Thursday, November 15, 2007

Pig Roast | Barre | Nov 16

It's hard to find good and tasty pig in Vermont. There's plenty to be thankful for living in the Green Mountain State, but roasted pork is not it. Sure we have a place or two, such as Finkerman's in Montpelier and Bonz Smokehouse in Morrisville, but they are a far cry from quality southern barbecue (click here for a full history of NC bbq). I went through a three year vegetarian stretch, but it ended because of my affection for the other white meat. Some of that was because I was trying to be be meat free in North Carolina, but pork with a side of hush puppies and slaw couldn't be denied. I'm so serious about this subject that my bachelor party started at West Asheville's Barbecue Inn (we won't discuss where it ended up).

I've got my fingers crossed for LACE's Pig Roast Feast scheduled for this Friday. LACE, which stands for Local Agriculture Community Exchange, opened up in downtown Barre in the summer and brought with it a diverse local-oriented grocery store, cafe, and educational center. LACE’s founder, Ariel Zevon, has made it her mission to help the Barre community reconnect with local farmers and provide healthy food to it's people. Ariel is the daughter of the late Warren Zevon.

LACE's "Farm Fresh Market and Cafe," which serves a rotating menu of in-season and local lunch goodies (such as sloppy joe's and turkey sandwiches) has been down for a week for a re-tooling. The Cafe is back with a family style dinner of 100% VT pasture-raised pork and sides for 10 bucks. The 9 member soul/funk/big band The Limes from Cabot will provide tunes starting at 6 pm.

I know I'm not traveling to the south, but I've got my hopes up that our VT farmers and local eatery can give me my fix.

Cake - War Pigs.mp3

5 comments:

Flatlander said...

Have you tried Cider House in Waterbury yet? It's along Rt. 2 about 3 miles west of downtown. I liked it more than Finkerman's but you're the expert on BBQ.

Anonymous said...

Woah, boys. You are overlooking River Run in Plainfield. I make no claims in holding it up against anything south of Northfield but against Bonz, it's certainly better. Finkerman's isn't anywhere even in the running.

River Run has gotten too expensive, for sure, in recent years. But as far as tastiness is concerned, you gotta go there instead of the others

Flatlander said...

That's an excellent point. I always eat breakfast there and forget about it being a BBQ place. In fact, we hit it this morning for breakfast and it was spectacular. My wife has sausage gravy over biscuit and I hit the usual (french toast on sourdough and a side of bacon).

You're right. River Run is better than anything else in the area.

jds said...

I've heard good things about Cider House. Will have to venture out there one of these days.

River Run is simply amazing. Their biscuit and gravy with potatoes and two eggs is my favorite breakfast. Director/screenwriter/playwright/author David Mamet has called River Run "the best place on earth." Their dinner, on the other hand, always leaves me a little unsatisfied.

Eva the Deadbeat said...

Yummy, tasty picture...