NYC Tastes

It's been such a crazy summer it's hard to believe August is here and I haven't even talked about July!  Here's a quick recap of some great moments over the Independence Day weekend in Vermont. The first stop of the trip was Prohibition Pig Brewery for beers and some of the best Peel N' Eat Shrimp we've had in years. These were plump, juicy and dusted with the perfect amount of seasoning. I would expect shrimp like this on the coast somewhere, but certainly not in Waterbury, VT.  The following day we drove out to Hill Farmstead and spent the day drinking some wonderful beers on their patio including 2014 Flora and Juicy Batch 3.  Then we made the obligatory pit stop at Parker Pie for a surprisingly great Steak Sandwich, that was so good I forgot to even snap a pic. Saturday we checked out the new  Lawson's Brewery  in Waitsfield.  We've been enjoying their beer for years at can sales, but to see the new facility was really amazing.  ...

There are so many reasons to love Vermont.  The rolling green hills, the fresh mountain air and of course BREAKFAST!  Vermont does breakfast better than any other state.  They have forests of maple trees dripping with syrup, farms dedicated to the best slab bacon, cheese makers in every corner and of course Green Mountain Coffee.   It's hard to go wrong with breakfast anywhere in Vermont, but my current favorite is the Green Goddess Cafe in Stowe. This tiny little spot uses only fresh, local ingredients (most organic) to create breakfast staples that are almost magical.  Like their bacon, egg & cheese sandwich, loaded with creamy Vermont cheddar cheese and thick slab bacon, that somehow stays perfectly crisp in every spot, all on top of a flaky, buttery English Muffin.  A NYC Bacon, Egg & Cheese isn't even in the same category with this perfect sandwich. Buttermilk Pancakes so wondrously fluffy inside with crispy charred edges an...

Ahhhhh Vermont, truly our happy place. We usually spend most of our time in the little town of Waterbury, but lately we've been trying to explore other areas, which led us to Winooski and lunch at Misery Loves Co. This cute little spot sits on the Main Street of town with a lively, hip interior and more casual picnic style tables out front, perfect for soaking up the summer sun. We ordered a couple of Vermont beers then dove into appetizers; Steak Tartare for me and Fresh Cheese with honey for Mr. T. The Steak Tartare arrived diced with pickled mustard seeds and grated smoked Vermont Cheddar on top.  I love a salty potato chip with my tartare and the smoked Cheddar gave the dish a creamy, hearty texture.   Mr. T's fresh cheese appetizer combined honey and herbed matzo with bright red raspberries that burst with summer beauty.   We decided to split The Rough Francis sandwich  for our main; basically an enormous mound of fried chicken smothered...

Ahhhh Hill Farmstead Brewery...one of my many "happy places" in life.  This brewery makes some of the best beers in the world and our last visit was filled with new bottles to try. Works of Love 2013, a collaboration beer brewed with Sante Adairius.  This was my favorite beer of the day, so crisp and clean with soft notes of white wine and lemon. I don't know what Shaun Hill does to make his saison's so perfect, but he is the saison master. Flora Cherry, another saison, this one aged in wine barrels with fresh, hand picked Montmorency cherries. Genealogy of Morals a thick, delicious bourbon barrel aged stout brewed with Kieni coffee beans roasted by the amazing Coffee Collective in Denmark.  All of these enjoyed with this beautiful view that always takes my breath away.  Hill Farmstead 403 Hill Road Greensboro Bend, VT 05842

Mr. T and I were up in Vermont last weekend, checking in on some of our favorite places.  First stop Blackback Pub for the most amazing Pub Nachos of all time; crispy round tortilla chips layered with cheddar and blue cheese, nuggets of thick cut smoked bacon, green scallions and drizzled with Vermont maple chipotle syrup.   These nachos are AMAZING! Sweet, salty, smokey; every single thing my taste buds ever crave and more.  To make things even better it started snowing when we sat down, which is always the perfect way to kick off a Vermont weekend. On Saturday after an incredible Hill Farmstead visit, we stopped into Parker Pie to celebrate the  Talk Beer  5th Anniversary Party.   This place always rocks some incredible pizza's (devoured too quickly to take a pic) and just take a look at that beer list. Sunday morning we drove back to Burlington for one more delicious stop; brunch at the Farmhouse Tap & Grill.  Mr....

