Mad Hatter Deli – Raspberry Pillow Cookies

Mad Hatter Deli - Burlington Vermont

I love Alice in Wonder Land / Through The Looking-Glass so the Mad Hatter Deli already is a win in my book. In addition to sandwiches, they bake cookies, which you can see in the Window.

Mad Hatter Deli - bag of Raspberry Pillow Cookies

The cookies are $.70 per (cash only).

Mad Hatter Deli - Raspberry Pillow Cookies

These cookies are about texture (notice the artisan spiral shape on top of cookie). The cookie has a some what hard on the outerlayer, and soft interior. Upon biting the cookie, it immediately breaks off a chunk without the crispy-cookie report. The soft interior (pillow) mixes well with the raspberry filling, for almost a cake-like feel. There’s something different about it.

This cookie may be in the running for best cookie in town.

Zabby and Elf’s Stone Soup – Sweet and Spicy Wings / buffet

Zabby and Elf’s Stone Soup – Wings

Speaking of wings, (Zabby and Elf’s) Stone Soup have great wings as well as a great self serve buffet. You pay per weight of the plate and as pictured it was $9.91 with tax. Pictured are Misty Knoll “Sweet and Spicy Wings”, tamale bake, and steamed kale.

The wings appear to be non-traditionally baked instead of deep-fried, but the fat is rendered and the baking results in a higher TTL (time to live) window of deliciousness. The sauce is mildly spicy, and the sweet isn’t cloying, there is a great balance to the flavor. The meat is very tender, falling off the bone, almost like BBQ and the texture is nice when biting into the wing.

The tamale bake and steamed kale were also great, It’s easy to try to balance the wings out with good vegetable items via the buffet.

Lastly the wings are only on Thursdays and Fridays and make sure you wash your hands after eating, as the wings make your hands sticky. Don’t forget it’s cash-only.

Daily News – Zagnut Bar (Found!)

The Daily News on College street in Burlington Vermont is a news stand / sandwich shop. They feature inexpensive sandwiches from KKD and I recently discovered they carry Zagnut bars!

Daily News - Burlington Vermont

Zagnut Bar

Zagnut - Detail

The rare beast is made by Hershey and is extremely hard to find. Toasted coconut wrapped better than butter-finger peanut candy layers. There is no chocolate is this sweet bar of goodness. There is some slight sticking to the teeth, however it is manageable.

Daily News is cash-only and the Zagnut bar is $1. Daily News can maintain this high price due to that fact they have cornered the Burlington Vermont Zagnut market. However a $1 beats the alternative Ebay price.

As a couple readers pointed out, $1 is sadly the current price of candy bars.

Beansie’s Bus – Michigans and Small French Fry

Beansie’s Bus – Burlington Vermont

Beansie’s Bus is back! This food bus is an institution. Speaking of institution I was taking care of some parking business at the Burlington Police station next door, Beansie’s made the trip much more palatable.

Waterfront Park – Burlington Vermont

Battery Park overlooks Waterfront Park, it’s an awesome view of the lake while eating your lunch. Notice the seagull… more about that later.

Beansie’s Bus – Michigans and Small French Fry

First let’s talk fries, Beansie’s are the best in town, yes even slightly better than Al’s French Frys. Deep golden brown hand-cut wonders of the deep frier. These fries stay crisp during their entire brief duration on earth. They taste like the oil isn’t changed too often resulting in a rich flavor, but not contaminated tasting. Make sure to hit these guys with a couple shots of vinegar at the counter.

I think Beansie’s may have introduced me to Michigan hotdogs, or Michigan’s for short. Apparently Michigan’s are a bit of New England food, known in Michigan as a “Coney Island Dog.” A “Michigan” is a hot dog with Michigan sauce on it. The sauce is like a cross between chili and sloppy Joe sauce. The sauce is slightly spicy, has onions in it, hamburger, and some sort of slightly sweet tomato base. I ordered mine with extra raw onions, then finished the dogs with a stripe of ketchup and mustard. The steamed hotdog is kind of plain, but in a Michigan it’s a great counterpoint to the flavorful sauce.

It was $3 for a Michigan and $3.50 for the fries, the Beansie’s cook rounded it up to $10 for 2 Michigan’s and fries.

Battery Park Seagull – Burlington Vermont

Watch out for the seagulls! They’re notorious for stealing food. Apparently last summer there was a “sick” seagull speaker installed, to help ward of the pesky aviators. I was sitting on the wall of the park, and there were seagulls on both side eyeing my lunch and coming closer. The Champlain Lake + Beansie’s is also a strong draw for obnoxious seagulls as well. My friend used to colloquially refer to seagulls as “dump turkeys”; these seagulls seem to have pretty good taste.

Boo-Kies – Philly Cheese Steak

Boo-kies – Burlington Vermont (Church Street)

So if you’re on Church Street in Burlington, hankering for a Philly Steak and can’t make it to Tommy’s City Grill, where are you going to go? The answer lies in a food cart, named “Boo-kies”. Thankfully due to having a roof over his head, he was available just after a rainstorm while other food carts were no where to be seen.

