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Thursday, September 26, 2019

Drink Up: Vermontte

Posted By on Thu, Sep 26, 2019 at 9:08 PM

Vermontte special at Brio Coffeeworks - JORDAN BARRY
  • Jordan Barry
  • Vermontte special at Brio Coffeeworks
International Coffee Day is this Sunday, September 29. To celebrate, coffee shops in the Burlington area are taking a decidedly local approach and offering a series of unique coffee drinks, all dubbed the Vermontte.

Coffee drinkers will see Vermontte specials around town, with flavors, ingredients and concepts going beyond the usual espresso and steamed milk:  carrot juice at the Great Northern; maple matcha at New Moon Café, strawberry cheesecake with goat milk at Brio Coffeeworks; spicy maple at Uncommon Grounds; Japanese sweet potato at Scout & Co.; maple, pear and sage at August First Bakery; ginger infused maple at Vermont Artisan Coffee & Tea Co.; apple cinnamon cascara at Carrier Roasting Company; chaga mushroom and maple at Nomad Coffee; and a cardamom and honey pour-over at Blank Page Café in Shelburne. 

The Vermontte event is organized by the coffee pros who run the @vt.coffee Instagram account, Maya Nguyen and Gianni Paradiso, together with Lisa Espenshade, the director of donor relations at Grounds for Health, a Williston nonprofit focused on cervical cancer prevention in coffee-growing countries.

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Dining on a Dime: Mimmo's Pizzeria & Restaurant

Posted By on Thu, Sep 26, 2019 at 3:42 PM


Sara Rooke serves an eggplant parmesan hero at Mimmo's - SALLY POLLAK
  • Sally Pollak
  • Sara Rooke serves an eggplant parmesan hero at Mimmo's
I thought about bringing my own crosswalk to Mimmo’s Pizzeria & Restaurant, the new restaurant in our South End neighborhood, but I remembered the city frowns upon  DIY safety measures.

Instead, I ran across Shelburne Road — praying mid-dash there was no car on the far side of the Jeep Cherokee I couldn’t see past. I made it.

I was surprised to find a full parking lot at Mimmo’s at 7 p.m. on a Tuesday.  The dining room was full, too, pulsing with a happy-sounding crowd. I found a seat at the end of the bar, where I was treated to a favorite view: cooks at work.

I watched the pizza guy spread ricotta on rounds of dough, and saw a line cook salt the ingredients in her sauté pans. The highlight of the show was flames shooting from a pan of penne alla vodka, a dramatic blaze produced by chef-owner Domenico Spano.  He opened his first Mimmo's in St. Albans in 1995, naming it with the nickname his mother gave him more than four decades ago in Torrito, Italy.

I turned away  from my view of the spiffy kitchen to look down at the menu, and chose on an eggplant parmesan hero ($9.25) and a pint of Switchback. While I waited for my food, two women who work at the restaurant, which opened a month ago,  raved about working at Mimmo's. They said they're treated like they're part of the family.

Lindsey Lowell, a delivery driver, said Spano gave her money from his pocket when she was “stiffed” on a catering delivery. He solicits and listens to input from employees, she said.  “He takes everyone’s ideas,” Lowell said. “I love it here.”

Penne alla vodka ablaze in the Mimmo's kitchen - SALLY POLLAK
  • Sally Pollak
  • Penne alla vodka ablaze in the Mimmo's kitchen
My server, Sara Rooke, graduated last spring from St. Michael's College, where she majored in international relations.  “I love people,” she said.

Rooke delivered my sandwich with a flair worthy of the little package of classic Italian-American flavors — garlic, parmesan, breading, red sauce — piled on my bread.  She stopped by to talk as I ate my meal, making me feel like I was part of the family.

“I’m a broke college student and I would love to dine on a dime, or even a nickel," Rooke said. "Can you do a nickel for me?”

When there was a lull in the kitchen action, Spano came out to the bar and we talked for a bit. He told me he left his home in southern Italy — where his father farmed olives, grapes, almonds and legumes — at age 14 to live with relatives in Long Island.

“I cried when I left,” said Spano, who learned English at high school in New York. “But I wanted to make a future.”

At his new restaurant, he's back in the kitchen — prepping, cooking, mopping, training — after years of  mostly office work managing his restaurants in St. Albans and Essex.  Spano plans to throw a grand opening party on Saturday, October 19, three days before his 49th birthday.

“I just can’t help myself,” Spano said of his decision to open a third Mimmo's. “I love building crews and restaurants. It gives me gioia di vivere.”
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.

