Food+Drink

Three Needs, winner for best bar inside Chittenden County

The more things change, the more they stay the same.

We weren’t surprised to hear that Seven Days readers still love American Flatbread for pizza, Penny Cluse Café for breakfast, A Single Pebble for Asian fare, the Farmhouse Tap & Grill for burgers and Mirabelles for baked goods. But some newcomers took home Daysies in their first year out of the gate: The Old North End’s kofteh-slinging Farah’s Place, which opened last summer, is your favorite non-Asian ethnic restaurant. The race for best new restaurant was fierce (consider that Maglianero, Wooden Spoon Bistro, Pizzeria Verità, Stacks Sandwiches and Jin Chinese, among others, opened this past year). Yet it was El Gato Cantina that inched out El Cortijo as your favorite new restaurant in Chittenden County. And El Gato killed El Cortijo as your favorite local Mexican/Latin restaurant. Never underestimate the power of Mexican grilled corn and jalapeño-infused margaritas to win hearts and minds.

For a spot that’s only been open a few months, Waterbury’s Prohibition Pig put up a robust fight, coming in third overall as best new restaurant, and tops outside Chittenden County.

Food trucks made a first-time appearance in our survey, but newcomer Misery Loves Co. and its big red truck couldn’t wrest the prize from perennial street-eats favorite Hong’s Chinese Dumplings. Outside of Chittenden County, you’re lovin’ on the burgers, fries and fried seafood from the Sambels Truck in Barre. A move from brick-and-mortar to mobile can be a savvy one.

In town, A Single Pebble bested last year’s winner Leunig’s Bistro as your favorite place to eat out on someone else’s dime, suggesting that Asian food has vaulted the bar as an indulgent pleasure. Outside of Chittenden County, you still love those plates of crispy oysters and goat’s-milk dumplings at Waterbury’s Hen of the Wood at the Grist Mill.

Strong opinions abounded about where to get your drink on. In a category that gets more competitive every year, readers think Boyden Valley Winery bottles Vermont’s best wine — it edged out last year’s winner, Shelburne Vineyard, by just 19 votes. And in a redux of the Vermont Brew Bracket, Switchback Brewery is still your favorite craft brewery, with the Alchemist (maker of Heady Topper and Celia) running a surprisingly distant second.

Our growing crop of microdistillers inspired a new category this year: best Vermont spirit. WhistlePig Straight Rye Whiskey handily took first place, though Caledonia Spirits and its honey-based Barr Hill gin and vodka was right behind. The new, airier Three Needs is Chittenden County’s favorite place to get saucy, while Three Penny Taproom still rules as the best place to drink outside of the state’s most populous county. The best place to drink alone? Besides three votes each for “under a bridge” and “my bathroom,” you’ll apparently find copious tears and beers at the Other Place — or, as Burlingtonians know it, the O.P.

—Corin Hirsch

Best restaurant, if you’re paying

[W] American Flatbread
[RU] Tiny Thai Restaurant

OUTSIDE CHITTENDEN COUNTY
[W] Sarducci’s
[RU] Skinny Pancake

Best restaurant, if they’re paying

[W] A Single Pebble
[RU] Leunig’s Bistro

OUTSIDE CHITTENDEN COUNTY
[W] Hen of the Wood at the Grist Mill
[RU] Starry Night Café

Best new restaurant

[W] El Gato Cantina
[RU] El Cortijo

OUTSIDE CHITTENDEN COUNTY
[W] Prohibition Pig
[RU] Mad Taco

Best breakfast/brunch

[W] Penny Cluse Café
[RU] Sneakers Bistro

OUTSIDE CHITTENDEN COUNTY
[W] Kismet
[RU] Wayside Restaurant & Bakery

Best to-go lunch

[W] City Market/Onion River Co-op
[RU] Al’s French Frys

OUTSIDE CHITTENDEN COUNTY
[W] Mad Taco
[RU] Pinky’s on State

Best Asian restaurant

[W] A Single Pebble
[RU] Tiny Thai Restaurant

OUTSIDE CHITTENDEN COUNTY
[W] Royal Orchid Thai Restaurant
[RU] Ocha Thai Restaurant

Best Mexican/Latin restaurant

[W] El Gato Cantina
[RU] El Cortijo

OUTSIDE CHITTENDEN COUNTY
[W] Mad Taco
[RU] Frida’s Taqueria & Grill

Best ethnic restaurant (non-Asian)

[W] Farah’s Place
[RU] ¡Duino! (Duende)

Restaurant with the best vegetarian fare

[W] A Single Pebble
[RU] Zabby & Elf’s Stone Soup

OUTSIDE CHITTENDEN COUNTY
[W] Kismet
[RU] Bee’s Knees

Best restaurant to take the kids

[W] Al’s French Frys
[RU] American Flatbread — American Hearth

Best place to get late-night food

[W] Kountry Kart Deli
[RU] Ahli Baba’s Kabob Shop

Best pizza (restaurant)

[W] American Flatbread
[RU] Bite Me Organic Pizza

OUTSIDE CHITTENDEN COUNTY
[W] Positive Pie II
[RU] Piecasso Pizzeria & Lounge

Best pizza (delivery)

[W] Leonardo’s Pizza
[RU] Bite Me Organic Pizza

OUTSIDE CHITTENDEN COUNTY
[W] Positive Pie II
[RU] Piecasso Pizzeria & Lounge

Best Vermont cheese

[W] Cabot
[RU] Shelburne Farms

Best burger

[W] Farmhouse Tap & Grill
[RU] Sky Burgers

OUTSIDE CHITTENDEN COUNTY
[W] Burger Barn
[RU] Kismet

Best food cart/truck

[W] Hong’s Chinese Dumplings
[RU] Misery Loves Co.

OUTSIDE CHITTENDEN COUNTY
[W] Sambels Truck

Best snack bar

[W] Joe’s Snack Bar
[RU] Beansie’s Bus

Best Vermont craft brewer

[W] Switchback
[RU] Alchemist

Best Vermont winery

[W] Boyden Valley Winery
[RU] Shelburne Vineyard

Best Vermont spirit

[W] WhistlePig Straight Rye Whiskey
[RU] Caledonia Spirits Bar Hill gin and vodka

Best bar

[W] Three Needs
[RU] Rí Rá Irish Pub & Whiskey Roo

OUTSIDE CHITTENDEN COUNTY
[W] Three Penny Taproom
[RU] Blackback Pub & Fly Shop

Best place to get coffee

[W] Muddy Waters
[RU] Uncommon Grounds

OUTSIDE CHITTENDEN COUNTY
[W] Capitol Grounds
[RU] Green Mountain Coffee Visitor Center & Café

Best bakery

[W] Mirabelles
[RU] August First

OUTSIDE CHITTENDEN COUNTY
[W] Red Hen Bakery & Café
[RU] La Brioche

Best non-chain place to buy groceries

[W] City Market/Onion River Co-op
[RU] Healthy Living Market & Café

OUTSIDE CHITTENDEN COUNTY
[W] Hunger Mountain Co-op
[RU] Middlebury Natural Foods Co-op

Best farmers-market vendor

[W] Samosaman
[RU] Rookie’s Root Beer

Best wine seller

[W] Cheese Traders & Wine Sellers
[RU] Dedalus Wine

Best place to drink alone

[W] The Other Place
[RU] Three Needs

OUTSIDE CHITTENDEN COUNTY
[W] Three Penny Taproom
[RU] Charlie-O’s