Vermont Travel Notes

We're always very happy to share our recipes here at the Grunberg Haus. In fact, some of our recipes were handed down by the previous owners 11 years ago when we bought the inn, others we brought with us, and still others we've come across while searching for new ideas to offer our guests. So we don't jealously guard our recipes and instead freely pass them along for others to enjoy.


One person we shared a recipe with has written about it on her blog called A Mom Named Mindy (sadly no longer online). The recipe is very easy so give it a whirl and perhaps you will fall in love with applesauce pancakes as much as Mindy has!

Two quick notes: the lemon juice may not seem important but the acidity is what gives the pancakes their "body" and helps them brown properly. Another trick we use here is full flavored Grade A Dark Amber Vermont maple syrup.

Thanks Mindy! We hope to see you again some day.

Jeff Connor Grunberg Haus

Vermont Restaurant Week starts today, April 29, and runs through May 5, 2011

Vermont's annual restaurant week is a great way to eat at some of the state's best restaurants at a deep discount. The event, organized by Seven Days newspaper, includes dozens of restaurants with prix-fixe menus showcasing their chefs’ greatest dishes. Each meal(appetizer, entree´ and dessert) is priced at $15, $25 or $35 per person. Moreover, ten percent of the proceeds from event will be donated to the Vermont Foodbank.

This is a very popular event featuring very popular restaurants, so reservations are a good idea.

To find participating restaurants, go to the Seven Days Restaurant Week web page and find the red box with the "Choose a Restaurant" headline on the right side of the web page. I did not count all the restaurants but it looks like more than 75 are participating and they range in location from Middlebury to St. Albans. You can find the list here.

The event has a Facebook
page too if you would like to check news during the week.

Jeff Connor Grunberg Haus

Eric Warnstedt

Everyone has heard of the Oscar Awards for the movies but far fewer have heard of the James Beard Foundation Award, an equally prestigious award for people in the restaurant industry.

Like the Oscar's, The James Beard Foundation Award has numerous categories even though the most publicized are the awards for chefs. However, there are also awards for food journalists, broadcast media, food and beverage professionals, even restaurant architects and designers.

Three Vermont chefs are semi-finalists in the Best Chef Northeast category. This is the third year in a row that Eric Warnstedt, Hen of the Wood restaurant, Waterbury VT has been nominated. A few years ago, Eric was also named one of the Top Ten New Chefs in the USA by Food and Wine Magazine.

Jason Gulisano of The Green Cup Cafe, Waitsfield VT and Nathaniel Wade, iDuino! (Duende) restaurant, Burlington VT have also been nominated. Only one of the
21 semifinalists will be named the winner at the awards ceremony May 9 in New York City.

Vermont is fortunate to be home to hundreds of great restaurants. Spend some time looking through the Seven Days newspaper's restaurant website and you will begin to get a feel for the scope of what's available.

Jeff Connor Grunberg Haus

Shelburne Vineyard's Autumn Wine and Food Festival will be held tomorrow, Saturday, November 13 from 11:00 am to 5:00 pm.

There will be free wine tastings, live jazz performances, and local food products from VT Smoke and Cure, Cavendish Game Birds, Olivia’s Croutons, VT Creamery, Shelburne Farms, Fat Toad Farms, Red Hen Bakery, Bread & Butter Farm, Daily Chocolate and Shelburne Kitchen.

Wine tasting includes Shelburne Vineyard, Eden Ice Cider, Artesano Mead and East Shore Vineyards.

This event is a benefit for the Chittenden Emergency Food Shelf. Visitors are encouraged to bring a non-perishable food donation and enter a raffle to win food and wine prizes.

Shelburne Vineyards is located south of Burlington VT on Shelburne Road between Shelburne Museum and the VT Teddy Bear factory.

Jeff Connor Grunberg Haus

Once the site of a thriving granite mine, Hardwick VT became a pleasant but hardscrabble looking town after the mine closed. Then it got hit by a major fire five years ago which destroyed several important old buildings in the middle of town. But it has made an admirable comeback in recent years. Most of that is due to the local food movement. Several articles have appeared with headlines along the lines of : "The Town That Food Saved."

The current issue of Yankee Magazine now describes Hardwick as "The Center for an Agricultural Economy." It was written by Bill McKibben, a Vermont resident famous for his work on global warming. Mr. McKibben writes about some of the key people involved with the local food movement including the local investor funded restaurant, Claire's, and organic seed producer, High Mowing Seeds. It's an interesting read and provides insight into many of the related types of activities going on in Vermont today.

Jeff Connor Grunberg Haus, located about half an hour from Hardwick

One of the new Vermont travel blogs I've been reading for the past few months is called Love Vermont. It's written by Katherine Kerrigan who describes herself as a "girl who fell in love with a state and a state of mind" which is actually a common situation in Vermont and one that applies to me and many others who find their way here as well.

Her blog yesterday is especially helpful for Vermont travelers looking to find unique dining experiences. "top ten tuesdays - waterfront dining" is a great little article with quick reviews of the best dining next to lakes, ponds, and rivers throughout the state.

I've only eaten at four of the ten restaurants so I have some work to do. But in a state awash in great dining, it takes more than the decade I've been here to get to a large number of them let alone all of them. But that's part of the charm I suppose - the never ending discovery of new places to enjoy Vermont.

One word of advice about one of the restaurants, Hen of the Wood located near me in Waterbury: it is a small restaurant that is highly popular so reservations well in advance are always a good idea. The waterside here is a nice waterfall and river immediately behind the old brick mill building which houses the restaurant. See my January 11, 2009 blog post which has a winter photo (ice and snow) of the falls but will give you and idea of the setting during more hospitable weather.

Love Vermont is one of several fine Vermont blogs I have included in the right hand column of Vermont Travel Notes under the heading Travel Friends. I recommend going through it for ideas of things to see and do while traveling Vermont. There are a lot of good ideas there written by people who love Vermont and love to share their knowledge.

Jeff Connor Grunberg Haus