Last month, we were looking for a good place to go to celebrate Carol’s birthday, and realized we hadn’t been to one of our area favorites for a while: Windsor Station in Windsor, VT. As you might suspect from the name, Windsor Station is in the former railroad station, and it’s one of the area’s best fine-dining options.

Windsor Station Interior

For some background, the current rail tracks in southern Vermont along the Connecticut river are run by New England Central Railroad (NECR), which was the successor organization after the Central Vermont Railway (then part of CN) broke up. This sign is a remnant from the Central Vermont Railway days. Shortly after Central Vermont Railway passenger service stopped (with the re-introduction of Amtrak’s Montrealer/Vermonter, there’s now one daily passenger train in each directoion), the main depot building converted into a restaurant and freight depot, and it’s been operating as a restaurant in one form or another since 1976. When we moved here, this was the “Windsor Station Pub”, a serviceable-but-not-remarkable pub, but in 2012 that restaurant closed, and after extensive renovation, local restaurateurs Stacy and Jon Capurso sold their well-liked place Stella’s in Hartland (now the Hartland Diner) bought the place, and embarked on an impressive renovation, reopening as the current Windsor Station.

Windsor Station Decor

Throughout the restaurant, they’ve decorated the place with what’s best-described as “relics of the golden age of passenger rail travel”, with suitcases, old train schedules, photos, and early 20th century decor. You get more than a little feeling that you’re sitting in a dining car while eating here. As far as menu, Windsor Station focuses on a combination of pub food (since half of the recent is a the beer and cocktail bar) and a varied American menu featuring house-made pasta, steaks, and entrees like grilled steaks. The bar is pleasant as well: they maintain a good list of cocktails, and as is almost obligatory in Vermont, having a list of 10 rotating beer taps, all featuring local craft beers.

Arancini

We decided to start out on an Italian note, getting the arancini. I always enjoy a good arancini, especially since doing these right takes a bit of skill: you need to get the interior rice ball nicely flavored without over- or undercooking it, while simultaneously getting the exterior to just the right level of crispiness. Windsor Station did these flawlessly, and served them up with a nicely-seasons tomato-vodka marinara. A great little appetizer.

Station Master Salad

Next up was a pair of salads. A lot of places these days seem to have appetizer salads as a bit of an afterthought, but Windsor Station still puts a lot of thought into composing some good salads: we both had the Station Master Salad, with fresh baby lettuce, dried cranberries, crumbled blue cheese, walnuts, and maple cracked-peppercorn vinaigrette. This was a nice combination of sweet and savory notes, with the blue cheese adding the occasional bite of sharpness.

Spaghetti and Meatballs

For my main course, I went for the spaghetti and meatballs. while nominally a fairly plain dish, I had remembered on a previous visit that Windsor Station makes their own pasta in-house, and does a really good job at it (the bucatini of a previous trip is one of the best pasta dishes I’ve had ever). For my spaghetti and meatballs, everything here is spot on: house-made, perfectly al dente spaghetti with just the right amount of tooth, and just the right amount of salt. Combine that with a really rich, concentrated, but not overly salty marinara. And some really nicely spiced and lightly seared meatballs, and this was about as good as “spaghetti and meatballs” gets.

Chicken Parm

Carol, meanwhile, went for the Chicken Parmesan. This was the same excellent house-made spaghetti and marinara as the meatball dish, but topped with a very nicely done breaded chicken cutlet and topped with cheese. One of the better breaded chicken breasts in the area, this had a nicely cooked and tender interior, a nice crumb to the breading, and was crisped to perfection. Combining this with the marinara and cheese made for a particular good Parmesan.

French Silk Pie

Finally, for dessert, we had loved the sound of their daily special pistachio cake with chocolate ganache… but our relatively late seating meant that the table before us has finished off the last serving. Instead, we got the French Silk Pie, which was a very well-executed version of the classic: a good, rich chocolate pudding filling, a nice cracker crust, and a good real whipped cream topping.

I can definitely see why Windsor Station remains popular (on a Saturday night, the place was packed: reservations are highly recommended). The food is excellent (and the pasta is the second-best I’ve had in Vermont, just slightly behind Trattoria Delia, which I still need to revisit), the service friendly, and the prices still pretty reasonable in these times of extreme inflationary pressure. If Windsor was just a tiche closer to my house, we’d probably come a lot more often.

We recently had to do a short day trip over to the Adirondacks in New York, and that left us looking for a new place for breakfast on the drive over. We’ve had a lot of great little spots on this drive, like Sugar and Spice and Big Apple Diner, but on this particular trip our timing lead us to wanting to explore Fair Haven and Castleton a bit. We ended up going to downtown Fair Haven, where we found The Wooden Soldier.

The Wooden Soldier Interior

The Wooden Soldier is located at the end of the main commercial block in Fair Haven. Fair Haven itself is quite interesting, with much of town dating back to the town’s heyday as a center for slate quarrying, with a large central square surrounded by Victorian homes, and the large commercial block that forms most of the downtown of Fair Haven. An L-shaped row of three- and four-story commercial blocks, this makes one of the more developed and compact small-town business districts in Northern New England, and at the south end of the row is The Wooden Soldier. The Wooden Soldier has been in operation since 1950 when it was a soda counter for the Roberts Bros Hardware store, becoming the Wooden Soldier in 1965 (with the same owner since 1976). The first thing you realize walking in the door is that The Wooden Soldier still looks like a diner and family restaurant that’s been running since 1950: a few wooden booths, a long service counter that’s seen a lot of use over the decades, and hand-painted signs throughout (including a nice sign detailing the top tourist attractions of 1950s and 1960s Vermont). This place is seriously old school in character (it reminds me of the now-shuttered Polka Dot Diner in White River Junction), and you can tell that it’s got its own set of clients that similarly have been coming here for decades.

Irish Benedict

Sitting down at the worn wood counter, the owner quickly came over and got us set up with cups of fresh coffee and hand-lettered specials signs for the weekend specials. The menu at The Wooden Soldier isn’t particularly extensive, but covers the basic American Diner fare quite well, including pancakes, omelettes, Benedicts, and even a few old school items that you don’t see much any more like creamed chipped beef on toast. While I almost got the chipped beef, I went for my “usual” these days, an Irish Benedict. This was a very nicely done Benedict: proper house-made corned beef with nice large chunks of potato and corned beef (one of the better I’ve had) with a perfect sear, a good Hollandaise on the tangy end, and perfectly poached eggs. A great Benedict, and some nicely-done, double-cooked home fries alongside. A nice overall breakfast, and a great way to break up the drive.

The obligatory wooden soldier.

I loved The Wooden Soldier. It’s the sort of place where you can practically taste the history, and it’s not just ambiance that’s driving the place: the food was good, the service very friendly, and the other clientele friendly and welcoming. It’s definitely worth a stop for breakfast or lunch if you are in the area.

Back in 2021, one of my favorite breakfast spots, Country Kitchen in Newport, NH, announced that they wouldn’t be reopening after Covid-19 closures. I miss that spot; it was definitely a bit of a dive, but the food was good, the prices quite affordable, and they really had a nice selection of locals that were always dining there. But the place wasn’t closed for long, in 2022 it was announced that the building was reopening, this time as Jalisco Mexican Bar and Grill.

Jalisco Mexican Bar and Grill

One thing to get out of the way up front: This is the place in Newport, NH, and not the similarly named Casa Jalisco down the road in Claremont, which opened around the same time, and that I reviewed (and enjoyed) in 2024. Doing a bit of digging on online LLC filings, these appear to have different, but overlapping ownership, so there’s some commonality between this “Jalisco”, the Newport “Casa Jalisco”, and the small Mi Jalisco chain down in Keene, Peterborough, and Milford. So, while I like the “other” Jalisco in Claremont, I’m treating this as its own place, and it’s actually quite nice to see the renovation. Country Kitchen had some “small town charm”, but was also starting to get more than a little warn: Jalisco did a very nice renovation of the place, installed some booths, divided the place into an updated bar and dining room, and really gave the place a decent makeover.

Jalapeño Margarita

Like most of the Mexican places around here, Jalisco has a rather extensive list of Margaritas, ranging from the house Margarita, to various upgraded liqueurs, to a few flavored varieties (and one of their more popular specials is getting a flight of the flavored Margaritas). Their house Margarita is one of the better ones in the area, but this time I went for one of the flavored varieties: the Jalapeño Margarita with Hornitos Plata, jalapeño juice, and a very generous load of pickled jalapeños. Very spicy, but also refreshing on a nice day.

Combo Platter

For the main course, Carol opted for their basic combo platter, with rice, beans, a mole chicken enchilada, and a chile relleno. I find a chile relleno to be a good gauge of a Mexican place, since there’s a bit of execution here. You need to start with a decent poblano chile of the right size, stuff it with a reasonably good cheese mixture, bread it, and then cook it up so that the interior is crisp and not soggy, and the interior is nicely warmed through. The version at Jalisco is one of the better ones in the area, and the chicken mole enchilada had a reasonably good mole sauce as well. Overall, a good combo.

