Northeast Kingdom Food Tour, VT: Part 2

Welcome to Northeast Kingdom Food Tour Part 2! If you are just joining us be sure to check out last week’s post telling more about how we decided to go on this food tour. For now we have to keep moving as half the day has gone by and we’re barely 35 minutes from our home base!

We had just left the amazing Aldrich Library and had to take the dog for a walk. We went down the street past this mural. We were going to keep walking a little further but then we heard a dog barking in the distance and had that dog met Jess’ dog then there could have been problems. So the situation was deemed unsafe to proceed and we had to stop walking and get back to eating.

mural

Our walk took us past Dylans back entry.

back of dylans

Dylan’s was not looking so great from the back. Based solely from this photo I wouldn’t think they were open.

Northeast Kingdom Food Vagabond Way

To be fair, customers aren’t supposed to go in the back entrance and it is pretty cool they are using this old post office building. Every time I see one of these older buildings become abandoned I feel sad. So way to go Dylan’s on using and maintaining a neat, old building.

dylans spec board

The waitress brought us over the specials board so we could all study the options.

waiting at dylans

Our waitress must have been new – like really new. Aside from one other table that was already finished eating as we got there for a late lunch, we were the only ones in the restaurant and it took forever. Even waiting to get out waters. And our waitress forgot about us a lot, which means she forgot about every customer in the building. I will always remember my first day on my own as a waitress and it was really busy – I messed some stuff up. I sincerely hope she was having a bad day and emotionally distraught over something else.

That was me peering to see any hopeful glimpse of food, water or anything coming our way.

Northeast Kingdom Food Vagabond Way

We did ask for carmelized onions, which take a while. So when our food did arrive it was delicious. Our waitress was nice, but not attentive at all which would have increased our dining experience tremendously.

tiff sand dylans

I got the ‘Tiff sandwich.’ There was just something about it – it called to me.

So would I eat again at Dylan’s? Yes. The food was good and karma only knows we’ve had less than perfect days in the kitchen. The other thing and I don’t have any great photos to show it, the whole cafe is full of local artists. The building itself is located next to the Catamounts Art Center and serves as the annex. Plus, looking around at the building, the overhead and maitenance costs must be rather high. It is definitely the type of a local business I would want to support and serves tasty, well priced food.

sad for rent sign

After lunch we knew we’d need a coffee and up the street a sign that said cafe caught our eye. We went up hill past perhaps one of the saddest looking store fronts ever.

used fur sign

The next store front needed to call that artist girl from part 1!

gatto nero entr

This is the store front that caught our eye – Gatto Nero Press. We had never heard of it or seen it until about an hour before.

cafe nero

We step inside to find this bright, bustling yet relaxed artist studio and cafe.

artist desk

It was awesome.

artist book shelf

I asked, Bill, one of the artists and gallery owner if I could walk around and take photos.

artist pitcher

He happily said to snap away.

pallet

This photo is not just some snap shot set up for a picture – this the real life of a working artists.

burger hat

And there’s the yoda – but – look at this guys hat! I love it! One of my favorite hats of all time and worn by one of the owners of the cafe part of the gallery, Matthew Laughton.

busi first

This business is a local first participant.

Northeast Kingdom Food Vagabond Way

Remember that print in the Aldrich Library from Part 1? Here’s Bill Darling. What a cool guy and neat shop he runs. Go buy his art!

kingdoms pepsi

I just liked this picture.

Northeast Kingdom Food Vagabond Way

Then we continued to Newport for our Northeast Kingdom Food Tour. We had a walk around town briefly before it got dark. We went on the dock by the water and as we walked back a sign said no one is allowed on the dock past 5 pm without a ship master. It was after 5 pm. I’m sure we were on a camera somewhere, but no one came running out there to yell at us. Thanks Newport.

Then in the photo above as you can see by that sign, we seemed to be breaking all of the rules in Newport. We didn’t mean it Newport – it just happened that way.

Northeast Kingdom Food Vagabond Way

Our final stop for the day was the Northeast Kingdom (NEK) Tasting Center. The idea is great – a place for many different Vermont producers to sell their works. If anything the place is almost too new – so go there! It needs a well worn path down the middle and bustling people to help support these producers.

Northeast Kingdom Food Vagabond Way

This was everyone’s first reaction to trying chicken pate.

Northeast Kingdom Food Vagabond Way

This was their second reaction: hmmm…it was not that bad.

Northeast Kingdom Food Vagabond Way

One thing I will say about the NEK Tasting Center – they had the neatest rows of potatoes I have ever seen.

Northeast Kingdom Food Vagabond Way

We also went next door to the Newport Natural Market and Cafe to stock up on bulk items (I love dried papaya!) and drinks for Shanell. This is an awesome shop with a lot of local products on offer. How can you beat getting your milk 17 miles from the source!?

Northeast Kingdom Food Vagabond Way

Final stop for the day was the Brown Dog Bistro which is attached to the NEK Tasting Center.

