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Friday, May 31, 2019
Dining on a Dime / Burlington Dining on a Dime: Bluebird Barbecue
Posted
By Sally Pollak
on Fri, May 31, 2019 at 4:07 PM
Earlier this spring, Bluebird Barbecue expanded its hours to include lunch six days a week. Now the restaurant on Riverside Avenue in Burlington is offering a lunch special: $10 for a BBQ Banh Mi sandwich stuffed with smoked meat, chicken liver pâté, pickled veggies, pickles and cilantro.
The timing of this midday deal coincides with weather that’s just right for dining on the restaurant’s screened-in porch. The indoor-outdoor setting offers a lovely view of woods in the foreground and the Winooski River beyond.
Given three choices for the meat in my sandwich — brisket, pulled pork or turkey — I opted for brisket. (There's also a vegetarian option.) From a choice of sides that includes mac and cheese, cole slaw, smashed sweet potatoes, fries, and baked beans, I chose black-eyed pea salad with grilled broccoli and cauliflower, brightened by minced red pepper and onion.
The sandwich was packed and spilling from its baguette; the salad was a flavorful and healthful accompaniment. A glass of maple lemonade provided a seasonal sip to go with the view.
Though the week-long BBQ Banh Mi special, which ends June 5, drew us to Bluebird for lunch, there are a handful of other menu items that are $12 or less. Most are starters, including grilled asparagus ($11), six smoked chicken wings ($11), and BBQ Poutine ($11).
The location itself feels like a special deal, a bug-free perch above the river and the trees, as the greens of spring in Vermont reveal themselves. If the outside loses its scenic appeal, you can always look in the other direction at the big-screen bar TV showing baseball.
The timing of this midday deal coincides with weather that’s just right for dining on the restaurant’s screened-in porch. The indoor-outdoor setting offers a lovely view of woods in the foreground and the Winooski River beyond.
Given three choices for the meat in my sandwich — brisket, pulled pork or turkey — I opted for brisket. (There's also a vegetarian option.) From a choice of sides that includes mac and cheese, cole slaw, smashed sweet potatoes, fries, and baked beans, I chose black-eyed pea salad with grilled broccoli and cauliflower, brightened by minced red pepper and onion.
The sandwich was packed and spilling from its baguette; the salad was a flavorful and healthful accompaniment. A glass of maple lemonade provided a seasonal sip to go with the view.
Though the week-long BBQ Banh Mi special, which ends June 5, drew us to Bluebird for lunch, there are a handful of other menu items that are $12 or less. Most are starters, including grilled asparagus ($11), six smoked chicken wings ($11), and BBQ Poutine ($11).
The location itself feels like a special deal, a bug-free perch above the river and the trees, as the greens of spring in Vermont reveal themselves. If the outside loses its scenic appeal, you can always look in the other direction at the big-screen bar TV showing baseball.
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: food@sevendaysvt.com.
Thursday, May 23, 2019
Dining on a Dime / Beer Dining on a Dime: Magic Hat Artifactory
Posted
By Sally Pollak
on Thu, May 23, 2019 at 5:38 PM
No. 9, No. 9, No. 9, No. 9, No. 9, No. 9, No. 9.
I knew what I wanted before I walked in the door of the Magic Hat taproom in South Burlington, a beer bunker called the Artifactory.
Too much time had passed since I drank a Magic Hat #9 in its long-neck amber bottle with the psychedelic orange label that says it all: # 9. (That first mark is a number symbol, not a hashtag; the label was designed pre-hashtag: #artwork.)
At the Artifactory, #9 flows from a tap. For this refreshing and alluring ale, the tap is identified by an orange lever in the shape of a 9. The taproom — part merch machine, part neighborhood bar — has old #9 bottles on display. You can ogle the classic vessel, a handsome relic in the age of 16-ounce cans, while you drink. I ate hot pretzel pieces and a side of a cheesy-beer dipping sauce with my #9. Supper for one.
With the pretzels polished off, I took my beer on a self-guided tour of the brewery, paying homage at a flashy # 9 emblem and soaking in the flavor of a sign announcing "Low Key."
My brewery stroll, which took about three minutes, peaked at a lookout over the production floor, still but for one forklift moving in reverse. Back in the taproom, I took my last sips of #9 and listened to a couple of Bob Marley songs. Low Key. Then I paid my $12.60 tab and left.
The next day, I called Magic Hat cofounder Alan Newman to ask him something I’d been wondering for about 20 years. What's #9 refer to?
“It was referring to my car, which was a Fiat X1/9,” he told me. “I tried to name it X9 and the X couldn’t be trademarked. We just dropped the X.”
