9 Best Restaurants in Southern Vermont, Vermont

Originally a tiny bottle shop when it opened in 2017, the cozy beer-and-wine bar now has an excellent restaurant, a weekend morning café, and spacious summertime backyard serving wood-fired pizzas. It's a destination for hyperlocal drafts, seasonal small plates, and brimming Vermont cheese boards, plus a thoughtful stock of unique ciders and natural wines to go.

Seating no more than 16 guests per night, this oasis of seasonal and local cooking feels like your coolest friend's dinner party. It was the area's first farm-to-table restaurant when co-owners Abby and Rogan Lechthaler opened doors in 2010, and it has continued to be a mainstay thanks to excellent hospitality, warm-spirited creativity, and nightly changing menus. The interesting wine list and cocktail menu are among the best in the state.

This red-roofed sugarhouse on the edge of Lake Rescue has one of the best maple creemees in the state of Vermont. Locals Ann and Doug Rose have owned the sugaring house since 1985, and almost four decades later continue to uphold their destination-worthy reputation for award-winning maple syrup. Grab a jug of rich amber syrup to bring home, or try it spun into on-site treats like fudge and soft-serve ice cream.

So many Vermont restaurants claim the farm-to-table, local-sourcing, organic approach to cooking, but the chef at the Inn at Weathersfield is more passionate and rigorous than most, with more than 75% of ingredients coming from within a 25-mile radius in season. Enjoy the exquisite French-influenced regional dishes inside the inn itself, on its back patio, or in the separate "Hidden Kitchen" at the back of the property, where monthly cooking workshops and tastings take place.

For the best of French-inspired fine dining, look no further than the signature restaurant of the luxury boutique hotel, The Weston. Cozy wooden interiors give off English countryside pub vibes, but the menu, which changes seasonally, is all French bistro. You might start with the exquisite onion soup gratineé, followed by the fantastically tender beef cheeks braised in red wine and served in creamy polenta. While seafood, chicken, and vegetables all make appearances on the menu and don’t ever miss (the Brussels sprout chips are a particular highlight), beef is really where the kitchen shines, with other standouts being the steak au poivre and a simple but pitch-perfect burger. And of course, don’t skip dessert—if it’s on the menu, go for the espresso crème brûlée.

May and Wes Stannard opened this counter-service spot in 2018, spotlighting May's native Burmese cooking in Wes's childhood hometown. In one of the best stops for Burmese fare on the East Coast, you'll find vibrant noodle bowls like nan gyi thoke (thick round rice noodles with chicken curry), fermented tea leaf salad, and "Burma Bowls" with sprouted peas and chicken curry.

A longtime Brattleboro favorite helmed since 2012 by chef Zachary Corbin, this chic little bistro is known for impeccably presented cuisine that draws heavily on local sources. One room is painted a warm red, another in sage, and a changing lineup of contemporary paintings adorns the walls of both rooms.

Husband-and-wife team Mark and Melody French spent years in Puerto Rico absorbing the flavors of the island that are reflected in their eclectic international menu. In 2020, the couple moved their restaurant from Main Street into the newly renovated, 123-year-old Skinner Library, fashioning a bartop from the 1897 wooden shelving. Reserve a table ahead of time, or sit at the bar for a casual and romantic dinner with a maple martini or a bottle from the impressive wine list.

This converted 1925 lunch car (diner) is one of Vermont's most romantic restaurants. The sleek red and black space amounts to an intimate, candle lighted theater, thanks to an open kitchen whose flames flare in production of French-influenced, new American cuisine, drawn heavily from local ingredients.