Chicken Chimichanga

For my dinner, I did my usual order (that goes way back to my childhood in Arizona, going to Macayo’s, which I should really review at some point), which is chicken chimichangas. Like a lot of New England Mexican places, these are served up as pair of smaller chimichangas, and open-ended instead of burrito-wrapped. I generally like the smaller portion size, and this approach allows you to mix and match flavors if you like, but at times I do find myself craving a larger, single chimichanga. Served up with some fresh tomatos and a rather good guacamole, these were crisp and flavorful. The accompanying Mexican rice was nicely flavored with a lot of jalapeño, which made for a nice side.

I’ve not yet experienced either the dessert menus, nor any of the brunch items (Jalisco opens at 11 and has a few brunch-oriented items on their lunch menu, like a huevos rancheros), but I’ve certainly enjoyed the rest of the menu we’ve experienced. While I’m still sad that Country Kitchen is gone, I’m glad it has been replaced with a spot that’s still popular with the locals, offers up good food, and has reasonably good prices. I suspect they’ll be here for quite a while.

One of the odd details of NH that you don’t really appreciate until living here is that we only have two major interstates (I-89 and I-93), and if you aren’t driving between Manchester and Vermont (I-89), or heading to the Whites from Boston, there’s a good chance the ideal route for your travel isn’t highways, but a lot of 35 mph driving through some of NH’s quieter towns. Particularly, for us the optimal routes to Maine or Lake Winnipesaukee regions end up passing through either Franklin or Bristol NH, both fairly quiet former mill towns. Bristol, in particular, is a surprisingly nice little town, just south of Newfound Lake, with a nice little downtown. The downtownalready punches about its weight with at least three breakfast diners (The Bristol Diner, Gina’s Place, and Gilly’s), a good Mexican place (Cielito), and a brewpub (Shackett’s), but I repeatedly found myself driving by a place that opened a few years ago, Odysea.

Odysea Coffee Interior

Odysea started in 2023, when owners Francisco and Gabrielle moved from Honduras to Bristol, New Hampshire, and wanted to bring coffee from Honduras (from Francisco’s family Galeano roasters and other Honduras-based plantations) to coffee drinkers in New Hampshire. Purchasing a worn building on Lake Street that used to be a car dealership, they spent several months refurbishing the place, making for an open interior for diners to enjoy the coffee, pastries, and light meals that Odysea sells for breakfast and lunch (and occasionally on Fridays and Saturdays they hold “Odysea After Hours” events with dinner, wine, and dancing). I rather enjoy the spot, it’s bright and airy, and a nice place to enjoy breakfast and a newspaper.

Crêpe

The coffee at Odysea is quite good, with usually 3 different roasts available for dine-in (although, while they have cold brew on the menu, they’ve not had it available on several of my visits), and a good half dozen varieties of beans available to go. I had a San Sebastian coffee from western Honduras that was nicely robust and flavor but smooth in mouth feel, with notes of chocolate and dried fruit. I also got one of their regular breakfast items: the berry and cream crêpe: a nice, large, perfectly done crêpe, served up with their house three-berry compote (nice and rich, not overly sweet), a dollop of whipped mascarpone, and a little carafe of maple syrup. A nice, simple breakfast, and a great combination with my morning coffee.

I rather liked Odysea, and while I’ve just gotten coffee and light breakfast, their lunches looked good, so I’m sure I’ll give them a revisit at some point; the location is a mere quarter mile off my usual route through the Bristol area. And from what they’ve published online, the Odysea After Hours events look particularly good, and worth a trip in themselves.

After a weekend of robotics judging in Burlington, activities wrapped up around 7:30pm. The I-89 route back to my home in New Hampshire isn’t exactly heavily populated with dining establishments, and many of the few options start closing at 8pm, so I consulted my list of places in the Burlington area that I wanted to check out, and decided to check out Zaytoona for some Middle Eastern food before heading home.

Zaytoona Interior

In the last few years, South Burlington (which is one of those communities with a geographically-confusing name; most of the town is distinctly east, and not south, of Burlington itself) has done a lot of development, especially around the new library. Zaytoona is nestled into a small building just across from the new library. It’s a fairly cozy spot, with about eight tables in a modest dining room, but the staff (just two on my visit) are quite efficient at turning tables, so don’t let the small dining room discourage you. Much like another of my favorites when visiting the parents in Arizona, Haji Baba, while the owners of Zaytoona are Jordanian, when assembling Zaytoona’s menu they aimed at a much broader (and especially for Vermont, more relatable) “Middle Eastern” menu, drawing from Jordanian, Lebanese, Syrian, and Turkish influences. The popular items include their chicken shawarma (wrap or plate), falafel and hummus combo, or various mixed grill and mezze platters.

Lemon Refresher

Enjoying their “Lemon Refresher” (a variant of lemonade, I think with some rose water to round out the flavor), I looked over the menu. While I was tempted a bit by the falafel, those that have read my Haji Baba review know that I find it really hard to resist a good shawarma, so I ended up ordering the chicken shawarma bowl.

Chicken Shawarma Bowl

And I’ll have to say, this is a great bowl. This is built up from the bottom: A bed of lightly seasoned rice, an Arabic salad of chopped greens, cucumber, and tomato, a healthy portion of hummus, another good portion of thin-sliced, marinated chicken (with notes of garlic, cumin, and turmeric) that’s been roasted and shaved, and a very, very garlicky toum (garlic mayo) applied across the bowl. Everything here really hits the mark: the chicken, albeit starting to cool, is nicely crisped and flavorful, and perfect for dabbing in the toum for one of those great flavor combination. The hummus is smooth, creamy, and also garlicky, one of the better renditions I’ve had in a while. And the rice and salad round out the bowl nicely. This is a seriously good meal; I often find myself craving the chicken shawarma from Haji Baba (which I visit virtually every time I visit Arizona), and the rendition of this dish at Zaytoona is about 9/10 on that scale, which is impressive.

I enjoyed Zaytoona. This is small, casual Middle Eastern spot that punches above its weight, with great service, generous portions, and great flavors. I definitely want to come back and explore more of the menu.

Like my trip to Portland in March, early April had me spending several days in Burlington, VT at the University of Vermont (UVM) campus, volunteering as a robotics competition judge. Like usual, this involves rather early mornings and a good 12–14 hour day of volunteering, and then usually my evenings are my own for going on a long walk and finding some new places to enjoy. In this case, I decided to check out more of Burlington’s “Old North End” (which I occasionally visit, see our 2017 review” of The Shopping Bag, one of the neighborhood’s burger spots). But this time, I decided I wanted Mexican, so I had another destination in mind: Taco Gordo.

Taco Gordo Interior

Much like some of my other Burlington favorites like Hong’s and Skinny Pancake, Taco Gordo started out back in 2014 as a food cart on Church Street, with the occasional special events, and the at-the-time cool-and-hip (and now, alas, gone) ArtsRiot food truck events, but they were successful enough selling street tacos that they went brick and mortar. It’s a bit of a divey location (I remember when this was one of the area’s seedier bottle redemption centers), but they’ve made a business out of selling a simple taco-driven menu, strong margaritas, and a few other dishes and drinks.

Taco Gordo Specials

I love places with simple menus, and the base food menu at Taco Gordo remains as simple as it was back in the food cart days: tacos and burritos. That’s pretty much it (although ‘tacos’ does include a tostada, which really kind of is a taco on the grand scheme of things), with a selection of a half dozen rotating proteins. They’ll have a few specials on the various chalk boards around the joint, usually a veggie taco (a veggie picadillo on this visit) and a meat taco (Texas brisket this trip), a salad, and a good selection of tequila-based cocktails.

Tacos and Tostada

I decided to go for both some tacos and a tostada (thanking the now-departed Lalo’s in Lebanon NH for reminding me how good a proper tostada can be). My tacos were a mix of the slow-cooked carnitas and the brisket special. Both were nicely cooked and tender (I usually like a crisp on carnitas, but it worked well here.. the only crisped item I saw was the al pastor, which was starting to sell out as early as my 5:30 Friday visit). The onion and cilantro nicely chopped to order, and in one of those little extras I always appreciate, the tortillas double-stacked (to prevent “taco blowout”). The tortillas were worth noting, since these aren’t generic corn tortillas, but nice heirloom mix, fresh-made tortillas from All Souls Tortillas. Add in a well-above-average fresh salsa and toppings bar, and Taco Gordo offers up one of Vermont’s best street-style taco experiences.

Lord Fauntleroy

As I mentioned above, the other thing that Taco Gordo likes to focus on is tequila drinks: they’ve got a good selection of tequilas available, and do make a good, strong classic Margarita as well as a good Paloma. I opted for a Paloma for my first drink, but when deciding for a second, I decided the try their special, the Lord Fauntleroy (that’s a good obscure reference). With El Charro silver tequila, tamarind, orange, and ginger beer, this was a nice, refreshing cocktail for closing out my meal.

