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Middlebury, VT The
Storm Cafe Two Culinary Institute of America grads took over this successor to the late Otter Creek Café, which had provided one of our best dinners ever. Karen and John Goettelmann share cooking duties and have settled into a dinner routine after going with lunch only while they started a family. The setting in the Frog Hollow Mill is perfect, inside in the lower level of an 1840 mill building or outside on a deck overlooking the churning Middlebury Falls of Otter Creek, the longest waterway in the state. The Goettelmanns’ changing dinner menu is nothing if not eclectic. At a winter visit, you could make a meal of paneer masala or “stormy gumbo,” a warming and moderately spicy creole stew of shrimp, scallops, chicken, chorizo sausage, tomatoes, vegetables and okra. Or you could opt for grilled salmon fillet over wilted greens tossed with shiitake mushrooms, sundried tomatoes, bacon and red onions; paella “with a stormy twist” (apparently the variety of toppings), and braised lamb shanks in red wine sauce. The New York strip steak was peppered, grilled and topped with brie and a rich port wine demi-glace. Appetizers included the signature roasted garlic and potato soup, sautéed shrimp tossed with a zesty concoction of bloody mary ingredients (including vodka), smoked salmon napoleon, spicy steamed mussels and – something of an oddity for a preliminary – smashed potatoes: pan-fried red bliss spuds topped with caramelized onions, roasted garlic and bacon with a chèvre and sour cream spread. Worthy endings include warm apple crêpes, espresso profiteroles, crème brûlée and frozen apricot soufflé. The café’s modest list of wines and beers is overshadowed by its repertoire of teas and coffees. (802) 388-1063. www.stormcafe.com. Entrées,
$15.95 to $21.95. Dinner, Tuesday-Saturday 5 to 9. Swift House Inn One of the legacies of the inn’s late co-founder, chef Andrea Nelson, is the restaurant that was her pride and joy. New owners James and Katrina resumed dinner service after a three-year hiatus upon acquiring the inn in 2003. Award-winning chef Marty Holzberg, who worked his culinary magic in the Swift House kitchen in its heyday, returned to his former haunt after a stint at the Jackson House in Woodstock. Dining is by candlelight in three small and serene dining rooms – one a library – appointed in hunter green. The Mediterranean-inspired fare ranges from grilled yellowfin tuna with veal marrow jus and Hudson Valley foie gras to stuffed boneless quail and locally raised pork osso buco. A complimentary amuse-bouche – goat cheese and mango salsa on crostini, garnished with an edible flower – and superior crusty sliced breads got our dinner off to a good start. One of us enjoyed an appetizer of foraged mushroom cassoulet and a sensational duck confit napoleon with local chèvre and field greens. The other loved the signature rustic Tuscan bean soup with pancetta cracklings and the panko-crusted lamb chop laced with parmigiano-reggiano. Dessert was a house specialty, Andy Nelson’s original coffee-toffee pecan torte, a dessert that any chocoholic would love. (802) 388-9925. Entrées, $16 to $26. Dinner
Thursday-Monday, 6 to 9. Tully
& Marie's This is the worthy successor to the long-running Woody’s, a California-style eatery lovingly tended by Woody Danforth, who retired far too early. He sold to chef Laurie Tully Reed and his wife, Carolyn Dundon. They changed the name to incorporate each of their middle names and kept things much the same, and regulars say the food is better than ever. The contemporary, four-level restaurant with enormous windows overlooking Otter Creek looks like a cross between a sleek diner and an ocean liner. Eating outside on the curved wraparound deck, right above the creek, is like being on a ship – an illusion heightened by mirrors in the interior dining areas. Laurie changed the menu to emphasize ethnic and American fusion cooking and vegetarian dishes. We sampled several at an autumn lunch: a fiery sweet potato and jalapeño soup, an ample Thai chicken salad and a hefty avocado, tomato and bacon melt on focaccia with sweet potato fries, all delicious. The treats continue at dinner. Typical starters are smoked salmon and wasabi aioli rolls, a boldly seasoned casserole of marinated artichoke hearts, and pan-blackened tuna with wasabi and pickled ginger. Main dishes range from spicy salmon veracruz and sautéed crab cakes with a roasted red pepper and lemon coulis to chicken saltimbocca, roasted duck burrito and honey-mustard crusted rack of lamb with rosemary jus. Vegetarians praise the tofu curry, pad Thai and grilled portobello mushrooms, which Laurie calls a “vegetarian london broil.” Desserts include pear-mascarpone trifle, midnight espresso mousse and crème caramel. (802) 388-4182. www.tullyandmaries.com. Entrées,
$16 to $22. Lunch, Monday-Saturday 11:30 to 3. Dinner nightly, 5 to 9 or
10. Sunday brunch, 10:30 to 3.
Opened by Middlebury graduates in 1974 and greatly expanded over the years, this is a sight to behold. A 1997 renovation doubled the footprint and expanded the kitchen, salad bar and lobby. The result is a ramble of rooms highlighted by Tiffany or fringed lamps, brass chandeliers, boating and sport fishing memorabilia. One room has a copper-dome ceiling and an upside-down canoe hangs from the ceiling of the lounge. Co-owner Dale Goddard’s restored 22-foot Philippine mahogany runabout is moored majestically in a lobby surrounded by salad bars. “I had fun with this,” says Dale, who bills it as Middlebury’s “museum dinner house.” He calls the decor eclectic but notes recurring themes of college, fishing, skiing, family, dungeon and bordello. More than 200 people can be seated at booths and tables, in nooks and crannies – some off by themselves in lofts for two and others in the midst of the action around the massive copper bar. The food is consistently first-rate and the staff obliging. The stir-fries are famous, as is the shrimp bar, which includes all the shrimp you can eat. The Sunday salad bar adds soup and crab legs, and the event is billed as “just like Sunday dinner at grandma’s.” Prime rib and steaks are featured, anything from blackened rib to châteaubriand and steak au poivre. Roast duckling, chicken boursin and cashew chicken stir-fry are specialties. A light fare menu also includes the 55-item salad and bread bars. The restaurant's name comes from the title of a Robert Frost poem. The fire reflects the cooking and the ice the drink mixing that goes on here. (802) 388-7166 or (800) 367-7166.
www.fireandicerestaurant.com. Entrées, $15.95 to $24.95. Lunch,
Friday-Saturday noon to 5. Dinner nightly from 5, Sunday from 1. Material excerpted from Inn Spots & Special Places in New England, by Nancy and Richard Woodworth. Copyright 2004. Wood Pond Press E-mail feedback to: Home
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