Crisp and Green to Fight the Chill

Local Food:  Even with the sudden return of winter, spinach promises to pop up at farms across Vermont in the weeks ahead.  Already, our neighbors are back in action at Hazendale, Eastview, Mystic Morning, and Provender farms, bringing us the tender and buttery green we have been craving.  Steven spins a spinach salad in new directions, served both at dinner and for Sunday Blunch. The salad is made with crispy bacon, sweet and spicy shallots from Eastview Farm, toasted pecans and creamy Mossend blue cheese from Bonnieview Farm.  A warm poached egg from Sunshine Acres tops the salad, along with a red wine vinaigrette.  You can also find a touch of green with the crab cake, mussels and as a complement to the Fettuccine with sage brown butter cream.

At the Bar: Remember our Sunday and Monday drink specials. Sunday, April 1st we offer a $2.50 pint of Trapp Lager, a $4 glass of Boyden Valley Seyval Blanc or Big Barn Red.  The Bemis Block, made with Caledonia Spirits Barr Hill Gin, Urban Moonshine Citrus Bitters and St. Germaine, is offered for $5.

Around the Galaxy: Meet author Tovar Cerulli at the Galaxy Bookshop on Tuesday at 7. A vegan-turned-hunter explores the connection between humans and their food sources in his new book The Mindful Carnivore. Plus, be sure to be at Galaxy on Tuesday, April 10th to hear Peter Behrens read from The O'Briens. This family saga spans the first half of the Canadian twentieth century, and moves from logging camps in Quebec to railroad building in British Columbia. Peter Behrens was recently profiled in the New York Times Sunday Magazine, and interviewed by Jacki Lyden on NPR. Peter is coming early for the event to enjoy dinner at Claire's. You can join Peter for dinner and conversation about his work! Click here for links to the articles,and details about dinner with Peter Behrens.

Music Notes: Josh Gould of The Butterbeans joins us for a solo gig this Thursday, March 29th at 7:00. Check out his bluegrass/Americana tunes on the guitar, banjo and mandolin.

Local Events: Mark your calendars for our next dance party The Bunny Hop on Friday, March 30 from 10-2.  Put a glide in your stride and come dance! Bring your dancing shoes and ID- 18 and over please. $5 suggested music donation.  Designated drivers who pledge to be alcohol free for the night get free non-alcoholic drinks and a $10 gift card!

Reminders: We are open daily after 2:30 for coffee, bar service, and baked goods, and free WiFi, with dinner reservations available from 5-9, Sundays from 5-8. We serve our special Blunch menu Sundays from 11-2. Claire's is closed every Wednesday.
We appreciate it when you use cash or a check - credit card companies charge us a fee that really adds up. Thanks to many of you we have been able to significantly reduce those fees.

Click on the image above to get a closer look!

Vermont Made and Shaken (or stirred)

Local Libations: With Vermont's booming value added sector, local agricultural has grown from the milk and maple Vermont has long been famous for.  Now the cheesemakers and microbrewers have company, and the best of Vermont can also be found behind the bar, with a number of artisanal spirits and mixers produced in the state. We are fortunate to carry five Vermont vodkas, two gins, soon to be three rums, and a whiskey.  We celebrate these spirits on our cocktail menu, where you can find something to please your palate.  Our Elderberry Fizz features Caledonia Spirits Barr Hill Gin, (made right here in Hardwick!) mixed with the sweet and rich honey, apple and elderberry flavors of their Elderberry Cordial, and topped off with a splash of soda water.  Our Mapletini 2.0 celebrates sugar season with Dunc's Mill Maple Rum, shaken with Eden Ice Cider's Calville Blend, with a full-bodied sweetness and slight citrusy notes. Look for drinks featuring Sumptuous Syrups coming soon!

At the Bar: Remember our Sunday and Monday drink specials. Sunday, March 25th we offer a $2.50 pint of Otter Creek Black IPA, a $4 glass of East Shore Vineyard's Cabernet Franc or Traminette.  In celebration of Maple Open House Weekend, our Maple Manhattan, with whiskey, Urban Moonshine Maple Bitters and maple syrup, is offered for $5.

