Up For Breakfast | Vermont in the Morning at its Best

Where to Greet the Day in Manchester, Vermont

Seats can be scarce in this cozy café. But if you are looking for a taste of Vermont in the morning at its very best, Up For Breakfast is a gold mine. You really do go UP for breakfast. It is a second-story restaurant with window views of Main Street. There is pleasant art on the walls; and if you sit towards the back, you can enjoy a view of goings-on in the semi-open kitchen.

Pancakes and Maple Syrup

Pancakes are some of the best in New England. They’re especially right when glazed with pools of maple syrup from Bob’s Maple Shop in Manchester. You can have them with or without blueberries, made from sunny-hued buttermilk batter, dark and serious buckwheat batter, or sourdough. Sourdough ‘cakes make a faint crunching sound when you press the edge of a fork to their surface. Inside the lacy web that encloses them, they are thin but substantial, with the vigorous disposition of a starter with character.

Breakfast Highlights

Muffins are excellent, available hot from the tin or sliced, buttered and grilled. More elaborate meals include eggs Benedict made with brisket and cheese on garlic bread, multi-ingredient fritattas, French toast made using cinnamon coffeee cake, and chicken-duck-cilantro sausage. Or how about one morning’s special of pheasant sausage that includes hazelnuts and cognac?

Wild turkey hash – wildly assembled, not made from wild turkeys – is a cook’s tour-de-force. It combines big shreds of roasted turkey with peppers, onions, potatoes, and pine nuts. The hash sizzles until it turns crusty brown on the outside. The cook then tops it with poached eggs and a film of fine Hollandaise. If you like omelets,we suggest “The Metropolitan” – smoked salmon, chopped red onions, melting-warm cream cheese, capers, and a sprinkle of dill.

Vermont in the morning beverages include good coffee and espresso as well as freshly-squeezed O.J. and grapefruit juice,