James Beard Semi-Finalists for 2024 Include Three in Vermont
Yes, Vermont’s done it again.
Ever since Nisachon Morgan of Randolph, Vermont’s Saap Restaurant received the prestigious James Beard Award for Best Chef: Northeast in 2022, my eyes are peeled each year for other local eateries and chefs who are recognized by the James Beard Foundation in what some called “the Oscars” of the restaurant industry.
The 2024 Semi-Finalists named yesterday include three Vermont establishments—Micah Tavelli of Paradiso Hi-Fi in Burlington and Cara Chigazola Tobin of Honey Road in Burlington, each nominated for Best Chef: Northeast, and Barr Hill Cocktail Bar in Montpelier for nationwide Outstanding Bar.
Paradiso Hi-Fi, a place for listening to music, both retro (its sound system is purposefully analog not digital, with some vintage equipment like a Garrard turntable) and of-the-minute, saying this about itself:
“Listening to music at Paradiso is like participating in a group listening ritual. For most of our guests we’re going to open doors to new worlds of music and sonics. This is a place where you can really sink into an album, hear something totally new in the familiar, and find new artists and genres to explore and adore.”
Tavelli is Paradiso’s Executive Chef, (photo, above) creating a vegetable-forward menu (also with some fish and a ribeye) with tempting dishes like: deviled eggs with squid ink, trout roe and dill; smoked beet agnolotti; celery root pie, triple cream mornay with fermented gooseberries.
The story of Barr Hill begins in 2011 with a beekeeper and distiller working together in one of the most beautiful agricultural regions on Earth - the Northeast Kingdom of Vermont.
Barr Hill Cocktail Bar is as it sounds, with a menu of cocktails based on its “flagship spirit” gin and other alcohols. There is inside seating and in warmer weather, a large outdoor patio. A good-looking menu with small and larger plates. They offer classes, shopping opportunities, and tours:
. . . a behind-the-scenes guided tour and tasting inside our distillery – the only place in the world where Barr Hill Gin, Tom Cat Gin, and Barr Hill Vodka are distilled. Learn about distillation up-close and witness first-hand how our distillers work with raw honey to make our spirits. You will be invited to tour the whole building, meet the stills, smell the oak in the barrel room, explore the bottling operation, and our experimental lab. You’ll have the opportunity to taste raw honey, sip through our spirits, and dip a bottle into melted beeswax.—Barr Hill website
As for Honey Road, recently it was also included in a New York Times “best” list. (Click here for the story covered on Artful.) And according to an article in Seven Days, this is Tobin’s fourth James Beard nomination.
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And in case you are wondering . . . Susan B. Apel shuttered a lifelong career as a law professor to continue an interest (since kindergarten) in writing. Her freelance business, The Next Word, includes literary and feature writing; her work has appeared in a variety of lit mags and other publications including Art New England, The Woven Tale Press, The Arts Fuse, and Persimmon Tree. She connects with her neighbors through Artful, her blog about arts and culture in the Upper Valley. She’s in love with the written word..
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