vermont

Dining Locally: Penny Cluse

4 Comments

Occasionally the Hubz and I like to have an early morning breakfast date during the week; yesterday just happened to be one of those days.  Lately our favorite spot has been Penny Cluse Cafe in Burlington because of it’s early hours, delicious coffee and tasty tofu scramble. Yesterday morning we stopped in and had settled on the Pesto Tofu Scramble, a griddled tomato and dry rye toast, oh and of course coffee.  Well come to find out the pesto which we had asked about on our last visit and were told was vegan actually is not vegan. So we decided on the peanut-ginger sauce instead.  The waitress feeling bad about our last waitress misinforming us  brought us each over a complimentary glass of tangerine juice.

My Trio of Beverages

Peanut-Ginger Tofu, Griddled Tomato and Dry Rye Toast

The Peanut-Ginger Tofu is really delicious.  The sauce coats the tofu perfectly and you get great flavor with every bite.  Also the ginger is really a mild flavor and balanced perfectly with the peanut. “I really like how the sauce is kind of crispy too and the ginger, well you can tell it’s real ginger not just a flavor” – Quote by The Hubz

The Griddled Tomato is my new favorite breakfast item.  Cooking the tomato locks in all the juices and just creates a whole new depth of flavor; place it on top of the rye toast and you’ve got a winner.

As for the beverages I would say they have one of the best cups of coffee in town.  The water was refreshing.  The tangerine juice was surprisingly not overly sweet and I really enjoyed it- I may even order it next visit!

Just a heads up to vegans interested in eating here the homefries are not vegan.

Ratings:
Value: 4/5
Food: 4/5
Vegan Friendly: 3/5- all though not a ton of vegan options the ones they do have are delicious.
Atmosphere: 4/5

Thanksgiving Vegan Style

4 Comments

The Hubz and I were lucky to be invited to a wonderful vegan Thanksgiving potluck on Saturday night at some (hopefully) new friends home.  We were a little nervous at first since we didn’t know anyone and I am a bit shy (yes me) when I first meet people but it ended up being a really wonderful experience.  Everyone was super friendly and we felt completely welcomed.  For the potluck I made my Thanksgiving Tart with a few twist- I actually made the crust and I added mushrooms to the mix. I had leftover crust so I made a rustic tart with roasted pear, apples and cranberries as well.

Along with my Thanksgiving Tart we had stuffed tomatoes, whipped sweet potatoes, shredded Brussels sprouts with candied pecans, stuffing, mushroom gravy and rolls- everything was really delicious.  For dessert we had cupcakes, pumpkin cheezecake, cranberry apple crisp and my rustic tart- I split a little bit of everything except the cupcake (which I am sure were delicious). I’m looking forward to the next potluck!

Table of Goodies

Heather's Plate

Payton's Plate

Payton's Dessert Plate

How are you celebrating Thanksgiving this year? What will you be making?

Dining Locally: American Flatbread

1 Comment

Our pizza from the last post was actually inspired by a visit to American Flatbread a few weeks ago where we sipped the best beer and ate the most delicious pizza. This is one of our go to restaurants because they have amazing flatbread that is made from local and/or organic ingredients.  Plus they keep it simple- their menu has a salad (which is amazing) and a number of flatbread creations as well as an option to create your own flatbread.  THAT IS IT. They don’t need to put anything more on that menu because it is perfect keeping it simple.  They also have a special salad, vegetarian pizza and omnivore pizza each night as well as dessert specials.

On top of having a great salad and flatbreads they easily accommodate vegans and they brew their own beer. Now their dining menu maybe short and sweet but the beer list is extensive and filled with a great selection of microbrews as well as their house made which are all really good.

Veganized Special- white pizza with delicata squash, apples, garlic and maple glazed hazelnuts

Dining Locally: The Farmhouse Tap & Grill

2 Comments

The Farmhouse Tap and Grill opened just the past spring and has been packed every night since.  It quickly has become one of the most popular restaurants in Burlington.  This gastropub is all about featuring and supporting local farms and it has a tap room as well.  In the summers you can sit and have a brew in the outdoor beer garden while you wait for table.  Although the menu is heavy on the meat and dairy side the vegan options do not disappoint. Shortly after the restaurant opened I emailed inquiring about the vegan options and this is what I was told are vegan:

  • Heirloom tomato salad (sans feta cheese)
  • House soy burger (sans cheese and bun) we suggest over some wilted kale in place of bun
  • French fries!
  • Nitty Gritty Corn Cakes (sans buttermilk vinaigrette)
  • Kale & arugula salad (sans blue cheese, with lemon vinaigrette instead of the buttermilk vinaigrette
  • Marinated olives, spiced pecans from the snacks menu
  • Roasted Beets (sans goat cheese)
  • Phil’s Vegan Delight – not on the menu, but we make it often.  Some braised greens, mushrooms, and veggies over grilled Red Hen Bakery bread

We have enjoyed the french fries which are crispy and delicious, the corn cakes with the lemon vinaigrette which is just to die for, the marinated olives- plump juicy and so good and of course the vegan delight.  The thing I love about the vegan delight is that the basis is the same every time greens, mushrooms and veggies over bread however the combination is different each time I order it because it is based around what veggies they have that day.  It is always amazing and the Hubz and I have been known to frequent here more often then any other restaurant around.

