Downtown Burlington is dominated by the Church Street Marketplace, a pedestrian-only promenade enlivened by shops, restaurants, food vendors and street performers. When the weather’s nice, and the cafe tables come outside, you can get dinner with a side of people-watching. It’s the closest thing in Vermont to an Italian piazza. No Vespas on the cobblestones, though.

The same Webb family that founded the Shelburne Museum gets credit for developing Shelburne Farms, created in 1886 as a model agricultural estate. Landscape architect Frederick Law Olmsted envisioned the campus; architect Robert Robertson designed the buildings, including the massive, fairy-tale breeding, farm and coach barns. In its heyday, the 3800-acre farm had 300 employees. Today Shelburne Farms is an educational nonprofit practicing “rural land use that is environmentally, economically and culturally sustainable.” There’s also an inn that serves amazing food.

(Published in 7 Nights 2005-06)

You can get a basic breakfast at any one of Burlington's downtown diners. On weekends, brunch is served at finer establishments like Leunig's and Smokejacks. But only one "a.m." eatery does it all, every day until 3, for a clientele so devoted it's willing to wait up to an hour and a half for huevos rancheros. Or apple-bread French toast. Or baja fish tacos.

(Published in 7 Nights 2005-06)

You can get a basic breakfast at any one of Burlington's downtown diners. On weekends, brunch is served at finer establishments like Leunig's and Smokejacks. But only one "a.m." eatery does it all, every day until 3, for a clientele so devoted it's willing to wait up to an hour and a half for huevos rancheros. Or apple-bread French toast. Or baja fish tacos.

(Published in 7 Nights 2008-09)

At Big Fatty's BBQ on Main Street in Burlington, the servers wear black T-shirts that read, "Be nice to me, I pull your pork" — even the cornbread and hush puppies contain piggy products. That's how owner Clay Vagnini — Big Fatty himself — likes it. The florid Floridian isn't here to appease the politically correct.

(Published in 7 Nights 2008-09)

At Big Fatty's BBQ on Main Street in Burlington, the servers wear black T-shirts that read, "Be nice to me, I pull your pork" — even the cornbread and hush puppies contain piggy products. That's how owner Clay Vagnini — Big Fatty himself — likes it. The florid Floridian isn't here to appease the politically correct.