The word to describe a weekend of incredible food, beer, forests and folks?  Well it might not be in the regular dictionary but in my personal Roze dictionary it's called Vermonting and we did just that two weeks ago up in Waterbury.  After a great Friday night with Arthur Puncheon at Hill Farmstead we began Saturday afternoon with a stop at Prohibition Pig, one of our favorite spots in Waterbury. For years I came to this restaurant and ordered the creamy  Crisphead Salad and Chick n' Biscuits;  two incredibly delicious menu items but I was always missing one huge thing.  THE PIG!   So now I always order the special pork sandwich of the day, this time the Mumble Bee.  A chopped pork ciabatta sandwich piled high with coleslaw, honey habanero sauce and crispy onion strings. This was awesome- sweet, spicy and seriously messy.  Don't eat this unless you're completely comfortable with being covered in sauce and onion strings and of course...

It's New Brew Friday!  And I'm shooting back two weeks to Vermont where I spent Friday afternoon getting to know the lovely Arthur Puncheon. Puncheon is Hill Farmstead's regular saison Arthur, a funky, grassy beer with big notes of tart lemon and hay, that's been aged for a few months in their barrels (puncheons). The result is a bright, golden beer with lots of wine barrel funk on the nose but with softer, more delicate lemon and oak flavors than Arthur with a creamy, bubbly structure and a crisp, dry finish.   This was an absolutely delightful beer.  Full Vermont food recap next week but for now- cheers to the weekend! Hill Farmstead 403 Hill Road Greensboro Bend, VT  05842

The whole reason for the Vermont trip was Lawson's Finest truck sale on Saturday where we had tickets to purchase the breweries fantastic IPA's and their annual Maple Tripple; a rich strong ale made with 100% maple sap from Vermont.  Since the sale was combined with a mini beer fest of sorts we stopped into Prohibition Pig for a solid morning brunch. As the name suggests any sort of "pig" at Prohibition Pig should be fabulous and this sandwich was absolute perfection.  Pulled Pork piled high with crunchy onion rings, chipotle sauce and a sloppy top of coleslaw on a soft Portuguese bun. I wish this sandwich could be in my life every day. Then it was onto Mad River Glen for the bottle pick up.  It was an absolutely glorious day outside and once people actually started to line up things went just as smoothly as the day before.  Ten minutes after opening all of our bottles were in the car and we off to enjoy some brews in the sun. The ski lodge had about six dif...

I love Vermont.  Mr. T and I go about 4 times a year and something about those rolling green hills, the fresh crisp air and all that great beer, cheese and maple syrup just make for a fantastic trip.  Neither of us did much traveling this year so an end of season trip with friends seemed like the perfect way to close out summer.  Of course nothing ever seems to go as planned for us.  The night before Mr. T starting feeling sick and by the next morning it was painfully obvious he wouldn't be coming with me to Vermont (or even leaving the apartment for the next few days).  I felt absolutely terrible leaving him home in this state but he insisted I go on with the trip as we already had friends to meet, beer fest tickets purchased, hotel rooms etc. Now I don't cry very often but when I do I have a lot of trouble stopping once I start. I felt so bad for Mr. T being stuck at home I pretty much cried my entire cab ride to Penn Station onto the LIRR and AirTrain all ...

The end of summer was filled lots of great trips with family and friends; one being a fabulous long weekend in Vermont.  We hit all the usual spots...Prohibition Pig, Hen of the Wood, Cabot Cheese & Hill Farmstead, along with some new stops at Lost Nation Brewing, the Farmhouse Tap Room and a beautiful Sunday supper at Shelburne Farms. This enormous Inn was nestled among the rolling green hills of a working farm that produces all kinds of dairy, fruits, vegetables and meat. Unfortunately we didn't have time to take a tour of the grounds but we got a taste of their incredible farming techniques with a meal on the Inn patio. The Sunday Supper was a delicious 4 course prixe fixe that began with a mix of greens from their Market Garden dressed with tomato basil, pickled red onions, and candied hazelnuts. There was a choice of four different entrees that evening including a crisp Misty Knoll Fried Chicken with homemade coleslaw and maple honey...   ... and an enormo...