Earlier this month I took a weekend escape with three friends to Stowe, VT. I hadn't been to Stowe since a family trip in elementary school. When we decided to book this, I called my parents to help me jog my memory about my last time in the Green Mountains. My mother said, "You don't remember? Daddy and I do. We tried to take you and your sister skiing. We got you all dressed, it was about -20 degrees outside and you both just cried the whole time. You spent the rest of the weekend swimming in the indoor pool." Hmmm. Well, that didn't feel very promising.
On a Friday night, fresh off a six hour flight from Las Vegas, I hopped in the car and drove the three hours north to meet the girls. When I got off the highway exit and winded toward our condo rental, every single thing I drove by I found myself going, "Ooooo, that looks cute!"
Though it had poured Friday night, we woke up Saturday to the clouds clearing and the sun shining through. We had a lovely breakfast at our condo and then headed out to shop.
After visiting every shop on Mountain Road (literally) we had worked up an appetite. The night before I had noticed an adorable looking place called Crop Bistro & Brewery, so we moseyed on over there to have some lunch.
You can spot Crop from the road by it's two enormous wooden barrels on the front lawn.
The sign swings from a tree trunk which glitters at night with twinkle lights.
Crop brews their own beers and that's the first thing you see when you walk in. This step up reminded me of Watch City Brewery in Waltham, MA.
The dining room and bar areas were empty because everyone wanted to sit outside in the sun. I snuck into the bar area to snap this shot of tree branches growing up out of the bar.
The dining room is all windows, allowing the sun to pour in.
Out back, Crop makes great use of their space with picnic tables and an outdoor patio. Their backyard is along a bike path, so lots of people ride up, drop their bikes and nosh.
We sat on the outdoor patio which is dotted with lemon colored chairs and caramel colored umbrellas.
The menu is embossed with their green logo, a unique spelling of the word "Crop." We were also given a print out of the day's beer selections titled the "Draught Crop Rotation." I love me some clever branding.
Though Crop's specialty is beer, we were feeling celebratory and decided to order a bottle of Prosecco. You all know I normally don't show people in my pictures, but this photo bomb was just too good.
This bottle of Prosecco was called Cantine Maschio and it was fantastic. Just the right ratio of dry to sweet. It was so good in fact, I bought a bottle of it at the NH State liquor store on the way home. Guilty.
There were so many yummy options on the Crop menu that it was hard for us to narrow down our selections. Ultimately, we decided to begin by sharing the fried avocado appetizer.
The plate was two avocados, cut in half, then fried in a tempura-like batter. Those fried avocado halves were then served over seaweed salad and a pineapple soy drizzle. The best bites were ones with a piece of avocado and a few pieces of seaweed together.
For the main event, the friend to my left ordered the French onion soup. It came in a silver bowl with its own silver serving dish. After a few slurps she commented, "Onion soups can be very heavy and salty, this was neither. The onions were cooked perfectly."
She shared that the best part of the soup was the "crostini bridge" laid across the top. "The crostini was super crunchy - I loved it! It was ideal for dipping."
To my right, a friend ordered the wedge salad, no bacon. When it arrived, I felt like it might not be filling enough. The absence of the bacon was noticeable.
The iceberg wedge was placed in the center of a ring of cucumbers and a ring of tomato slices, then dressed with Boucher Family Farm blue cheese. When I asked if had enough to eat, she answered, "It was definitely enough. It was simple, light, the dressing was awesome and it was just the right amount of food for me."
Straight across from me, the third musketeer went with an appetizer for lunch, the pork shoulder egg rolls. It was actually one giant egg roll, packed with shredded pork, cut in half and served over a black bean paste and a honey ginger sauce.
When I asked how she was liking the egg roll, she replied, "This was a great choice for my main meal. This would be too small to share with a group, but it was perfect for me. I slathered that black bean paste onto every single bite. I would never have thought to serve an egg roll with black beans, but it totally worked."
I couldn't resist the menu item called the "Big kid grilled cheese." It was two generous slices of white bread filled with cheese, tomato and onion, served with a side of French fries.
I was underwhelmed by both the sandwich and the fries. As a vegetarian, I eat a ton of grilled cheese in restaurants and this just wasn't noteworthy in any way.
The best part of our lunch at Crop was enjoying some much needed Vitamin D on the patio. This was a long, cold winter and we were all ecstatic to take off our jackets and soak up the rays.
If you're visiting Stowe, Crop is a great choice for beers, lunch or dinner.
