3 Best Restaurants in Southern Vermont, Vermont

This intimate, elegant bistro is owned by husband-and-wife team Mark and Melody French, who spent years in Puerto Rico absorbing the flavors of the island that are reflected in the eclectic international menu. After nine years in their original space on Main Street, in 2020 the couple moved their restaurant 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 wine bar for a casual and romantic dinner with a maple martini or a bottle from the impressive wine list.

An old highway equipment garage is now filled with a shiny copper still and barrels of aging spirits, visible through big windows from the attached tasting room; cocktails made with the distillery's gin, vodka, rye, and bourbon are twists on the classics, detailed in blueprint-like sketches on the menu. The food is surprisingly inventive for tasting room fare, including chicken and waffles, bowls of ramen, and a burger made from cattle fed the distillery's spent grain, served on a spent grain bun.