About Us

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From Chef/Owner Brian Stefan

"What has collectively stolen our hearts about the food of Italy is the simple complexity.   A dish of pasta and red sauce may not contain more than a few ingredients like wheat, eggs, tomatoes, olive oil, and garlic, but it's the time and love in it's fabrication which transforms the humble ingredients into a nation treasure.   Like the pantheon of sacred grandmothers who have been the keepers and practitioners of this magic for generations, we seek to take the natural bounty of Vermont and North Country region to tables seeking a feeling of home, no matter where it may be."

"I spent my high school years living on the Jersey Shore near Asbury Park NJ, in sight of New York City.   When I started working in restaurants I quickly discovered that every restaurant in the area was an Italian  restaurant, no matter what the concept was.  That suited me fine, and I couldn't  get enough of the homey Italian fare I found working, or at friend's houses for Sunday dinner, where you were quickly given a job of peeling something before being presented with more food than you've ever seen.

Through a Summer Abroad program at Penn State I was fortunate enough to travel Italy and taste wines in Tuscan Villas and have pasta and gnocchi in Venice during a lightning storm.  It was my eat, prey love (or maybe more like Lampoon's European Vacation Meets Animal House )

 Much later in my career I was living in St Thomas in the US Virgin Islands and worked as the Head Chef of an Italian restaurant called Peche (Fish in Italian).  While we had our red sauce and classic dishes we also got to focus on lovely whole fish and lighter summer dishes."  

Full Bio at our parent site Southern Smoke Here