Simon Pearce Restaurant

1760 Quechee Main St., Quechee, VT - (802) 295-1470

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Posted By Michael Stern on 7/4/2003 6:09:00 PM

Originally opened in 1985 as The Glassblower’s Café, part of the Simon Pearce glass blowing factory (see it made!) and showroom (buy some to take home!), this outrageously scenic restaurant attracts hordes of tourists. Rightfully so: the glassware is gorgeous and hypnotic to watch being blown. The setting of the dining room, perched above the rushing waterfall that powers the furnaces with a picture-window-view of Quechee's covered bridge, is the New England landscape at its most dramatic. And the cooking, which reflects Pearce's Irish heritage, is good and hearty.

Served on plates and in glassware made here, the food includes such rhapsodic fare as mushroom ravioli with sun-dried tomato cream and a Caesar salad garnished with crusty fried oysters. Many dishes are a creative ode to favorite Yankee groceries, such as horseradish-crusted cod and Maine salmon in phyllo dough with Vermont chèvre cream. The meals we most like to eat are such pubby dishes as shepherd's pie under a crust of cheddar-laced mashed potatoes, lamb and rosemary pie with a traditional pie crust, Vermont cheese soup, and salmon and trout smoked on-premises.

Best of all is Simon Pearce’s bread. Alongside each meal comes a plate of dainty little soda-bread scones and thin slices of delicious Ballymaloe brown bread made from coarse-grain, whole-wheat flour imported by Simon Pearce from Ireland (and available here for sale).

Available libations include a choice from an astonishing 900-label wine list, locally-brewed beers and ales, and hot mulled cider. For dessert, we favor the old-fashioned Irish apple cake and pumpkin bread pudding, served warm with cranberries and caramel sauce and a dollop of rich vanilla ice cream.

Scorecard

Overall: Legendary - Worth driving from anyplace

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Reviewers Photos [Upload Your Photos]

"The cheese-enriched crust on this Shepherd's pie is especially delicious."
Michael Stern

"Meals begin with slices of Irish brown bread and square little rolls."
Michael Stern

"Lobster rolls are served the real New England way: in a buttered and grilled split bun."
Michael Stern

"It seems especially right to conclude a meal with Irish Coffee in this Irishman's retreat."
Michael Stern

"The caramel sauce adds an extra-special flavor to Simon Pearce's apple pie ... not to mention that fragile pastry crust."
Michael Stern

"All the glassware used on Simon Pearce tables is made by hand downstairs. Even a glass of water is lovely to look at."
Michael Stern

"Some of the hand-blown glass artwork added to the meal, as did the beautiful view we had from our private table."
Matthew Darden

"That's the Simon Pearce dining room perched over the falls. The glass-blowing shop is down below."
Michael Stern