Vermont
30 years ago, downtown Rutland decided its future. Today, it’s back to the drawing board. – VTDigger
Thirty years ago, in the fall of 1994, Rutland City leaders eagerly awaited news of final plans for the cornerstone of their long-germinating downtown revitalization efforts: A new $20 million corporate headquarters for the state’s then-largest electric utility, Central Vermont Public Service Corp.
They didn’t anticipate the bombshell headlines about to hit.
The utility would drop what it determined to be a prohibitively expensive project that November, the Rutland Herald went on to report. That led municipal officials to turn to a surprising Plan B: Walmart, the big-box chain the National Trust for Historic Preservation had tagged “Sprawl Mart” the year before when it listed Vermont as one of its 1993 “Most Endangered Historic Places.”
The country’s biggest retailer had stores in every other state when Rutland City leaders offered what few other Vermonters would: An invitation to operate — but only in an existing, soon-to-be empty downtown anchor space instead of the new Diamond Run Mall under construction two miles south in neighboring Rutland Town.
The smaller-than-average Walmart would open and thrive in the city’s center in 1997. The Goliath of a mall, six times larger yet plagued like its peers nationally by financial problems, would eventually shrivel and shut down by 2019.
Then this fall, local leaders were jolted by another explosive headline.
Walmart is planning to leave its Rutland Plaza anchor location, it announced in September, and build a threefold-bigger “supercenter” with a grocery store and pharmacy at the site of the former mall.
The chain anticipates it will need at least two years to complete the local and state permit process and construct a new store for a projected move in 2027. That’s both bad and good news for Rutland City leaders eyeing the change — and the chance to develop their next Plan B.
“Rutland is a city that is built for 30,000 people and it’s currently being sustained by about 15,000,” Mayor Mike Doenges said in an interview. “I have a growth mindset right now, so when we hear Walmart say, ‘We’re going to move out,’ although it may put us on our heels, I think we have a real opportunity. My inclination is to lean forward and say, ‘OK, what do we need to do next?’”
‘Rutland hasn’t been cutesified’
When Vermont Life magazine profiled Rutland in 1988, it began by opining, “Although it has many historically important buildings and has always figured prominently in Vermont’s colorful past, Rutland is not a quaint and comely town with a picturesque center.”
“Rutland hasn’t been cutesified,” the late Herald reporter and longtime resident Yvonne Daley wrote in the piece. “Rather it’s a working-class community with a strong and diversified ethnic heritage.”
Shut off from interstate highways and seemingly forever in the shadow of Vermont’s largest city of Burlington, Rutland nonetheless can boast a history as the state’s capital from 1784 to 1804 and, rising as a rail crossroads after the Civil War, its most populous municipality for one brief shining moment in 1880.
Rutland returned to second place on the state census by 1890 and remained there for a century. The city was about to dip to third place (it’s currently fifth after Burlington, Essex, South Burlington and Colchester, but still the biggest community outside of Chittenden County) when Walmart opened in 1997.
That year, Oprah Winfrey named the Rutland-inspired novel “Songs in Ordinary Time” — penned by Mary McGarry Morris, a 1960 graduate of the city’s Mount St. Joseph Academy — as her latest Book Club selection. Soon, the television host’s nearly 20 million viewers were reading a gritty drama, set in 1960, that painted a less-than-flattering picture of a hardscrabble community past its prime.
Local leaders, wincing at that depiction, hoped a revitalized downtown would help people turn the page.
‘The nature of retail has shifted’
Walmart’s 1997 debut capped a decade-long effort that also ushered in a new adjacent supermarket and nine-screen cinema, the nearby Asa Bloomer state office building and Amtrak train service to New York. It also introduced the Rutland Redevelopment Authority and Downtown Rutland Partnership management and marketing organization.
“We have to be bold enough,” then-Mayor Jeff Wennberg told Vermont Life, “to plan our future.”
But three decades later, much of that progress is now in the past.
Lyle Jepson, executive director of the recently combined Rutland Region Chamber of Commerce and Rutland Economic Development Corporation — the new entity is called the Chamber & Economic Development of the Rutland Region — is based in The Hub CoWorks building that once housed stores.
“The nature of retail has shifted,” Jepson said in an interview. “What we expect has changed.”
People who once shopped downtown now can find greater selection online, he noted, leading to not only the closure of smaller businesses but also Walmart’s desire to relocate from its current 76,000-square-foot space to a coming 170,995-square-foot one.
“For Walmart to be successful,” Jepson said, “they need to offer a complete experience, including a grocery store and pharmacy.”
