes so easy to forget about the culinary diversity that can be found in Burlington. This truth was highlighted in full-force by a new event called Dishcrawl. Similar to the popular idea of pub-crawls, Burlington’s inaugural event sought to prove the depth and range of restaurant experiences found within Burlington’s Church Street Marketplace. As a fairly new Burlingtonian, I still feel as if I have only just begun experiencing the myriad dining options that Burlington has to offer, with over 30 unique restaurant experiences in the Church Street area alone. With no itinerary provided save the meeting place, I went in to the event with an open mind and an empty stomach.

The first stop on our mystery tour was Nika, a new Mediterranean-inspired establishment in the heart of the Church Street Marketplace. As I entered the low-lit ambiance of the restaurant, I was greeted by Aziza, the leader and coordinator of the Dishcrawl experience. To my delight, she implored me to sample from the many dishes laid out around the bar. The first stop was highlighted by a delicate, yet flavorful flatbread pizza topped with duck confit, a tender and juicy skewer of chicken flavored with Mediterranean spices, and lightly-fried mushroom risotto arancini. I began to realize that practicing moderation in anticipation of much more food to come would prove difficult. 

After sharing a personal word and exchanging thanks with head chef Dennis Vieria, we were on our way to stop #2: El Gato. Found at the southern end of the Church Street Marketplace, El Gato is a vibrant Mexican restaurant striving to bring authentic Mexican cuisine all the way from the border to Burlington. Before we were allowed to dig in to the bright array of classic Hispanic fair set before us, we were greeted by head chef Teresa Sanchez-Bertrand. She expressed to us her desire to bring the food she loved and cherised as a young child to a place devoid of other Mexican options, utilizing the availability of fresh and delicious ingredients in her traditional dishes. We were graced with an amazing citrus ceviche that was flavorful, yet not overbearing, a decadent carnitas dish featuring local pork, and a native, spicy soup called pozole. As the second new experience for myself on the tour, El Gato proved to be so much more than just a good margarita; its local ingredients and authentic flavors shined.

With two restaurants behind us, and stomach space becoming harder to come by, the group trekked on to Sherpa Kitchen, a well-established Nepalese restaurant. As we listened to the musings of chef and co-owner Pherba Sherpa, we were treated to a spicy menagerie of eastern favorites, featuring an excellent chicken curry, deep friend pakora, and pork momo dumplings accompanied by a delicious curry hot sauce. I was surprised and intrigued by the broad palate of flavors that surrounding countries like Tibet and India provide Nepalese cuisine, having never tried it prior to this event.

Finally, as the night wound down to an end, the group approached its final stop: Ben and Jerry’s. As difficult as it was, I managed to miraculously find space for this familiar, delicious end to a wonderful experience. At the store, we were treated to our own, private tasting area manned by a smiling, excited Ben and Jerry’s employee. Though food coma had begun to slowly take its effect on the group as a whole, we were guided through a brief, yet diverse journey through the many different types of flavors served at the Vermont-based ice cream shop. It began with Chocolate Therapy, a fan-favorite, and made its way through White Russian, Salted Caramel, and my own personal favorite, the Pineapple Passion Fruit Greek frozen yogurt. 

Although I could not eat the entirety of all the samples due to fears of culinary overload, the sweet treat served as the perfect ending to a wonderful evening. Though I would not consider myself an amateur of the Burlington restaurant scene, I can say without a doubt that this Dishcrawl event opened my eyes to the immensity of the metaphorical iceberg that is the Burlington culinary experience, and just how little of the tip I had seen. In one fell swoop, I had the pleasure of enjoying three brand-new establishments, in the pleasant company of like-minded local foodies. 

In this way, the inaugural Burlington Dishcrawl was a massive success, and I eagerly await its return in August. As an event catering to all ages and backgrounds, Burlington’s second Dishcrawl at the end of the summer is a must-attend event for families, friends, and foodies alike!

Source: Dig in VT Trails

This June Chef Lee Duberman of Ariel’s Restaurant added Cornmeal Manchego cheese waffles with Spring Vegetable Ragout, crispy leeks and Romesco sauce to her menu. They’ve been such a hit she’s taking an iteration of these savory Belgian style waffles to the Brookfield Old Town Hall this Sunday from noon until 3pm.

The Floating Bridge Food and Farms Cooperative harnesses the excellence of our well-known local chef, face-time with local farmers and their fresh food with hands-on experiences giving us all a chance to celebrate and engage directly in the fullness of Vermont’s summer vibrancy.

Fieldstone Farm’s Ian and Chandra Blackmer will be adding their wood fired oven pizza topped with local seasonal produce and meats to the localvore lunch offerings at the market. And Green Mountain Girls Farm’s own NECI-trained Guy Scheibner is preparing hyperlocal Vietnamese style Bahn Mi Pork Sandwiches with pickled onions!