Overall, I really liked Taco Gordo. Vermont doesn’t have a lot of good Mexican or taco joints (I’ve complained here more than a few times about “Vermexican” food), and Taco Gordo is one of those nice exceptions: good, quality tacos, tostadas, and beverages, made correctly, and served up simply. I’ll definitely consider stopping by here on some of my other trips to town.

Our second day in Montreal involved a pleasant outing to the McCord-Stewart Museum (which had an excellent Offbeat-eats relevant exhibit, On the Menu, featuring menus and other paraphernalia from various Montreal eating establishments), a quick trip out to Verdun for Cabane Panache (the annual Montreal maple festival), and then off to Snowbird in La Petite-Patrie for Tiki drinks. After enjoying our drinks at Snowbird, we wanted to find an interesting place to dine, and found one right across the street: Restaurant Abouda, serving up Tunisian food.

Salaam Soda

Abouda is quite a busy place: they offer both dine-in service and take-out, and the dine-in area is definitely on the cozy side. But a quick look at our group of five, a few quick rearrangments of tables and chairs, and we found ourselves with a reasonably comfortable setup, reviewing the menu. We pretty quickly decided that, for a group like ours, the family dinner (“Grillade Familiale Abouda”) was a good call, designed to feed four diners, would be a great option for our group and avoid a lot of indecision. The dinner came with beverages (plus one extra we bought for our fifth diner), and looking over the options, we decided to try various Salaam Sodas. Salaam, based in the UK, makes a range of Halal-certified sodas for international distribution. Trying both the cola (will never be mistaken for Coca-Cola, but was pleasant) and orange (similar to Fanta), we enjoyed both.

Family Dinner

After a few minutes, the family dinner started to arrive, and I was glad they had managed to push a few tables together for us, since this was a particularly large feast, with two plates of kaftegi, two bowls of rice, a large bowl of potatoes (cooked similarly to the previous night’s Portuguese potatoes), bread basket, house salad, and bowls of garlic sauce and harissa. Pretty much every inch of our three tables was covered with various parts of the feast.

Kaftegi and Rice

While almost all of the meal was familiar to me (we eat a lot of Moroccan food, which is similar, with slightly different spicing), kaftegi was a new one to me: a dish of fried and chopped vegetables (like potatoes, peppers, zucchini, and olive) mixed with eggs, spices, and harissa. I rather liked this, it was vaguely remiscient of a baba-ghanoush, but with a different vegetable blend, and was rather good served up alongside some rice and some of the meats.

Grillades

The meat platter itself was a sight to behold: a large platter loaded with Merguez sausage, chicken breast, lamb liver, kefta, and lamb chops, almost five pounds of meat, all nicely grilled and served up with a bunch of grilled peppers. I particularly liked the lamb chops and the Merguez: tender, nicely crisped on the grill with good fat reduction, and nicely spiced. Everyone enjoyed all the offerings except the lamb liver, which wasn’t most folks’ cup of tea, but there was certainly more than enough food for everyone (several of us took leftovers, especially knowing that the next day were were having the feast at the cabane).

Overall, we came away impressed with Restaurant Abouda. It’s an easygoing, informal spot that works especially well for a family-sized group, with an ambiance that’s omfortable, welcoming, and unpretentious. The food is a clear strength: generous portions, well-executed dishes, and prices that make it easy to explore the menu without hesitation. It also serves as an approachable introduction to a less familiar cuisine, striking a nice balance between authenticity and accessibility. All told, it delivers strong value and a satisfying experience, and is definitely a place worth returning to.

During our March trip to Montreal, prior to our outing to the 2026 Pied de Cochon Cabane à Sucre, several of us arrived two evenings before the event, and decided to go out for a light dinner. Since our hotel (our long standby Hôtel Château de l’Argoat) is in Montreal’s Le Village area, we decided to explore more of Rue Ontario Est’s restaurants. After looking in the window and seeing a rather impressive set of grilled chickens, we decided that Sardine Rose, a small Portuguese restaurant, was just the ticket.

Sardine Rose Interior

Walking into Sardine Rose, the immediate ambiance directly matched a rather large fraction of the smaller cafés and dinner restaurants from our trips to Portugal: think casual, cozy, and a little old-school. It’s a bit on the “mood lighting” end of the spectrum (so sorry about the occasional poor photo), but inviting, with the smell of grilling meat throughout: the grill and most of the kitchen is right on your left when you enter.

Tomato and Onion Salad

While the place is even named “Sardine”, our party had two non-seafood folks present (myself nominally included), and we were all going to the Cabane in a few days, so everyone gravitated towards the grilled specials: either the house-special poulet Portugais chicken, or the côtes-levées (pork spare ribs), served up as a grill special with a salad and Portuguese-style fried potatoes. After enjoying an appetizer of some excellent grilled Portuguese chouriço, we all placed orders for either a half-chicken grilled, or a combination of a chicken breast and a small rib rack. Myself, I for some reason was craving tomatoes, which led to my ordering an upgrade to a tomato and onion as well, and this was a surprisingly good salad: nicely ripe tomatoes and onions, lightly marinated, and the perfect light start to the meal.

Poulet Portugais

A nicely grilled half chicken and frites. The chicken was excellent: a nicely grilled and moist half chicken, nicely smokey from the grilled, topped off with a peri-peri-style peppery marinade applied while the meat is still grilling so it crisped a fair bit. The frites were done up Portuguese-style, basically thick-sliced potato chips, about halfway between fries and potato chips in texture, which is such a nice combination that I’m surprised I basically have only encountered this style at Portuguese restaurants. I’ll have to take a swing at these at home at some point. In any case, a great meal at a reasonable price (around $16 USD including the salad).

Mix cuisse et Côtes-levées

Several folks instead went for the mix cuisse et côtes-levées, which was basically the same meal I had, subbing a small spare rib rack for the dark chicken quarter, and everyone enjoyed this as well: a nicely-seasoned and grilled pork spare rib rack.

Chocolate Cake

Despite “moderation” being one of our guidelines before the Cabane’s excess, when the owner offered up some dessert options, most everyone at the table couldn’t resist. Carol ordered the chocolate cake, which was a very nicely done dark chocolate cake: slightly bitter, aromatic, and balanced so that the richness never turns cloying, with lots of rich cocoa notes, and just the right neither-dense-nor-spongy texture. I had a few bites of this, and enjoyed it.

Caramel Cake

Two other folks at the table enjoyed another cake with layers of caramel, but nobody at the meal remembered the exact description. It did look quite enjoyable, however.

Pasteis de Nata

But for me, the star of the dessert course was a Portuguese classic: Pasteis de Nata. Small Portuguese custard tarts made with flaky, buttery pastry shells filled with a rich egg custard, they’re baked at high heat so the tops blister and caramelize, creating dark spots that add a slight bitterness to balance the sweetness. These were every bit as good as most of the pasteis I had during our various Portugal trips, and a nice, lighter way to round out the meal.

For a nice gathering with friends in a quieter part of town, we really like Sardine Rose. The grilled food was top notch, everyone loving the nice Portuguese frites, and the desserts were nice without being too excessive. Add in a very friendly and chatty proprietor, and this was a nice dinner choice. I may have to go back at some point for some fish or a grilled steak.

For my third morning in Portland, instead of having another hotel breakfast, or doing a repeat trip to the excellent Becky’s Diner, I decided I needed to try something a little more, well, Offbeat. And due to my schedule, a place that opened fairly early (7am). This led me to a little spot in Portland’s west end, in a little building that used to be one of those small neighborhood grocery stores: Ugly Duckling.

Ugly Ducking

Opening in late 2022, Ugly Duckling is one of those breakfast spots that doesn’t have a direct classification; at lunch, calling it a “luncheonette” would be a good description. At breakfast, it’s a bit of a coffeehouse. It’s also a bakery, having a nice selection of daily pastries, like canelés, eclairs, and trocaderos, and does a pretty brisk takeout business (while quiet and sleepy at their 7am open, by my 7:30am departure they had a regular stream of folks picking up pastries.

Ugly Ducking Interior

For those eating, or drinking, on-site, they’ve got a nice U-shaped lunch counter taking up most of the dining area, and some of the more interesting (and, as a photographer) challenging lighting: the theme here is “pink”, and they lean into it. Pink paint. Pink lighting. But it’s certainly fun and quirky.