Hal Issente, executive director of the Downtown Rutland Partnership, spoke to local business upon business upon the announcement of Walmart’s coming move. None have felt threatened by the big-box store, he said, as they specialize in merchandise — men’s suits at the three-generation family-owned McNeil and Reedy, for example, or classic and current literature at the local independent Phoenix Books — not sold by the discounter.
Instead, several expressed worry about the loss of what they consider to be downtown’s largest customer magnet.
“There are mixed feelings,” Issente said. “Businesses do see people go to Walmart and then come to them to shop.”
‘Everybody has their ideas’
Some locals want to replace the downtown Walmart with a similar chain such as Target.
“Everybody has their ideas,” Doenges said. “I’ve heard everything from ‘Make it an Amazon distribution center’ to ‘Move the library there.’”
That’s why the mayor is forming a task force of residents and government representatives to collect and consider suggestions.
“We want to be thoughtful about what comes next,” Doenges said of the larger picture. “What’s the next 30 years look like, and what do we want to try that can sustain the city?”
At the same time, developers are working on several other projects on nearby Center Street, which Rutland is aiming to redesign into a pedestrian-friendly counterpart to Burlington’s Church Street Marketplace.
The largest proposal is a $35 million, seven-story hotel building on the corner of Center and Wales streets, site of the Berwick Hotel from 1868 until a 1973 fire leveled it into a current parking lot known as “The Pit.”
Developer upon developer over the past half-century has proposed new construction there, only to be stymied by the prospect of brownfield cleanup estimated at $500,000 a decade ago and $5 million today, according to city figures.
This time, the local Belden Company has received a $700,000 state Community Recovery and Revitalization Program award for the 99-room hotel, which also would include 26 “market-rate” apartments.
Although Belden has just applied for a building permit for what the mayor will only say is a “major brand” hospitality chain (an artist concept includes a sign for Cambria), it’s aiming to open the property by 2027.
“If things continue the way they’re going,” Doenges said, “we’ll see a hotel within the next few years.”
‘It’s about expanding and enhancing’
Across the street, the Paramount Theatre is undergoing a $6 million renovation and expansion to a playhouse that opened in 1914, moved to “talking pictures” in 1931 and returned after a 25-year closure and floor-to-ceiling restoration in 2000.
The 838-seat facility now offers more than 150 performances and programs annually. Its 60,000 yearly patrons, in turn, generate between $2.5 million to $3 million in economic impact, its management reported as part of the most recent Americans for the Arts’ national Arts & Economic Prosperity study.
With crews now adding more lobby, restroom and conference space, “the numbers will only grow,” Eric Mallette, the Paramount’s executive director, said of a project set for completion by the end of 2026.
Doenges,meanwhile, is searching for a cinema to replace the downtown Movieplex that closed during the Covid-19 pandemic. Municipal leaders also are set to hold public meetings this winter on a plan to relocate their offices and the Rutland Free Library to vacant space at the partially occupied Asa Bloomer state office building on Merchants Row.
Both City Hall, built around 1900, and the library, originally constructed as a post office and courthouse in 1858, are in need of repairs, but a series of past renovation or relocation plans have fallen through.
“It’s very exploratory right now,” the mayor said of the latest proposal, “but we think to have the city, state and library all in one building, to have kind of a service-oriented civic center, would be really beneficial.”
The merger also would allow the current City Hall and library buildings to be renovated into apartments.
“As much as I want to look at developing commercial entities throughout the city, without people here, it’s not going to work,” Doenges said. “We need to develop housing, too.”
‘Headed in a growth direction’
To make all the proposals more attainable, Rutland City is applying for state approval to form a Tax Increment Financing (TIF) district so it can improve public infrastructure to draw private development that, in turn, would boost the municipal tax base and pay off the work.
Under the plan, for example, the city would help with the brownfield cleanup at “The Pit” parking lot that would allow construction of the hotel.
Local leaders hope to formalize the TIF district early next year and start infrastructure projects in 2026. They estimate that could spur the creation of 385 housing units and other private development totaling $63 million in increased property value and $3 million of additional general fund revenue over 20 years.
“But for the city putting in this effort,” advisor Stephanie Clarke told the Rutland Board of Aldermen at a recent meeting, “this development isn’t happening.”
In the meantime, A2Z Real Estate Inc. of Pennsylvania, owner of the Diamond Run Mall, is seeking permits for the new Walmart “supercenter.” A2Z didn’t respond to VTDigger’s request for comment, but Joe Anthony, its chief executive officer, told the Rutland Town Select Board at a recent meeting: “We’ve been trying to get to this point for more years than I care to count.”