The beer selection is really outstanding which is why we keep going back for more.  There is also a small wine menu that features some nice wines, however if you are looking for liquor you won’t find it here.  The atmosphere is loud with low lights and is always packed and full of energy.  Unfortunately due to the lighting inside I didn’t get great photos but I do have some from the beer garden.  I have to say that if you are a beer and food lover this is the place to visit in Burlington.

Dining Locally: Magnolia Bistro

5 Comments

This is the first of my “Dining Locally” posts which will be a series of post about Vermont eateries.  Today’s post features Magnolia Bistro which is a certified green restaurant in Burlington Vermont that features a variety of breakfast and lunch options.  The Hubz and I visit here pretty often to enjoy there great food, atmosphere and of course the vegan bloody mary’s.

Magnolia Bistro’s menu is a vegans paradise.  Everything is labeled with a “v” if it is vegan and if you are gluten free you will be delighted to know gluten free dishes are marked with a “g”.  This make the dining experience relaxing, easy and enjoyable.

Sesame Tofu Scramble

Plate O'Sides- black beans, kale, home fries and toast with Earth Balance

The Hubz and I would recommend:

  • Garbanzo Burger
  • The Incredible Mr. Limpett
  • Sesame Scram w/avocado
  • French Toast
  • Bloody Mary

However, we have never had a dish we didn’t love!

Magnolia Bistro, One Lawson Lane, Burlington, VT

Art Hopping

2 Comments

After a crazy week at work it was nice to come home to these yummy treats:

Hail Merry sent me a few of their treats to sample for my OpenSky Shop .  I immediately decided to try the blonde macaroons which are raw, vegan and gluten free and AMAZING! I am a huge fan of raw macaroons and should really make them more often but these are certainly a great treat!

I wasn’t feeling to hot in the morning so I finished my work and headed home to rest for awhile.  When the Hubz got home he convinced me to get out and go to the South End Burlington Art Hop with him.  I was as little reluctant at first since I still wasn’t feeling great but went anyways. We ended up having a great time and the fresh air and walk around town seemed to be just what I needed.  After a while we got hungry and we decided to get some food.

Neil with his I'm hungry face on.

Downtown was crowded so I suggested that we try Miguel’s since it was near the water, away from the crowds, and we had never been there before.  We decided to sit outside since although cool out it was a beautiful night.

We started off with the special margarita of the night: prickly pear

We also snacked on a few chips and salsa but we were good and didn’t have too many and spoil our dinners.

For my entree I got the Tres Tacos with the vegetarian chili which was delicious and filled with bulgar, sweet potatoes and beans- with my tacos came pinto beans, rice, pickled onions, lettuce and tomato.

The Hubz got the portobello fajitas which were amazing! He was kind enough to give me one and in return I gave him one of my tacos.

Overall this place was amazing! We had great food, great service and a wonderful atmosphere to enjoy it all in (and the company wasn’t half bad either).

99 Bottles of Beer…

4 Comments

The Hubz and I are “beer aficionados” or at least we like to think we are (more the Hubz than me) ….if you aren’t laughing you should be.  Anyways we really do love beer especially really good craft beer; we are lucky to live in Vermont where there are tons of craft breweries. Anyways so as many of you may have seen me tweeting the Hubz and I had a mini beer tasting on Monday night. So we rated the beers based on what we liked the best (5 being best and 1 being worst), however below is the order we drank them in:

Victory Storm King Stout- 3.5- great flavor and hoppyness which I love

Long Trail Harvest-2 this was just okay.

Dogfish Head Punkin Ale-4-loved this! it was not too sweet like some pumpkin beers are; it had great spice and overall flavor we will be purchasing this again!

Sierra Nevada Tumbler-3-this was alright but not my favorite, not my least favorite either.

We enjoyed the Sierra Nevada Tumbler with Squash and White Bean Soup & Sour Dough Bread - p.s. if you are interested in being a tester for my soup e-book e-mail me! More details soon!

Southern Tier Harvest (my favorite)- 5! This beer was delicious! A great fall beer with lots of hops!

Victory Festbier-1.5-this beer was pretty much a fail. Very boring and little flavor.

While we ate, drank and were merry the fur baby did this:

warning drinking too much beer may result in this