Around the Galaxy: The vernal equinox signals a change in season, and also the beginning of The Galaxy's new hours. Starting on Tuesday, the Galaxy will be open from 10-7 during the week, and from 10-5 on Saturday. The Galaxy Bookshop welcomes Tovar Cerulli on Tuesday, March 27th at 7PM. Cerulli's debut book, The Mindful Carnivore: A Vegetarian's Hunt for Sustenance chronicles his changing relationship with and understanding of food. The Galaxy will also host a Rural Post Letter Writing Soiree on March 22nd.

Music Notes: Karen Krajacic and Jon Rose will join us this Thursday at 7:00.  Multi-instrumentalist and songwriter Karen has been touring with the harmonizing female duo Folk By Association for over ten years.  Lead guitarist Jon Rose joins her for a set that draws heavily from folk, rock, country and Americana.

Local Art: Join us Monday, March 26 from 4-6 for the artist reception for Janet Wormser of Cabot. Her work focuses on creating "an immediacy, a presence on canvas that feels like a natural wholeness."

Local Events: The Third Annual Highfields Compost Cabaret and Silent Auction is this Saturday, March 24 from 7-10 at Old Labor Hall in Barre.  The evening is sure to be full of steaming hot entertainment with music and poetry sure to warm your heart and soul- all to benefit Highfields Center for Composting's programs to Close the Loop on local food systems.  Suggested donation of $10 to help make Vermont's food and agricultural systems stronger, water and air cleaner, and carbon footprint smaller.

This weekend is also the Eleventh Annual Maple Open House Weekend, a celebration of the maple syrup season and an opportunity for the public to visit one or more sugarhouses throughout the state to learn about sugaring and syrup.  Check out Sweet Stone Maple Farm in Hardwick, with live music on Saturday from The Butterbeans, and Fradette's Maple Syrup in East Hardwick.

Mark your calendars for our next dance party- The Bunny Hop on Friday, March 30 from 10-2.  Put a glide in your stride and come dance! Bring your dancing shoes and ID- 18 and over please. $5 suggested music donation.  Designated drivers get free non-alcoholic drinks and a $10 gift card!

Reminders: We are open daily after 2:30 for coffee, bar service, and baked goods, and free WiFi, with dinner reservations available from 5-9, Sundays from 5-8. We serve our special Blunch menu Sundays from 11-2. Claire's is closed every Wednesday.

We appreciate it when you use cash or a check - credit card companies charge us a fee that really adds up. Thanks to many of you we have been able to significantly reduce those fees.

Click on the image above to get a closer look!

Local Food: Spring has sprung in our kitchen!  The first trout of the year comes from Mountain Foot Farm in Wheelock, where they have raised trout since the early 1990s. The trout live in tanks in barns to keep the predation to a minimum, and the trout that go to market are two and one half to three years old. The constantly flowing cold spring water keeps the fish from growing quickly, making it higher quality and better tasting.  Another first of the season is sweet and tender spinach from Eastview Farm in East Hardwick.  Steven grills the Brown Trout whole and places it on spinach with a warm dressing of sautéed shallots (also from Eastveiw Farm) and smokey bacon.  A bright and spicy horseradish and beet sauce, using Rabbi's Roots horseradish, is the final touch to a dish of spring firsts.

In celebration of  St. Patrick's Day, Steven brings corned beef and cabbage back to the menu on Friday, starting with a honey, maple syrup, and beer brine for the corned beef.

At the Bar: We're celebrating St. Patrick's Day at the bar as well, with draft and cocktail specials.  And remember our Sunday and Monday drink specials. Sunday, March 18th we offer a $2.50 pint of Rock Art, a $4 glass of Boyden Valley Big Barn Red or Seyval Blanc. Try our new Mapletini, with Dunc's Mill Maple Rum and Eden Ice Cider.

