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LaDolceVT: Pig races

I’m still waiting for the “but smarter” part of “older but smarter” to kick in.

People’s exhibit A: Last year, I came out of retirement as a hockey goalie just long enough to be reminded why I quit in the first place: To wit, I’m old. You’d think hangin’ ‘em up once after five years in an over-40 league would be enough, wouldn’t you?

People’s exhibit B: Forgetting that, like hockey, serious, competition-style eating is a young man’s game. Back in the day, I could hold my own with guys who outweighed me by 30 or 40 pounds. When your college roomies are a couple of 200-plus-pounders, it’s eat (fast) or be eaten … out of house and home.

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LadolceVT: Stuck on the cinnamon buns

Back this week to the theme of little-known places.

Some months ago, I had heard rumblings of a bakery in Poultney that was knockin’ ‘em dead; then I heard that the owners — Kelly Draper and Lynn Kratochvil — were moving to Castleton, so I resolved to drop in on the new location before they upped sticks again.

I’m glad I caught up with them — although they seem to be settled in for the long haul at the new location.

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La Dolce VT: Tinmouth Snack Bar

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Like many Vermont hill towns not attached to a ski area, there’s not a lot of there there in Tinmouth, especially the Tinmouth Snack Bar.
I asked the counterperson — owner Tina Casey, as it turned out — what was the best thing on the menu and was told that most folks seem to enjoy the fishwich, so I ordered one — despite having just eaten precious little besides fried seafood (breakfasts excluded, mercifully) during a week’s holiday “downy ocean,” as they say in Baltimore.

The fish was good: A nicely sized slab of breaded, fried white fish on a great, fresh crusty roll, although when I saw the Tinmouth (aka deluxe) burger ordered by my guide’s son, I was jealous. He confirmed it was as good as it looked whilst proceeding to demolish the one-third-pound patty with the works.

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Did you get a taste of the Ethnic Festival?

By Terry Badman
There was food — lots of food.
The 15th annual Ethnic Festival and Downtown Sidewalk Sales are a cultural buffet of sights, sounds, tastes and smells.
“It’s downtown Rutland’s premier event,” said Don Wickman, the Downtown Rutland Partnership marketing and special events coordinator.
“Thousands of people come back year after year,” Partnership Executive Director Michael [...]

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Crowds mob Taco Bell opening

Rain fell through the Wednesday afternoon lunch hour, but that didn’t stop hundreds of local chalupa-starved residents from lining up for the grand opening of the new Taco Bell Wednesday July 23 on Route 7 in Rutland Town.

“I was gonna put a tent out and camp on the lawn,” area local Joe Lattuca said.

Lattuca, dressed in a multi-colored wool poncho and a festive Mexican sombrero, stood in a line that stretched from the cash register inside, out the entrance doors and around the building as rain drizzled down on the crowd.

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La Dolce VT: Table 24

Table 24, Rutland’s newest restaurant offers basic, well-prepared, well-seasoned. American classics, like roasted chicken, steaks, ribs, prime rib, burgers, daily fish selection. Veggie burgers are an option, and there’s a mushroom pasta, but for the most part, the menu is an omnivore’s delight. Even the mac ‘n’ cheese has bacon in it … not that there’s anything wrong with that.

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Coffee Corner grows culinary panache

Montpelier – “I like flavor,” proclaims Marci Kelley, chef/manager of Coffee Corner, Montpelier’s cornerstone diner. She’s speaking of flavors of the palate, of course, sweet and salty and all that, but she might well also be speaking of local flavor, of the people who stream through the door all day long.

“The variety of people who come in here is amazing,” she says. “Artists, lawyers, accountants …” For this range of patrons, Kelley creates classic diner fare and updated twists on old standbys, all geared toward local products and a healthier spin on the greasy spoon.

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Welcome Back: Three Tomatoes

It’s not often I ignore “No trespassing” signs, but here goes.

When I first started writing this column, Alan Frye of Three Tomatoes in downtown Rutland passed along a message that he didn’t want to be reviewed. I understand his concern. A bad review can linger like the smell from a fish fry. And in this era of the Internet, it’s more like a fish dinner where you forget to take out the trash with the bones in it and go on vacation for two weeks in the summer.

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La Dolce VT: Johnny’s Boys breakfast secret

I’m usually telling visitors about well-kept secrets known only to the locals.

Today’s column is a reverse image of that. Johnny’s Boys is one of the top breakfast places around, known and beloved by folks from Boston and New York who visit Killington to ski, but scarcely known among we valley-dwellers.

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La dolce VT:Roll me a (burrito) joint

Road trip!

Cue ZZ Top on the 8-track: Easin’ down the road in a new Cadillac/Got a fine fox in the front, got three more in the back/They’re wearin’ short dresses, sportin’ spike-heel shoes/Smokin’ Lucky Strikes and wearin’ nylons too/Said we’re ba-a-a-a-ad, we’re nationwide.

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