38 Best Restaurants in Southern Vermont, Vermont

Built in 1796, this inn has been continuously operating ever since, and the comfortable tavern and formal dining room serve a Colonial-influenced bistro menu. A member of the Vermont Fresh Network, the restaurant benefits greatly from its strong connections with local farmers.

The dining room at this luxurious inn is a large, modern space where rich woods and high ceilings meld into a kind of "nouveau Vermont" aesthetic. The contemporary American cuisine emphasizes farm-to-table ingredients and has earned the restaurant "Gold Barn" honors from the Vermont Fresh Network.

Don't let the diminutive size of this roadside smokehouse deceive you. The place produces big flavors locals line up for: hickory-smoked ribs, apple-smoked turkey, beef brisket, and pulled pork, to name a few.

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.

The motto of Arlington's one-stop-shop says it all: "If we don't have it, you don't need it!" This charming country store is known for carrying anything from toilet paper to boxed cocoa mix and boasts a popular deli complete with build-your-own sandwiches, prepared foods, and house-made specials like freshly baked biscuits.

This circa-1790 Colonial inn dishes up Yankee favorites along with plenty of New England charm, made all the more intimate by the candlelight. To learn more about the colorful history of the building, simply ask the manager, who makes a regular appearance at tables.