Pastrami on Rye

But for me, while the pastries looked awesome (and I’ll have to swing back at some point to get some), the reason I came was a bakery item I don’t normally see made in-house, and that’s English Muffins. I adore a proper, fresh-made-on-the-griddle English muffin, and these are a specialty at Ugly Duckling, either just as muffins, or as the foundation of their many breakfast sandwiches. I opted for their Pastrami on Rye. While the resulting sandwich looked like it was bacon-laden, that wasn’t bacon. It was Ugly Duckling’s version of a Pastrami on rye, with house-made local beef pastrami (a drier-variety, and very concentrated in flavor), fried egg (still perfectly running yolk), aged sharp provolone, horseradish-red rye espresso aioli, and a rye-caraway English muffin. The rye muffin was a new-to-me concept, and worked really well: just the right amount of rye, the right amount of muffin fluffiness, and just the right amount of crispy crust. This was a perfect breakfast sandwich.

And the muffin was good enough I had to buy a 4-pack of their buttermilk English muffins to take home with me.

All-in-all, I really enjoyed Ugly Duckling. Good coffee. Great breakfast sandwiches, and outstanding house-made English muffins. I’ll have to make sure and return sometime to explore more of their menu.

At the edge of Portland’s Eastside is an old dive bar, Tomaso’s Canteen. For decades, this was a legendary dive bar, Sangillo’s Tavern, known for its 8am opening, cheap beer, and rough crowds, and it was a well-known hangout for those coming off a night shift. Unfortunately, various events at Sangillo’s drew the notice of first the police, and then the liquor board, and Sangillo’s lost its liquor license, permanently closing on February 14, 2015. A few months later it opened as Tomaso’s Canteen. Shorter hours (11am opening now), bar food, and a better tap list, it’s still a dive bar, but on the less-divey end.

Tomaso’s Canteen

We discovered Tomaso’s almost a decade ago, when we were waiting for a seat at nearby The Honey Paw, and wandered in to get a beer while waiting for our table to get ready. Enjoying a good local beer, we saw a lot of good sandwiches, hot dogs, and wings come out, and I decided to come back at some point. Which apparently wasn’t until 2026, when I stopped by here after a day of Robotics judging in nearby Falmouth, Maine.

Tomaso’s Canteen Interior

Walking inside, you can tell that Tomaso’s is staying true to it’s “dive bar” roots. It’s definitely had a few cleanings and renovations since its days as Sangillo’s, but the immediate vibe is that this isn’t a fancy bar, but gritty in a deliberate way, and very much a locals’ hangout. Think beer-sticker-adorned walls and ceiling, wooden bars, small tables, and the distinct color cast from the various neon lights in the windows. And the place is pretty much always busy, with a moderate amount of noise, and a healthy collection of locals, most wearing jeans and hoodies, and more than a few of them nursing beer bottles as they vent about the shift they just finished.

IPA

Sangillo’s turned into Tomaso’s right as the craft beer movement was really starting to kick into overdrive, and with that, Tomaso’s leaned into the local craft beer scene. While you can certainly get classic dive bar beers here, they maintain a solid list of draft lines and cans with a well-curated selection of local beers. I opted for a Super Prime IPA from local brewery Goodfire Brewing Co, enjoying my beer as various locals talked about their Saturday evenings.

Red Snappers

But the real reason I came here was to get a light dinner, and I knew from my previous trip that Tomaso’s had exactly what I was hoping for: some Red Snappers. No, in Maine “Red Snapper” doesn’t generally refer to the fish (although it still makes think of this clip), but the specific-to-Maine hot dog variety. Like most New England heritage hot dogs, these are actually a beef-pork mixture, spiced a little more heavily than a New York hot dog (but a bit less than most Connecticut-style dogs like Hummels), but the two key factors are natural casings (only, they have to have that “snap”) and the bright neon-red, artificial dye color. This is distinctive to the handful of Maine meatpackers (W. A. Bean is the largest, but several others including Maine Family Farms still crank them out as well), and the exact reason for the coloring is now lost to history, but it’s definitely part of the local tradition. Tomaso’s serves them simply, grilled in hot oil (giving them a slight crisping, akin to the more extreme crisping of a “Ripper” at Rutt’s Hut), on the obligatory New-England-Style top-split bun, also grilled in lots of butter. Along with some nicely-crisped fries, this was the exact sort of light dinner I was looking for.

Overall, while a lot of Portland has gentrified from a fishing-industry town into a fairly upscale tourist town (there are several places walking distance from Tomaso’s where I can easily drop a C-note on dinner for two), it’s good to see that they are keeping much of the “dive bar” concept alive and well, and having some good food to go with it. The awning outside says “Cold Beer – Hot Sausage”, and it does what it says on the tin. It’s definitely worth a stop.

My robotics judging in Falmouth required me to get up fairly early in the morning, before most every decent breakfast joint in Portland is open. But since Portland remains, to this day, an active fishing port, there are a handful of places that are open early in the morning, and right down the street from my waterfront hotel was one old school stalwart, Becky’s Diner, which opens at 5am.

Becky’s Diner

While not the classic “diner car”, everything else about Becky’s is classic old school “New England Diner”. Note that while it looks old school, Becky’s Diner itself only dates to 1991, when owner Becky Rand decided to open a restaurant that opened early that catered to Portland’s active fisherman community. From 1991 to 2007 Becky’s was a fairly low-key cinder-block building right on Hobson’s Wharf, but then they spent several months remodeling into the current two-story clapboard restaurant at the same site (the clapboard building essentially encompassed the existing diner, adding a second “back” side dining room and and upstairs outdoor deck as well).

Becky’s Diner Interior

Walking into Becky’s, it still has the same classic diner interior: the main diner area is dominated by the long service counter, with a row of booths opposite. At my 5:15am arrival, the place was quiet, with just a few regulars and early folks trying to get breakfast in before work, but by the time I left at 6, the place was already pretty busy, but I expect the place to be able to turn quite a few tables, between the “back” dining room on the other side of the counter area. So don’t let a modest line discourage you.

Coffee

While enjoying a frequently-refreshed cup of black coffee (the best way to kickstart an early morning), I looked over the breakfast menu (they also serve a lunch menu of diner fare, and a more seafood-laden dinner menu). For breakfast fare (from open to 4pm), the offerings are mostly classic diner fare, with various egg plates, breakfast sandwiches, pancakes, and omelettes, although you can tell this places is on the waterfront: both lobster omelettes and lobster Benedicts were featured on the menu.

Irish Benedict

But anyone that’s been to breakfast with me at a diner in recent years know that, especially for a new place, I’m usually drawn to one particular menu item if they’ve got it: an Irish Benedict. I can’t resist a good, crispy hash on English muffins with properly-poached eggs and Hollandaise, and the version at Becky’s Diner is top-notch: grilled muffins, a good crisp on a hearty hash, perfectly-poached eggs, and a nice tangy-yet-creamy Hollandaise sauce. Add in some nicely done homefries, and this was a great breakfast.

It’s the sort of place were you can find a good cross-section of Portland life, everyone from fresh-off-the-boat fishermen and lobstermen, local college students, and tourists all settling in for a good meal. It’s a great early morning breakfast spot, and I’ll definitely have to come back sometime and give the lunch and dinner menus a try.

My recent travels to Portland, Maine, during one of the less-popular times of the reason (New England’s “Mud Season” between Winter and Spring), turned out to be rather fortuitous in that, despite my visit falling during Maine Restaurant Week, many of the places that are usually teeming with both locals and tourists were actually relatively calm, which gave me a good opportunity to visit one of my favorite spots that’s usually got a waiting list: Eventide Oyster Co.

Eventide Oyster Co. Interior

Eventide’s Portland location (their original, they’ve now got a second location in Portland) sits on Middle Street just east of Downtown, next to their sister restaurant The Honey Paw (which is another of my Portland-area favorites). It’s a cozy location, with most of the main storefront occupied by a large raw bar featuring the daily-changing oyster selection, and a small dining room next door. And Eventide almost always has a high demand; while they offer reservations, most of their seating is reserved for walk-ins, so it’s pretty common that you’ll have to get on a waiting list (indeed, the long waiting list is how I originally discovered The Honey Paw next door, which had half the wait that particular evening). It actually works out, however, since they’ve usually got one person doing the to-order shucking, and the rest of the operation is scaled accordingly. For my visit in early March? Despite it being Friday, I managed to walk right in and sit at the bar, watching oysters getting shucked.

Oysters

The entire reason one rally comes to Eventide is the oysters, and that’s how I started out. On any given visit to Eventide, they’ve got fresh-caught oysters from a variety of ports, ranging from Massachusetts all they way up the coast of Maine, and the servers can give you recommendations, they aren’t just serving oysters, but curating them. In my case, I ended up with a half dozen oysters, three from Mere Point (Brunswick, from a cultured oyster farm) and three Wolfe Neck (another aquaculture farm in Yarmouth). Both were enjoyable, the Mere Point a bit more concentrated in flavor, and the Mere Point a bit larger. Both really hit all the notes I look for in good cold-water oysters: extra briney, a bit of sweetess, a strong mineral note, and a creamy texture. And one of the star attractions aside from the oysters was the high-quality accompaniments: this was a really top-notch, tangy, and horseradish-forward cocktail sauce, and the mingonette was nice and shalloty, one of the best I’ve had. Long and short, it’s really difficult to find better curated, prepared, and presented oysters than Eventide.