The 1 "just didn’t make sense,” Newman added, when I pressed him on that number. So he called the beer #9.
In the beer-naming game, it's a beauty.
Newman, 72, who sold his share of Magic Hat in 2010, said if I want to make up a story about the origin of the beer's name, I have his permission.
But a little orange Fiat sports car as the driving force behind #9 is good enough for me. I won’t reinvent the story — is it a scoop? — but I’ll dress it up: I imagine Newman driving around Burlington in his X1/9 listening to the Beatles' “Revolution 9” on the radio. When the song was over, I bet he cranked up the volume and played “Revolution.”
Magic Hat launched #9 in the summer of 1995, when the brewery was on Flynn Avenue in Burlington. The beer was made to be seasonal, Newman said, but his bar accounts had other ideas.
“They said if we stop selling #9, they’d throw us out,” he said. “So we made it year-round.”
I knew what I wanted before I walked in the door of the Magic Hat taproom in South Burlington, a beer bunker called the Artifactory.
Too much time had passed since I drank a Magic Hat #9 in its long-neck amber bottle with the psychedelic orange label that says it all: # 9. (That first mark is a number symbol, not a hashtag; the label was designed pre-hashtag: #artwork.)
At the Artifactory, #9 flows from a tap. For this refreshing and alluring ale, the tap is identified by an orange lever in the shape of a 9. The taproom — part merch machine, part neighborhood bar — has old #9 bottles on display. You can ogle the classic vessel, a handsome relic in the age of 16-ounce cans, while you drink. I ate hot pretzel pieces and a side of a cheesy-beer dipping sauce with my #9. Supper for one.
With the pretzels polished off, I took my beer on a self-guided tour of the brewery, paying homage at a flashy # 9 emblem and soaking in the flavor of a sign announcing "Low Key."
My brewery stroll, which took about three minutes, peaked at a lookout over the production floor, still but for one forklift moving in reverse. Back in the taproom, I took my last sips of #9 and listened to a couple of Bob Marley songs. Low Key. Then I paid my $12.60 tab and left.
The next day, I called Magic Hat cofounder Alan Newman to ask him something I’d been wondering for about 20 years. What's #9 refer to?
“It was referring to my car, which was a Fiat X1/9,” he told me. “I tried to name it X9 and the X couldn’t be trademarked. We just dropped the X.”
The 1 "just didn’t make sense,” Newman added, when I pressed him on that number. So he called the beer #9.
In the beer-naming game, it's a beauty.
Newman, 72, who sold his share of Magic Hat in 2010, said if I want to make up a story about the origin of the beer's name, I have his permission.
But a little orange Fiat sports car as the driving force behind #9 is good enough for me. I won’t reinvent the story — is it a scoop? — but I’ll dress it up: I imagine Newman driving around Burlington in his X1/9 listening to the Beatles' “Revolution 9” on the radio. When the song was over, I bet he cranked up the volume and played “Revolution.”
Magic Hat launched #9 in the summer of 1995, when the brewery was on Flynn Avenue in Burlington. The beer was made to be seasonal, Newman said, but his bar accounts had other ideas.
“They said if we stop selling #9, they’d throw us out,” he said. “So we made it year-round.”
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: food@sevendaysvt.com.
Monday, May 20, 2019
News Former Vergennes Laundry Owners Open Café at Red Wagon Plants
Posted
By Melissa Pasanen
on Mon, May 20, 2019 at 12:11 PM
After seven years of baking wood-fired bread, cardamom morning buns, buckwheat cakes and perfectly flaky croissants, Julianne and Didier Murat sold Vergennes Laundry in 2017.
Devoted fans will welcome the news that a small taste of their Europe-meets-Vermont menu and aesthetic is popping up amid the flora at Red Wagon Plants in Hinesburg this nursery season.
The couple, along with employee Emma Rosenzweig, can be found in a blond wood café built within greenhouse No. 3 on Fridays, Saturdays and Sundays. They are operating under the name Vadeboncoeur, originally used for Didier’s nougat candy business.
Red Wagon owner Julie Rubaud said she built the space as a classroom for her series of workshops, many of which focus on cooking from the garden. “We had been thinking about doing something with coffee and treats in that space, too,” Rubaud said. “There’s a nice creative energy around it.”
Devoted fans will welcome the news that a small taste of their Europe-meets-Vermont menu and aesthetic is popping up amid the flora at Red Wagon Plants in Hinesburg this nursery season.
The couple, along with employee Emma Rosenzweig, can be found in a blond wood café built within greenhouse No. 3 on Fridays, Saturdays and Sundays. They are operating under the name Vadeboncoeur, originally used for Didier’s nougat candy business.