While you make room for dessert you can get your gardens set with local plants and flowers including Pagoda Pond Garden’s daylilies and Spruce Lane Farm’s hanging baskets. Stock your kitchen with produce, pasture-raised meats, pickles, jams, jellies and of course quality sweets including caramel, honey and maple syrup and pick up other great local products such as beeswax candles, soap, wool roving and the new Vermont Farm Table Cookbook featuring Ariel’s Restaurant.

Speaking of sweets and dessert, the Fat Toad Farm team is making Whoopie Pies with caramel cream filling and ice cream. And Brookfield Bees is adding yet another global dimension to hyperlocal eating with baklava made with their honey. Rounding out all the other delights they’ll also satiate our thirst with sodas made from their homemade fruit syrups!

Even Vermonters have grown distant from real food.  Busy with contemporary commitments, we still cherish certain local foods but they are few and often relegated to special occasions. Knowledge and confidence in cooking and relevant skills have atrophied. Even those of us committed to buying local get caught in ruts making the same old dishes. The Floating Bridge Food and Farms Cooperative aim to “bridge” this gap, bringing more local products into our daily lives. At this weekend’s market we will dig deeper into where your honey comes from and get ideas for seasonal local meals. And at 1pm Brookfield Bees will offer a beekeeping demonstration with their observation hive and at 2pm Chef Lee Duberman of Ariel’s Restaurant will conduct a seasonal cooking demonstration.

Come with your hunger and thirst for deeply nourishing delicious food, righteous local treats and connection with Vermont’s working land heritage. And for those inclined to also get up close and personal with Sunset Lake, one of Vermont’s best swims, you should also bring swimsuits to “the Pond Village”. Hope to see you in Brookfield Sunday or on the Floating Bridge Food and Farm Trail soon! 

Source: Dig in VT Trails

This June, the national start-up Dishcrawl, founded on the idea of bringing together communities through good food and good company, is coming to Burlington.  Dishcrawl takes food lovers on a tour of the area’s best eats, highlighting four local restaurants in one savory evening. 

“It’s like a food-centric pub crawl,” says local ambassador Aziza Jadallah.  “We focus on the amazing variety of restaurants we have right here in Burlington, connecting the community with the chefs, owners, and the great dishes that make Burlington a food destination.”    

The first crawl takes place on Tuesday, June 25th, and will feature four restaurants of Burlington’s Church Street Marketplace.  Tickets can be purchased at dishcrawl.com/churchstreetdishcrawl. The featured restaurants are kept secret until two days before the event, when the meeting location is revealed to ticketholders. 

For more information about upcoming Dishcrawls, visit dishcrawl.com/burlington, check out our Facebook, and follow us on Twitter, @dishcrawlburl. 

Dishcrawl creates dining experiences and events to satisfy anyone’s craving.  Our mission is to show food lovers the best dishes in local restaurants.  You can find your local Dishcrawl Ambassador leading you through progressive dinners, prix fixe dinners, and other fun food events!  Dishcrawlers can enjoy dining experiences in San Francisco, New York, Montreal, Ottawa, San Jose, Toronto, Philadelphia, DC, and more.  Visit Dishcrawl.com for a local dining experience.   

Source: Dig in VT Trails

The Echo Lake Inn was built in 1840 as a Victorian summer hotel. Today it remains one of the few authentic Vermont country inns operating year round. The Vermont Country Inn’s rich heritage includes frequent visits by President Calvin Coolidge, Henry Ford, Thomas Edison and many other historic figures. Along with gorgeous event facilities, Echo Lake Inn has an outstanding restaurant led by Chef Kevin Barnes. 

Chef Kevin Barnes, of Ludlow’s Echo Lake Inn, has been working with friends, farmers, and his staff to serve Vermont-grown food for 25 years. “I don’t buy locally just because it’s local, I buy locally because it is the freshest, best product I can get,” Chef Barnes explains, “and my customers aren’t coming to Vermont to eat the same food they have back home, they want to experience the local flavors that Vermont has to offer.

What is Chef Kevin excited about? Discovering the Green Thumbs in his staff…

Chef Kevin has found some of his best produce right under his nose- from a bartender that grew a huge garden catering their needs, to a breakfast waitress that brings in beautiful veggies for the kitchen. Even Chef Barnes, himself, contributes blackberries, herbs and produce from his own home garden. Chef Kevin graciously offered a delicious recipe for Green Mountain Smoke House Bacon-Wrapped Vermont Butter and Cheese Creamery Bonne Bouche with McIntosh Chutney. 