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Wednesday, September 18, 2019

Maglianero Café to Become Kestrel Coffee Roasters Café

Posted By on Wed, Sep 18, 2019 at 5:31 PM

L to R: Abby Holden, Charlotte Steverson, Johnny Steverson, Michael Jager - JORDAN BARRY
  • Jordan Barry
  • L to R: Abby Holden, Charlotte Steverson, Johnny Steverson, Michael Jager
Maglianero Café, the coffee shop in the Karma Bird House at 47 Maple Street in Burlington, will transform into Kestrel Coffee Roasters’ second café location at the end of the month.

Kestrel might sound familiar to anyone who has grabbed a sandwich at Maglianero recently — the roaster has been providing the food at the coffee shop since July. Charlotte and Johnny Steverson opened Kestrel's first sit-down café with sandwiches, soups and other house-made treats in South Burlington's Technology Park in 2018. That location will continue to operate as usual, in addition to roasting the coffee and preparing the food to be sold on Maple Street.

The Steversons met Maglianero owner and co-founder Michael Jager in a moment of coffee-fueled serendipity at the café in 2017.  Later, they worked with Jager at Solidarity of Unbridled Labour (formerly JDK Design) to establish Kestrel's branding and design.

"It's an example of a café doing what it's designed to do," said Jager of meeting the Steversons. "Cafés are crazy, beautiful supercolliders that can absolutely change the world."

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Saturday, September 14, 2019

Dining on a Dime: Syp Brand Pierogi

Posted By on Sat, Sep 14, 2019 at 9:21 AM

Invitation to Pierogi Mondays by Syp Brand Pierogi - JORDAN BARRY
  • Jordan Barry
  • Invitation to Pierogi Mondays by Syp Brand Pierogi
The best story pitch I've ever gotten might be the hand-drawn invitation that arrived on my desk from Miranda Syp. A note on the back read, "Hello! My name is Miranda Syp of Syp Brand Pierogi, LLC. I'd like to invite you to my next Pierogi Monday."

I'm a sucker for pop-ups and for pierogi, so this one was a no-brainer. As a bonus, these pierogi prices align quite nicely with the parameters of Dining on a Dime.

Syp has been making her "little pockets of love" since 2009, when she was living in Barre and received a grant from the Central Vermont Community Action Council. Working out of the L.A.C.E. community kitchen, Syp made pierogi for pop-up dinners and sold them wholesale and at farmers markets. 
Miranda Syp at Barrio Bakery - COURTESY OF MIRANDA SYP
  • Courtesy of Miranda Syp
  • Miranda Syp at Barrio Bakery
When she moved to Burlington, Syp continued the business by popping up at the now closed Cobblestone Deli and Café on Battery Street in 2012.

Now, pierogi lovers can find Syp at Barrio Bakery.  Since June, she has been taking over the café on the first Monday of the month — serving potato-cheddar pierogi in place of pastries and cold brew.

At the pop-up, a plate of six pierogi is $9, and a plate with salad is $12. Both options come piled with sour cream, onions and Pitchfork Farm & Pickle sauerkraut.  The salad is dressed with a bright, tangy vinaigrette, which Syp said is an homage to her childhood visits to her Polish grandmother in France.

"My grandmother was a potato farmer in Poland, but she moved to France before the war because of a potato famine," said Syp. "The plate I serve is sort of a French-American-Polish fusion, which really represents who I am."
Pierogi plate with salad at the Syp Brand Pierogi pop-up - JORDAN BARRY
  • Jordan Barry
  • Pierogi plate with salad at the Syp Brand Pierogi pop-up
The pierogi are filled with potato and  Vermont cheddar, instead of the farmers' cheese that Syp's grandmother would have used. More than just fitting into Syp's geographic life story, the sharpness of the cheddar is a perfect complement to the sweetness of the onions and the sour zing from the sauerkraut that tops them.

The salad is worth the extra $3, both to contrast the heartiness of the pierogi and to really understand Syp's culinary point of view. With both on the plate, it's a filling — and delightful — dinner.

Pierogi Monday pop-up at Barrio Bakery - JORDAN BARRY
  • Jordan Barry
  • Pierogi Monday pop-up at Barrio Bakery
People seemed to agree, as there was a steady line all night and Syp had sold out fully by 7:45 p.m. "I felt like I had to educate people about pierogi when I started, but people know about them now," she said.

Syp is looking forward to increasing her pop-up nights at Barrio to include both the first and the third Mondays of the month, from 6 to 8 p.m. starting in October.

Beyond that, she wants to keep things small and stick with pop-ups. A conversation with a customer at the most recent pop-up reinforced her focus on bringing people from the neighborhood together.

The customer mentioned the Polish "bar mleczny," or "milk bars."  These cafeterias are subsidized by the state, offering low-priced menu items that draw in people from every social category for an egalitarian, affordable meal. Now that's dining on a dime.

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.

