Stowe - Feb 1 and 2

[TheBEast]

Headed up to Stowe Monday/Tuesday Feb 1 and 2 with the brother-in-law.....hopefully they can recover quickly....keeping my fingers crossed. I'd love to meet up with a local and get better sense of the mountain (only skiied there once, but that was on the St. Patricks weekend storm a few years back and it rocked). We rip the woods, bumps, you name it, so are game for anything.

Any local advice is appreciated (including dinner spots and such). Breakfast is included in our hotel stay (can't remember the name of the place we're staying at the moment).

Thanks!
Ryan

 

[deadheadskier]

moved this over to the trips and events forum as it has not happened yet........

if you desire beta on trails etc.....shoot a PM. happy to share some knowledge.

As for the town.....Piecasso is a must. Just got voted one of the 11 best pizza restaurants in the country and it's deserved.....incredible pie. I hear Santos, the new latin restaurant, is awesome. Matterhorn is the gold standard for classic apres ski bars.

 

[JD]

Breakfast and lunch. Obviously Mc Carthys at least once. Down by the theater. Also get breakfast at the Green Goddess in the lower village. Pizza at Pie casso and Pie in the sky. Both good. 1 pseudo NY style, I wood hearth style. Bars. Matterhorn apres. Pie Casso Apre. Rim rocks, back yard late night. Edelweiss has good quick breakfast. Dinner...Santos, Blue Moon....Charlie Bs at Stowe flake is solid but expensive pub fare. But you should really go to the Alchemist Down in Waterbury is great, about 20 minutes.....Resevior just up the road in H20bury also good with great beers, though not house made, and good pub fare, both these places are far better then anything in Stowe bang for the buck. The dirt road way home from waterbury is to take barnes hill from waterbury center up thru stowe hollow, the alchemist beers are high octane. Trees between all the front 4 are good. Look for tight misty entrances higher then the standard entrances in all sections. Keep an eye out for a left off of chin clip......you can always go farther then you think, but you can get hung up dropping in between lines. Be there early, it makes a huge difference.

 

[TheBEast]

moved this over to the trips and events forum as it has not happened yet........

Thanks wasn't sure where to put it.

 

[TheBEast]

Be there early, it makes a huge difference.

Thanks for the beta JD. We're bell-to-bell kind of skiers so since this will be one of only 2 or 3 multi-day trips to VT this season you better believe we'll be on the lift at 8 am searching for the goods!

 

[billski]

I will be there fri-sat can give you lowdown. I hope I'm wrong but precip potential is low. You'll likely be on good groomers.
Don't expect trees to be any good. Sharpen your edges big time.

 

[BackLoafRiver]

+1 on Piecasso and Pie in the sky. Great pizza. Pie in the sky had some fig, apple, ham, and goat cheese thing at an arts and crafts fair in Stowe this past fall. It was to die for. (and I hate people messing with my pizza toppings)

The Alchemist is one of my favorite breweries. Real great stuff. JD is correct when he calls them High Octane. Definitely a must hit!! They had a double IPA on tap last time I was there that put me in a coma. Delicious. (the food there is also quite good)

 

[billski]

Restaurants

+1 on Piecasso and Pie in the sky. Great pizza. Pie in the sky had some fig, apple, ham, and goat cheese thing at an arts and crafts fair in Stowe this past fall. It was to die for. (and I hate people messing with my pizza toppings)

Having been to Piecasso and Pie in the Sky many times, I agree they are good and creative, and have good generic ambiance. However, I'll part from the pack on this one.

As far as I'm concerned, Pizza Joint by far makes the best pizza. It had been a real hole-in-the wall in Lower Stowe village, attached to a convenience store/gas station. It was primarily take-out, but had a few tables. Our families just loved it. Between seven people, nobody had anything but love. They also carry a truly home-made birch beer that is wonderful. I understand they moved to Moscow Road since last year, I'm interested in checking it out, maybe the seating situation has improved.

