Dinner at Harrison's in Stowe Vermont

Had a wonderful meal at Harrison which is walking distance from most of the inns in downtown Stowe.  Try to get a table on the outdoor patio as I found the inside tables cramped.  Some good choices on the menu.  

Started with three great dishes. The mushroom toast, duck drumettes and the watermelon, avocado and feta salad.

All very good although the mushroom toast was my favorite.  Crisp toast with savory mushrooms!  Hard to beat. 

For mains we went with their classic burger and added both bacon jam and bacon.  This is definitely one of the best burger I have ever had. Cooked a perfect medium.  Great bun to meat ratio!!  So tasty!!

Also has the ahi tuna bowl. This had some great quality tuna and accompaniments but needed a spicier dressing.  The rice was also equivalent to the cold rice you have in the fridge that is from leftover Chinese food.  Bland and tasteless.  It needed some room temperature sushi-style rice. 

I would go back for that burger and the mushroom toasts again and again!!

Dinner at "The Whip" in Stowe Vermont

Dinner was at The Whip. Two amazing chowders as starters.  The corn chowder had lots of bacony goodness. My favorite was the cauliflower and cheddar.  So creamy with just enough aged cheddar flavor.  Also had a refreshing Green Mountain salad with romaine, arugula, walnuts and cranberries.  Lightly tossed with a balsamic.  

Mains were herb crusted cod and a classic turkey dinner. 

 The cod had a super flavorful crust but still remained moist. Served with some tasty curried rice and bok choy.  The turkey dinner had some amazing sides including well cooked baby peas, savory stuffing , creamy mashed potatoes and cranberry sauce.  The turkey itself was disappointing.  It was moist but had no flavor.   Desperately needed salt.   And the gravy had a great consistency but also had no flavor.  After I added some salt and pepper it improved.  But I shouldn't have to do that with turkey from a restaurant of this quality.  

Dessert was a strawberry rhubarb crisp. 

 It was fairly well balanced between the strawberry and rhubarb. Definitely needed more rhubarb flavor for my taste. And the "crisp" part was lacking as the topping was a bit mushy. It was more like a cobbler.

A "Roadie" Dinner in Stowe Vermont

Last night we stopped at a place called Alfie's Wild Ride.  It is a former auto mechanic shop that has been converted into a few things.  There are a couple of  lounge spaces, a game lounge with table shuffleboard, cornhole and video games.   A huge bar with 20+ beers in draft.  And a take out window which has a great selection of tacos. The el.pastor taco was my favorite. Good selection of sauces.   On some nights they have live music on their stage.  They had a band last night but they were going to be starting a couple hours after we left.  

For proper dinner, we went to Ranch Camp. This is a "biker" bar.  But not for motorcycles - at least not predominantly.  This is for mountain bikers.  They have a shop that sells all kinds of equipment for mountain bikers. There is even a take out window so bikers don't have to come inside. They had a really interesting menu of comfort foods and more interesting salads and bowls.  And so many of their offerings are prepared or available a gluten free.  Most of the fried items were prepared in a GF rice flour.  

We started with the Sticky Balls (Brussels sprouts in a spicy soy glaze) and  the Fried Chokes which were tempura fried artichoke hearts with a sauce of soy sauce  maple syrup, tamari and lemongrass.  The artichokes were definitely were my favorite. I had never had artichokes prepared this way.  Super crispy with the rice flour and a satisfying dipping sauce.  

Mains were the Roadie Salas with chicken and a burger.  The Roadie Salad was the favorite.   Warm kale, organic dried cranberries, toasted pumpkin seeds, sliced granny smith apples, VT cheddar with cranberry vinaigrette.  And the chicken was a moist rotisserie style chicken that has then been quickly grilled to give it somw char and extra flavor.  A perfect dressing to bring everything together.  

The burger was tasty but cooked medium well when I had asked for medium.  The bun also had a bit too long in the flat top.  Definitely needed some ketchup to add back some moisture. The burger had some delicious pickled onions, Vermont cheddar and bacon. 

Dessert was near our hotel.  I love a good soft serve and they had maple!   So creamy and delicious!!