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Friday, September 13, 2019

Drink Up: Major Jackson with Major Jackson at Leunig's

Posted By on Fri, Sep 13, 2019 at 5:09 PM

Major Jackson - SALLY POLLAK
  • Sally Pollak
  • Major Jackson
A cocktail, like a poem, has to have the right ingredients, the poet Major Jackson said. With each, “you want to curate an experience: one that speaks to the past but is also firmly rooted in the present.” Both a drink and a poem, Jackson continued, should be “disorienting and yet steadying at the same time.”

He pointed out, too, that each endeavor gains something when practiced in fellowship. “Poetry is created in a solitary space, but it’s ultimately art that is meant to be shared,” Jackson said. He elaborated on that idea before adding: “Just like no one wants to drink alone.”

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Thursday, September 12, 2019

Drink Up: GOBO at Caledonia Spirits

Posted By on Thu, Sep 12, 2019 at 10:47 AM

Burdock grown at Cate Farm in East Montpelier is the basis for Caledonia Spirits' new GOBO. - MELISSA PASANEN
  • Melissa Pasanen
  • Burdock grown at Cate Farm in East Montpelier is the basis for Caledonia Spirits' new GOBO.
There is probably not a gardener, outdoors enthusiast or dog-owner in Vermont who is unfamiliar with burdock. The deep-rooted plant seems to thrive everywhere; its burrs enmesh themselves with Velcro-like tenacity in your pet’s coat, your kid’s hair, your shoelaces.

At the new Montpelier headquarters of Caledonia Spirits on September 9, employees wore tongue-in-cheek boutonnières of the dreaded burrs, but the private event was actually a burdock lovefest.

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Friday, September 6, 2019

Foam Brewers to Open a Restaurant

Posted By on Fri, Sep 6, 2019 at 11:12 AM

Restaurant will be in site of Foam art exhibit - LUKE AWTRY
  • Luke Awtry
  • Restaurant will be in site of Foam art exhibit
Foam Brewers on the Burlington waterfront plans to open a restaurant in the Lake Street building that houses its brewery and taproom, according to co-owner Jon Farmer.

The new restaurant, which Farmer expects will open in late winter or early spring, has yet to be named. It will be a quick-service, farm-to-table restaurant whose concept and menu will be further developed when Foam hires a chef/kitchen manager to run the new business, Farmer told Seven Days.

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Thursday, September 5, 2019

Dining on a Dime: Tomgirl Kitchen

Posted By on Thu, Sep 5, 2019 at 9:11 AM


Salad bowl at Tomgirl Kitchen - SALLY POLLAK
  • Sally Pollak
  • Salad bowl at Tomgirl Kitchen
The South End Art Hop begins on Friday, September 6. A couple of days before the festivities I stopped for lunch at Tomgirl Kitchen in the Soda Plant on Pine Street. The building will be the site of art exhibits this weekend, but a set of vivid colors — purple, orange, green, pink and yellow — was on display at Tomgirl before the show began.

Red cabbage and beets, carrots and pickled squash, kale and cucumbers, radishes and bell peppers, were the source of the rainbow atop Tomgirl’s counter. They formed the ingredients of a make-your-own salad bowl for $10.95, though its actual construction was performed by a pro behind the counter.

All I had to do was point to my choice of grain, the four veggies I wanted, my protein pick, and select any add-on seeds that struck my fancy. Before my eyes, a salad took shape on a bed of arugula and kale, topped with a scoop of black rice and spoonfuls of local cucumber, cabbage, beets and pickled squash.

I chose avocado for my protein  and said yes to hemp seeds, sunflower seeds and dried apricots. With a few squirts of cilantro-lime-curry dressing, lunch was served. I ate at a picnic table outside the Soda Plant.

Some businesses in the building were getting ready for Art Hop, including special pickle prep at Pitchfork Farm & Pickle, and chit-chat at Brio Coffeeworks about the Latte Art Throwdown to be held there on Saturday, September 7.
Salad bar at Tomgirl Kitchen - SALLY POLLAK
  • Sally Pollak
  • Salad bar at Tomgirl Kitchen
Over the weekend, Tomgirl will team up with Co Cellars, a drink biz in the Soda Plant, on an Art Hop peach mimosa, according to Tomgirl owner Gabrielle Kammerer.  Co Cellars is a hot company to pair with: A joint venture of  ZAFA Wines and Shacksbury Cider, Co Cellars was recently named one of the 100 greatest places in the world  to eat and drink by Time.

It’s a small room with a bar, some benches and barrels, and glass vessels that hold “just fucking fermented juice,” to borrow ZAFA’s motto.

As a longtime Pine Street walker — and Bob Dylan fan — I can attest that the street has changed over the years from a dining "Desolation Row"  to a foodie "Positively Fourth Street." Now it’s broken into the world’s top 100.
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.

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