For its part, the Brixmor Property Group, operator of the downtown Rutland Plaza, is searching for a new anchor tenant.
“While we don’t have any new updates to share at this time, Brixmor is committed to attracting best-in-class retailers that will meet the needs of the Rutland community,” spokesperson Maria Pace said in a statement.
Walmart will continue to operate in its current location until the move. Rutland City leaders hope to make the most of that time.
“I look at it from an investment standpoint,” Doenges said. “You don’t want to invest in a company when it’s at its peak and maxed out. Rutland is headed in a growth direction. That’s when you want to invest because it’s less expensive now and you get to reap the benefits for the next 15, 20 years. My hope is that we can pitch Rutland on its potential and the opportunity that’s here.”
Hisham Awartani and his family on the Brown University campus.
Suzanne Gaber
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Suzanne Gaber
Hisham Awartani and his family on the Brown University campus.
Suzanne Gaber
Hisham Awartani is a college student who was visiting family in Vermont over Thanksgiving break in 2023 when he and two of his friends were shot. All three young men are of Palestinian descent and all three were wearing keffiyehs when the attack happened. They all survived, but Awartani was left paralyzed from the waist down. Over the past year, he’s been recovering and adjusting to a new life that involves using a wheelchair.
Producer Suzanne Gaber has been following Awartani’s story since the shooting — from his physical recovery to the emotional hurdles he’s grappled with at Brown University, where he became a poster child of the divestment movement.
As Awartani prepares to return home to the West Bank for the first time since his injury, Gaber takes us through his year in recovery and what he hopes for as the war in his homeland continues to escalate.
This episode was reported for Notes From America with Kai Wright, a show from WNYC Studios about the unfinished business of our history, and how to break its grip on our future.
Companion Listening:
A Palestinian-American Victim of American Gun Violence Becomes A Reluctant Poster Child (February 19, 2024)
Still In Recovery From Being Shot, Hisham Awartani Commits To a Summer of Activism (June 6, 2024)
Our engineer was Josephine Nyonai.
It can be tough to recall a year’s worth of meals. If you stick to three a day, which food writers rarely do, there are 1,095 to sort through — or 1,098 in a leap year like this one.
Scrolling through photos on my phone — my preferred method of memory jogging — reveals hints of this year’s highlights: my garden’s first asparagus crop, a semi-absurd number of diner meals and a sunny Super Lemonova shared with Adeline Druart, the new CEO of Lawson’s Finest Liquids. My fellow food writer Melissa Pasanen’s camera roll was full of Québécois food and drink from several trips north for work and pleasure. She also found a surprising number of pics of doughnuts, sweet and savory, including a screenshot of the summer special Lobster Doughie at Morse Block Deli & Taps in Barre, which she sadly never tasted herself — though one of our stellar interns did. There’s always next year.
For both of us, 2024 brought farmers market mornings, food truck afternoons and so many restaurant openings that we could barely keep up. As we assembled our favorite bites and sips of the year, we found that most came from new places to eat and drink. We’re happy for the injection of fresh energy, and we feel its positive repercussions in the local food scene.
In Seven Days style, here are this year’s seven favorites from each of us, in no particular order. As you’ll see, it was a good year for biscuits. But also for pawpaws, fancy carrot mochi and vermouth-based cocktails.
— J.B.
Happy as a Clam
Frankie’s, 169 Cherry St., Burlington, 264-7094, frankiesvt.com
If you’ve been paying attention to Vermont’s food scene this year, you won’t be surprised that Melissa and I both had Frankie’s on our favorites list. Why? Melissa summed it up simply: “So many of their dishes.”
I share the sentiment, citing the pork croquettes with a pickled rhubarb sauce that I’d like to drink, electric-green scallop crudo with cucumbers and fermented fennel, sweet corn tortelli, hearty sides of pommes purée and creamed corn, epically savory cabbage, and housemade creemees.
At Frankie’s in Burlington, Hen of the Wood Alums Throw a Party
At Frankie’s in Burlington, Hen of the Wood Alums Throw a Party
By Jordan Barry
First Bite
What I ordered most often at Frankie’s, in some form or another, were the littleneck clams. The swanky-cool restaurant’s proclivity for seafood is a welcome addition to the scene, and the clams are probably as close as its menu gets to a staple. At my first group dinner in the upstairs private dining room, the clams came with crème fraîche, pickled carrots and wild leek focaccia; a month later, with spring onions and green garlic; and in August, with sweet corn, charred jalapeños and pickled zucchini. Consensus, from the first meal on, is that “they slap.”
