Barre is known as a hub of Italian culture, but that doesn’t mean its residents don’t have a yen for Asian cuisines. John Fath, owner of Toscano Café Bistro in Richmond, sold his Barre restaurant, Lucia’s Italian Restaurant & Bar, late last year. This spring, it will reopen as Asian Gourmet.... Read more

During his last tour in Afghanistan, 16-year Army veteran Steve Gagner began wondering what he would do in retirement. It slowly dawned on him: Why not turn his passion for home brewing into a business?... Read more

“It’s always been a dream: Someday my husband and I were going to live in Vermont, and someday we were going to have a restaurant,” says Theresa House. At the end of 2011, five years after moving to the Green Mountains from their native Texas, she and husband Eric realized the second part of their vision: a barbecue restaurant called Mama T’s Country Kitchen at 245 South Main Street in Rutland.... Read more

The state’s craft spirits explosion has arrived in Windsor. A new vodka distiller, American Craft Spirits, will break ground there within months, fueled partly by a $101,250 grant from the Vermont Economic Development Authority.... Read more

Craft brewers may be hops-happy at the moment, but the American thirst for lager is still a powerful one — so much so that the Trapp Family Lodge Brewery is planning a multimillion-dollar expansion of its 1800-barrels-a-year facility. The eventual aim is to produce 50,000 barrels of its suite of Austrian-style lagers.... Read more

Tucked behind the bar of Leunig’s Bistro is a secret: a stairway that leads to the new upstairs bar, which opened on Tuesday. The art-deco décor amplifies the speakeasy feel, but anyone who can ascend the slim staircase needs no password to enter, starting at 5 p.m., Tuesdays through Saturdays. The upstairs stays open, like the downstairs, till 10 p.m. during the week and 11 p.m. on weekends.... Read more

With the legislative session going hot and heavy, folks under and around Montpelier’s golden dome are sure to be hungry. This month, they’ll have a new option for breakfast, lunch and dinner when Clean Slate Café opens in the turn-of-the-century building at 107 State Street, last occupied by the Thrush Tavern, which closed in 2008.... Read more

If you’ve ever wondered about the difference between blueberry and alfalfa honey, or how the sweet stuff changes from spring to fall, here’s the chance to educate your palate. Slow Food Vermont has partnered with Lake Champlain Chocolates to sponsor a honey (and chocolate) tasting. ... Read more

Joe Buley’s soups have won him many devotees at the Capital City Farmers Market in Montpelier. The owner of East Montpelier’s Screamin’ Ridge Farm has culinary chops — he’s a Parisian-trained former chef-instructor at the New England Culinary Institute, which he left three years ago to tend his expanding farm business.... Read more

After 17 years in its sometimes-tight space on Burlington’s College Street, Three Needs has closed its doors. On Tuesday, after a two-day hiatus, the popular brewpub reopened in the cavernous former Parima space on Pearl Street.... Read more