Mai Tai

In addition to having a great oyster bar, Eventide has a good cocktail program going on, with a well-crafted collection of house cocktail recipes, including a good selection of tropical drinks. While I considered my additional courses, I enjoyed their Mai Tai, which was classically mixed from multiple rums, lime, and orgeat, with some bitters added. Refreshing, and well-above-average.

Tuna Tartare

My second course was the tuna tartare. Often “tuna tartare” is used to cover all sorts of raw-tuna presentations, but at Eventide the tuna tartare is actually a proper tartare like you’d have with beef, with minced shallots, capers, and a light hint of both mustard and hot pepper, making for a well-balance dish that really highlighted the tuna flavor. On this visit, the tartare was served up with “Fresno chips”, very light and airy dark russet potato chips that add a nice crispy texture and some earthy notes, rounding out the dish. This was every bit as good as the oysters.

Lobster Roll

Aside from the oysters, one of the other things that Eventide is known for is their lobster rolls. The version at Eventide is a brown-butter based version, with steamed and chopped fresh-cooked lobster mixed with brown butter and served on a little steamed bun with chive. As far as the lobster itself goes, this is a a near-perfect butter-style lobster roll: the lobster has the perfect flavor and texture, and been mixed with just enough butter and salt to give it a bit of a savory note. The bun is good, and house-made, and it works reasonably well, but I’ll be honest here, I think part of the delight of a good lobster roll is a properly toasted, crispy, and heavily-buttered bun, and while this steamed bun is good, I think a more traditional grilled bun would take this to a higher level.

Ice Cream Sandwich

Finally, I actually ordered dessert as well. One of the more interesting strong recommendations I got for Eventide was to make sure I got an ice cream sandwich. I did, and I can see why it was recommended: this was a basic vanilla ice cream on chocolate chip cookie, but the execution was flawless: good, perfectly round and crispy cookies, around a house-made core of quite flavorful vanilla ice cream, this was about as perfect an ice cream sandwich as you can get.

Overall, I loved my visit to Eventide. As always, the oysters were top-notch, well-selected, and perfectly prepared. The other seafood dishes were well-conceived and executed, and the recommended ice cream sandwich definitely a great way to close out the meal. I can see why this place usually has a healthy wait for a seat.

As our regular readers know, approximately every two years we do a group trip up to Montreal, rendezvous with friends, and head out to the surprisingly rural outskirts of the Montreal area (St. Benoît de Mirabel) for Au Pied de Cochon annual Cabane à Sucre maple celebration. You can read up on previous visits of ours in 2014, 2017, or 2024, or their similar fall harvest dinner in Fall 2019. The basic formula remains the same: a sumptuous feast featuring maple and seasonal dishes, served up in an unending serious of generously-portioned family-style courses. Over the years, the actual meal varies a bit, but it remains one of the Montreal-area’s more difficult reservations to get (usually setting an alarm for when ticket sales start in December for the winter Cabane). This year’s culinary Olympic feast was for myself and 9 colleagues was in mid-March, during a brief recurrence of winter during the spring thaw.

Cabane à Sucre Interior

One of the great things about doing the Cabane is that, while the basic concept is tied to the Canadian Cabane à Sucre tradition of gathering at a maple sugarhouse in the woods and gorging yourself on various maple-related items, Au Pied de Cochon’s version varies more than a little from year to year, and even over the season, so until the dishes start coming out of the kitchen, you never really know what you are going to get this particular season. Some years are more traditional, some more experimental (I’ve long suspected that chef Martin Picard uses the Cabane to try out new ideas for the restaurant), and some have been tightly themed, like 2017’s Japanese theme. The results vary a little bit as well; while I’ve never had anything bad at the Cabane, a few dishes (especially some of the seafood ones, like sturgeon quennelles in 2014) aren’t exactly my jam. But I’ve also had more than a few truly excellent dishes here, and at the end of the day, you’ve had a veritable mountain of food, most of it truly excellent, and usually between 8 and 16 individual dishes served at each meal, all for an implausibly low price (the 2026 Cabane was $95CDN per person, plus gratuities and drinks). Compared to what $95CDN would buy me in Montreal, or down in New England, this is still an incredible bargain. Pro tip: most of the seating is on long tables with benches, with 10 or 12 people optimal for filling out a table; smaller parties can sometimes get an abbreviated experience.

Sous-Bois

A few minutes after seating, our serving team came around and got our first round of beverages going. While there were a few folks that got beer, wine, or other cocktails, one of the more popular cocktails for the table was the Sous-Bois (“Undergrowth”), with Gin de Mononcle, Chartreuse, lime, cranberry confit, and wintergreen syrup. A nice, refreshing cocktail, and a great start to the meal.

Duck Fat Pancakes

A few minutes later, the first group of dishes started arriving from the kitchen. First up was several platters of duck fat pancakes: crispy, almost donut-like pancakes deep-fried in duck fat, including that really nice crispy ring around the edge. This was a welcome throwback, we’ve seen these at several previous Cabanes (indeed, this were a star of our first Cabane back in 2014), and these were everything I like about a good trip to the Cabane: good execution, nice use of maple, and more than a bit indulgent. (A note on this year’s menu is that most everything was delivered to the table sized for 4 people; with a party of 10, this often meant two full-sized platters and a half-sized platter, although occasionally this also mean either jumbo-sized portions, or the occasional dish that was just served up for 12 instead of 10. So 8 and 12 remain optimal party sizes even with the transition to bench seating).

Headcheese

There’s usually at least one course at the Cabane that’s delivered as a bit of show and flourish; one year it was roast pigs with apples in their mouths, another year a whole pigs head. The second dish to arrive was definitely the showiest of the evening, since this was headcheese, served up as a head. Well, a skull, actually, with a very nicely flavorful headcheese layered onto the skull. Served alongside was also some cretons (a traditional Québécois potted meat much like rillettes, but with a very clove-laden spicing), some perfectly light and fluffy pork cracklings, chicken liver mouse, some smoked meat sticks, and various condiments. Definitely a good dish, and we enjoyed the eye-raising service approach.

Spinach Souffle

Starting the second wave of food was our third dish: was a very light and fluffy Spinach Souffle, served over a bed of potatoes and leeks (with the far end of the table getting one of the half-sized ones which we called the “two-fle”). This really cemented that this was one of the years the Cabane was sticking with tradition; we had a very similar souffle in 2024’s visit, and this one was fully enjoyable as well: light, flavorful, and the potato-leek mixture really complemented the egg nicely.

Trout Gravlax

Served alongside the souffle was our fourth dish. Nominally called a “gravlax salad”, this was an interesting case where getting the full description showed us how elaborate a dish this was: instead of salmon, this was a gravlax-style trout brined in gin and maple syrup, served up as a salad. I only had a bit of this (since I’ve got more than a bit of a seafood allergy, but I can usually tolerate nibbles), and this was extremely good and flavorful, with a nice, slightly sweeter take on a gravlax flavor, with really strong trout notes.

Split Pea Soup with Fois Gras

Next up was the fifth dish, another Cabane classic: split pea soup, with the obligatory fois gras. A very, very rich soup with really good pea, pork and smoke notes, this was another great crowd pleaser. The soup has been simmered to the point so the texture is nice and velvety, and the acid level is just right so that the soup tastes tangy more than “greasy” (since this soup is particularly fatty). This was near-perfect, and the only thing this was really missing was something like a good grilled-cheese sandwich to dip into it…

Croque Monsieur

…which takes us to the sixth dish, delivered alongside the split pea soup. This was an interesting take on a Croque Monsieur (a French-style grilled cheese and ham): they took some nicely layered croissant dough, and formed it into a long trough of flaky pastry, filling the trough with sliced ham and grated cheeses. Slicing off a length of the trough for each diner was a little clutzy, but after that, this was the perfect sort of sandwich for dipping into the split pea soup. This was a definitely a unique take on the croque monsieur.

Beef rib Bourguignon

At least one course in every trip to the Cabane has a deliberately odd presentation. This year it was our seventh dish, which was a giant pile of braised beef ribs presented in a giant flower pot. Basically boeuf bourguignon made with large bone-in beef ribs, this was actually quite good, especially the sauce and marrow down in the pot itself. (The flower pot presentation we’ve seen before, like 2024’s “Cassoulard”, a giant lard-heavy cassoulet served in a similar flowerpot). The cheese- and parsley-laden whipped potatoes served alongside this were surprisingly popular. I really enjoyed more than a bit of the beef itself at the cabane, and much of the leftover bits and bourguignon served the basis for the next night of leftovers back home, served over noodles. All-in-all, this was a great dish.