Cindi Kozak, Jordan Ware and their team have already received national press as one of Eater’s Best New Restaurants in America. I have no insider info or sway, but here’s a prediction: We’ll be writing a story about their James Beard Award nomination in 2025.
— J.B.
Doughnut Double-Down
Twisted Halo Café, 31 Cottonwood Dr., Suite 106, Williston, and 40 Bridge St., Waitsfield, twistedhalocafe.com
In 2024, we continued our food section tradition of kicking off the New Year with doughnuts rather than diets. I drew the short — or was that the long? — straw. The 4:30 a.m. alarm required by the assignment was richly rewarded with Emma Slater’s freshly fried Twisted Halo doughnuts.
Williston-Based Twisted Halo Raises the Bar for Fresh Doughnuts
Williston-Based Twisted Halo Raises the Bar for Fresh Doughnuts
By Melissa Pasanen
Food + Drink Features
In particular, her signature featherlight, crisply crenellated doughnut with a custardy interior is well worth an early wake-up call. Slater calls it a churro, though some might recognize it as an egg-rich, French-style cruller. I prefer it simply dusted with cinnamon sugar, but she dips some in dark chocolate glaze, if that’s your thing.
Extra good news is that this year has brought more days and locations for Twisted Halo. When I wrote about her, Slater was sharing the kitchen at Champion Comics and Coffee in Williston, but as of this month, she and business partner Taylan Hagen have officially assumed the lease and renamed it Twisted Halo Café. Comics are still on offer along with the fresh doughnuts, Tuesday through Sunday.
The Mad River Valley also got lucky. Since late summer, Slater has been operating a Twisted Halo Café in the former Sweet Spot in Waitsfield. In addition to doughnuts, pastries and coffee, that location launched a full breakfast menu in mid-December, with French toast, eggs, and breakfast sandwiches on house-baked brioches, croissants or English muffins.
A doughnut breakfast sandwich isn’t on the menu yet, but so many people have asked about one that “It’s a sign it has to happen,” Slater said.
— M.P.
A Beautiful Beverage
Specs, 7 W. Canal St., Winooski, specs-cafe-bar.com
I’ve found myself drinking less booze over the past year, partly because the local nonalcoholic options are so good and partly because my toddler wakes me up by 6 a.m. most days. When I have a cocktail or two, I tend to choose lower-ABV options. My favorite is the dry vermouth-and-sherry Bamboo, which I’ve had mixed success ordering off-menu around town.
Cue my excitement when Sam Nelis of Specs stirred up an Adonis, the Bamboo’s sweeter counterpart, for me to taste. I’d asked Nelis, in a sort of cheeky way, to share three drinks that sum up his Winooski café-bar-beverage mart. Based on the astonishing array of fortified wines stocked in his shop, I shouldn’t have been surprised that his mind went to the Adonis. (I also shouldn’t have been surprised that we tasted more like 10 drinks, between old-school frothy cappuccinos and his favorite Belgian beer.)
Get to Know Winooski’s Specs Café, Beverage Mart and Future Bar in Three Drinks
Get to Know Winooski’s Specs Café, Beverage Mart and Future Bar in Three Drinks
By Jordan Barry
Drink Up
True to his business’ name, Nelis also presented his specs for the drink. A stirred cocktail that originated in late-1800s New York City, the Adonis contains 1.5 ounces of Contratto vermouth rosso, 1.5 ounces of dry fino sherry, two dashes orange bitters and one dash Angostura bitters. Stir, serve in a coupe and garnish with an orange twist.
I’ve been following his recipe ever since, swapping out the Contratto for whichever fun fortified wine I spot among the 70 options on Specs’ shelves. When Nelis launches the full cocktail bar in spring 2025, I’ll be sure to order one there.
— J.B.
No Passing Fancy
Fancy’s, 88 Oak St., Burlington, 448-2106, fancysbtv.com, now taking reservations
They say absence makes the heart grow fonder, and that does hold true for the dish of carrot mochi I adored on my first visit to Fancy’s, the cozy restaurant that opened in the Old North End in April. The mochi then vanished from the menu, but there was always plenty else frickin’ delicious to eat.
I’ve loved every vegetable-forward dish (and the few with meat or fish) that has sprung from the imagination and kitchen of talented chef-owner Paul Trombly. He is a magician of flavor and texture, as demonstrated by his slender charred eggplants with coconut and South India sambar, as well as his chewy, caramelized halloumi with spiced seeds, date, mint and lemon. Fancy’s smashed cucumber salad is an edible symphony: zippy with lime and soy; crunchy with puffed, curry-dusted rice and candied cashews; and sweet-spicy with mango and house-pickled hot peppers.
