Let me paint you a picture. The other day, I went to the gym at 3pm with hopes of getting in a satisfying workout. Needless to say, that didn’t happen and I left only fifteen minutes later with a desire to do something else. At 7pm I tried again. This time, I made it to the front desk where I put my sneakers on, took a seat, and hung out with my friend from abroad. After several hours of chatting and catching up, I had missed dinner, lost the incentive (yet again) to do anything productive, and headed over to Flatbread for the perfect cap to the day. Long story short, I returned to my beautiful home sweet mod after two unsuccessful trips to the gym, zero minutes of exercise, and the acquisition of one of Flatbread’s evening specials. Who says a pizza isn’t the perfect substitute for a workout?
Located in the Marble Works district, American Flatbread has recently become my favorite dining option in a twenty-mile radius. Yes, I even prefer it to the french fries of Black Sheep. Shocker. Two years ago, the restaurant section of Flatbread revamped its schedule so that the dining room opens Tuesday through Saturday from 5-9pm. I think of it as one of the best developments that has occurred during my four years at Midd. The restaurant doubles as a factory for the company, which sells a frozen variety of its pizzas in grocery stores throughout the nation. This way, after you’ve read our review and are salivating at the thought of a New Vermont Sausage Flatbread but come to the harsh realization that you’re sitting in a kitchen in Stamford, CT (thanks for reading our blog, mom and dad), you can run off to the grocery store and pick up your very own!
The menu at Flatbread boasts a wide array of unique and mouthwatering all-natural pizzas baked in a wood-fired earthen oven. While I’ve tried many of the menu’s offerings, my personal favorite has been unwavering: the New Vermont Sausage, a combination of Duclos & Thompson’s naturally raised Weybridge pork in a homemade, nitrate-free maple-fennel sausage baked w/ sundried tomatoes, caramelized onions, mushrooms, cheeses, & herbs is this meat-lover’s dream flatbread. The heartiness of the meats combined with the flavorful nature of the herbs, not the mention the bountiful oil that seeps from each piece (don’t shy away because of this) makes this flatbread the best on the menu. However, for those that are less adventurous, the Cheese & Herbs, which comes with Fine mozzarella, Blythdale Farm Asiago, Italian Grana Padano, garlic oil, & herbs, their take on a white pizza, and the Med Bread, a take on Hannah Newman’s plain pizza (you ordered the plain pizza, Hannah), will satisfy your palate. Many of my friends also enjoy the Punctuated Equilibrium, which comes with kalamata olives, clay oven-roasted sweet red peppers, handmade Vermont goat cheese, fresh rosemary, red onions, mozzarella, & garlic. I highly recommend this flatbread to all the goat cheese fanatics out there.
Despite these fantastic staple items on Flatbread’s menu, in the end, it has been the restaurant’s weekly specials that have kept me coming back. In the gym-related story mentioned above, I was fortunate enough to return to my modular home with a large order of that night’s special: a homemade meatball, sundried tomato, mozzarella flatbread that brought all of my mod-mates running into the common room. The specials are the perfect opportunity for the chef’s of Flatbread to demonstrate their creativity, and they very rarely disappoint. There are always two special flatbread offerings, one vegetarian and one with meat. This past Saturday, we sampled one of each; the vegetarian offering included a sun-dried tomato sauce with baby spinach and ricotta cheese topped with a balsamic glaze, and the meat-lover option consisted of Bolognese sauce with Lewis creek farm rutabaga and Parmesan cheese.
Sure Flatbread is known for their undeniably unique and delicious take on pizza, but do yourself a favor and order the Evolution Salad as an appetizer. The salad features organically grown lettuces, celery, + carrots tossed with Flatbread’s own ginger-tamari vinaigrette made with homemade berry vinegar and topped with toasted sesame seeds. Take it from someone who has mastered the salad bar at Proctor, this salad is mind-blowing.
If you haven’t already garnered this from our review, we are absolutely crazy about this Middlebury establishment. Flatbread is the perfect place for a casual dinner with friends or family, or in my case, Middlebury’s ideal takeout joint. Whether you’re a MiddKid, a visiting family member, or a prospective student, your time in Middlebury will not be complete without a stop at American Flatbread.
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