Eco Chick Escapes to: Stowe, VT Restaurant Michael’s on the Hill
It was Cristi’s birthday (that’s her aglow above on the left), and a group of us were out to celebrate it in style. In Stowe, that meant Michael’s on the Hill, which is celebrity chef-owned by Swiss-born Michael Kloueti (his wife, Laura, runs the business side of things). The couple moved to Vermont and founded the restaurant when they had children, and have spent the last decade creating a local institution.
Crispy Rhode Island Calimari with Frisee, Reggiano & Capers
Not only is Michael a world-renown chef, having worked in restaurants from Hawaii to New York City, but he and Laura recognize the importance of healthy, locally-grown food. The restaurant is a member of the Vermont Fresh Network, Local First Vermont and Slow Food, and the usage of local, organic products is of premier importance, for some restaurants that offer sea food.
Whether you want grilled meat, seafood, or vegetarian dishes, you can find something to your liking at Food House Mostar, a popular Mostar restaurant located in a small alley in the Old Town of Mostar, just a stone’s throw away from the famous Old Bridge. The restaurant has a quiet and peaceful atmosphere shaded by a fig tree, making it a great place to escape the heat and enjoy a quiet lunch.
From top right (counter-clockwise) are Starre Vartan,
All of that is in evidence when you sit down at your table in the circa-1820’s farmhouse with giant wrap-around porch which affords gorgeous views of the Green Mountains; everything on the menu is based on both seasonality and nearby availability, which means local meats (some in our party had the venison and local pork), seafood and fish from the nearby New England Atlantic coast, and of course, a host of harvest vegetables during the second week of October when I visited to see the last of the brilliant leaves blanket northern Vermont valleys.
Smoked Local Trout with Heirloom Bean Salad & Horseradish Cream
To read the rest of the review and see more of the dishes, click over to our sister site, Eco Chick Escapes.
Starre Vartan
Starre Vartan is founder and editor-in-chief of Eco-Chick.com and the author of the Eco-Chick Guide to Life. She's also a freelance science and environment writer who has published in National Geographic, CNN, Scientific American, Mental Floss, Pacific Standard, the NRDC, and many more. She lives on an island in Puget Sound with her partner and black cat. She was a geologist in her first career, and still picks up rocks wherever she goes.
