Restaurants: A Single Pebble

I had read some mixed reviews of A Single Pebble but thought the menu looked really tasty, so Matt and I thought we would try it for lunch last week. While I’m not exactly sure they serve very authentic Chinese food, everything tasted really fresh and surprisingly light.

I got the Spicy Sichuan Noodles with Chicken. The chicken was incredibly moist and was served on top of the noodles with some lightly sautéed bok choy. The sauce had a kick, but wasn’t as spicy as I had expected. The noodles themselves were great, and the portion was very generous!

Matt ordered some Scallion Pancakes. These were definitely the favorite out of everything we ordered. Even though they were fried, they didn’t taste greasy. They also actually tasted like scallions.

Matt also got the Pan-Fried Vegetable Potstickers. The posticker wrappers had that nice chewy-crisp texture, but we thought the filling was just a little bland. They weren’t bad, but weren’t the standout.

We shared the Coconut Tapioca Pudding for dessert. It was intensely coconut flavored without being too sweet. It was layered with fresh, tart blueberries and topped with some toasted coconut. It was simple and fantastic.

The lunch menu was very reasonably priced, I thought. The dinner menu does seem a little pricy, which seems to be part of why this restaurant gets criticized, but I think the freshness of the food is worth it. I’m hoping to make it back here for dinner before my time in Burlington is over!

A Single Pebble
133 Bank St
Burlington, VT 05401

Restaurants: Redbones

Redbones is my favorite neighborhood hangout. The food is delicious and dirt cheap, and they are serious about their beer. The best time to go is definitely during lunch, in my opinion, as it can turn into kind of a madhouse at dinner. I also love sitting at the bar when possible.

They were actually open on Sunday during the hurricane, so we walked down there for lunch. We stuck to some of our favorites from their diverse beer list: Matt got a Brooklyn Brown and I got a Sixpoint Bengali Tiger.

We always order way too much food and can hardly ever make a dent, but I love getting a variety. The portions are just so big! This time, we started with the fried pickles and jalapenos, which were served with a homemade ranch dipping sauce. They’re always perfectly crunchy (which can be tricky with fried pickles) and well seasoned.

Matt is a vegetarian, so usually gets some assortment of sides and fried things. This time, he got the hushpuppies as part of his meal. They are basically puffy balls of delicious fried corn bread with scallions and garlic, served with a vinegar sauce.

He also got the corn fritters, which I always have to sneak a bite of. They taste like corn doughnuts and are served with real maple syrup. They could definitely pass as dessert.

We always get one of each of their sauces: sweet, hot, mild, and vinegar. My favorite is the sweet, but they’re all worth a try.

I often opt for their sliders rather than one big sandwich so I can have more variety. However, each slider is honestly enough for a meal. This time I got two (for the blog, of course): jerk beef (above) and pulled chicken (below). Each is served on a soft little bun with coleslaw and a pickle. The jerk beef just melts in your mouth and has a great kick. The tender beef with the soft bun, crunchy pickle, and creamy slaw is the perfect little bite.

The pulled chicken slider is similarly assembled, but the chicken is much sweeter. I like to put the sweet sauce on the jerk beef, and the spicy sauce on the sweet chicken.

I should mention that the ribs are also fantastic even though I didn't get any this time. The St. Louis style is my favorite, but you can’t go wrong with any of them.

Since the sliders don’t come with any sides, I ordered some potato salad. Their potato salad is one of my favorite things on the menu. It’s almost like a hybrid between potato salad and mashed potatoes – how can you go wrong with that? It’s creamy, but also tangy, and is downright addicting.

We often order a side of the atomic corn relish to go with everything. It stays true to its name – this stuff is seriously hot. I am a huge fan of anything spicy, and I can only tolerate the smallest bit of this relish on my food. However, it presents a nice challenge! It is also surprisingly flavorful, if you can tolerate the spice.

You have to save room for at least a bit of pecan pie at Redbones. They just have a really good, classic pecan pie with that sticky-sweet filling topped with the crunchy pecans.

It was the perfect end to another great meal at Redbones.

Redbones
55 Chester Street
Somerville, MA 02144

Restaurants: Trattoria Delia

Matt and I checked out Trattoria Delia last night. Yelpers rave about this place, calling it the best Italian food in northern Vermont. I’m always skeptical about places hyped this much, but I went with an open mind.