Maple-glazed smoked ham knuckle

Our eighth dish was served alongside the bourguignon, a large, maple-glazed ham knuckle from the “family farm”. We’ve had a lot of good hams at the Cabane before (particularly well-remembered was a nice hay-smoked one at our 2014 visit), and this didn’t disappoint. This was an extremely flavorful (and not overly salty) ham, the glaze more caramelized than sweet, with plenty of meat for everyone. This was served up over a bed of root vegetables that absorbed a lot of the ham juices, and made for a very pleasant dish that, served on its own, would have held its own as a centerpiece.

Rolled duck breast

The ninth dish was a rolled duck breast, wrapped around fois, served on a red wine and brandy reduction sauce, and after serving topped with more sauce, a pork blood and maple sauce. On the side was some buckwheat pasta, which had a dumpling-like texture. This was flavorful, but this was also a dish where the fois didn’t really seem to add much to me, and this was one of the few dishes that actually tasted “fatty”. A good dish overall, but not one of the table favorites.

Apple Pie

Despite the fact that by this point everyone at the table was starting to run out of steam, the dessert course then started in earnest. First up, as our 10th dish, was a nice classic that I would have expected at one of their harvest dinners: an apple pie. But this wasn’t your usual apple pie, landing someplace in the world between pie and tart. The odd shape is because there is an entire, whole apple embedded in the pie. Then, there’s a layer of mincemeat inside the pie, and the overall pie was served on a slab of Brie (and interesting take on the classic “New England” apple pie and cheddar). With a particularly good crust (I suspect more than a little lard was involved), this was a great dessert course.

Pain Perdu

For the second dessert (our 11th dish overall), there was a large serving of Pain Perdu (“French Toast”) with caramelized bananas, topped with about six different maple products (including syrup, sugar, and cream). This was good (reminding me of the old “hobo pies” made in a hand-clamped iron over a campfire when camping in my childhood), but this was also a leading contender for “sweetest thing I’ve ever been served”. A little bit of this went a long way, but this was perfectly executed with a good caramelized interior, a perfect crispy flake on the toast, and a well-combined overall texture.

Rice Pudding

Also served up at the same time was the 12th dish: a maple rice pudding. I’m not usually much of a rice pudding fan, but this was a nicely-composed version, not too chalky, and not overly sweet. Since we were running out of steam, this was one that was heartily scooped up into various takeout containers.

Maple Ice Cream

Finally, for dish 13, each person was served up with their own little parfait of maple ice cream, served up with some maple taffy and maple sponge. This was, to me, a bit of an odd dish. I really enjoyed the very dark and well-rounded maple ice cream, but the sponge seemed mostly to just stick in my teeth, and the taffy was so temperature sensitive that when delivered it was rock-hard, but soon softened just to the point of potentially pulling out your fillings. I think this would have been better as just the ice cream.

And with that, our heroic, 3 hour long meal of 4 courses and 13 different dishes was concluded. Compared to some years, this one was a little more conservative and traditional, and much of this played like highlights from previous Cabanes, but they chose well: the dishes were all good, and several were phenomenal. Like always, there was a substantial amount of food leftover that was portioned into our various takeout containers (another pro-tip: bring containers. A lot of them. And for Americans, briefly refresh yourself on the rules for what you can bring back, although cooked food generally causes no trouble.) This isn’t the sort of meal you want regularly (heck, we only do this every two years or so, which is probably still far more than a cardiologist might recommend), but it is a thoroughly enjoyable tradition, the food is really interesting, it’s a great chance to hang out with friends, and at the end of the day, this is actually one of the more affordable dining experiences like this you can have. We’ll definitely continue to do this every 18–24 months.

A recent weekend spent judging a high school FIRST Robotics competition had me driving over to Falmouth, ME for the weekend. An unfortunately fact of life of western NH living is that there isn’t any terribly good way to get to the Maine Coast: you’ve either got to go way out of your way and pay multiple tolls to get their via the interstates, or you’ve got to go on a long cross-country jaunt, much of it at 35 mph, taking a more direct route. I usually opt for the latter, since while slightly slower, it’s more fuel efficient, more relaxing, and there are better options for stopping. In this case, I found myself looking at options for lunch in and around Somersworth, NH, which is where I encountered Tasya’s Kitchen.

Tasya’s Kitchen is an unassuming little restaurant on Somersworth’s High Street, right opposite one of the driveways of their school complex. But walking into Tasya’s Kitchen, you can immediately tell there’s a difference between Tasya’s and most other area restaurants, the place is extremely aromatic, with distinct notes of coconut milk, lemongrass, and various spices. And that’s because Tasya’s Kitchen serves up Indonesian food. There are very few places in northern New England that focus on Indonesian food (and the only other one in NH I’m aware of, Bali Sate House, is interestingly also in Somersworth, which supports one of the region’s larger Indonesian populations). I’ll have to be honest, much of my Indonesian food experience comes indirectly, mostly via several trips to Amsterdam (where Indonesian food, particularly satays, have a strong presence due to colonial history), but I’ve always enjoyed good Indonesian dishes like Nasi Goreng (fried rice), Sate (grilled skewers), or Gado-gado (a peanut-based vegetable dish), and the Indonesian condiment, sambal, is a regular item in our own house. So I was really excited to have some good Indonesian food.

Tasya’s Kitchen

Menu-wise, Tasya’s offers up almost all of the Indonesian dishes I’m familiar with, from beef rendang (a dry beef curry made from simmering chuck or similar beef cut in curry spice and coconut milk until tender), to the other staples mentioned above like Nasi-Goren, several Sates, or fried chick, with a good two dozen options. You can tell from the aromatics that they are making most everything here; while they have a few Indonesian beverages and bottles sauces available, they offer up house-made variants of both as well.

Tasya’s Kitchen Interior

As far as the interior goes? Tasya’s is essentially a house converted into a small restaurant where the kitchen and dining area are only partly separated by easy other with a partition, so the overall vibe is “cozy”, almost like eating in someone’s home. And that’s part of the charm, since you can hear, and smell, them cooking everything.

Beef Rendang

While I was tempted by more than a few of the dishes on their extensive menu (like Mie Bakso, a spiced meatball soup, or Nasa Ayem, a spice fried chicken), I ended up going with a familiar classic that I’ve had at several of my previous Indonesian places: the above-mentioned Beef Rendang. The version at Tasya’s Kitchen is served up as a portion of beef, rice, a spicy egg, vegetable pickles, and a bowl of house-made sambal. This was everything I was hoping for. The beef here was the star: rich, deeply spiced, tender and clearly home-cooked, with strong pepper, coconut, and lemongrass notes. This smelled wonderful. Add in some of the nice pickled veggies and rice with a dab of the almost-smokey and heavily peppery house-made sambal, and you’ve got a nice little forkful of food.

Overall, I loved Tasya’s Kitchen: there’s obviously a lot of great food options to try here, and the beef rendang was absolutely splendid. I’ll have to make sure I come over to this part of the state again to give me an opportunity to try some of the rest of the menu. I’m certain I’m going to enjoy it.

As I mentioned in my review of Cedar Street Café, since the hotel we were staying in didn’t have on-site breakfast, it was a good excuse to go check out some of the local establishments, despite the relatively heavy snow. Our college Doc Tesla had given a hearty endorsement to a relatively new spot he had found just a few miles west in Sturbridge’s Fiskdale village, The Little Rest Stop, so we decided to go over and check it out.

The Little Rest Stop

Located just north of Main St/US-20 on Brookfield Road, The Little Rest Stop sits in a converted residential building that’s been a few other restaurant locations in recent history (until last year, this was the Old Village Grille, closing in July of 2025). After a bit of nice renovation (which, interestingly, was more “country charm” themed than the automotive theme I was expecting from the name, that theming mostly constrained to the menu), new owners Amanda and Rob, both veterans of several area restaurants, opened up The Little Rest Stop as a local restaurant focusing on good, affordable breakfast and lunch options.

The Little Rest Stop Interior

Walking inside, The Little Rest Stop is quite an inviting spot, with an L-shaped dining room offering plenty of seating, much of it by either the front windows or the old fireplace. You could tell that the place was popular with the locals; while there were a few tables open when we arrived, the place was full by the time we left. With a hearty welcome from both people we saw working (who later introduced themselves as owners Amanda and Rob), we found ourselves quickly seated with fresh cups of coffee and an explanation of the day’s several specials.

The Full Tank Feast

The menu is The Little Rest Stop is “classic diner fare”. They’ve got a nice list of “Sunrise Staples”, ranging from the simple (1 egg, toast, and home fries) for $6.50 (really nice to see something fairly affordable in these days of high inflation), up to the Pit Stop Platter with steak tips, 3 eggs, home fries and cornbread for $18.50. They’ve also got a handful of breakfast sandwiches, burritos, omelettes, pancakes and waffles, and one I don’t normally see on a breakfast menu: a selection of “Signature Spuds”. These were baked potatoes served up with a variety of breakfast items, including the Jet Lagger, which was essentially eggs and a steak bomb served atop a baked potato. While I was intrigued by the Jet Lagger, I decided to go for a variation on their Full-Tank Feast: hash and eggs with home fries, toast, and a fruit cup, but opting to upgrade the normal corned beef hash to the daily-special house-made hash. I’m glad I did, this was a solid, well-executed hash: nice tender chunks of corned beef and potato, perfectly cooked and nicely seared on the grill, along with some well-above-average home fries, some nicely-scrambled eggs, and some locally-made toasted bread. A great breakfast, albeit one with a huge calorie count (admittedly, one does not order a “Full Tank Feast” without expecting a large serving…).

