During our recent mostly snow-less Vermont visit, we did rather enjoy our accomodations at The Inn at Round Barn Farm (where our stay was half off since we had gotten a gift certificate for one night from a silent auction from Prevent Child Abuse Vermont at A Single Pebble). I usually don’t review Bed and Breakfasts since it’s usually a bit difficult for non-guests to dine there, but I was pleased enough with the meals that I figured it was still worth a writeup.
Located about a mile east of downtown Waitsfield, The Inn at Round Barn Farm is hard to miss (it’s at the, um, Round Barn, which serves as a venue for weddings and other large group gatherings), and it’s one of the more pleasant B&Bs I’ve stayed at around Vermont, with about a dozen eclectic guest rooms scattered about through a converted old farm house and the form barn space connecting the house with the Round Barn. With a pleasant staff that works hard to know all the area attractions (especially important when, on a weekend like ours, the usual “snow” related activities weren’t generally an option… as luck had it, it started snowing hard just as we left…), it was quite a pleasant place to spend a weekend. And, every morning they had fresh breakfast made to order, with each morning featuring both a sweet and a savory item (being allowed to have a bit of both).
For our first breakfast, the sweet component was relatively simple: a nice chocolate and berry scone. This was a nice, pleasant scone, : a good firm crumb and some heft to it without being leaden (scones, like biscuits, generally seem to be the bane of New England bakers who tend to produce dense little pucks), and just enough sweetness that I didn’t feel like this particular scone needed any toppings like cream, butter, or jam.
Next up was a huevos rancheros served up with a housemade quesadilla. The huevos were rather good, two nicely fried eggs with a very tangy and sharp salsa with some good red chile pepper notes served over a bed of al dente beans, this was everything I look for in a good rancheros, each fork giving me a nice bite of egg, salsa, and beans. The quesadilla was nice as well, using some locally made extra thick corn tortillas and some local cheese. I was certainly pleased.
But the next morning was even better. For our second morning, the sweet portion of the breakfast started off with a set of buttermilk pancakes. While nominally a simple concept, I’m always amazed how different just “pancakes” can be, and the ones served up here were awesome: a simple trio of buttermilk pancakes cooked up with a lot of butter to give them the nice little crispy ridge around the edge, a nice buttermilk tang to the batter, and a nice chewy texture at the end.
Following that was a frittata. To be honest, a frittata is something I never make myself, and seldom order, probably having had to suffer through entirely too many dismal quiches over the years. But this frittata was a different beast altogether: a compact, 2 or 3 egg base cooked just to the point of soft curdle, with a nice variety of cheese, fresh green peas(!), and sun-dried tomato: every forkful was a nice combination of egg, cheese, pea, and tomato, and it just basically… worked.
So, while one has to go to a bit of effort to dine there (like, getting a room or having an event there), the Inn at Round Barn Farm had a particularly nice breakfast, and it’s a nice inn to boot. Definitely worth checking out if considering a weekend outing in Vermont.
