Restaurant recommendations in New Hampshire and Vermont

[cjml]

Planning our first ever trip to New England foliage trip. Seeking recommendations for restaurants from North Conway, NH to Smugglers Resort, Vermont and then south to the Berkshires. Will be posting this again in southern new england board also. Prefer regional restaurants -- the kind that you will not want to miss. Not concerned about cost as this is a once in a lifetime trip and want to make it memorable. Thanks for all of your recommendations.

[cjml]

Appreciate all the wonderful suggestions. Still searching for a memorable restaurant in the Saint Johnsbury, Danville and Hardwick areas.

[opinionatedchef]

Rabbit Hill Inn is 20 min from St.J. A fav food place for us, though we haven't been in a few yrs. There are a few places in Hardwi cke- just do google search, and CH search at top rt corner of any page. Dog Mountain and Dog Chapel are really special places to visit outside St J if you are animal people.

[cjml]

Friends told me about a well known pancake restaurant along the way or so they thought. But they can not remember the name nor the location. Would you happen to know where we might find this restaurant.

[opinionatedchef]

it's in NW N.H. Sugar Hill i thnk is name of pancake place.never been.

[whs]

Polly's Pancake House in Sugar Hill. In order to secure a table without a one hour wait, call ahead and put your name on the list.

Speaking of SH, the Sugar Hill Inn has an excellent restaurant that offers an inventive 5-course dinner. Check out the website.

[cflynn]

We just returned from Stowe and as previous Hounds have posted, reservations are a must at the better places. We dined at Hen and Blue Moon - both excellent and well worth planning for.

Foliage is in full swing after the cold front Saturday with best views in the sheltered mountain valleys and mid-mountain; best views yesterday were in the Smugglers Notch/Mountain road area.

[skier]

The Victorian Inn in Wallingford, VT (near Rutland) is outstanding. The chef is from Switzerland so the food has some swiss influences.

I've seen Rosti, Schnitzel, Raclette on the menu.

The chocolate terrine is the best dessert i've ever had.

It's definitely worth a drive. If you can't make it for dinner, they have a great Sunday brunch as well.

http://www.thevictorianinn.com/gpage4...

[3catsnh]

Route 7 is a spectacular and underrated drive! If you go that way (Burlington south to Bennington) don't miss the Shelburne Museum and have breakfast on the wraparound porch looking out onto Lake Champlain at Inn at Shelburne Farms. (You've got to see the drive to the inn--wow.) For dinner my favorite place is still Starry Night Cafe south of there on Route 7 in Ferrisburg.

[opinionatedchef]

I've been in Boston for 40 yrs and we go to the Burlington and Bennington areas, and i would love to help you, but do you know in what towns you will be staying?>>big state!

[opinionatedchef]

For Stowe/Smugglers, the really good place >>needs ADVANCE reservation- Hen in the Woods- in an 18th c. mill; lovely spot set off on a rural rd.. Also Michael's on the Hill. There's also a cool Cabot Cheeses and Ben and Jerry's factory tour nearby. Also make sure to drive north and then east from Cady's Falls to Hardwick on rt 15; that's where we saw best color of our trip last yr. Though not necessarily true for this yr.
Still, beautiful farmland and rolling hills.) Another pretty drive is down rt 100 from 89 to bristol.
2 of my fav places to visit in VT are Shelburne Museum and Dog Mountain Chapel. St Johnsbury has Equinox restnt. Bristol has Mary's; not great but good.

If you're heading south to the berkshires, it's best, view and color wise, to take 100 so. to bristol and then go to middlebury and so. on rt 7.

And the Frog Hollow Pottery has wonderful sophisticated crafts. Down rt 7, Brandon, Wallingford , So. Dorset, Manchester are beauty towns. In Bennington, make sure to eat the cake doughnuts at the Blue Benn Diner. Best I've ever had. So. Benniington ha some of the most beautiful photo ops in VT, with the white church and houses in that one spot.

[magiesmom]

for a splurge, TJ Buckley's in Brattleboro is definitely worth a stop. reservations essential. We had a great meal tonight, beautifully carefully prepared, delicious.

[RudigerVT]

L. A. Burdick in Walpole, NH, on the CT river. Favorite restaurant. Awesome chocolate.

[zootsi]

Simon Pierce in Quechee VT (near Woodstock) is considered one of the best in the VT/NH area. Beautiful waterfall setting, top notch food and service.

[lenorel57]

We stopped at Simon Pearse on the way to Woodstock. It was too early for lunch. We ate thereseveral years ago and enjoyed it then. From the crowd there I assume it's still good.

[opinionatedchef]

I live and eat out in Boston, so my taste may be diff from yours, but imo, the food at SP is o.k. to good; the view is killer; and Woodstock-the town- is one of the prettiest towns in the U.S. But my suggestion is that when one sees a crowded restnt in a heavily touristed place, one should not assume that that restnt is good. just sayin'.

[lenorel57]

I never ate at sp. I live near NYC and eat there often so it takes a really good restaurant to wow me. I'm from Boston (Brookline actually) and was there recently. Had good food there aim the north end.

[Morganna]

By all the reports I've read about Simon Pearce over the years, their lunch menu has always been reviewed much better than their dinner menu.

[Reggiano]

Pane e Salute in Woodstock, VT. Very small but very good.

Hen of the Woods in Waterbury VT is supposed to be great.

Simon Pearce for lunch is great--great spot too!

[lenorel57]

I ate at Pane e Salute last week. They had a last minute cancellation (they said). We had to go at 6:00. Why i don't know because the restaurant was still almost empty when we left at 7:30.
server was very nice. Food was average. I was expecting a great dinner. I had pasta penne with eggplant and basil. Too bland for my taste. My husband had chicken which was very good; but very small. The menu is very limited except for a large choice of pizzas. Maybe we should have had one.

I much preferred the Red Rooster andThe Prince and The Pauper.

[southie_chick]

The Student Prince gets good reviews if you're looking for something more casual in Western Mass (it's in Springfield).
http://studentprince.com/

[Reggiano]

I like Prince and the Pauper too. I've never been to Red Rooster though. Only have been to Pane e Salute once--sorry to hear your experience was lacking.

[lenorel57]

Just came back from Woodstock, VT. I highly recommend the Red Rooster in the Woodstock Inn. Also recommend the prince and the pauper.