The Fruit Cup

A special mention here should go to the fruit cup. Expecting a small cup of the usual slightly-dubious canned fruit mix, I was pleasantly surprised to see that this was a hearty portion of fresh fruit, nicely prepared and arranged, which was quite welcome after the rather large serving of hash and eggs.

Biscuits and Gravy

Carol, meanwhile, went for the Biscuits and Gravy special. This was quite good: an extra large house-made biscuit (which, unlike the usual New England biscuit, was a quite nicely done buttermilk biscuit) with a nice sear from the griddle, some nicely-done house-made gravy with a lot of sausage in it, two eggs, and some home fries. This was the exact sort of biscuits and gravy I’m often craving, but usually only getting when I’m making it myself at home.

Overall, we loved The Little Rest Stop. Some great food, friendly service, and a quaint little restaurant. One caveat: one of the ways The Little Rest Stop keeps their prices low is by being a cash-only joint, so bring cash, or be prepared to use the requisite slightly-sketchy ATM at the liquor store next door.

While we were staying at the Sturbridge Host hotel for a few days (whose on-site restaurants, weren’t, at least for the winter, open), we decided each morning to venture forth and try various local breakfast spots for breakfast. The first we tried was Cedar Street Café, which is just down the street from the hotel, although confusingly, not actually on Cedar Street (it’s sister restaurant Cedar Street Grille is, and the parking lot entrance is across from the Grille, although depending on which mapping service you are using, you may get some odd directions). Another of the local restaurants owned by Table3 (same owners as The Duck), the Café focuses on coffee, breakfast, and light lunch, served up in a converted farm house.

Café Omelette

Depending on the day of the week, the Café has one of two menu sets: the weekday menu has breakfast- and lunch-specific options, and on weekends there is a larger combined brunch menu. They’ve got a good variety of options, ranging from light fare like pastries, to classic breakfast combo plates, breakfast skillets, and omelettes. It had been a bit since I had an omelette, and one of their options, the “Café Omelette”, was right up my alley: with bacon, spinach, mushroom, and Swiss. This was a good, well-executed three-egg omelette: nice fluffy eggs, and a good selection of nicely seared fillings (I’m a sucker for the combination of spinach and eggs for some reason). Add in some nice, proper, double-cooked (par-cooked, then finished to a crisp on the griddle), and this was a great breakfast.

Monte Cristo

Carol, meanwhile, went for the Monte Cristo. You don’t see this classic breakfast sandwich much these days (the last one I had was at the now-closed Lebanon Diner, and you’re just as likely to find the batter and deep-fried version of it (which isn’t bad, but isn’t what I usually want for a breakfast) as a proper Monte Cristo, with ham, and cheese on nicely grilled French toast. The version at Cedar Street is quite good, with even more fillings than usual; their version comes with ham, turky, Swiss, and cheddar, all served up on nice, thick, Texas-style French toast with some maple syrup on the side. Served up with the same good home fries, and this was a great breakfast as well.

Overall, we liked Cedar Street Café: it’s a nice, convenient location with friendly staff, a nice ambiance, and a great menu. It’s definitely a good option for the area.

In early February, we gathered with a bunch of our friends for Nor’Easter Island, which is a wintertime event put on by the Greater Boston Vintage Society where we gather at the Sturbridge Host hotel in Sturbridge, MA for several days of vintage vending, swing dancing, and tropical drinks (all communities with more than a little overlap). However, in the middle of the winter, the Sturbridge Host is more than a bit of a ghost town, with no on-site dining, so when it came time for dinner, a bunch of us all decided to meet up at an old standby dining spot in Sturbridge’s downtown: The Duck.

The Duck Dining Room

The Duck is an interesting sort of restaurant space. Originally a large barn attached to a colonial-style house (the latter of which contains The Duck’s sister restaurant, Aviello, which also shares part of its menu with The Duck), the barn loft was converted into a restaurant about 30 years ago (lovingly called the Ugly Ducking), that several years ago was renovated by its owners (Table 3 Restaurant Group, who ones several nearby restaurants) into a much more modern space, and the result is a fairly welcoming dining room, bar, and back room, with some nice decor and a lot of exposed beams.

Sunken Bar

At the back of the restaurant, they have a bar where we enjoyed a few cocktails while waiting for our whole dinner party to assemble. It’s one of those odd “sunken” bars, where the area behind the bar sits a good foot lower than the main floor, so you end up looking down at the bartender. I think I understand the rationale (it allows the patrons to sit at floor level instead of bar stools, while still allowing the bartender to stand), but it’s still a bit of an odd vibe. But the house cocktails were enjoyable, with both their house mule and bee’s knees variants being well enjoyed by our party.

Statler Chicken

Once our party all arrived, we moved over to the dining room, and ordered our entrees. Carol ended up ordering the Statler chicken. A classic Statler chicken breast with attached drummette (also known an “airline chicken”), served up with a cornbread cranberry stuffing and Brussels sprouts. This was a well-prepared chicken breast, with a particularly moist breast and good, crispy skin. Overall, a great entree.

Prime Rib

But when I saw that Thursday nights are “Prime Rib Night”, I decided that it had been a while since my last prime rib (back at Lakehouse Tavern back in September), that I just had to get this, and I was really happy with the resulting meal. This was a simple presentation, served up with with potato mash, broccolini, and an above-average horseradish sauce. The roast itself, however, was perfectly executed: moist, perfect medium-rare done-ness, good marbleized fat, and a really flavorful herb crust. No separate jus, but served just wet enough that I didn’t find myself needing it. Really, this was just about a perfect prime rib, and I’m glad I got that.

Really, I liked the Duck. It’s a nice, inviting spot, has a good combination of tavern food and a few Italian items (from the Aviello kitchen), good cocktails, and a nice location in downtown Sturbridge. I’m sure if I got to future Sturbridge events (or repeat a childhood visit to nearby Old Sturbridge Village), I’d be happy to have a return visit.

One of the shortcomings of the greater Upper Valley area is that we’ve got a bit of a shortage of breakfast spots, especially if you are looking for something a bit more varied than “American Diner”. But in early 2025, we had a pretty big shift in White River Junction: the former Piecemeal Pies (which, after five years of business, shuttered abruptly in 2023 during bankruptcy proceedings) finally got remodeled and re-opened as a Turkish cafe: Cappadocia Cafe. Opened by Vural and Jackie Oktay, the owners of next door Tuckerbox (which has had its own interesting voyage transitioning from a Australian-owned coffee shop to a Turkish restaurant, but hey, variety is the spice of life) and Cappadocia Bistro in Burlington, VT, Cappadocia is primarily a breakfast- and lunch-based counterpart to the more formal dinner menu of Tuckerbox, offering an array of pastries, wood-fired flatbreads, and related lighter dishes.

Cappadocia Cafe Interior

Walking inside, they’ve kept the same basic configuration that the space had during the Piecemeal Pie days: a central ordering counter, the primary baking area and kitchen in the rear, and a nice seating area up front that can expand out to the sidewalk during warmer months. And they’ve added a vertical roasting spit out towards the front of the restaurant (although I haven’t been there at a time when it has been in use). The nice change here has been the overall decor: in addition to Tuckerbox and Cappadocia, the owners also run Little Istanbul, the Turkish store that sells minor Turkish foodstuffs, spices, and decoration, and various good wall paintings, table decorations, and chandeliers have spruced up the space nicely, giving this more of a “Turkish cafe” feel than “refurbished bakery.”

Pastirma and Egg Pide

While Cappadocia has both breakfast and lunch menus, we had come to Cappadocia for a weekend breakfast. Looking at the display cases as we came in, they’ve got a good selection of Açma (a Turkish bagel-like bread that’s soft and fluffy), Simit (another bagel-like bread that I primarily know from Turkish street vendors), and Poğaça (a soft and buttery Turkish breakfast pastry). While these looked good, I was primarily drawn to their breakfast pide selection. Pide is a Turkish, boat-shaped flatbread, similar to pizza, that is fired up in in a wood-fired oven to a good crisp, giving you a filled flatbread that’s somewhat halfway between a stuffed pita and a pizza (somewhat similar to the Georgian Khachapuri as well). Carol opted for one of their breakfast varieties: Turkish-style pastrami, egg, and cheese. This was a very satisfying breakfast: the flatbread itself is nicely flavored, and the wood-fired oven puts the perfect roasted “crown” on the bread, with a char that’s just starting to approach “burnt” but not crossing over. Add in some good Turkish pastrami (very lean, thin-sliced, and salty), a nicely-fired egg, and some bubbling Turkish cheese, and this was a great breakfast. One thing to note: this is easily enough food for two people: next time we’re splitting one.