At Fancy’s in Burlington, Chef Paul Trombly Delights in Vegetables
At Fancy’s in Burlington, Chef Paul Trombly Delights in Vegetables
By Melissa Pasanen
First Bite
Trombly’s small menu changes regularly based on what local farms supply, and it would be selfish to expect faves to stick around. Still, every time I returned to Fancy’s, I hoped for another bowl of the earthy, intensely carroty “mochi” dumplings, which glutinous rice flour rendered delightfully and unexpectedly bouncy.
Back in the summer, Trombly told me that the moisture-sensitive dumplings were too difficult to make in humid weather. On recent visits, I would not-so-subtly hint that summer was long over. In mid-December, I blinked twice when they finally reappeared on the menu. Each herb-and-cheese-strewn, springy bite was as delicious as my taste memory. Comfort me with carrot mochi.
— M.P.
Do the Jerk
Thingz From Yaad, opening by the end of December at 2026 Williston Rd., South Burlington, thingzfromyaadvt.com
I recently realized that I’m no longer allergic to coconut, and not a moment too soon. In the gray days of March, Shaneall Ferron’s coconut-crusted jerk corn was just the tropical jolt I needed.
Slathered in her signature jerk sauce and rolled in toasted coconut flakes, the skewered cobs were slightly sweet, slightly spicy and, as I wrote in April, “fantastically fun.” They’re a little messy, but that’s what the sticks are for.
Thingz From Yaad Kitchen to Open in South Burlington
Thingz From Yaad Kitchen to Open in South Burlington
By Jordan Barry
Food News
At the time, Ferron operated her Jamaican food biz, Thingz From Yaad, in a former dining hall in Colchester. This month, she plans to open a brick-and-mortar spot in South Burlington. I’ll happily gobble her traditional takes on oxtails or ackee and saltfish, while also looking forward to her new whimsical — and maybe skewered — creations.
— J.B.
My Bologna Has a First Name
Gallus Handcrafted Pasta, 92 Stowe St., Waterbury, 882-8206, gallushandcrafted.com
When our boys were little and their dad occasionally took charge of supper, sometimes he’d buy soft white sandwich bread and bologna and make fried bologna sandwiches. Much as I wrinkled my nose, I have to admit there’s something compelling about the combination of soft, buttery, fried bread and smooth, salty meat with tangy-sweet mayo.
It probably won’t make the chefs at Gallus Handcrafted Pasta in Waterbury happy to know those fried bologna sandwiches came to mind when I first tasted what I’d call a sleeper on their menu.
Gallus Handcrafted Pasta Opens in Waterbury’s Historic Gristmill
Gallus Handcrafted Pasta Opens in Waterbury’s Historic Gristmill
By Melissa Pasanen
First Bite
Gallus, a new venture of chef Eric Warnstedt’s Heirloom Hospitality, opened on June 26 in the historic Waterbury gristmill previously occupied by Warnstedt’s first restaurant, Hen of the Wood. (The latter relocated half a mile away.) Pasta is king there, and I wrote at length about the care with which the pasta team, led by executive chef and co-owner Antonio Rentas, crafts it in yolk-bright, silken sheets.
You’re going to order pasta, of course, but please don’t miss the gnocco fritto, which sit quietly in the menu’s “Share” section with little explanation. The pillowy, savory, fried dough diamonds come topped with wide ribbons of excellent freshly made mortadella (bologna’s relative) from Waitsfield’s 5th Quarter and a just-right drizzle of honey. They are everything that makes a fried bologna sandwich so good — and much more.
— M.P.
It’s All Gravy
Deep City, 112 Lake St., Burlington, 800-1454, deepcityvt.com
Deep City had this spot in the BAG.
Reflecting on the multitude of meals I ate this year, I didn’t find many repeats outside my Addison County takeout staples. But since this spring, when Charles Reeves took over the kitchen at Foam Brewers’ attached restaurant near the Burlington waterfront, I’ve gone out of my way for his iconic buttermilk biscuits slathered in green-tinted, herb-flecked cream gravy. Heck, my husband and I even chose Deep City brunch instead of a fancy dinner for our anniversary this year. I didn’t share.
