Middlebury Chocolates is known for slabs of bean-to-bar chocolate, house-ground espresso and dark sipping chocolate tempered by homemade whipped cream. But through October, the chocolate makers will add two hours to their usual Friday service to serve … tacos. And, no, they’re not the chocolate kind you ate in elementary school.
From 5 to 7 p.m. each Friday, Stephanie and Andy Jackson, the husband-and-wife team behind Middlebury Chocolates, will host a monthlong series of taco nights at their café in Frog Hollow Alley. The small first-come, first-served operation capitalizes on partnerships with area producers, including Elmer Farm, Quill Hill Farm, Monument Farms Dairy, Windfall Orchard and Nitty Gritty Grain Co. of Vermont.
“We want to show what can and should be done to connect fresh local food to customers’ plates here in Middlebury,” says Stephanie. “We have an abundance of incredible farmers and food producers in the area.”
The couple starts by making their own masa dough with High Meadow Yellow corn from Nitty Gritty Grain. The homemade tortillas are the canvas for two nightly taco specials, one of which will be vegetarian. They’re both sided with a selection of housemade accoutrements such as pickled jalapeños and beets, Maya Red habañero sauce, apple-and-cabbage slaw, lemon crema, lime wedges, and fresh cilantro. Fillings such as fennel-spiced lamb and Jamaican jerk roasted pumpkin with collard greens will pique the palate. On some Fridays, live local music might complement the mellow sound of the Otter Creek waterfall tumbling outside the café’s window.
“Our hope is that restaurants follow suit in pursuing better year-round food integration,” Stephanie says. “We ought to be showcasing the amazing locally grown foods in the best possible way.”
And for dessert, there’s always the house specialty: chocolate.
The original print version of this article was headlined “Not a Choco Taco”
This article appears in Sep 28, 2016 – Oct 3, 2017.
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“Our hope is that restaurants follow suit in pursuing better year-round food integration”
First of all, I think American Flatbread in Middlebury does an excellent job of that already. They constantly tweak their offerings to make it as seasonal as possible and they do not hesitate to clearly inform the public about the farms and farmers that supply them — those are “showcased” on every specials board and menu, every night. I’m surprised that isn’t acknowledged in this article.
Secondly, it’s relatively easy to do an intensly local pop up theme once in a while but to sustain seasonal local food offerings while still being able to staff and pay the bills month after month and year after year, well that takes much more effort. The Lobby, Two Brothers, and 51 Main as well should be commended as trying to do just what the Jacksons suggest but on a realistic scale.
Hi Christina, you are absolutely right when you say that American Flatbread in Middlebury does an awesome job of utilizing local ingredients, and they do it year round, which makes it even more special. And yes, an occasional pop-up is certainly easier in many ways to integrate a broad array of local foods, especially during peak harvest season as it is right now.
I think the larger idea we are trying to get across, though, is that Middlebury has a lot of room to improve when it comes to offering local foods through restaurants, year-round or not. Personally, if we were coming from an out-of-town perspective, we would never consider traveling to Middlebury based on its food offerings right now. We are not trying to say that there aren’t people doing good things, but we have a broad and notable disconnect between the food producers and the restaurants. American Flatbread is literally the only restaurant in town (as far as we know) that continually works directly with farmers throughout the year… is it wrong to want others to do that as well?
Bottom line is, we rarely eat out in Middlebury for three reasons: the food is not consistently local, the food is not consistently delicious (with a couple exceptions), and the food is very consistently overpriced. Thanks for your comments, and I hope this helps to clarify our position on the matter.
What local farms does Middlebury Chocolates get its cocoa beans from? Right. If the Jacksons feel so strongly about serving local food, maybe they should change their business model. But a couple of tacos are not going to cut it. And I agree with Christina: Many Middlebury restaurants do a good job of featuring locally sourced food while maintaining diverse, interesting menus.
Flatbread does a great job, if you want a pizza. And there are a lot of places to get a pretty decent burger in Middlebury, some of which do source some local ingredients. But if you don’t want pizza or a burger, and local is important to you, and you’re on a budget, the options are pretty slim.
Honestly, the tacos at Middlebury Chocolates have been the best food I’ve had in Middlebury in the 8 years I’ve lived here. The fact that the space is kid-friendly and the price is reasonable makes me wish they’d consider keeping it going year-round.
“What local farms does Middlebury Chocolates get its cocoa beans from? Right.”
As cacao cannot generally be grown outside of the tropics, we put a great deal of time, energy, and money into dealing directly with growing co-operatives and farmers to ensure fair wages, sustainable agricultural practices, and consistently delicious end products. Simply put, we try our best to provide a better model for a specialty product that cannot be grown locally.
We do integrate many local ingredients into our products: we use local honey in all of our confections, local maple sugar, as well as many local herbs and spices. One of our top selling chocolate bars, the “Chupacabra”, utilizes loads of local maple sugar from Little Hogback Farm and habanero peppers grown specifically for us by Elmer Farm and Quill Hill Farm.
“If the Jacksons feel so strongly about serving local food, maybe they should change their business model.”
Why do you think we are doing this taco night, silly?
“But a couple of tacos are not going to cut it.”
True, and that’s the summary point of the article.
If anything was stated that leads you to believe that we or the author are attempting to put down the existing restaurants in Middlebury, then there must be some confusion, as this is not the case at all. The point is that we can and should attempt to improve the way that local restaurants utilize and feature local foods on a year-round basis. Please check out the great interview with Chef Matt Corrente of Two Brothers which was also published last week. Matt does a great job of pointing out what is currently being done to improve the integration of local foods as well as addressing specific shortcomings in our local food distribution system.