Seven Days: Vermont's Independent Voice

(Published in 7 Nights 2005-06)

When it comes to funky food, Plainfield takes the cake, er, pie. The same sagging downtown commercial block that houses the renowned River Run Café also rents to the area's primo pizzeria. On winter weekends and summer nights, Positive Pie packs them into a cramped eating area with old couches, hand-painted ceilings and mismatched chairs. Customers bus their own tables. The tunes are good and loud. Rolls of paper towel stand in for napkins. Despite the New York-style pizza, the vibe is definitely central Vermont.

You see all different kinds of people in this savory hangout. Suspended above the counter, the hand-written menu offers something for everybody, whether you're a hippie chick looking for a "Garden of Eden" salad or a regular guy hot for a meatball parmesan sub. But the pie is positively not to be missed. The hand-thrown crust achieves that rare flexible-yet-crispy balance. And you can buy it by the paper-plate-sized slice, for $1.75, with "gourmet" topping options such as organic red cabbage, falafel and marinated tofu.

Can't decide? Leave it to owner Carlo Rovetto, whose nine "specialty" pies range from the three-meat "Carcass" to the "Green Man," with pesto, spinach, organic broccoli, zucchini and tomato.

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