Northeast Kingdom Food Vagabond Way

They offer great bistro food and I got this black bean burger.

Northeast Kingdom Food Vagabond Way

Chris got a fish burger.

end of day photo

Then we had our final, end of night, round table discussion about how the day went.

Getting together with friends, loading up the car and going on our own Northeast Kingdom Food Tour was one of the most fun things we did all year. We found places we never even knew about, tried amazing local food and had a great time. We called this our own Northeast Kingdom Food Tour as a spin off from the Seven Days newspaper report. But really anyone could do this same thing anytime and call it Your Own Back Yard Tour. How many things are within an hour radius of your own home that you may have never visited. Whether one is thousands of miles from home or a hundred, we are reminded of the common traits we all share: the desire to be happy, laugh, enjoy good food and share with others our passions and dreams come to life as shown by these local business people.

*     *     *

If you go:

Dylans Cafe 139 Eastern Ave. St Johnsbury, VT 802-748-6748

Catamount Arts 115 Eastern Ave. St. Johnsbury, VT 802-748-2600 www.catamountarts.org

Cafe at Gatto Nero Press and Gatto Nero Press. The space is shared and click here to read a great article describing how it came to be.

190 Eastern Ave, Suite 6, St. Johnsbury VT 802-748-2900

Northeast Kingdom Tasting Center.  150 Main Street, Newport, VT 802-334-1790

Newport Natural Market and Cafe 194 Main Street, Newport, VT 05855 802-334-2626 www.newportnatural.com

Brown Dog Bistro 150 Main Street, Newport, VT 05855, 802-334-1791

Need a little more help planning?

The gear listed in this post is the same exact gear we use to travel the world or our back yard.
These same booking resources are the same exact ones we use to find deals and acquire points for more travel.
I will never recommend to get a credit card unless you are 100% solid to pay it off in full every month. If you will and are going to be making some big purchases, this Chase card is the same exact card we use and it offers great travel points and perks.
Finally, if you have not used AirBnB before, use this special link to sign up and get $40 off your first booking.

 

Advertisements

11 Responses to “Northeast Kingdom Food Tour, VT: Part 2

  • Lots of good foods and eating complimented by good company and artists! You must have loved it.

    • tiffany
      9 years ago

      I did. It was the best day ever! One of the favorite moments was finding the Gatto Nero – simply because it was such a pleasant surprise. Sometimes I think we view travel and exploring as some grandiose undertaking, but sometimes it’s as simple as walking through a new door way and finding something awesome. Plus also, going to Newport and realizing we were breaking all the rules. 😉

  • Sheryle
    9 years ago

    I also remember your first day as a waitress, thanks goodness it got better from there – and you had to deal with the crankiest chef from hell!! but how did the burgers compare – black bean burger sounds interesting!

    • tiffany
      9 years ago

      Oh the Silver Star will always hold such a special place in our live and it changed us forever. That is the sole reason I *had* to buy a good espresso machine to make real coffee almost every day I am stateside. The burger was good. Currently my all time favorite veg burger is one we are making ourselves which has black beans, corn, smoked paprika (what a difference than regular paprika), some other things, cilantro and a balsamic, garlic aioli! Aioli being another item that we now love and have to make for ourselves a lot. Aioli is not a common food here, but after after Australia and after this balsamic, garlic aioli it’s almost always in our fridge all summer long for burgers! Oh, now I do really want an Australian coffee so bad right now. Hope all is well! 🙂

  • I love the pics in the artist café great shots also loved the pepsi sign picture too we are so busy rushing around we don’t realize the beauty in simple things that are all around us thanks for showing us them in the pictures you take you should do a post about ordinary amazing things and feature some cool pics also the food looked great made me hungry gotta go and get a snack

    • tiffany
      9 years ago

      Glad you like the pepsi picture, I just thought it was a neat shot. As a long term traveler, one of the things I like about our annual moves to and from VT is I think it has given me more appreciation for the small things. Often when on the road for a long time it’s the small tidbits of normalcy from home that I will crave (no pun intended as this is a food post! 😉 .) There are so many moments that happen in every day, normal life that are just that, beautifully normal.

  • I think I “get it” what hardens the egg, softens the carrot. Meaning life is full of trails and errors and don’t ya just love it!
    I do hope the waitress mentioned was “new” and not one who dislikes the job, ie ,hardening the egg instead of softening the carrot! Waitressing is hard work and so
    under appreciated.
    Can I have that hat?

    • tiffany
      9 years ago

      I wish we could all have that hat. They should start selling those hats. Who knows about the waitress. Our co-worker went there and had an awesome meal and service. We will eat there again. Glad you enjoyed the post!

  • Nice experience. thanks for sharing nice views.

  • Yummmy. Everything sure looks great to me. What a wonderful day it must have been!

    • tiffany
      9 years ago

      Oh it was good. Everything we had that day was excellent! Now I want to make my own Tiff sandwich!

Leave a Reply

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *

CommentLuv badge