A popular Northeast Kingdom restaurant has found a new home — and, one hopes, a drier one.
Co-owners and fiancés Maria Hill and Steve Vazzano will reimagine Parsons Dinner House as the Dinner House at Runaway Manor, moving from a flood-prone location in Barton to 77 Maple Lane in West Glover. They’re targeting a late-May opening in the luxurious countryside home, which previously operated as an event venue and vacation rental.
The seasonally inspired Parsons Dinner House featured “upscale comfort food, exciting cocktails and decadent desserts with the homey touches often unique to owner-operated businesses,” Seven Days wrote in December 2023. That visit followed the restaurant’s November reopening after extensive damage from the July 2023 flood.
In July 2024, the Barton River flooded again — not as badly, Vazzano said. “But every time it rained, we had to worry.”
The couple closed their restaurant in October after an almost four-year run. An “exhausting” search for a new location eventually led them to the yellow manor with sprawling views owned by longtime customer Ed Nasta, Vazzano said.
“It’s a beautiful piece of property,” he continued. “It’ll be true destination dining, with a real wow factor.”
The 40-seat restaurant — open for dinner and Sunday brunch — will divide the manor’s main floor into three or four dining rooms, including a small bar and a lounge area with a fireplace. Upstairs, three rooms will be available to rent through Airbnb.
This article appears in Mar 19-25, 2025.
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