Green Mountain Smoke House Bacon Wrapped Bonne Bouche Cheese with McIntosh Chutney

Ingredients:

                  1 Vermont Butter and Cheese Company’s Bonne Bouche 

                  2 slices Green Mountain Smoke House Bacon (par cooked)

                  8 fresh baquette slices+

                  2 Vermont McIntosh Apples (peeled, cored and ½ inch dice)

                  I small red onion (small dice)

                  ½ sweet bell pepper (small dice)

                  ¼ cup brown sugar

                  1/8 cup raisins

                  ¼ tsp ground cinnamon

                  ¼ tsp allspice

                  ¼ cup Cold Hollow cider

                 ¼ cup Cold Hollow cider vinegar

Preparation:

                  Chutney:

                                    Place apples, onion, pepper, brown sugar, cinnamon, allspice, cider and cider vinegar in heavy saucepan. Stir mixture, bring to a simmer, and cook until apple cubes just start to soften but retain their shape. Remove from heat and add raisins and stir once more. Place mixture in a nonreactive container and refrigerate. Leave refrigerated until Bonne Bouche is ready. (make about an hour ahead of cooking cheese)

                  Cheese:

                                    Preheat oven to 475 degrees. Wrap par cooked bacon slices around Bonne Bouche cheese with tooth picks or skewers to hold bacon in place. Place bacon wrapped cheese on a sizzle platter or similar pan. Once oven is at temperature, place wrapped cheese inside oven. Heat until bacon just starts to crisp and cheese just starts to soften (about 5 minutes).  Serve immediately with chilled chutney and baquette slices.

Source: Dig in VT Trails

nika

Chef Dennis Vieira serves up bold, Mediterranean flavors with a Vermont twist at nika, the new downtown Burlington restaurant that formerly housed Three Tomatoes. Owner, Robert Meyers, has made a point of designing the European-inspired menus of his four restaurants to utilize the best of local ingredients- you can see it at nika in dishes like the Boucher Blue stuffed Dates, and the Vermont Family Farms pork they use in the house-made sausage and bacon.

What is Chef Dennis excited about right now?

Spring, and his Vermont Foraged Salad…

Chef Dennis has been running a special that highlights some of Vermont’s best wild edibles, most foraged from Bridgewater, VT by owner, Robert Meyers, himself! The salad features wild ramps and pheasantback mushrooms, wood fired in their roaring oven, dandelion greens doused in olive oil and grilled, blanched fiddleheads and asparagus tossed with petit arugula, spinach, flakes of parmesan cheese and dressed with a parmesan vinaigrette.

Source: Dig in VT Trails

The Kitchen Table Bistro

“Foragers are coming out of the woodwork,” Steve Atkins, chef/owner of the Kitchen Table remarked jokingly. All puns aside, The Kitchen Table Bistro (KTB) is known for their creative use of seasonally foraged ingredients. Steve receives calls daily from foragers hoping to see their harvest on the plates of his critically acclaimed restaurant.

What is Chef Steve excited about?

Wild Ramps…

Wild leeks have a short, concentrated growing season and, while in supply, Chef Steve celebrates ramps creatively and they work their way into many KTB dishes. While we spoke, Chef Steve was preparing his wild ramp romesco sauce, which blends grilled ramps with red pepper and almonds into a coarse puree. Pickling ramps is another favorite at KTB. Chef Steve will pair his pickled ramps simply—with a tartar or pate, or create a pickled ramp relish that’s perfect for fish. The Kitchen Table Bistro’s restaurant week menu is filled with ramps and their new patio beckons spring diners.  

Source: Dig in VT Trails

Hermit’s Gold Wild Edibles

Colin McCaffrey is obsessed with wild things. Taught about wild edibles and natural medicinal plants by his mother and grandfather, Colin spent his childhood hunting, fishing, and foraging in Southern Vermont. In college, he found himself using the forest as his classroom, focusing on identifying species – especially mushrooms.

What is Colin excited about?

His hunt for morels…

 Morels need the moisture of a wet spring to really flourish, with little rain in the forecast Colin is keeping his spirits up by foraging for other seasonal wild edibles. He is already harvesting wild leeks, fiddleheads, nettles, toothwort, and pepper root—which Colin described as a mix between wasabi and wild ginger. Colin works under the name of Hermit’s Gold Wild Edibles in Washington County and the Northeast Kingdom and you can find his wild edibles on the table at Hen of the Wood, Frida’s, and at the Plainfield Coop.     

Source: Dig in VT Trails

Chef Martin Schuelke moved to Vermont a year ago to take over the kitchen at the historic Grafton Inn. With plans to integrate more local food into his menu, Chef Martin asked fellow chef, friend and former VFN board member, Jason Tostrup of the Inn at Weathersfield to introduce him to area farmers.  Gayle Morabito of Coger Farms and Greenhouses was the first farmer connection Jason helped Martin make.  Gayle grows rare culinary herbs and highly desired, unusual produce. She is happy to grow custom orders for her chef partners.

Chef Martin is currently using Coger’s special variety of wild arugula, spinach, choi, mustard and beet greens along with lemon balm, amaranth, wrinkled cress and other herbs guaranteed to thrill any creative chef! In celebration of Earth Day last week, Chef Martin shared this recipe for Coger’s Greenhouse Spring Greens with VT Fiddleheads and Apricot Vinaigrette. The day we spoke, Chef Martin received a delivery of 15 pounds of foraged fiddleheads, in fact, a Fiddlehead Dinner celebrating the wild edibles is in the works for May 25th at the Grafton Inn!  

Source: Dig in VT Trails