Resto or venue in/near Burlington for local food event?

[mstonervt]

Hello, folks: I'm looking for a resto or other venue relatively close to Burlington to do a dinner of Vermont foods on the evening of a small conference I'm organizing in Burlington. It would be great to have a place downtown--we're staying in Burlington--but I want to treat the folks who are coming in from places like Texas to some great Vermont food and cooking. I've considered Kitchen Table Bistro, which is a personal favorite, but most of the people attending will be flying into BTV, so we'd have to organize transport to go there.

Open to suggestions.

Thanks....

[Morganna]

I'd think that it's worth organizing the transportation to go to Kitchen Table.

[Suzanne Podhaizer]

Aside from The Skinny Pancake, there are no real localvore restaurants in Burlington right now. There are a handful of places that have good food, and a few of them belong to the Vermont Fresh Network, but none seem particularly committed to the cause.

It would still require transportation, but The Belted Cow in Essex, which opened last Thursday, is purported to have lots of seasonal stuff. And the chef used to work at Harvest and Mistral in Boston among other nice places. I haven't been there yet, though, so I can't personally vouch for it.

The Bluebird Tavern — a gastropub — will be opening on July 4 (don't know when this conference is taking place), and is technically in Burlington, but would still require driving from downtown (unless you cohorts are committed walkers). The chef used to be the sous at Shelburne Farms, and so I'm hoping for house-made sausages and cured meats.

I'll let you know if I think of anything else!

[mstonervt]

As it turns out, I didn't need to organize anything because the folks who were planning the meeting decided to do it elsewhere. But I have tried the Bluebird Tavern and it would have been perfect for what I was planning. I took a look at the comments on the 7 Nights board and couldn't believe the animus against Bluebird: I had a great experience there, thought the prices were reasonable for the quality of the food, and appreciated the approach. Also liked the wine list & prices.

[Morganna]

Yeah, I was surprised at how hostile some folks seem about it.  Now, I get not wanting to pay, say, $15 for something that isn't going to fill me up. That's because I'm pretty cheap.   But I wouldn't blame a place that's clearly billing itself as a small plates sort of place for having gourmet small plates for that price.  If I were looking for a great, fancy night out, I'd go for something like that.  No it wouldn't be an every day sort of thing, but, I wouldn't expect to fill up at a small plates place.  I think the real issue is one of managing expectations.  I think people are really expecting a whole dinner for that price, and the "gourmet" is somehow being lost in translation.