51 Main Street, Middlebury 388-8209

Sometimes, we do things simply for the love of the game. Visiting 51 Main in Middlebury is one of them. The tapas menu is appealing, but so is the wall packed with board games.

Created by Middlebury College as a wholesome social space for its students, the café is open to the public, and most of its patrons when I visited were more in the parent-of-college-student age range. Many were likely there to enjoy the strains of gypsy jazz outfit, Swing Noire.

The international menu is composed mostly of small plates and nibbles, but diners will find it easy to assemble a hearty meal. We started with the Tapas Platter, a giant square plate filled with North Country chorizo and chicken, basil and sun-dried tomato sausage, along with little glass cups of spanish almonds, pinchos, toasted pita points and chimichurri. The chorizo was extraordinarily mild, but very tasty, as was the chicken sausage. The other offerings were also on the bland side for Spanish food, but still satisfying.

4309 Shelburne Road, Shelburne 985-3568

I've lived in Vermont for 12 years. For 12 years, I passed the Dutch Mill and fantasized about it. Was it as old-timey as it looks on the outside? Did the interior have a mini golf theme to go with the windmill? Maybe it was falling apart around the diners, with cobwebs at every table! My hunger for knowledge finally drove me to Shelburne on Sunday.

I was encouraged by a barbecue smoker in the parking lot. It turns out they smoke their own meat for pulled pork sandwiches. But I was there with breakfast in mind. The crowd was as I hoped – I was at least 30, if not 40 years younger than every other patron. No wonder there is more than one sign in the place advertising catering for birthdays, rehearsal dinners and funerals. The room was bright and cheerful, more family restaurant than diner.

The menu was chock full of appealing takes on basic breakfast, with an old-fashioned flair. Eggs Fred (pictured) stood out immediately. Poached eggs, corned beef hash, home fries and homemade toast? No way could that go wrong. The tangy corned beef had less body than I'm used to – almost as if it had been ground rather than chopped, but as it fell apart with the tiny flecks of potatoes in the surprisingly light hollandaise, I couldn't complain.

1710 Shelburne Road, South Burlington 865-3900

Years ago, I tried to have lunch at the Lake-View. I waited at the bar forever for someone to come seat me. They never did, and I never went back  – until last night. Working on their Vermont Restaurant Week menu, I was so tantalized, I just had to give the place another try. I was not disappointed.

The table I chose in the bar section of the greenhouse-like space was extraordinarily comfy. The seats were stuffed as soft and cuddly as grandma's sofa. A neon sign blaring "The Beef" hung jauntily over the bar, a tribute to the room's long-ago existence as What's the Beef II.

The meal started with a basket on teensy honey wheat rolls, hot from the oven. I tried the blood orange salad. The whole assemblage worked together wonderfully –  the richly sweet citrus paired with anise-redolent fennel, tangy chèvre, field greens and sunflower seeds in white balsamic vinaigrette. The creamy garlic soup tasted of just that and was eminently satisfying.

The Chicken Pot Pie also had a pleasantly garlicky taste, along with perfectly cooked chunks of root vegetables, spinach and Misty Knoll chicken, all housed under a dense umbrella of puff pastry. Pork Schnitzel (pictured) was coated unconventionally in cornmeal as well as bread crumbs. The dish, served over sharp dijon spaetzle and spinach, brought to mind the chicken schnitzel that for years was my favorite lunch dish at Butler's in Essex.

135 East Allen Street, Winooski 861-9453

There are things I have to check off my list at the  Champlain Valley Fair each year. I always have to bring home at least one caramel apple (no nuts, please), hit the Elk's Club for a fried chicken dinner and grab some Pork Boners at Fat Daddy's.

These tiny pieces of pork shank previously seemed to be something that existed only within the whimsical confines of a place where carnies run free. No longer. Just down the road from me in Winooski, I can now get fried chunks of pork shank whenever I want, at Val's Wild Tomato.

At Val's, in the former gas station once occupied by New England Wings, they call the meaty bites Pork Wings. I find this disappointingly tasteful. I'm not disappointed at all with how darn tasty the things are, though. Whereas Pork Boners are slathered beyond recognition with barbecue sauce, Pig Wings are rubbed with garlic and lightly spiced before being tenderized in a deep fryer bath. Get the Buffalo sauce on the side for dipping. Like all of Val's sauces and dressings, it's homemade and has all the zip of the usual hot sauce, without the weird chemical taste.

The specialty sandwich menu is filled with unlikely-sounding sandwich combinations, most of which include homemade sriracha or wasabi mayo. I chose one of the stranger ones, The Norse Dwarf.