161 Church St., Burlington, 881-0642

For some reason, Sky Burgers is one of those places I just don't think of when considering my Burlington dining options. I should. It's a fun concept — creative dinners in burger form.

Sunday, I finally got it together to visit Sky Burgers for the first time since opening day, when I accompanied former Seven Days food editor Suzanne Podhaizer on her First Bite meal there. I was impressed at how the menu had grown, both in scale and innovation. There were far more than house-ground beef patties and chicken breasts. Burger options now range from quinoa to lobster.

However, in the spirit of outdoor dining and the pleasant weather, I ordered exclusively from the summer specials menu. That's where I found the new-and-improved fish taco. It was slaw-covered and soggy when I tried it two and a half years ago, but it's now a darn fine replication of fish-taco flavors in patty form.

The mahi mahi patty was lightly crusted in bread crumbs to approximate the feel of fried chunks of fish. The "slaw" was still there, but much less of it and not at all soggy. In fact, until I rechecked the menu, I thought it was supposed to be plain cabbage. Pico de gallo and crispy tortilla strips added even more crunch, but it was Holy Chipotle aioli that defined the creamy, spicy flavor.

Last week I received an email from Red Hen's buyer, Hannah Conner, that the Middlesex café would soon carry pints of Jeni's Splendid Ice Cream, an Ohio brand that has picked up many accolades. On her website, creator Jeni Britton Bauer extolls the virtues of Ohio cream from grass-grazing cows, as well as her eclectic ice-cream-making crew. She writes, "We create ice creams we fall madly in love with, that we want to bathe in, that make us see million-year-old stars," — in flavors as Roasted Strawberry Buttermilk, Bangkok Peanut, and Wheatgrass Pear, & Vinho Verde. For realz.

That Red Hen would cast their ice cream net way beyond our dairy motherland to Ohio was worth a peek, especially since everything here — coffee, bread, cheese, sausage, wine — is usually spot-on delicious.

So when I stopped in yesterday and lifted the top of the ice cream case, it was a tantalizing surprise to see Jeni's rubbing shoulders with a simply packaged local brand: Stowe Ice Cream. It had just been delivered that morning, the first batch that Red Hen would ever sell, and each flavor was handwritten across the top. 

This may seem like a no-brainer for a die-hard locavore, but not for me. If I couldn't visit Ohio anytime soon, why not taste Ohio in ice cream form? And then compare it to a home-turf hero. It was hot enough, anyway.

6305 Shelburne Rd., Shelburne, 881-8822

It's shaping up to be the year of the pizza. Lately, when I haven't been dreaming of the chewy, charred crust at Pizzeria Verità, I've been trying to find time to try the pie at Folino's Pizzeria. On Sunday, I finally did.

The high-ceilinged Shelburne Road warehouse space that Folino's shares with Fiddlehead Brewing gets unpleasantly hot in the warm weather. But I wasn't staying anyway — the few indoor and outdoor tables were all full. I didn't mind retreating to my air-conditioned dinner table.

I watched as the pizzaioli crafted the pies and threw them in the 800-degree wood-burning oven. Minutes later, they emerged, ready for cutting and boxing. My salad came out of the fridge prepackaged, but my dessert, a special that day, took a little longer.

I didn't have high hopes for the prepackaged salad, but it quickly proved me wrong. The diverse mix made each bite unique. Daikon and parsley, meet cucumber and feta. A maple-balsamic vinaigrette gave the whole thing a lovely sweet-and-sour hit. The veggies were chopped so fine that, by the time I was done, some were practically pickled by the dressing, which lent a whole new taste and texture.

But the goal of the trip was pizza. First stop, Margherita.

It's Wheatgrass Wednesday on Bank Street, and despite the off-putting prospect of juice squeezed from grass, a steady trickle of sippers sidle up to the Juice Bar for a hit. A wiry, khaki-clad guy (and wheatgrass virgin) knocks back his very first shot at the stand. "I'm going to have this every morning instead of Starbucks," he enthuses as he sets down the empty glass.