The interior was very old-school (not in a good way), with the big wooden door, dark walls, and fancy tablecloths. I was immediately turned off when we sat down and our waitress placed a bottle of wine on our table. I’m pretty sure this is a technique the Olive Garden uses to sell more wine. I guess they think that if you see it, you’re going to buy it. Sure enough, they swiftly took away the original bottle when we ordered our own bottle of wine. I thought this was really tacky.

A few things on the menu struck me as odd. Almost every pasta dish had cream and sounded extremely heavy. Don’t get me wrong – I wasn’t coming here for a diet meal – but their combinations just sounded too rich. Also, random words in their menu descriptions were in Italian, which were italicized to show, I can only assume, how “authentic” the restaurant is.

“Wood-grilled fish of the day served with a marinata of olive oil, garlic, lemon, parsley and black pepper.”

None of these things would really matter to me if the food was good.

We started with the bruschetta. The first piece I tried had so much garlic that it actually burned the roof of my mouth. I couldn’t even taste the tomatoes. The second was lighter on the garlic, but still lacked flavor. I was at least hoping for some basil, but instead we got a few leaves of wilted arugula and a couple of sad olives

Matt ordered the Orecchiette con Fricone, which was described as a fried tomato sauce with crushed garlic, red pepper, and arugula. This was probably the most successful dish of the night, but it still wasn’t great. The pasta was cooked inconsistently and we both expected there to be more tomatoes.

I ordered the Gamberoni, which were blue prawns coated with bread crumbs and then grilled over a wood fire. It came with parsley infused olive oil and so-called “grilled vegetables.” The shrimp were overcooked and the olive oil didn’t add much flavor. The vegetables were a definite afterthought. The green beans were mushy and unseasoned. The carrots tasted like they were honey glazed (yes, like the kind people eat on thanksgiving). For $25, I was hoping for some fresh, grilled summer vegetables.

I’m not sure why, but we stuck around for dessert hoping things would get better. We ordered the Profiteroles. The pastry was dry and rubbery and the gelato was flavorless. To cover up the quality of the profiteroles, they were drenched in a syrupy chocolate sauce.

I have to attribute all of the good reviews to the fact that there aren’t many Italian restaurants in the area. For what we paid for our meal here (a lot!), I really cannot say good things about Trattoria Delia.

Trattoria Delia
152 Saint Paul Street
Burlington, VT 05401

Restaurants: Firebird Cafe

My 3 month stint working in Burlington, VT was made totally worth it when I discovered Firebird Café. Lunch at this bright little sandwich shop always makes my day.

The owner is always there, cooking and taking orders. The menu consists mostly of sandwiches and breakfast items, some with a Mexican flair. Everything is fresh, made to order, and the sauces seem to all mostly be made in house. There are usually only a couple of others working in the open kitchen, all very friendly. Even though it’s an order at the counter and take your number kind of place, someone always carries your food to your table and comes around to make sure everything is good.

Matt drove up to spend a few days in Burlington this week, so we met up at Firebird for lunch.

I usually get their iced green tea to drink, which is always delicious and refreshing.

Matt ordered the Supremo Burrito, which has eggs, red chipotle sauce, avocado, sour cream, and salsa. It came with a side of pico de gallo and home fries. It was simple, fresh, and flat out good.

They give you the option to get any sandwich as a wrap or a Panini. I usually choose wrap, but I switched it up today and got the Orchard Panini. It had smoked ham, brie, granny smith apples, and honey mustard. It was a simple combination of excellent ingredients. I particularly liked that the brie got perfectly creamy but the apples stayed crisp.

I snapped a not great picture on a different occasion of one of my favorite wraps on the menu. The Apollo has marinated and grilled chicken, roasted red peppers, cilantro, avocado, and chipotle mayo. Yum.

As you can tell, I love coming here. I would love to eventually own a place just like it!

Firebird Cafe
163 Pearl Street
Essex Junction, VT 05452

Restaurants: The Farmhouse Tap & Grill

Unfortunately, my pictures of the best restaurant we tried all weekend didn’t come out very well. We ate dinner at The Farmhouse Tap & Grill on Saturday night and loved it so much that we went for lunch again on Sunday.

On Saturday night, we started with the Roasted Mushroom - Walnut Pâté, which was served with grilled bread, whole grain mustard, and pickled green beans. It was earthy, nutty, and had the great texture of a pesto. It was delicious spread on the grilled bread.

The waiter brought over the condiments served with every meal: root beer barbeque sauce, garlic aioli, whole grain mustard, and ketchup.

