Wayside Restaurant & Bakery

1873 US-302, Berlin, VT - (802) 223-6611

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Posted By Michael Stern on 1/19/2008 10:29:00 AM

The Wayside Restaurant is a place to eat true Vermont food, including salt pork and milk gravy, fresh native perch, old-fashioned boiled dinner, and red flannel hash (so named because beets dye it the color of a farmer’s long johns). Not all these kitchen specialties are made every day. Perch can be had only during ice-fishing season, when it is lightly breaded and fried to a crisp; salt pork and gravy has become a Thursday-only tradition; Wednesday is chicken pie and meat loaf day; boiled dinner and shepherd’s pie are cold-weather specials; fiddlehead ferns are offered only a few weeks in the spring.

Whatever the daily specials, and regardless of seasonal shortages, you will eat well any time you come to this cheerful town lunch room. Meals begin with aromatic, just-baked rolls brought to the table. What joy it is to tear off a shred from a roll and submerge it into a bowl of Wayside beef barley soup – a brew so thick with meat and pearly grain that a spoon literally stands up in it; or dip it in the vegetable soup – a jumble of hand-cut carrots, squash, onions, tomato, and beans.

In addition to several puddings, Jell-O, and homemade gingers snaps for dessert, there is a big and appetizing choice of pies: mince pie, cream pie, apricot pie, lemon meringue pie, hand-cut apple pie, and maple cream pie. That last one makes us swoon. It is low and flat with barely-whipped cream piled onto a radiant band of amber maple cream. The maple flavor is powerful, elegant, and pure, and it will resonate on your tongue like a grand north-country cordial.

Scorecard

Overall: Legendary - Worth driving from anyplace

beef hash	Pie of the Day
chicken pie	Franks & Beans
cream pie	Hot Turkey Sandwich

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"Homemade franks & beans along with a side of crumbly cornbread make a fine Yankee meal."
Cliff Strutz

"We have yet to find a Grape Nuts pudding that we enjoy more than the version they serve here."
Cliff Strutz

"The fork-tender pot roast proved to be the best entree we have had at Wayside Restaurant yet!"
Cliff Strutz

"The one 'must-eat' at Wayside Restaurant and a true northern New England classic is the maple cream pie."
Cliff Strutz

"This thick, ultra-sweet chocolate pie was the perfect ending to a fine meal. As usual, my girlfriend's fork is faster than my camera!"
Cliff Strutz

"These hot dinner rolls come with your meal and couldn't be any softer. My girlfriend's one word description: 'Heavenly!'"
Cliff Strutz

"Wayside Restaurant is worth a stop for the pie alone ... but there is much, much more."
Michael Stern

"No shortcuts here! That is real turkey on the hot turkey sandwich and those are not instant mashed potatoes. "
Cliff Strutz

"The interior has the feel of a comfortable family restaurant. "
Cliff Strutz

"Wayside Restaurant looks like it hasn't changed a thing in years!"
Cliff Strutz