A Little Bit About a Lot of Things

So, I wish that I had pictures to show you all of the good things that we ate here, but frankly, I would have been embarrassed. Solstice is located in the Stowe Mountain Lodge Hotel. You drive up the mountain and come up to this giant wooden ski castle. It would be hard not to be impressed. They have complimentary valet service as there is no place to park. We enter into a beautiful lobby. They have a fireplace and tons of comfortable chairs to sit in. You go up to the second level and they have a great bar area and tables where you can have a lighter dinner. The restaurant has high ceilings and modern accents, tiled columns, walls of slate, two story book cases with glassware showcased in them. There is an open kitchen and a fireplace in the corner. The restaurant has a hum to it but at the same time is cozy.

As we were looking over the menu, the couple behind us was visited by the executive chef-they greeted each other as though they were friends. At other restaurants where the chef has come out to my table I feel like it’s for show. It’s like when the manager comes over and asks if the food is ok. Here though, it’s different. Maybe there is something in the Vermont water, but people here are just so darn friendly. It’s a weird phenomenon. I feel it in places like when I go down south or walk into an LL Bean store. The chef had a conversation with the other couple and was on his way back to the kitchen. As he walked by our table, he glanced and then backtracked a few steps to have a quick chat with us. He gave us a hearty handshake and it felt like he was genuinely interested in helping us choose something off the menu. He said the pork belly was a must and the rib eye steak was great. I find that when I come to Vermont, it feels like there is a secret club business’ are a part of. People like to buy local, support local business’ etc. I like that. And everything is super fresh. The chef said that they get the beef from a  farm just over the hill-when they say fresh, they aren’t messing around. So things are good so far and we haven’t even ordered yet.

Denise, our waiter, comes over and greets us. She is friendly and really helpful with the menu. She recites the specials from memory (I like her already) and is knowledgeable about everything on the menu (none of this-let me check if we can do this or let me check with the chef business). She tells us that the menu changes frequently. In fact, when we looked on the website when we were decided if we were going to go there, the menu was completely different. So we start with the cheese plate. $4 per cheese or 6 for $20. We get the 2 year old cheddar, the triple cream-like a brie, the oma (it was a soft cheese, but we didn’t care for it) and the Ascutney Mountain Cheese (Denise had said it was a MUST-it was a hard cheese with a wonderful nutty flavor to it). The plate comes with a slice each of the cheeses, some wonderful bread, home made cranberry chutney (wonderfully sweet-reminded me of Thanksgiving!!) and Vermont honey with lavender. All of the cheeses are from local farms and they are stated on the menu. I love that. Haven’t you been to a restaurant and loved something and wondered what it was and where you could get it? Denise said that all the cheese could be bought at the local organic market. Score! I know where I’m off to next.

So the bread comes, a piece each-no basket. Denise says that the butter is from Vermont Cheese and Butter, a wonderful sea salted butter. Yum. The butter comes in this cute dish with a silver dome over it. Too cute.

So I get the lobster risotto ($28) and my dining companion gets the ribeye ($31) with truffled mac sand cheese on the side. I love risotto. I don’t have the patience to make it myself at home, I like someone else to do the work. Yum. Good amount of lobster and the risotto is rich and creamy, complete perfection. It is served in a simple square bowl with some balsamic vinegar on the bottom and micro greens on top. The steak was cooked medium, came with a mountain of crispy onion strings on top, and was finished off with what was like pureed mashed potatoes and edamame. It was so juicy and moist on the inside, cooked to perfection, just the right amount of saltiness with a great grilled crust on the outside. the presentation of both dishes was wonderful. The truffled mac and cheese ($5) was also tasty. It was creamy but not soupy, cheesey but not overwhelmingly so.

Dessert. We are so full from our dinner that we can’t possibly have it. But we have to have something. As much as  I would like the chocolate triple bypass (I overheard that it was some sort of cake, a layer of chocolate ganache, salty caramel, and a merengue on top) we opt for the trio of ice cream and sorbet. Tonight it is banana ice cream, pistachio crunch ice cream and strawberry mango sorbet. We opt for the vanilla instead of the banana. The vanilla is smooth and creamy with a wonderful pure vanilla taste. The pistachio was also thick and creamy, lots of salty pistachios and who knew what the crunch part was but it was great! And the strawberry mango sorbet was a great addition, light and wonderful, and it cleansed our palette.

And with our bill came these two wonderful chocolates from a local shop in town (laughing moon chocolates) which I’m sure that we will head over to at some point. By the end of dinner I was ready to go home, put my elastic waist pants on and lounge on the couch for the rest of the night, knowing that in this wonderful meal I have now consumed my entire weeks quota of calories.

Overall-one of the best places I have eaten. It was a great meal which was made even better by the excellent service.

Solstice at Stowe Mountain Lodge

www.stowemountainlodge.com

7412 Mountain Road
Stowe, VT 05672

(802) 760-4735

Hours of Operation: Breakfast: Friday-Sunday: 7:00am – 10:00am
Lunch: Friday-Sunday: 11:30am – 2:30pm
Dinner: Wednesday-Sunday: 5:30pm – 10:00pm Between the dates of June 19th – September 30th our hours will change: Breakfast: Monday-Sunday: 7:00am – 10:00am
Dinner: Monday-Sunday: 5:30pm – 10:00pm

Tags: fine dining, restaurant