Reinvented Deep City Brings Penny Cluse Café’s Beloved Brunch Back to Burlington
Reinvented Deep City Brings Penny Cluse Café’s Beloved Brunch Back to Burlington
By Jordan Barry
First Bite
Part of the dish’s appeal is the 24 years of nostalgia baked into every bite: Reeves was the longtime co-owner of the universally beloved Penny Cluse Café with his wife, Holly Cluse. When I covered his early plans to team up with the Foam folks, Reeves said Deep City wouldn’t be Penny 2.0. I’m not the only one who’s glad he changed his mind.
Menu items may have new names — look for the House of Spudology instead of a Bucket-o-Spuds — but the hits are there, including the deeply comforting biscuits and gravy. The starter-size version, called the BAG, is just right if, like me, you also want to get a little choked up over a chile relleno.
— J.B.
Thirsty Like the Wolf
Wolf Tree, 40 Currier St., White River Junction, 698-8409, wolftreevt.com
Ever since Wolf Tree opened in White River Junction in 2019, Jordan and I have had it on our list of destinations for its promising menu of creatively conceived drinks and classy, intimate setting. Unfortunately, it’s a 90-minute drive from Burlington — and, well, cocktails.
I was thrilled for many reasons when a dear friend moved to White River Junction, a town I have long crushed on for its idiosyncratic arts culture and vibrant food and drink scene.
For our “Three to Six Hours” series, my friend and I finished up a full day of exploring WRJ at Wolf Tree, which met all my long-held expectations. I had a hard time choosing from the large menu of intriguing cocktails, which includes a low-alcohol section — helpful for those who lack a designated driver or a local friend on whose floor they can crash.
Three to Six Hours in White River Junction, a Crossroads of Creativity
Three to Six Hours in White River Junction, a Crossroads of Creativity
By Melissa Pasanen
Culture
The Goldilocks, made with pineapple brandy, lemon, sesame orgeat and orange bitters, was just as the menu promised: “not too sweet, not too tart — juuuust right.” I’m planning another sleepover soon.
— M.P.
Butter My Butt and Call Me a Biscuit
Queen City Café, 377 Pine St., Burlington, 489-6412, queencitycafebtv.com
More biscuits! I know, I know. But Queen City Café’s biscuits are the biscuits.
Whether they’re holding together a bacon-laden breakfast sandwich with surprising ease or floating in a gussied-up chicken stew, these flaky, wood-fired biscuits are so good that they had me regularly braving the mess that was Pine Street for much of the year. The vegan one’s no slouch, either.
Queen City Café’s Biscuits Are Hot at Burlington’s Coal Collective
Queen City Café’s Biscuits Are Hot at Burlington’s Coal Collective
By Jordan Barry
First Bite
Chef-owner Sean Richards’ menu reflects both his early cooking career in Tennessee and food memories from his upbringing in Fair Haven — Vermont church lady food, as he put it. If the chef’s fare seems simple, that’s only because of how well he wields his fine-dining chops — and masters the former Myer’s Bagels wood oven. I usually complain about new wood-fired restaurants, given how many we have, but this one I’ll allow.
— J.B.
Pawpaw Patrol
Sugarsnap Farm pawpaws will not be available until October 2025. To grow your own from locally propagated plants, try Perfect Circle Farm in Berlin (perfectcircle.farm) or East Hill Tree Farm in Plainfield (easthilltreefarm.com).
Another year, another round of devastating floods. In the midst of this depressing new normal, an email from business owner and state legislator Abbey Duke landed in my inbox.
Duke has a small Intervale farm that grows some ingredients for her South Burlington-based Sugarsnap Catering. Like all the farms in the river floodplain, it boasts rich soil but now routinely floods during peak growing season. One bright spot, Duke wrote, has been pawpaws. A few trees she planted in 2010 had thrived despite repeated inundations, and her farm was expecting a bumper crop this year.
Say what?
The Tropically Flavored Pawpaw Fruit Thrives in Burlington’s Intervale
The Tropically Flavored Pawpaw Fruit Thrives in Burlington’s Intervale
By Melissa Pasanen
Agriculture
I had barely heard of pawpaws when Duke wrote to me, let alone tasted one, though I knew that some regions of the country have a taste for this cold-tolerant distant relation of soursop and cherimoya. Botanists believe the pawpaw was most likely carried north in the digestive tracts of fruit-loving mastodons.
In October, at peak harvest — the only time one can buy the delicate fresh fruit, which does not ship well — I headed down to the Intervale to see and taste what looked like small mangoes. The Sugarsnap farming team selected a perfectly ripe specimen for me to try. It was really good and shockingly tropical tasting for a locally grown fruit, with notes of coconut and frangipani flower.
Pawpaws won’t save Vermont farms, but they remind us that adaptation has been a constant since the mastodons migrated north.
