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CITY GUIDE 102 M AY/J U N E 2 017 U N TAC K E D SIMON PEARCE Simon Pearce restaurant, in the neighboring village of Quechee, is a popular year-round favorite known for its ambience and creative cuisine. Located in a restored mill overlooking a waterfall and covered bridge on the Ottauquechee River, Simon Pearce offers a series of wine dinners monthly from November through May. Travel & Leisure magazine even voted it one of "America's most romantic restaurants." Food favorites include the Vermont cheddar soup, spiced and charred octopus, and crisp roasted duckling with a balsamic shallot reduction for a main course. The restaurant also offers creative cocktail recipes—all served in handmade glassware—including the Flannel Cocktail, a mixture of Courvoisier VS, allspice dram and apple cider, with an orange twist. Guests can watch the creation of the glassware and pottery in the on-site glassblowing studio located inside the mill; take home your favorite designs from the retail shop. 1760 Quechee Main Street (802) 295-2711 Quechee, VT 05059 simonpearce.com BENTLEY'S RESTAURANT Bentley's has become a Woodstock institution in its 40-plus years of existence, with a motto of "never changing but always new." Located on the corner of Central and Elm Streets, it's the unofficial meeting spot of Woodstock with a friendly, neighborly atmosphere. Serving American fare for lunch and dinner, the menu includes a charcuterie plate with local Vermont cheeses and a bacon cheeseburger with beef from nearby Robie Farms. Bentley's offers live music many weekend nights, plus dancing later on with a DJ. Reservations are recommended for larger dining parties. 3 Elm Street (802) 457-3232 Woodstock, VT 05091 bentleysrestaurant.com KEEPER'S A COUNTRY CAFÉ Keeper's is an intimate and bustling restaurant a short drive away from GMHA and just 12 miles from downtown Woodstock. Its menu changes several times per year but always features farm-to-table organic ingredients and French-American cuisine with an Italian influence. Daily and weekly "Blackboard" specials include seasonal highlights—refreshing salads in the summer and comfort food in the winter. Each meal is made from scratch, with proteins including grass-fed beef raised in nearby Weathersfield, Vt. (burgers are ground fresh daily), lamb from Second Wind Farm in Woodstock, and fresh, wild-caught fish. The steamed Prince Edward Island mussels are always a good choice, but the café also offers vegan and vegetarian options every day. 3685 Route 106 (802) 484-9090 Reading, VT 05062 keeperscafe.com PHOTO COURTESY OF SIMON PEARCE JORDAN JENNINGS PHOTO PHOTO COURTESY OF KEEPER'S