One of the things I love about Northern New England in the summer is that many of the small towns have all sorts of seasonal “snack bars” along the side of the road that serve up a variety of burgers, hot dogs, fries, and ice cream. And sometimes even the occasional lobster roll as well. On my very first road trip (to Long Trail Brewing in Bridgewater, VT), I stopped at one such snack bar that remains a favorite of mine, the White Cottage Snack Bar in Woodstock, VT.
The White Cottage itself is a pretty simple affair. Located on the north bank of the White River in West Woodstock, just east of the High School and the Woodstock Farmers Market, it is basically a small kitchen with an ordering window and what used to be a wrap-around porch that’s now been enclosed to make two small indoor dining areas. While somewhat less ramshackle than the typical “Snack Bar”, it is still a seasonal restaurant focusing on no-frills dining.
Menu-wise, they’ve got the typical basic snack food items of burgers and hot dogs, and a very good assortment of the Frialator arts, with fried clams, clam strips, chicken fingers, mozzarella sticks, onion rings, and fries all on the regular menu, and a nice rotating assortment of specials on handwritten boards that usually include at least shrimp and lobster (in-season), the occasional fish special, and usually a few other assorted entrees and sides like fried mushrooms or pulled pork. And then, for those with a sweet tooth, they’ve also got a full ice-cream window as well. Really, it’s not a bad assortment for a roadside snack bar. One key item to consider when ordering, however: White Cottage is a cash-only joint, so be prepared (although they have the obligatory dodgy-looking ATM off in a corner).
After ordering up your food, while you could grab one of the seats inside, if it isn’t raining you are missing a good opportunity, since the The White Cottage has a nice array of outdoor dining tables, most nicely lined up along a bend in the White River. Very scenic, and you can even dip your toes in the river, but this isn’t always a benefit; White Cottage has been flooded badly by the river twice while I’ve lived here (2011 and 2023), but both times the White Cottage managed to clean up impressively quickly.
For this particular visit, I decided to get one of those New England favorites: a lobster roll. I always love a good Northern-New-England style Lobster Roll (which I went into in detail on my review of Bite into Maine back in 2018), with a lightly-mayo-dressed lobster salad, a few bits of claw meat, and little else, delivered on a split-top roll that’s been grilled in butter. There’s a good dozen places around the Upper Valley that get in on the seasonal lobster roll action, with a good range of prices (from $13 up to well nort of $30). And an even wider range of quality, going from “don’t bother” up to “elaborate”. The version at White Cottage is a simpler one, but still has an ample amount of piled-up shredded lobster, lightly dressed with just a bit of mayo and celery, a few of the obligatory bits of claw meat, and topped with a fresh lettuce leaf and a slab of fresh tomato. At $23.99, this is middle-of-the-road pricing, but the overall quality is good enough that this is probably one of the better quality-to-price ratio lobster rolls in the general area.
On this visit, Carol went for a cheeseburger, and that same basic assessment applies to the burgers. The Upper Valley has a lot of great burgers, but these days the burger itself (sans fries) at most places will set you back at least $15. The White Cottage burgers are pretty basic (burger, cheeseburger, and bacon cheeseburger pretty much being the options), but the burgers are nicely-executed. Burger itself is good and juicy, they cook it on the griddle to get a nice sear on it, and the toppings are fresh. At $9.50, this is probably the best quality-to-cost cheeseburger in the greater Upper Valley.
And for rounding out the meal, we indulged in the Frialator Arts with an order of onion rings and an order of fried mushrooms. Both were particularly nicely executed (crispy, well-adhered breading that doesn’t taste like they’ve been sharing the oil with the fish and clams), and generously portioned. And like a lot of little roadside stands like this, the White Cottage is BYOB, so our friends Liz and Wesley stopped by the Woodstock Farmers Market down the street and brought a four-pack of beer.
Reasonable food, reasonable prices, and an outstanding place to enjoy a lunch on a nice summer day, and White Cottage is a treat. I definitely try to go there a few times each summer.