— M.P.
Tonic Key
Rogue Rabbit, 9 Center St., Burlington, roguerabbitvt.com
I love a chunky pizza slice: Sicilian, Detroit-style and, thanks to Rogue Rabbit, Roman-style pizza al taglio. Abby Temeles and Jacob Shane’s thick square slices easily entered my Burlington lunch rotation this year.
Their casual café’s drink list, though, is what really got me. I loved it so much that I rewrote a Sound of Music classic around their menu: “Espresso with tonic and bitter Negronis / House wine, Vivid Coffee and lots of Peronis / NA Spaghett-i, all kinds of spritz / These are a few of my favorite things.”
Rogue Rabbit’s Pizza al Taglio Squares Up in Burlington
Rogue Rabbit’s Pizza al Taglio Squares Up in Burlington
By Jordan Barry
Food + Drink Features
Since I’m usually at Rogue Rabbit on a workday, the espresso tonic ended up topping that silly list for most consumed. There are quite a few good espresso tonics around Burlington, but whether it’s the pizza pairing or the spot-on proportions of espresso to tonic in the kinda bitter drink, Rogue Rabbit’s is the one I keep going back to.
Now I’ve got a new song to rewrite, with apologies to Sabrina Carpenter: “Thinkin’ ’bout that drink every day, oh / Is it that bitter? I guess so. / I’ll have one for lunch, baby, I know / That’s that tonic espresso.”
— J.B.
Soup Season
Leo & Co., 21 Essex Way, Suite 418, Essex, 857-5386, weareleoand.co
My Jewish grandmothers and mother would have appreciated the deep-dive story I wrote on Montréal’s Jewish food in April. My mum, especially, would have plotzed over the savory chicken liver spread I gobbled down at Snowdon Deli. I similarly plotzed over the unexpectedly delicious matzo ball soup I discovered at the new Leo & Co., much closer to home in Essex.
The counter-service café and market opened in July in the large space that was previously home to Sweet Clover Market. Owner Kayla Silver named her second Essex Experience business for her great-uncle Leo Keiles, who survived the Holocaust. It’s by no means a Jewish deli, but the top-notch matzo ball soup will help me manage until someone opens one of those.
Leo & Co. Brings Creative, Convenient Lunches to Essex
Leo & Co. Brings Creative, Convenient Lunches to Essex
By Melissa Pasanen
Food + Drink Features
The kitchen team roasts chicken bones for the rich broth loaded with veggies. The pair of tender, springy matzo balls in every serving are textbook-perfect and, surprisingly, gluten-free, thanks to Manischewitz gluten-free matzo ball mix.
Leo & Co. also uses a trick that I learned from my New York City grandma. “Always,” she told me with emphasis, “always put seltzer in your matzo balls.”
— M.P.
Flour and Flowers
The Bake Shop at Red Wagon Plants, 2408 Shelburne Falls Rd., Hinesburg, 482-4060, redwagonplants.com
As accidental bakeries go, the Bake Shop at Red Wagon Plants takes the cake. It also takes the cake for pretty much every other kind of bakery.
Through a series of very fortunate-for-us events, bakers Amy Vogler and Carey Nershi teamed up with Julie Rubaud and her Red Wagon Plants team to open an incredible little bakeshop in the nursery’s new herb-processing building. All growing season long, they stocked their glass pastry case with rustic yet refined chive-and-cheddar focaccia, chocolate sourdough, coconut buns, gluten-free brownies, jam pinwheels, banana-chocolate chip cookies, and other sweet and savory delights.
The Bake Shop at Red Wagon Plants Grows in Hinesburg
The Bake Shop at Red Wagon Plants Grows in Hinesburg
By Jordan Barry
Food + Drink Features
Red Wagon was already one of my favorite places. The new shop — with its window framing Camel’s Hump, sit-with-a-stranger-size table, abundant patio garden and meticulously crafted treats — made it practically perfect. It’s hard to choose a favorite item from Vogler and Nershi’s repertoire, so I’ll go with the lighter-than-air orange and golden raisin hot cross bun from the Bake Shop’s first hurrah on March 30.
The bakers are currently taking a break along with the nursery, but they plan to open for the season on April 11 and will pop up before that, on February 15 and March 29. Like the first blooms of spring, their return will be a bright spot to look forward to on winter’s bleakest days.
— J.B.
Noodling Around
Scrag & Roe, 40 Bridge St., Waitsfield, 496-3911, scragandroe.com
When chef Nathan Davis and his former business partner opened Scrag & Roe by the covered bridge in Waitsfield a year ago, the menu was global. The restaurant is still a perfect spot to witness the idiocy of drivers who think their truck will magically clear the bridge’s roof. But, as of September, diners can view such shenanigans while eating from an all-Asian roster.