With every fresh order, Steph Steeves — for two years the juice-bar supervisor at Healthy Living — turns and grabs a handful of freshly cut grass from a Ziploc bag and stuffs it into the funnel-like top of her press. Then she hand cranks out the frothy, forest-green juice, which she decants into a beveled apéritif glass.

It's been a few weeks since Steeves and her partner, Mike Winters, built a solar-powered stand from repurposed bicycle frames and set it up as a juice bar along Bank Street, against the parking garage. "It's a ball. We get to hang out and chat," says the buoyant Winters, who left a Middlebury law firm to start peddling juice (and health, as they like to say) to unsuspecting Burlingtonians.

142 Hegeman Avenue, Colchester, 655-7370.

A hot dog cart is a hot dog cart, right?

In the "dirty water" milieu of big cities, the options tend to be limited to Sabrett or Hebrew National. But we're not in a big city.

Thanks to Cloud 9 Catering, the folks behind the Noble Pig, my summer is looking up — cured meat product by cured meat product.

Since the cart debuted in Colchester at the end of May, I've been making as many trips as I can. Last week my trip got easier when the cart began spending Thursdays parked at the Burton Snowboards lot, at 80 Industrial Parkway in Burlington.

Hot, it is hot, as Yoda might say. Take a drink I shall, yes, hmmm.

This week in Seven Days I wrote about mead, and the bees that make it. And though I developed an affection for Artesano's Essence Mead along the way, I also stumbled across a bottle of Honey Gardens Apiaries' Melissa Sparkling Mead, made with raw honey.

It looks like Champagne, it pours like Champagne, but it's really not much like Champagne. Though I bet meadmakers would love to capture more of the wedding market, modern palates might still need some getting used to these flavors — subtly sweet, earthy and herbaceous, unlike most wine or beer. But those who brave mead — or have grown to adore it — have discovered its very beguiling otherness, and flavors that seem to be from another planet but are actually ancient.

For an easy entry to the style, marry some sparkling mead to a little Vermont-made Sumptuous Black Currant Syrup and some Artesano Blueberry Mead, and you'll conjure an all-local twist on the Kir Royale, that perfect-for-summer classic blend of Champagne and crème de cassis or Chambord.

Fortunately for Vermont Kir lovers, Grand View Winery makes its own cassis. With 12 percent alcohol, you could sip it as a dessert wine on its own; pour some into sparkling mead, though, et voila! A berry-hued refresher with a honeyed undercarriage, a wisp of fruitiness and some yummy medicinal notes. 

To make a local Kir Royale, take your average Champagne flute, and add a generous splash of Grand View's Cassis (and optionally, one glug of blueberry mead, too.) Top with sparkling mead (or wine), and drink up! Or rather, your Kir drink, mmmm.

Each week, Grazing highlights tasty, sometimes under-the-radar dishes and drinks that reflect the season. If you know of a local edible (or libation) worth making a fuss over, let me know: [email protected].

Burlington Farmers Market, Saturdays, 8:30 a.m.-2 p.m. at City Hall Park. Info, 310-5172.

My affection for this year's new-and-improved Burlington Farmers Market is no secret. With 90 vendors this year, the lunch selection is almost overwhelming. Still, there's been a break-out hit for me.

It doesn't have a sign yet. The vendors are incorporated as MPT, but they'll soon be advertising themselves as Peace & Love Catering. The motives for the name aren't as hippy-dippy as they sound — Mayllet Paz and Wilfredo Amor run the stand. Their last names translate to peace and love, respectively.

Paz and Amor are both Panama natives, but they didn't meet until immigrating to the United States. Each is from a different region so their native flavors differ from one another.