Red Wagon owner Julie Rubaud said she built the space as a classroom for her series of workshops, many of which focus on cooking from the garden. “We had been thinking about doing something with coffee and treats in that space, too,” Rubaud said. “There’s a nice creative energy around it.”
Friday, May 10, 2019
Dining on a Dime Dining on a Dime: El Cortijo Taqueria y Cantina — Winooski
Posted
By Sally Pollak
on Fri, May 10, 2019 at 4:20 PM
Here’s the thing about raw oysters: Either you like ‘em or you don’t. If you do, you probably love them. I’m in that category. Big, deep, ocean-size love. Even a little saltwater “farm” that breeds them is OK with me. Who cares?!
So I was pleased to learn that the new El Cortijo Taqueria y Cantina, which opened 10 days ago in Winooski, has oysters on its menu. Bivalve happy hour — when oysters are a buck a piece — is from 4 to 5 p.m. and again from 9 to 10.
The Winooski branch of El Cortijo, the sixth Farmhouse Group restaurant, is a casual eatery in a former hair salon. It's furnished with about a dozen tables and it's got a bar backed by a brick wall. Like its Burlington compatriot, this El Cortijo specializes in tacos but serves more, including burritos, rice and beans, salads, enchiladas and daily specials. But — and this is a big "but" — it also has oysters.
My friend and I met there the other day. Because there were two of us I made a bold decision to double our Dining on a Dime spending limit from $12 to $24.
We shared 12 oysters from Cape Cod, briny little suckers that went down with a jerk of the neck ($12), and guacamole with chips and salsa ($11.95). For financial symmetry, I threw in a $12 drink: a blood orange margarita. I’ve been a fan of that strong and good-looking cocktail since I drank my first one more than seven years ago, when the original El Cortijo opened on Bank Street in Burlington. Our guacamole was a substantial and tasty serving that came with drizzled olive oil, red onion crunch and scattered cilantro leaves. The salsa was thick, the chips warm. We needed two basketfuls to scoop up every smear of guac and slurp up all our salsa. All this, of course, was just accompaniment for the raw stuff.
The oysters came in two installments — a nice touch — so we slid down the first six while chef Phil Clayton shucked our next batch. He did this with such expertise, we didn’t need a baby fork to dislodge the flesh from any tendon-y attachment.
My friend and I developed a quick rhythm: squirt of lemon juice; drop or two of classic cocktail sauce; rocky shell to mouth; a tip of the head to score that instant oyster gratification. You barely need to chew, much less swallow. The prize was grit-free.
I recently asked a few food people in town to describe what an oyster tastes like. I got a little hemming, a little hawing, a cliché or two. One of them referred me to the bathroom in his restaurant and told me to check out the artwork on the wall.
I did as directed and descended to the toilet. There, I found a framed print of Early Man slurping an oyster out of its shell. The caption reads: "The Very First Oyster Ever Eaten — At First Fright, Then Delight."
True dat.
So I was pleased to learn that the new El Cortijo Taqueria y Cantina, which opened 10 days ago in Winooski, has oysters on its menu. Bivalve happy hour — when oysters are a buck a piece — is from 4 to 5 p.m. and again from 9 to 10.
The Winooski branch of El Cortijo, the sixth Farmhouse Group restaurant, is a casual eatery in a former hair salon. It's furnished with about a dozen tables and it's got a bar backed by a brick wall. Like its Burlington compatriot, this El Cortijo specializes in tacos but serves more, including burritos, rice and beans, salads, enchiladas and daily specials. But — and this is a big "but" — it also has oysters.
My friend and I met there the other day. Because there were two of us I made a bold decision to double our Dining on a Dime spending limit from $12 to $24.
We shared 12 oysters from Cape Cod, briny little suckers that went down with a jerk of the neck ($12), and guacamole with chips and salsa ($11.95). For financial symmetry, I threw in a $12 drink: a blood orange margarita. I’ve been a fan of that strong and good-looking cocktail since I drank my first one more than seven years ago, when the original El Cortijo opened on Bank Street in Burlington. Our guacamole was a substantial and tasty serving that came with drizzled olive oil, red onion crunch and scattered cilantro leaves. The salsa was thick, the chips warm. We needed two basketfuls to scoop up every smear of guac and slurp up all our salsa. All this, of course, was just accompaniment for the raw stuff.
The oysters came in two installments — a nice touch — so we slid down the first six while chef Phil Clayton shucked our next batch. He did this with such expertise, we didn’t need a baby fork to dislodge the flesh from any tendon-y attachment.