Davis, now solo owner, makes recipes he fell in love with and learned to cook during six years of living and traveling in Asia. Those include umami-rich, dry-fried shiitake mushrooms with bacon, as well as smashed cucumbers with soy, chile and a slick of sesame oil. They’re all really good, but the standout is his dan dan noodles.
Ski-Town Eats: What’s New at Restaurants Near Vermont’s Slopes
Ski-Town Eats: What’s New at Restaurants Near Vermont’s Slopes
By Jordan Barry and Melissa Pasanen
Food + Drink Features
The bowl of bouncy noodles comes liberally dressed with ground beef in a tongue-tingling sauce that sings with chiles, Sichuan peppercorns, garlic, sesame, black cardamom, orange peel and fermented mustard root. Toasted peanuts add a satisfying crunch. My dining companion and I both deemed the complex, electric blend of flavors and textures craveable.
It’s a bit of a drive, but we’ll be back. Not in a truck.
— M.P.
This story by Clare Shanahan was first published in the Valley News on Dec. 23.
Two pneumonia-causing bacteria have been at especially high levels in Vermont and New Hampshire in recent weeks, leading to increased levels of illness.
At Dartmouth Hitchcock Medical Center, 97 patients with pneumonia went to the emergency room between September and November, compared to 46 during the same time last year, Dr. Michael Calderwood, chief quality officer at DHMC, said Friday. While final numbers aren’t yet available for December it “looks like the numbers may be improving.”
Pneumonia is an infection of the lungs often accompanied by fever, chills, cough, difficulty in breathing, fatigue and chest pain; it can be caused by multiple different viruses and bacteria, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.
The two types of potentially pneumonia-causing bacteria recently circulating in the region are: bordetella pertussis which causes whooping cough, a contagious respiratory infection that usually includes a severe cough and can lead to pneumonia, and mycoplasma pneumoniae, which causes walking pneumonia, a more mild form of illness that often does not require bed rest or hospitalization, Calderwood said.
Beyond DHMC, Vermont has seen a recent rise of respiratory illness outbreaks in schools believed to be specifically caused by mycoplasma pneumoniae, or walking pneumonia, Laura Ann Nicolai, deputy state epidemiologist and senior infectious disease program manager for Vermont, said in a Friday email statement.
Some children were specifically diagnosed with this kind of infection, but not all were tested for a specific pathogen by doctors.
The mycoplasma pneumoniae does not always cause pneumonia and often manifests as a chest cold. It mostly infects school-aged children, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, which has reported high levels of this bacteria nationwide.
Statewide, the Vermont Department of Health has received seven reports from school nurses of these respiratory illness outbreaks, ranging in size from five to 31 cases. One such outbreak occurred in a Windsor County school, Nicolai said.
The Department of Health issued a health advisory to providers and school nurses Nov. 22 warning them of increased pneumonia cases. Many of the cases are suspected to be caused by mycoplasma pneumoniae and providers should consider that patients may be infected with this bacteria, treat them accordingly and report “any unexpected pattern or cluster of illness” to the state, the advisory said.
The number of cases of pneumonia, flu and “other cold viruses” overall at Gifford Health Care’s primary care clinics and emergency department has been mostly typical over the past few months, though the number of children infected is higher than usual, Gifford spokesperson Ashley Lincoln said.
Doctors attribute the rise to “fewer kids getting vaccinated.”
Nationally, children born since the COVID-19 pandemic, between 2020 and 2021, were less likely to have received standard vaccinations that children get before turning 2, with one of the lowest rates being the pneumococcal vaccine that is recommended for children under 5, according to a September CDC study.
This vaccine covers the most common type of pneumonia, pneumococcal; it does not prevent walking pneumonia, for which there is no vaccine.
The pneumococcal vaccine is recommended for children under 5, adults over 50 and people at higher risk of respiratory illness. Whooping cough is prevented by the DTaP and Tdap vaccines that are recommended at different frequencies depending on a person’s age.
Pneumonia can also occur as a secondary infection after someone has had another respiratory illness such as a cold, the flu, COVID-19 or RSV, according to the American Lung Association.
Vaccinations against COVID-19, the flu and RSV can help protect against pneumonia, according to the CDC.
Some additional ways people can minimize the spread of disease include: washing hands, staying home when sick and “donning a mask in public if they are concerned about their own and others’ health,” Calderwood said.
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