I was in Burlington, Vermont, earlier this week for a Saint John’s Bible talk at Champlain College. What a great place! New England is clearly an early adopter of the farm-to-table movement and every restaurant, from breakfast joint to pizza place to upscale dining tells you all about where their ingredients are sourced from– locally and organically.
In addition to trying out the coffee shops and bakeries, I had two great meals there: at American Flatbread, where I had a Revolution pizza and Zero Gravity beer. It was delicious, but the best was Penny Cluse, where I had lunch. I sat at the counter because at 10:30 a.m. on a Monday there was a 25-minute wait for a table. What with travel, I hadn’t eaten the night before, so I was more in the mood for lunch than breakfast. The guy next to me was finishing up a lovely meal, so I asked him what he had. I followed suit exactly with the Grilled Chicken Thigh with warm orzo salad: orzo pasta tossed with spinach, olives, capers, garlic and feta cheese, served with a grilled baguette. And because I couldn’t resist, I ordered a side of smoked salmon, just like the guy next to me. This was an excellent decision because, although I was stuffed after the meal, I took back the salmon and baguette for breakfast the next day. Win! (Oh, and at the coffee shop there was an interview about Bernie Sanders’s early days going on next to me, which provided great eavesdropping. What I learned: Bernie has always been good with small children.)
I also learned that Burlington is home to Gardener’s Supply Company. I had lunch at Champlain with a prof who used to work for them and we bonded over how many tomato ladders we own. Someone suggested I go out and see the place, especially the outlet store. As if to torture myself with my inability to haul back garden equipment on a plane…
Burlington has some other quirks. The excellent August First Bakery, (little Breton pastry filled with Maple syrup called a Maple Kouign Amann??) is a “laptop free zone.” It is clearly not to dissuade people from hanging out too long at the tables but just to encourage people to be more sociable. Another place had no wifi, clearly the same idea, although everyone in there seemed to be texting on their phone. And the Uncommon Grounds coffee shop let you know in no uncertain terms they would not take your order if you were on your cell phone. They kept people moving by having wobbly tables and a somewhat unpleasant environment. Keeping it real!
I also learned on this trip that my new Kindle ($50) does not have as good a camera as my old iPad ($500). Go figure.