My friend and I developed a quick rhythm: squirt of lemon juice; drop or two of classic cocktail sauce; rocky shell to mouth; a tip of the head to score that instant oyster gratification. You barely need to chew, much less swallow. The prize was grit-free.
I recently asked a few food people in town to describe what an oyster tastes like. I got a little hemming, a little hawing, a cliché or two. One of them referred me to the bathroom in his restaurant and told me to check out the artwork on the wall.
I did as directed and descended to the toilet. There, I found a framed print of Early Man slurping an oyster out of its shell. The caption reads: "The Very First Oyster Ever Eaten — At First Fright, Then Delight."
True dat.
Tuesday, May 7, 2019
Burlington / Business / News New Food Market Coming to Burlington's Old North End
Posted
By Sally Pollak
on Tue, May 7, 2019 at 4:49 PM
Construction will begin in the next month to transform a former auto parts shop into a grocery store in Burlington's Old North End. The business at 242 North Winooski Avenue will be called Jake’s ONE Market, according to its owner.
“We hope to open in the fall of 2019,” said James Kerrigan, owner-operator of the market. He and his family own a related business in Quechee, Jake’s Quechee Market.
“We hope to open in the fall of 2019,” said James Kerrigan, owner-operator of the market. He and his family own a related business in Quechee, Jake’s Quechee Market.
Friday, May 3, 2019
Environment / Farms and Agriculture Vandana Shiva Talks Poison Cartel, Farmers' Rights and Ecofeminism
Posted
By Melissa Pasanen
on Fri, May 3, 2019 at 1:50 PM
Dr. Vandana Shiva, the high-profile organic agriculture and environmental activist and author from Delhi, India, will be in Vermont this weekend for two events at Sterling College in Craftsbury. She will deliver the college’s commencement address on Saturday and lead a sold-out workshop on social and environmental justice activism on Sunday.
On Monday, May 6, 11 a.m. to 1 p.m., Shiva will speak in front of the Vermont Statehouse in Montpelier to kick off a series of regional events in support of an international pledge for “Poison-Free Food & Farming by 2030.”
Shiva, 66, has received many awards and accolades over decades of advocacy work spanning organic agriculture, biodiversity, climate change and social justice. Among other honors, she has earned the Right Livelihood Award, dubbed the "alternative Nobel Prize," and the Sydney Peace Prize; and has been named an Environmental Hero by Time magazine. Her uncompromising zeal has also prompted criticism, as detailed in a 2014 profile in the New Yorker.
Reached in India before her trip to the U.S., Shiva talked with Seven Days about bio-imperialism, the power of women, and bad curry.
On Monday, May 6, 11 a.m. to 1 p.m., Shiva will speak in front of the Vermont Statehouse in Montpelier to kick off a series of regional events in support of an international pledge for “Poison-Free Food & Farming by 2030.”
Shiva, 66, has received many awards and accolades over decades of advocacy work spanning organic agriculture, biodiversity, climate change and social justice. Among other honors, she has earned the Right Livelihood Award, dubbed the "alternative Nobel Prize," and the Sydney Peace Prize; and has been named an Environmental Hero by Time magazine. Her uncompromising zeal has also prompted criticism, as detailed in a 2014 profile in the New Yorker.
Reached in India before her trip to the U.S., Shiva talked with Seven Days about bio-imperialism, the power of women, and bad curry.
Thursday, May 2, 2019
Beer / News Hired Hand Brewing Co. to Add Full Brewery in Vergennes
Posted
By Melissa Pasanen
on Thu, May 2, 2019 at 8:00 AM
Ian Huizenga had not planned on adding a full-fledged brewery to his pair of neighboring Vergennes food and beverage businesses. But then 23,000 square feet next door became available and, he said, he really had no choice.
“I knew it was my only shot at doing a brewery right here,” he said.
Huizenga is chef and co-owner of Bar Antidote, a restaurant and bar, and a brewpub, Hired Hand Brewing Co., for which he brews beer at the Bobcat Café & Brewery in Bristol. He had just finished installing two fermenters and a chiller in the basement of Bobcat last March when he found out the Boys & Girls Club of Greater Vergennes, previously in the School Street space, was moving to a new location.
“I knew it was my only shot at doing a brewery right here,” he said.
Huizenga is chef and co-owner of Bar Antidote, a restaurant and bar, and a brewpub, Hired Hand Brewing Co., for which he brews beer at the Bobcat Café & Brewery in Bristol. He had just finished installing two fermenters and a chiller in the basement of Bobcat last March when he found out the Boys & Girls Club of Greater Vergennes, previously in the School Street space, was moving to a new location.
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