The couple's wide selection of dishes changes each week. I was particularly impressed a few weeks ago by Amor's spice-rubbed, smoked-then-fried chicken thighs. Each week, a Mexican friend prepares tamales for the stand — their flavorful pork and creamy masa filling is steamed in banana leaves, giving the packages a slightly tea-like flavor. Last week, that same friend also made a braised chicken dish using guajillo chiles. Amor worked at Souza's Brazilian Steakhouse, which introduced flavors from South America's largest country into his repertoire.

Last week, my boyfriend and I both ordered the $10 lunch deal, which includes rice and beans, two meats, two sides and a chilled bottle of water.

Neither of us could resist the lime corn. Its buttery kernels tasted only slightly citrusy, but it was still a refreshing foil to the meats. Fried plantains were somewhat greasy, but in a pleasant way, popping with hot fat as I bit into them.

The lime flavor I was looking for was more prominent in a braised chicken thigh that Amor called "lime chicken." Herbaceous and tangy, the tender meat paired beautifully with the spiced, nutty-tasting rice and beans.

Marinated steak also had a refreshing hint of citrus to counter its earthy spice rub. I got two pieces of the beef. One was tough and difficult to eat, the other was tender enough to eat straight from the fork, lollipop-style.

I was fascinated by the chicken leg at top left, which Paz told me was the invention of a Brazilian friend. It's hard to see in the photo, but the meat was covered in cheese, wrapped in bacon and inlaid with peas, corn and carrots. It could have been a fat bomb. Instead, the cook's deft hand with spices made this a smoky, cheesey delight. Similarly, it took just a hint of spice and a squeeze of lime to make the conventional-looking pasta salad sing.

But last week's greatest discovery may have been the ham. Sweet and clove-scented, the flavor profile wasn't drastically different from a slab from Harrington's of Vermont. The wonders were in the preparation.

The meat was braised, not baked, resulting in a full-on assault of ham flavor. It was so good, I didn't mind missing the other braised pork dish Paz and Amor were proffering that day. Well, not too much. And chances are, if they're not serving it this weekend, I'll still be able to try it soon.

Gut instinct might tell you to stay away from wine in a box, but you’d only be half right: Boxed wines have been improving, though some are still god-awful.

Wine in kegs, however, are way ahead of the game. Often, restaurants must eat the cost of wine that oxidizes in the bottle, such as a slightly unusual varietal opened for a glass pour and never ordered again. This is partly why many wine-by-the-glass lists tend to resemble each other. (K-J Chardonnay, anyone?)

Enter kegged wine. Even if the clunkiness of a beer keg seems at odds with the elegance of wine, tapping vino in an airtight container keeps ruinous oxygen at bay and a batch of wine fresher, longer. It's also eminently "green," cutting down on glass waste.

Part of that is enviably low prices. Few dishes are much more than $10, though some ambitious cocktails are nearly that. Indeed, the sign at Bangkok Minute promises pad Thai and martinis, so it seemed only right that we try a sip or two.

On a hot evening out on the restaurant's pleasant front deck, just far enough away from the road, I couldn't resist a milkshake-like Thai iced tea. We also leaned toward tea on the boozy side, with a cocktail called the Bruce Lee. Composed of green tea, lemon and vodka, it wasn't as serious as a martini, but was an ideal refresher on a sticky Sunday evening.

When a fellow outdoor diner lit up a series of cigarettes, we decided to move inside, as close to a fan as we could. Soon after, dinner arrived. When I saw my chicken-noodle bowl, I was a bit concerned. Raw lettuce and tomatoes mixed with hot curried noodles?

Though it seemed ill-advised, the thick slices of iceberg barely cooked despite their steamy surroundings. Flavorwise, the tomatoes proved to be a delightfully acidic foil to the creamy, mildly spicy ginger-lemon curry sauce.

