7 Nights

Cathy Resmer of Seven Days mentions on her blog that the area's ever informative annual restaurant guide has now been unleashed to the internet via the new Seven Nights website. I've always kept a copy of the paper version in my car ever since it was release two or so years ago. It's rather informative and much better then any other free food guide that I've ever seen (even though this one has proved useful in the past). The greatest advantages of the online guide is that it is easily searchable, provides websites and other pertinent information, and allows users to write restaurant reviews. As an accountability measure, all reviews require a "sign in," but that's what keeps them from looking like the one's that come up on MSN's homepage always listing McDonalds as the best place in the area for family dinning.

One interesting place the I came across was the Round Table at the Days Inn in Barre. I had no idea that there was a restaurant there, but the restaurand-hotel combo is normal. What shocked me is that a meal at this "eclectic American" establishment, with it's "popular chicken parmesan -- an eight-ounce chicken breast, breaded and deep-fried with homemade bolognese sauce and melted cheese served on a heaping bed of pasta," would cost more then a dinner at Sean and Nora's, River Run, or Sarducci's. I love branching out and supporting my local economy, but I'm not about to try an unknown restaurant in the Days Inn when it'll cost me more then some of the area's tried and true (and finest). Perhaps they'll be reviewed in the near term.

Aberfeldy - Vegetarian Restaurant.mp3