Around the Galaxy: The Galaxy Bookshop welcomes Tovar Cerulli on Tuesday, March 27th at 7PM. Cerulli's debut book, The Mindful Carnivore: A Vegetarian's Hunt for Sustenance chronicles his changing relationship with and understanding of food. The Galaxy will also host a Rural Post Letter Writing Soiree on March 22nd.

Music Notes: Flat Top Trio join us Thursday, March 15 at 7:00. Enjoy their Bluegrass and Americana sounds and support local music! 

Local Art: Join us Monday, March 26 for the artist reception for Janet Wormser of Cabot. Her work focuses on creating "an immediacy, a presence on canvas that feels like a natural wholeness."

Local Events: The Cabot Maple Fest is this Saturday, March 17 from 9-3 at the Cabot School on Route 215 in Cabot Village.  Enjoy the All You Can Eat Pancake Breakfast from 9-11, music by Cold Country Bluegrass, Goat Ropers Irish Music, Mono Malo swamp blues funk and much more, including sugar on snow!  Contact 563-3147 or jeanniejcabot@yahoo.com for more information.

Reminders: We are open daily after 2:30 for coffee, bar service, and baked goods, and free WiFi, with dinner reservations available from 5-9, Sundays from 5-8. We serve our special Blunch menu Sundays from 11-2. Claire's is closed every Wednesday.

We appreciate it when you use cash or a check - credit card companies charge us a fee that really adds up. Thanks to many of you we have been able to significantly reduce those fees.

Click on the image above to get a closer look!

Getting Ready for the Green

Local Food: Beer braised chicken is a kitchen staple from Ireland across stout-drinking Europe that Steven discovered while cooking in Alsace, France.  Now it provides a showcase for Vermont's amazing array of microbreweries and offers a prelude to St. Patrick's Day. Starting with chicken legs and thighs from our neighbors at Sunshine Acres in Hardwick marinated in Wolaver's dark and sweet Oatmeal Stout, Steven adds a rich jus that starts with the beer, and includes sautéed shallots from Eastview Farm, garlic from Sandiwood Farm, Northern Spy apples from Champlain Orchards, and bacon.  Next, the chicken is grilled for a hint of smokey caramel flavor, then Steven braises the chicken in the jus.  The moist and tender chicken is served with roasted fingerling potatoes and sweet carrots from Blackwell Roots.

At the Bar: Remember our Sunday and Monday drink specials. Sunday, March 11th we offer a $2.50 pint of Rock Art Ridge Runner, a $4 glass of Boyden Valley Big Barn Red or Seyval Blanc.  Try our French 75 with Barr Hill Gin, offered for $5.

Around the Galaxy: If it weren't so cold on the UPS truck the books would be hot off the press - The Great Northern Express arrived on Monday and Howard Frank Mosher will be at Galaxy on Tuesday for the World Premier at 7PM. All are welcome and the event is free. Arriving on the same truck was the memoir by Chef Grant Achatz. Life, On the Line: A Chef's Story of Chasing Greatness, Facing Death, and Redefining the Way We Eat is just out in paperback.

Music Notes: Sarah Wallis joins us this Thursday, March 8 at 7:00.  Come support Vermont women musicians and enjoy who Dan Bolles of Seven Days says "belongs at the forefront of any conversation about rising young local talents."

Local Events: The March Hardwick Contra Dance is this Friday, March 9 at the Hazen Union School Cafeteria.  The potluck begins at 5:30 (please bring your own plates and utensils) and the dance begins at 6:30.  Children and beginners are welcome- all dances will be taught. Lausanne Allen will call the dance.

Reminders: We are open daily after 2:30 for coffee, bar service, and baked goods, and free WiFi, with dinner reservations available from 5-9, Sundays from 5-8. We serve our special Blunch menu Sundays from 11-2. Claire's is closed every Wednesday.

We appreciate it when you use cash or a check - credit card companies charge us a fee that really adds up. Thanks to many of you we have been able to significantly reduce those fees.

Click on the image above to get a closer look!