Shelburne Bay Plaza, 2989 Shelburne Road, Shelburne 985-3303

I wasn't sure what to expect of Flatbread Factory and Taproom. Tales of inconsistent food and service gave me pause, but ultimately, I wanted a Pear & Prosciutto pie.

There were pluses and minuses when I entered the main dining room. It was brightly lit and had antique signs for Orange Crush and a diner whose name had long since faded away. Behind the bar, a wall-sized blackboard was decorated with photorealistic illustrations by UVM student Callie Richardson, of cows, Percherons and spilling beer. The chalkboard also listed the beers currently on tap. The day of my visit, those included Brooklyn Brewery Chocolate Stout, Dogfish Head 60 Minute and Penny Wize Ale, along with seven others. These were all pluses. A single minus: It was swarming with kids. Noisy ones.

Fortunately, the family-friendly restaurant had a playroom with a blackboard wall and TV of its own with plenty of toys. I wish families with fussy babies didn't take that as a cue to just let them cry while others tried to eat. The catering to kids made me kind of jealous. Every dish from the kids' menu came in a brightly-colored metal lunchbox with Teddy Grahams on the side. My kind of meal.

Sadly, my flatbread would not have fit. The menu says that each pizza serves two and they mean it. I was able to make two meals of my Pear & Prosciutto ($16.99 — pictured).

4807 Route 15, Jeffersonville 644-8920

Upscale comfort food is trendy. Jeffersonville is not. Most new restaurants which promise to deliver carefully crafted classics fail in execution. The Family Table does not.

Chef-owner John Raphael admits he's a picky eater, and it shows. His penne with wild mushroom pesto and spinach is al dente enough to satisfy Lidia Bastianich. Meats are brined for optimal flavor and moisture.

An open-faced hot turkey sandwich (pictured) doesn't ordinarily vary much from incarnation to incarnation, but the one at The Family Table is in its own class. The thick, succulent slabs of poultry are piled in layers of two or three over grilled bread — the tallest hot open sandwich I've ever seen. Though flavorful enough on its own, the meat is bathed in sage gravy and served with silken garlic mashed potatoes. The haricots verts on the side are cooked to perfection.

1076 Williston Road, South Burlington 862-6585

When dining out at a pricier venue, sometimes it's worth checking out the bar. It was this wisdom that lead me to compare the menu at The Upper Deck Pub to its South Burlington Best Western big brother, The Windjammer. When I have dined at the Windjammer, I have always ordered the $21.99 six-ounce filet mignon. Imagine my pleasure at seeing the same steak is only $16.99 upstairs (pictured).

Once I arrived, I was further encouraged when I recognized most of the staff of Leunig's gathered at a long group of tables. When that gang is choosing bar food, it better be good. In one corner of the nautical-themed room, filled with TVs playing women's college basketball, lay one of my favorite sites at a casual restaurant — a self-service popcorn machine. This one contained kernels salted and buttered to the brink of a heart attack. Yum.

Route 302 & I-91 - (exit 17 off I-91), Wells River 429-2141

After hours spent on the open road, a trucker needs some great grub to break up the day. It's the same for me, except my open road is the 7 Nights guide. Our sedentary lifestyles should preclude us from eating big, fat, rich meals, but when faced with a place like P&H, resistance is futile.

Mine is one of the only cars in the lot at P&H – every other vehicle is an 18-wheeler. There's a small store out front selling all the basics. Upstairs, there are showers for drivers grubby after a long haul. Clearly many trucks have come a good distance – the menu is in French as well as English.

And what a menu it is.

Breakfast is served all day and many options include home-baked pastry. The french toast I tried as part of The Truckers Special ($9.99) was Texas-thick and incredibly airy. The toasted maple nut bread seemed redundant on the plate, until I tried it. Spread with apple-cinnamon jelly, it was a fabulous meal in itself. A pair of eggs arrived perfectly over-medium, hash browns crisp on the outside and tender inside, and sausages juicy and tangy.

There's an array of burgers on the menu, all named after trucks, but I went for a frequent special instead. My patty of Blue Mountain elk ($7.59, pictured) was so magnificently seasoned it required no ketchup. I requested it medium rare. It came to me medium well, but sufficiently juicy that I forgave the busy line cooks.

My favorite dish at the P&H was their kitchen's take on chicken-fried chicken ($8.59). The meat was juicy on the inside and the thick crust remained crispy even under a layer of yellow gravy. The side of mashed potatoes had to have been 60% butter. I usually don't especially care for non-garlic, non-smashed potatoes, but these blew my mind.

After 3.5 meals, I didn't have room for dessert, so I stocked up at the bakery counter. The coconut cream pie was wonderfully airy, as was the maple and chocolate glazed doughnut. I found my blueberry corn muffin too moist. I felt like Mr. Ed trying to remove it from the walls of my mouth. The cream puff overflowed the burger-sized container in which it came. Although I ate it three days after buying it, that too was light and luscious. That said, my favorite dessert at the P&H was still the mashed potatoes.