No not the one on the North side of town... the one in the dirty South down towards Charlotte way. We met up w/ some friends there Friday night to spend some time in 2 of the nicer spaces in the area and shoot the shit of a drink or two. First stop was the Shelburne winery for a little music. The wine is not great but there is a white, the Cayuga that is drinkable. Beyond that we sat at a nice table on the second floor by the window and listened to Mike Colbourn bang out some acoustic tunes to benefit the Champlain Valley Head Start program. As an added bonus we were able to sample some delicious beet salad and very tasty pulled pork. I can't believe it but I might have to stop eating pork. I love it but it does not love me. My stomach is always a mess after a pork meal, particularly the pulled pork variety.
After that we hopped across the street to the Fiddlehead Brewery and its attached pizza joint Folino's. The space is also very cool w/ a sparse industrial look that is softened by the wood fired pizza oven that provides warmth and a measure of comfort to the space. There are some weird dead birds of prey scattered about so keep an eye out. There is no bar and not nearly enough tables to fill the ample space which the proprietors claim is thanks to draconian town zoning laws, which I do not doubt for a second. That said it is a weird layout that makes it seem like you are eating in a warehouse. There is not a very good area to casually drink a beer either (which you have to bring from the outside). It would be a great place for a fundraiser or party type thing. The pizza itself was ok, not great. The crust was pretty good. It was thin and crusty w/ pretty solid flavor. The sauce was a little thin as well... flavor wise. The toppings were also a bit spars. Price was reasonable, service was typical smug. It is probably the best pizza in our location and we will probably hit them up for take out once in awhile. I still have high unmet hopes from the Fiddlehead folks but they are not a complete disaster. I would like to see more folks go the way of the Alchemist. Yes it is one note and expensive but it is a fabulous note and the people that work there are friendly and solicitous... somehow realizing it is a business and not your basement.
Apparently others agree... Heady Topper was the tops in the 7 Days local brew bracket. By the way, more often than not I find that paper to be a rag that is not well researched or written but the recent article by Paul Heintz on the Vermont EB-5 program is an interesting read. I think he has some more digging to do and dots to connect but it was a solid read.
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