Posted By Julia Clancy on Mon, Oct 10, 2016 at 5:37 PM

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Julia Clancy

Iced maple mochas, blueberry scone and pumpkin-chocolate chip cookie at Blank Page Café

Follow the curved dirt pathway off Cheese Factory Road in Shelburne and you’ll reach the farmstand at Bread and Butter Farm. Open the screen door and walk past the fridge stocked with grass-fed beef, the crates of apples and new potatoes, the table of late-season tomatoes and the reach-in cooler lined with raw milk from Henry’s Dairy and Sobremesa kimchi. There, you’ll find Blank Page Café, a pop-up coffee shop from partners Michael Proia and Katie Horner.

Blank Page opened at Bread and Butter Farm last fall, but, beginning this week, the café has extended its limited hours to serve Proia’s coveted butter coffee and gluten-free pastries Monday through Saturday.

Tags: Bread and Butter Farm , Blank Page Cafe , Paleo , gluten-free , grain-free , farm , coffee , butter coffee , breakfast , cafe , Shelburne , Image , Web Only

Posted By Suzanne Podhaizer on Sun, Oct 9, 2016 at 7:30 AM

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Suzanne Podhaizer

The Firebird at the Firebird Café

At the Firebird Café, on Pearl Street in Essex Junction, both breakfast and lunch are served all day. That  means you can have a pork burrito laced with tomatillo sauce at 8 a.m., or snuggle up with a maple-slathered stack of buttermilk pancakes and a cup of Vermont Coffee Company brew in the afternoon. 

I arrived on a Friday morning to find the place packed. Nevertheless, the friendly staffers seemed relaxed as they diced a mountain of tomatoes into salsa-sized bits, cooked omelettes and cheerfully delivered plates piled with hearty portions of food.

For Dining on a Dime, the rule is to find meals — not merely treats or snacks — that cost less than $12.  At FC, nothing on the menu costs more than that. The fish tacos and smoked salmon Benedict, each ringing up at $10.95, are the priciest things on offer.

And so, with 40 items from which to choose, I went with the restaurant's eponymous sandwich: the Firebird.  It arrived quickly — a mass of spiced, shredded beef mixed with poblano chile and onion, piled on a darkened grinder roll and topped with gooey melted cheese. (The best part, aside from the affordability, was the presence of those crispy, crunchy bits of broiled cheese around the very edges of the sandwich.) 

Slathered with the smoky chipotle sauce that sits on all the tables, this sandwich was a flavorful, nearly overwhelming meal. After eating all I could, I still brought two-thirds of it home with me. 

Dining on a Dime is a weekly series featuring well-made, filling bites (something substantial enough to qualify as a small meal or better) for $12 or less. Know of a tasty dish we should feature? Drop us a line: [email protected].

Tags: Firebird , Café , Essex , Sandwich , Breakfast , Lunch , Cheap , Firebird Café , Image , Web Only

Posted By Suzanne Podhaizer on Sat, Oct 8, 2016 at 2:16 PM

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Suzanne Podhaizer

Starving Artist Café

At the Starving Artist Café, located inside the Davis Studio on Shelburne Road in South Burlington, hungry brunchers can dine on Whistler's Mother's Oatmeal, laced with brown sugar and pumpkin seeds, or dig into Matisse in Morocco — poached eggs with harissa-stewed tomatoes and homemade pita.

The studio, founded and owned by Teresa Davis, offers kids' art camps, as well as teen and adult classes in a variety of media, including millinery, fused glass, watercolor and photography.  Originally, the on-site kitchen was used only to feed the artists and perhaps their parents. In early September, the café opened to the public, presenting a selection of snack plates, soup, salad and a build-your-own breakfast sandwich. Brunch, with dishes named after the masters, began on September 25.

Tags: art , brunch , café , South Burlington , lunch , Image , Web Only

Posted By Hannah Palmer Egan on Tue, Oct 4, 2016 at 1:00 PM

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Hannah Palmer Egan

Apples x apples x apples

October means many things in Vermont: cutting corn, hauling pumpkins and winter squash, digging potatoes,  processing vegetables, cutting the cabbage patch into kraut. And picking apples.

As orchardists press cider and prep their fields for the coming cold, we wander through the trees, picking fruit. Once home, we transform our pickings into pies or preserves. Any way you slice it, harvest is a busy time.

So how about a seasonal cocktail? Here's one to celebrate the apple, making use of the fruit in three ways — with  Malvados apple brandy from Mad River Distillers and ice cider and fresh cider from Champlain Orchards.

Apples x Apples x Apples
Makes two cocktails

Ingredients: 

• 2 ounces apple brandy
  
• 2 ounces ice cider
  
• Juice of one lemon
  
• A few leaves each of sage, lavender, thyme
  
• 1 teaspoon maple syrup
  
• Fresh apple cider, to top

Preparation: 

1. Muddle the brandy, lemon and herbs in a pint glass or cocktail shaker. Strain the mixture into another glass or shaker; add ice cider and maple syrup and stir well.
   
2. Fill two Collins or rocks glasses with ice to the top; pour mixture over the ice and top off with fresh apple cider. Jostle with a spoon or cocktail stirrer to mix. Garnish with fresh herbs. 
   

Tags: Cocktails , recipes , brandy , Malvados , cider , apples , Image , Web Only

Posted By Julia Clancy on Tue, Oct 4, 2016 at 12:01 PM

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Julia Clancy

Pastries at Bakkerij Krijnen in Bennington

On August 16, 1777, a rebel force of a couple thousand militiamen prepared for the Battle of Bennington. The American Revolutionary War was about two years old. General John Stark led the brigade, reinforced by a crew of Vermonters including Col. Seth Warner and Ethan Allen’s Green Mountain Boys. Long story short: the Brits lost.

Tags: Bennington , South Street Cafe and Bakery , Lil' Britain , Bakkerij Krijnen , lunch , dinner , pastries , bakery , restaurant , Image , Web Only

Posted By Suzanne Podhaizer on Sun, Oct 2, 2016 at 2:12 PM

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Suzanne Podhaizer

The dining room at Bleu

I'm not much of a drinker, so it's a rare evening that I "need" to get a cocktail. But one of those evenings occurred last week. Sitting alone at a bar and sipping something bracing seemed like just the thing to improve my mood. I guess I was feeling a little Bleu. Bleu Northeast Seafood, that is, which is located in the Courtyard Burlington Harbor.  

Tags: cocktail , seafood , Burlington , restaurant , bar , Bleu , Image , Web Only