The sauce was delicious and complex, but a tad heavy on a hot day. The slices of chicken were grill-marked on one side, lending a nice charred taste. But I was particularly fond of the chewy rice noodles. Rather than the wide, flat pasta or vermicelli I usually see, these strands were round, like medium-thick spaghetti. The mouthfeel was surprising and highly enjoyable.

The same noodles appeared in the ultra-sweet pad Thai. Though heavy on the tamarind, a liberal dose of ginger mitigated its syrupy qualities.There was plenty of peanut, too, giving the dish a savory flavor that blended well with the scrambled eggs, chicken and puffy tofu.

Bean sprouts and a few raw carrots added a nice crunch. A big slice of lemon also helped to balance the flavors, though less-astringent lime would have been a better contrast.

We were full after our big noodle bowls and my milky, caloric iced tea, but I can never say no to mango sticky rice.

In this case, I wished I had. Though it was a huge portion — big enough for two or three people — the dish fell flat.

The mangoes, which hadn't quite achieved ripeness, were hard and not quite sweet. The rice was also under-sweetened and not as glutinous as it should be. The dessert is usually bathed in coconut sauce and sesame seeds, but this one was dry and bland.

Still, I hope to return, particularly for the restaurant's inexpensive lunch deal. Fingers crossed this new place lasts more than a Bangkok minute.

Alice Eats is a weekly blog feature devoted to reviewing restaurants where diners can get a meal for two for less than $35. Got a restaurant you'd love to see featured? Send it to [email protected].

Part of that is enviably low prices. Few dishes are much more than $10, though some ambitious cocktails are nearly that. Indeed, the sign at Bangkok Minute promises pad Thai and martinis, so it seemed only right that we try a sip or two.

On a hot evening out on the restaurant's pleasant front deck, just far enough away from the road, I couldn't resist a milkshake-like Thai iced tea. We also leaned toward tea on the boozy side, with a cocktail called the Bruce Lee. Composed of green tea, lemon and vodka, it wasn't as serious as a martini, but was an ideal refresher on a sticky Sunday evening.

When a fellow outdoor diner lit up a series of cigarettes, we decided to move inside, as close to a fan as we could. Soon after, dinner arrived. When I saw my chicken-noodle bowl, I was a bit concerned. Raw lettuce and tomatoes mixed with hot curried noodles?

Though it seemed ill-advised, the thick slices of iceberg barely cooked despite their steamy surroundings. Flavorwise, the tomatoes proved to be a delightfully acidic foil to the creamy, mildly spicy ginger-lemon curry sauce.

The sauce was delicious and complex, but a tad heavy on a hot day. The slices of chicken were grill-marked on one side, lending a nice charred taste. But I was particularly fond of the chewy rice noodles. Rather than the wide, flat pasta or vermicelli I usually see, these strands were round, like medium-thick spaghetti. The mouthfeel was surprising and highly enjoyable.

The same noodles appeared in the ultra-sweet pad Thai. Though heavy on the tamarind, a liberal dose of ginger mitigated its syrupy qualities.There was plenty of peanut, too, giving the dish a savory flavor that blended well with the scrambled eggs, chicken and puffy tofu.

Bean sprouts and a few raw carrots added a nice crunch. A big slice of lemon also helped to balance the flavors, though less-astringent lime would have been a better contrast.

We were full after our big noodle bowls and my milky, caloric iced tea, but I can never say no to mango sticky rice.

In this case, I wished I had. Though it was a huge portion — big enough for two or three people — the dish fell flat.

The mangoes, which hadn't quite achieved ripeness, were hard and not quite sweet. The rice was also under-sweetened and not as glutinous as it should be. The dessert is usually bathed in coconut sauce and sesame seeds, but this one was dry and bland.

Still, I hope to return, particularly for the restaurant's inexpensive lunch deal. Fingers crossed this new place lasts more than a Bangkok minute.

Alice Eats is a weekly blog feature devoted to reviewing restaurants where diners can get a meal for two for less than $35. Got a restaurant you'd love to see featured? Send it to [email protected].