For creativity and ambiance, the award goes to American Flatbread in Waitsfield. Yep, a bit of a drive from Stowe. It's a frozen pizza factory during the day, and they clear out the production room and put up folding tables and chairs with candles in bottles (remember when that was last cool?) around the brick oven for what my kids call "hippie pizza". I have never seen such imaginative offerings, they change nightly. Stuff you would never imagine on a pizza actually tastes great.

In Waterbury, we had a wonderful meal at Marsala Salsa - Carribean and Mexican. Carnivores and Vegans alike in our group enjoyed it.

 

[WJenness]

I'll be up for my first ever Stowe day on 2/2 (Taking advantage of woodchuck day).

Maybe we'll run into each other.

I'm hoping for some snow before then to get things good again.

-w

 

[JD]

Having been to Piecasso and Pie in the Sky many times, I agree they are good and creative, and have good generic ambiance. However, I'll part from the pack on this one.

As far as I'm concerned, Pizza Joint by far makes the best pizza. It had been a real hole-in-the wall in Lower Stowe village, attached to a convenience store/gas station. It was primarily take-out, but had a few tables. Our families just loved it. Between seven people, nobody had anything but love. They also carry a truly home-made birch beer that is wonderful. I understand they moved to Moscow Road since last year, I'm interested in checking it out, maybe the seating situation has improved.

For creativity and ambiance, the award goes to American Flatbread in Waitsfield. Yep, a bit of a drive from Stowe. It's a frozen pizza factory during the day, and they clear out the production room and put up folding tables and chairs with candles in bottles (remember when that was last cool?) around the brick oven for what my kids call "hippie pizza". I have never seen such imaginative offerings, they change nightly. Stuff you would never imagine on a pizza actually tastes great.

In Waterbury, we had a wonderful meal at Marsala Salsa - Carribean and Mexican. Carnivores and Vegans alike in our group enjoyed it.

I hit the joint from time to time. I would not call their pizza fantastic. I would not call Pic Casso pizza fantasic either. They are all the same product, except Pie Casso uses diced grande cheese (as does Jimmz in waterbury center) which is a better product the sorrento. If you want that kind of Pie and don't want any kind of scene, pizza joint (or Jimmz) is a good option. Pie in the Sky is closer to real pizza. By that I mean it's cooked in a hearth with an open fire at higher temps then the bread ovens used for pizza in all the other restaurants mentioned. The hearth has the advantage of being dome shaped with a small, low opening. This way the oven holds it's temp, and holds a higher temp., original NY style is cooked in a coal fired hearth style oven at 800 degrees. What has become known as NY style pizza is cooked at between 5-600, which is significant, and the entire front of the oven opens to load, which dumps all the heat out...as a result the actually cooking temp is lower, and when they are busy, significantly lower. This make a BIG difference in the final product. Flatbread does it right in a wood fired hearth as well. My take on local pizza...enjoy the mtn. wanted to encourage you to go over to spruce too, If it's cold (as it will be) spruce gets great sun in the P.M. The Gondi is nice when it's cold but the light gets flat in the afternoon.

 

[deadheadskier]

I guess my preference for Piecasso over Pie in the Sky is probably because I worked at the Pie on a few occasions during my various times living in town. Ate too much of it. I also find that the cornmeal that they use to help slide the pies into the oven becomes too dominant a flavor in the crust.

I was a regular at the Pizza Joint for sandwiches. They make a decent steak and cheese. I also liked their olive relish. Goes real nice on a Ham and Swiss.

 

[JD]

Also, your buddy spraker is the manager at Pie Casso, right?

 

[deadheadskier]

He is.

 

[billski]

It's freaking scary to see how much is closed today
Groomers and snowmakers will earn their keep today.

http://stowe.com/livetime

 

[JD]

They only lost 2" at the stake..

 

[billski]

They only lost 2" at the stake..

That's good. I wonder about lower mountain.

 

[JD]

6-8" of snow in the last 24 hours at Stowe....

 

[TheBEast]

6-8" of snow in the last 24 hours at Stowe....

Bring it!! Pumped....and found out last night about the groundhog day deal.....saweet!!

I'll take the 2-3 inches a day for the next few days to get us away from the "this is going to be a fast cruiser kind of trip" to "get me in the woods" kind of trip!

 

[JD]

8-12, more tomorrow...