DigInVT offers a guide to local restaurants that serve Vermont foods. We provide information about each restaurant and if an eatery has been profiled in our blog, that post shows up on their page. But we aren't a food-review site. Restaurants that appear on DigInVT meet certain requirements (outlined here) and in that sense we recommend them. If you're someone who wants to get more in depth with food reviews as you explore Vermont's restaurant options, then maybe you want to pair the DigInVT guide with some other resources. And so we're presenting the 2013 Review of Reviews.
When I asked around about other ways people find new restaurants, the first answer was word of mouth. Some websites try to replicate that "friends recommending to friends" feel by having customers write and post brief reviews. The most popular national sites for this type of crowd-sourced review vary in how many Vermont restaurants appear with reviews. Some sites with VT restaurants on them are Trip Adivsor and Urbanspoon. DigInVT incorporates some of the tip from a friend style in our blog posts, where we invite people to profile places they have visited.
A popular information source in Vermont is traditional restaurant reviews. We're lucky here to have not only a lot of great food, but also a lot of great food writers. Often local newspapers will have regular columns featuring food writers. Some statewide publications that go into depth in restaurant profiles are 7 Days (which also has the restaurant directory 7 Nights), Vermont Life Magazine, and Edible Green Mountains.
You could also trace your way back to a new restaurant beginning with the ingredients. It's a creative interpretation of "let the food speak for itself." If there's a particular farm with products you like, check if they're also selling to a local eatery. DigInVT partner the Vermont Fresh Network provides a way to search for these connections within their membership - just look up the farm and click to its page, where you'll see the connections to the restaurants that buy their products. Another way to trace back from ingredients is through agricultural magazines like Vermont's Local Banquet that profile interesting farms, and interesting foods, which are often used by local restaurants. To really go for restaurant selection from the ingredients up, you could try one of the recipes in Tracey Medeiros' cookbooks featuring recipes for local food from Vermont restaurants: Dishing Up Vermont and The Vermont Farm Table.
Maybe you don't need a recommendation for a new place. Maybe you're the sort of person who writes their own review. There are some programs that offer reduced prices to encourage people to take a chance on a different dining experience. These deals may exist for a variety of reasons, but essentially they entice people into trying someplace they might otherwise have overlooked. Two examples would be Restaurant Week (presented every spring by Seven Days) or featured restaurants on LocalvoreToday.com. You can also check with Chambers of Commerce and business associations that may offer deals to encourage exploring their local business community.
We're sure this is an incomplete list of food review sources. What are your go-to resources for learning about restaurants, particularly ones focused on sourcing local ingredients? Let us know. Do you have a Vermont dining experience you were particularly excited about? Maybe it's right for a blog post (e-mail helen.labun.jordan@ gmail.com). We'd love to hear from you about new ways to make sure 2014 is a year of exploring the authentic taste of Vermont.