Boo-kies – Philly Cheese Steak

The default configuration of the Philly Cheese Steak comes with the traditional Cheez Wiz (wit Wiz).

Boo-kies – Philly Cheese Steak (American-Swiss cheese)

I prefer my philly’s with real cheese, Boo-kies told me they had “Swiss-American” which they use on their burgers. The meat was frozen, but nicely marbled, so I suspect this may be the semi-traditional shaved Ribeye Steak. Onions, green AND red peppers, and finally a decent roll, that was slightly toasted with some butter on the grill.

At $4.75 the Philly is a little pricey considering it’s half of a full sub, but it’s one of the better cheese steaks around town. I recommend waiting more than 2-3mins to eat it, as you will burn you mouth as I did. I also hear the burgers are awesome (the hotdogs are not bad). Food carts are cash only of course.

Ahli Baba’s Kabob Shop (truck) – Falafel

I had an appointment at FAHC so after I was done I walked across the green to UVM, to get something from one of the food trucks.

Ahli Baba’s Kabob Shop (truck) – UVM Burlington Vermont

This was my first time that I had been to Ahli Baba’s food truck, although I’ve been to their downtown Burlington Vermont location a few times.

Ahli Baba’s Kabob Shop (truck) – Falafel

Toasted pita, falafel (deep fried mashed chickpea discs), romaine lettuce, fresh tomato, onions, and tzatziki sauce (tangy yogurt based sauce). Everything was perfect, in this pita. The falafel was perfectly crispy and soft in the middle, with a nice spice. The truck cook, offered hot sauce on my falafel which I’ll have to try another day. It was nice having some nice hot street food, in the chilly weather. Currently this is my favorite falafel from around town.

The falafel pita was a great deal at $5.50 with tax (follow the college students for cheap eats). The food truck is cash only.

Zabby and Elf’s Stone Soup – “Turkey Reuben”

So where we left off from the last post, I was still looking for some lunch after some miss-cues and I decided on Zabby and Elf’s Stone Soup on College St in Burlington Vermont. They are next door to Bueno Y Sano.

Zabby and Elf’s Stone Soup – Burlington Vermont

Zabby and Elf’s Stone Soup – Burlington Vermont

The detail on the sign helps clue you in into the whimsical nature of this business if you missed the titular reference to the classic fable of “Stone Soup“. I had pictured this place to be a clicky crunchy hangout, but was elated to find delicious food and healthy-hip ambiance.

Zabby and Elf’s Stone Soup – Turkey Reuben

Similar to the fable of Stone Soup, Zabby and Elf’s feature local ingredients from the local “villagers”. In addition the bread is freshly baked  and the turkey roasted in the restaurant. The sandwich is toasted in the oven, which give the bread nice crunchy outside, there is also cheese included in the sandwich resulting in some nice melt. The turkey is phenomenal: slight seasoning and pepper on the roasted turkey breast makes this sandwich sing. I haven’t had turkey this good since I went to a Winn Dixie grocery store in Florida.

The kraut is fresh and is a little less pickled than I like, but it serves to not over power the juicy turkey. The thousand island / Russian dressing contained sweet pickle relish, which again I didn’t care for, but was an interesting twist and not a deal breaker. The sandwich appears to be aimed to the slightly sweet side, as well as keeping the flavor of the turkey in mind.

Zabby and Elf’s Stone Soup – Caper Berries

As a garnish instead of a pickle, Stone Soup users caper berries, which are the mature fruit of capers. I found these pleasantly pickle like, with a nice texture.

The turkey rueben includes a hand full of wonderful Mad House Munchies to round out the “localness” of this sandwich. The sandwich was just over $8 with tax. Stone Soup is CASH ONLY.

Global Markets, “Falafel”

Global Markets, Cafe, Grill and Grocery in the Old North End (ONE) in Burlington Vermont, as the name implies, serves up some diverse food and groceries. Global Markets is a cool place to go for lunch, for example you can get a Bosnian specialty for lunch, and then grab some Russian candy for desert off the shelf.

 
Global Markets – Moving December 16th from its current location, down the street.

Falafel – deep-fried chickpea or fava bean balls, served with house salad in pita.

Falafel is a classic middle eastern snack, and what better place to get a falafel than at a place that specializes in middle-eastern and world food? I think that despite the deep-fried factor, this lunch is a fairly healthy vegertarian meal.

World Markets – Falafel, a little more detailed shot, showing the salad. I think it consists of cucumber, onion and tahini as the primary ingredients.

The falafel and salad is made fresh before your eyes, and the owner / proprietor is very personable. The falafel is nice and crispy (fresh!), and the salad has nice tanginess, acid and texture to contrast with the falafel. The falafel pita is not quite enough food for lunch, so I ordered two. But I found that two is little too much, I would recommend ordering one falafel pita, and one other small item off the menu, or maybe an interesting snack from the store shelves.

The falafel is awful cheap at ~$3.60, bring cash as Global Markets is cash-only! I will be back to try some other world foods, and what is proclaimed as a great Philly cheesesteak in their new location.