Egg, cheese, and sucuk pide

Myself, I ordered almost the same item, a pide with sucuk (a dry, spicy, fermented sausage popular in Turkish cuisine, and a few Balkan cuisines as well, resembling something halfway between pepperoni and salami). This turned out to be a good call, since the crisped sucuk was the perfect accompaniment to the crisped flatbread, the just barely not-running egg, and the bubbly cheese. And for a bonus, it was less salty than the pastirma. I’d easily get this again, indeed, it’s probably near the top of my favorite breakfast items around the valley.

Bakery Case

With two different pides under our belts, we didn’t really have any more stomach room, which is a bit of a shame, since we were seated right next to the bakery case which had several different fresh-made pastries and cakes that looked absolutely divine. Another time, I guess.

Overall, I liked Cappadocia a lot. It’s a very welcome addition to the area’s breakfast scene. And if you come at lunch, they’ve got a similar menu of pide, börek, and lahmacun all freshly made with more lunch-oriented set of ingredients. I’ll definitely be back.

A few years ago, there was a pop-up donut bakery, Farmer and the bell, that was making French-style cruller donuts in the back of the Angkor Wat Cambodian restaurant in Woodstock, VT each weekend. After getting quite a following (they’d regularly sell out after only a few hours), they first moved to doing a slightly larger bakery space in the Parker House in Quechee, VT, serving up donuts on weekends in 2022, and still selling out quickly. In 2023, as the owners were starting their family, they put the business on pause, raised capital, and leased a spot in east Woodstock where an old former gas station had been a perennial eyesore, and built their own store, opening in early October 2025. We’d been meaning to go for several weeks, but most times we were passing through Woodstock, their parking lot was completely full, and we figured we’d come another time. But during early January, we finally had a chance to stop by and check them out.

Farmer and the bell

Mezzanine

The building itself is surprisingly nice. Built by local builder Geobarns, the structure nicely blends in with the surrounding buildings (indeed, better than the former gas station did). While the parking lot is almost always filled, when you get inside, the place is surprisingly spacious, with an enclosed patio, vaulted ceilings, and an upstairs level of seating. So while parking may be difficult (although note that the usually quite plentiful parking of East End Park is just down the street), there’s ample room inside for dine-in seating even when the patio is too cold for eating, especially once you go up to the mezzanine where you can get a table looking down over the open kitchen.

Bakery Assortment

Compared to the offerings when they were in the back of Angkor Wat, when they’d usually have four varieties each weekend, they’ve expanded their menu. Focusing on ready-to-serve donuts and pastries (both sweet and savory), they’ve got a large bakery display with the current donuts (a rotating selection of six different varieties depending on what is in season), croissants, focaccia, Danishes, and hand pies. They’ve also got some nice-looking sandwiches in a nearby cooler case. After looking things over, we decided to mix up sweet and savory, getting two donuts (cranberry and double-chocolate), and two croissants (a Farmer’s Croissant and a Ham and Cheese croissant).

Cranberry donut

Let’s start with the donuts. I started with the cranberry donut (we switched half-way to try both flavors). This is a French cruller donut, made with a very eggy pâte à choux, and you can tell that they are using fresh eggs, since when we were ordering you could see one of the owners, Ben, deftly cracking literally dozens of fresh eggs into a mixing container. The pâte à choux is piped out from a pastry bag, fried up into a wonderful, light and crunchy consistency, and then dipped in a cranberry icing (with just a hint of rosemary in it). Finally, a little dried cranberry and small sprig of rosemary to complete it. While a French cruller isn’t my regular choice for a donut… this is pretty much a perfectly done cruller. Light. Crispy. Flavorful. And a very flavorful and not-too-sugary glaze. I’d definitely get this again.

Double chocolate donut

Our second shared donut was a double chocolate donut, which was the same great cruller, but dipped in chocolate frosting, and then dusted with shaved chocolate. I rather liked this donut, the chocolate frosting adding one nice level of chocolate flavor, and the dusted chocolate giving it a bit of extra texture.

Farmer’s Croissant

I usually like my breakfasts to have a savory component, so I also had a Farmer’s Croissant. More of a “laminated dough wrap” than an actual croissant, this had bacon and Billings Farm Cheddar (from the Billings Farm just down the road). This was a well-composed filling, and worked well with the laminate dough, and one of the better savory pastries in the area, but to be honest, not quite in the same class as the donuts.

Ham and Cheese Croissant

Carol, meanwhile, did similar, getting the ham and cheese croissant, which was a lot closer to a classic French croissant in presentation, with reasonably good ham and cheese in the interior, and melted, crackling cheese on top. Again, one of the better savory pastries in the area.

Really, I enjoyed Farmer and the bell. While I’m not always in the mood for French crullers, these are outstandingly well done, and certainly worth checking out. And I really love seeing a local business go from “pop-up” to an actual restaurant, and happy to see that the place is popular with both locals and the ever-present Woodstock tourists and skiers. I’ll definitely come back, especially to try the focaccia or the sandwiches.

When we’re visiting relatives in Livonia, I like to use it as an opportunity to visit an old favorite of mine, Bates Hamburgers. You see, in one of those odd sort of time capsule manners, the Detroit area still has a strong presence of locally-owned hamburger joints, a good number of them selling “sliders”. Yeah, those sliders, the small hamburgers cooked over onions and served on small greasy buns. Yeah, those. While in most of the country the few proper sliders (vs just small sandwiches with that name) come from either White Castle (northern latitudes) or Krystal (southern latitudes), but in Detroit, various independent operators and small chains are still the reigning kings of classic sliders. Bates Hamburgers is one of my favorites, and I try to visit it every time I’m in town. I last reviewed Bates back in… wow, 2006, in one of the oldest reviews here on Offbeat Eats (yes, I’ve been doing this for over 20 years now…), and I figured that this, time, camera and French fry-craving nieces in tow, that we’d head on over to Bates for lunch and do one of Offbeat Eats’ patented “Health Check” re-visits.

Hamburgers

Bates has been on this major street corner in Livonia, at the intersection of Five Mile and Farmington Road, for over 60 years, and the basic building hasn’t really changed that much at all. Like almost every Detroit-area slider joint, it’s a shiny white-paneled building meant to evoke the memory of the original White Castles that these local stores and small chains (like many of Detroit’s slider joints, there are multiple locations for Bates, the other is up in Farmington Hills) were all imitating in style. Despite the age of the building, aside from a few signs on the back fading, they’ve maintained the place nicely, and it is still neat and clean despite the age of the place.

Menu Board

Walking inside (for dine-in service: if getting food to-go Bates has a separate foyer on the back side of the building for the takeout window), very, very little has changed since my last visit in 2016, or for that matter, since the review way back in 2006. A few minor rearrangements of equipment, and new-ish point of sale system replacing the earlier old-fashioned cash register (and at some point, picking up the ability to use credit cards, when this used to be a cash-only establishment), and a few more signs have shown up. And, for this visit, the Christmas decor was still in full swing. But really, it’s almost eerily the exact same experience as my very first visit back in, oh, ’92 or so. Indeed, the menu is the biggest change. Not in the actual menu changing (as far as I can tell, the list of items is identical to my ’06 visit), but the inexorable march of inflation has hit the prices. A single cheeseburger in 2006 cost $1.20, and now it costs $2.49 (and I expect, with the retirement of the penny, for that price to soon go up to $2.50 at least), but really, over those 19 years, that’s an average inflation rate of 3.9%, which isn’t too shabby, especially considering the significant cost pressures of the last few years. In any case, I still found myself ordering a trio of cheeseburgers and a small side of chili fries.

Cheeseburgers

After a bit of a wait due to a surge of online orders (also a change since yesteryear…) my trio of cheeseburgers was delivered. And, just like 2006, these are some of the best sliders I’ve ever had. These aren’t your typical White Castle or Krystal sliders, these are more substantial, with noticeably better buns (I noticed on this trip that double burgers get sesame seed buns, vs the plain buns of the singles), a really good sear on the burger patties, a bit more meat, and some very good and fresh fried onions. This is every bit as good as 2006, they’ve got consistency down pat at Bates, even over the decades. These are pretty much perfect sliders.

Chili Fries

And the chili cheese fries? Still exactly how I remember them. The fries themselves (a favorite of the nieces) remain the same crinkle-cut fries, nicely fried in clean oil, and delivered with a good crisp. The chili s a thicker, meatier chili with a lot of cumin, and it works well with the fries.

So, how is Bates doing? While a lot has changed in Detroit, and there’s been more than a little change in Livonia, this particular corner of Livonia remains unchanged, and Bates remains in perfect health, cranking out excellent sliders and fries for over 60 years. It’s always worth a visit, even if you smell like onions the rest of the day.