Matt ordered the Nitty Gritty Corn Griddle Cakes. They were served with roasted mushrooms, wilted greens, and buttermilk herb vinaigrette on top. I forgot to take the picture before Matt dug in, so it looks a lot messier than it really was. The griddle cakes were like normal pancakes but with cornmeal. The sweet pancakes went really well with the mushrooms and bitter greens. Matt was very pleased that he was able to get away with having pancakes for dinner.

I ordered the Venison Burger topped with arugula, tarentaise cheese, and preserved lemon aioli. I asked them to add some pickled jalapenos as well. This was definitely the best thing I ate all weekend. It was cooked perfectly (on the rare side of medium-rare) and was incredibly juicy considering how lean venison is. The cheese was incredible – creamy and nutty – and the preserved lemon aioli was to die for. There were actually small chewy pieces of preserved lemon that in the aioli. The bun was just the right amount of toasted hold the burger without getting soggy. This burger was just a special that night, but I hope they put it on their permanent menu!

We split the blueberry pie for dessert. The slice was enormous and packed with fresh blueberries. I would have preferred if it were warm, but it didn’t need much help since the berries were so fresh.

Now, onto lunch the next day…

Matt ordered the Farmhouse Veggie burger, which I believe was lentil based. It was topped with kimchi, arugula, and house pickled jalapenos. Matt opted to have a fried egg added on top, which was obviously a great decision. I stole a bite and it was a pretty amazing combination.

I decided on a veggie burger this time as well – the Smoky Portobello White Bean Burger. It was topped with fresh mozzarella, local tomato, arugula, and basil aioli (which I ordered on the side). Again, I added the pickled jalapenos. Anyone who says they don’t like veggie burgers needs to try a homemade one. The white bean patty was rich and creamy with a nice crust on the outside. The cheese on top even got a little caramelized. I would order both of these burgers again.

The Farmhouse Tap also has a great beer selection and beer garden in the back. I’m in love.

The Farmhouse Tap and Grill
160 Bank Street
Burlington, VT 05401

Restaurants: Penny Cluse Cafe

There seems to be no shortage of breakfast restaurants in Burlington. I read a lot about Penny Cluse Café, so that’s the first place we tried over the weekend.

We both tried the Penny Pickler, which is a spicy, pickly version of their regular bloody mary. It was a little too chunky for my tastes, but I guess that has the benefit of not letting you drink too fast!

The standout of our breakfast was the biscuits. They were insanely buttery, but still had a light and flaky texture.

With a little bit of jam, they were heaven.

Matt ordered the Bellber Combo, which had french toast or pancakes (he chose french toast), 2 eggs any style (scrambled), and a side (homefries). To be honest, the french toast wasn’t great. It seemed like they didn’t let the batter soak through the bread.

The homefries, however, were killer. They were crispy and seasoned perfectly. I think there were some fried onions in there as well.

I got the Roasted Pepper and Egg Tacos. The eggs were scrambled with roasted red, green, and poblano peppers and then folded into soft corn tortillas with some jack cheese. I thought that the eggs needed a little salt, but they were tasty after I added some. They were served with pico de gallo, guacamole, red cabbage, and black beans.

Since I’m a sucker for hot peppers and anything pickled, I had to get a side of the pickled jalapenos. I stuffed them into my egg tacos for an added kick.

Our meal wasn’t entirely perfect, but the café had a great atmosphere, the service was great, and we had an enjoyable meal.

Penny Cluse Cafe
169 Cherry St.
Burlington, VT 05401

Restaurants: American Flatbread

Matt and I kicked off our weekend in Burlington, Vermont with dinner at American Flatbread. I’m usually wary about restaurants with the word “flatbread” in their name (why not just call it pizza?), but a couple of people had recommended it. I figured if nothing else, they have a great beer list.

We split two “individual” sized pizzas. The first was the Roasted Tomato Salsa, which had homemade salsa, corn, black beans, cheese, and lots of cilantro. The crust was thin, crispy around the edges, but a little soft in the middle. It was good, but we weren’t blown away. I was also turned off by the square “slices,” but that might just be a personal pet peeve.

The combination of flavors went well together, but I think we both realized that we prefer a more traditional pizza.

Our second pizza was called the Revolution Flatbread. It had tomato sauce, caramelized onions, mushrooms, cheese, and fresh herbs.

This was definitely our favorite out of the two, but it was a little too light on the tomato sauce.

We got a side of their homemade hot sauce. It was spicy but flavorful, and gave a great kick to the salsa pizza.

Everything, including the beer, was good but not amazing. I guess I’m just picky about my pizza!

American Flatbread
115 Saint Paul St
Burlington, VT 05401