When it’s negative ten outside and the walk to the dining hall seems unbearable, nothing warms the soul more than a Vermont Microbrew and some hearty pub food. So when the brutal Vermont winter reared its head, it only made sense that we headed to Bobcat Café in Bristol. Located just twelve miles northeast of Middlebury, this Café also boasts an array of its own handcrafted beers, making it the ideal location for a laidback meal.
We arrived to dinner, once again in a small army, to celebrate Katie Ruymann’s 22nd year of life and Nora Tomlinson-Weintraub’s February graduation. The atmosphere at Bobcat is more of a Vermont tavern than a café, but the menu offers both pub food and more elaborate options. Kirsten Lundquist commented, “The environment found at Bobcat is the best I have found in the area thus far. The servers are warm and inviting and the décor typifies the laidback and homey style of Vermont.” Entrees range from $10 to $20, making this café and brewery a reasonably priced meal for college students.
In standard fashion, we entered Bobcat ravenous and began the meal with two orders of the daily special flatbread. I kid you not when I say this was the best flatbread I have ever come across. The special featured a Brie cheese base with butternut squash, bacon, roasted red peppers, and Gruyere cheese. The size of the flatbread is equivalent to a personal pan, which proved to be a pretty big issue when all eight of us discovered just how much we loved it. The pizza was such a unique spin on a traditional appetizer; the combination of these fresh local flavors made me reconsider changing my entrée order to a personal pan pizza. However, I restrained myself and stayed with the Chili Rubbed Salmon Taco Salad.
Ordered off the pub menu, this dish is served in a small blue tortilla bowl with a healthy portion of delicious salmon, fresh lettuce, rice and a black bean sauce. The chili on the salmon certainly made the dish hot, so if you tend to avoid spicy dishes, I would indulge in one of the other options. However, the portion of salmon was perfect and cooked just right, so as not to dry out the fish. I am unsure of what kind of the dressing was on the salad, but it was absolutely wonderful. My only criticism of the dish was that I would have loved more salad. The blue tortilla bowl is relatively small, and does not accommodate a significant amount of lettuce. Nevertheless, I enjoyed every bite.
To accompany my meal I ordered one of the house beers, a raspberry wheat ale. My beer knowledge starts at Keystone and extends as far as PBR, so I tend not to be able to detect the hints of “fruit” or “chocolate” advertised in the descriptions of nicer beers. However, in this $4 pint of handcrafted ale, the raspberry flavor was wonderfully apparent.
A popular dish at our table was the Open-Faced Lamb Burger served on a garlic herb flatbread with roasted vegetable salsa. For $12 you couldn’t ask for a more generous portion. The lamb was served medium rare and the garlic of the flatbread perfectly complement it. Drew Smith described the dish as “one of the most innovative I have found in any of the area’s restaurants. The combination of flavors was unique, refreshing, and had a hint of Middle Eastern influence.” My roommate and fellow food lover Katie Ruymann concisely commented, “It's the best thing I’ve eaten in a while.” There you have it folks. She refused to add anything more.
A few weeks ago, I had a pretty passionate discussion with our trainer Emily Mathews about a certain entrée offered at Bobcat. She raved about the unique nature of the dish and the fact that while it might sound unappealing, I would not regret my order. Well a few weeks passed until I made the trek to Bristol, and in that time, I had completely forgotten the name or the ingredients of the dish (in my defense, it was a pretty unique combination). However, when I arrived at Bobcat, I was intent on ordering exactly what Emily suggested and as a result, I found myself requesting a Vermont chevre and leek frittata. Frittata for dinner? Crazy talk, I know, but it was the most offbeat entrée choice on the menu, so I figured it was probably what Emily had talked about. Turns out Bobcat changed its menu sometime in the past few months, Emily’s dish was removed, and I was left with a frittata for dinner. My fellow diners stared at my plate with skeptical looks as it was placed in front of me, but after each and every one of them sampled my generous portion of breakfast fare, I found myself surrounded by 7 drooling girls. The joke’s on you, lamb burger orderers. It turns out the strangest option on the menu is the one of the best. The frittata is served with a beet crust and a warm spinach and pine nut salad. As previously mentioned, the portion is large and filling, a definite requirement for this foodie, and overall receives a big phat thumbs up from this relative of Debbie.
If you’re looking to put on a pair of jeans and enjoy a high quality, innovative meal in a casual pub-like setting, Bobcat Café is the place for you. It is located on 5 Main Street in Bristol, VT, a quick 20-minute drive from the heart of campus. Bobcat is open seven days of the week and for all of you early drinkers out there, the fantastic bar opens at 4 pm. So grab a beer, take a chance on a dinner frittata and enjoy our resident couple, Devin Perkins and Henry Clark’s favorite couple’s retreat.
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