Neshobe River Winery
After three years of establishing its vineyards and winemaking processes, the Neshobe River Winery has opened between the villages of Brandon and Forest Dale.

The business takes its name from its proximity to the Neshobe River. It is co-located with the Old Mill Inn Bed & Breakfast, named for a bygone mill with ruins at the nearby Stone Mill Dam, a well-known swimming hole on the Neshobe.

Both businesses are run by the husband-and-wife team of Robert and Rhonda Foley, and their adult son, Patrick Foley. The vineyard is part of the setting for parties and functions at the inn.

The winery has a half-acre of grape vines near the Old Mill Inn. It brings in grapes from elsewhere in Vermont as well as from the Finger Lakes region of New York, and from California, Robert Foley said.

The northern-hardy varieties of red grapes grown by the owners were all developed in Minnesota and are named after Minnesota communities such as St. Croix, Frontenac and Marquette.

These and other Minnesota-bred varieties are behind a statewide surge in wine production, Foley said. These indigenous varieties are hardy in temperatures of up to -20 degrees Fahrenheit, according to the Minnesota Grape Growers Association.

Far from being competitive, the state’s other growers have been very helpful – particularly Chris Granstrom of Lincoln Peak Vineyard, from whom the winery obtained its vines, said Foley.

Visitors to the Neshobe River Winery can buy bottles of wine there, Foley said. In the village of Brandon, the products are carried by the Gourmet Café, which is associated with Café Provence on Center Street.

The winery is open from 11 a.m. to 5 p.m. Thursday to Sunday. Appointments can be made by phoning 802.247.8002. During October, the winery will be open every day. It will close for the year Oct. 31; wines will be available at the inn during November and December.

The mailing address for Neshobe River Winery is 79 Old Mill Dam Road, Brandon, VT 05733. The e-mail address is neshoberiverwinery.com. The Web site is www.neshoberiverwinery.com.

Magic Wok

Middlebury has yet another type of cuisine to attract diners with the opening of the Magic Wok.

Sunny Chin, the eatery’s owner, manager and chef, said he grew up in Malaysia, where he began his career in the restaurant trade at the age of 15.

As he worked his way up, he gained experience with many types of food, he said. As a result, the Magic Wok’s menu includes some Malaysian, Thai and even Mongolian offerings.

After coming to the U.S., Chin said he learned a good deal about running an American restaurant while in the New York City area. But, he wanted his own restaurant to be in a location that was more appealing to live, he said.

He chose Middlebury, he said, because it’s a beautiful area and “the people are so nice here.” Now that he’s here, he realizes there’s another advantage to being in the region: the availability of plenty of fresh ingredients from area farms.

“I don’t use any canned food,” Chin said.

The Magic Wok doesn’t use any added monosodium glutamate, or MSG, in its dishes. Another aspect that may appeal to the area’s many natural-foods enthusiasts is that brown rice can be substituted for white rice upon request.

Patrons also can phone the Magic Wok to order food to pick up. Facilitating this is a Web site, www.magicworkvt.com, which lists all the items available for lunches and dinners.

The “vt” in the Internet address keeps the Vermont restaurant’s Web presence separated from a chain of restaurants called Magic Wok, which doesn’t have any restaurants in Vermont. Chin said his restaurant isn’t connected with any chain operation.

The mailing address for the Magic Wok is 1499 Rt. 7 South, Middlebury, VT 05753. The telephone numbers are 802.388.0339 and 802.338.0355. It also can be contacted through its Web site at www.magicwokvt.com. Hours are 11 a.m. to 9:30 p.m. Monday through Friday, and noon to 9:30 p.m. Saturdays and Sundays.

JMA Clay
Ceramic artist Jeanne Arsenault has opened JMA Clay, a part-time business she runs from her home in Middletown Springs.

Arsenault makes creations consisting of tiles, wall-hanging pieces, flower pots and necklaces fashioned from earthenware and stoneware clays. She started her business during the spring.

“Some of the pottery is made on a potter’s wheel and then shaped or altered by hand, and some pieces are hand-built through sculpture, slab construction and by creating and using plaster molds,” Arsenault explained.

Arsenault’s current works include hanging tile pieces which she made for her own home.

“The designs are focused on the Mandala form and inspirations from nature,” she said. “Trees, leaves and flowers are used in mosaic-like tile designs and pottery pieces. The tiles are hand-formed, fired in a kiln and then grouted to a wood or masonry board.” Mandala is a form of pottery founded in Auroville in South India.

Arsenault sells her wares on consignment or at craft fairs. She has displayed her works at the Krikorian Gallery in Worcester, MA and at Clem’s Café in Rutland, where the creations have been available to the public for a monthly showing.

“For purchase, the tile and wall-hanging creations range from $125 to $200,” Arsenault said. “The flower pots and necklaces are from $10 to $20.”

Arsenault earned an associate’s degree in ceramics from the Worcester Center for Crafts School for Professional Ceramics in Worcester, MA in 2001.

She relocated to Vermont the same year, and worked as an assistant at the Robert Compton Pottery in Bristol in 2002. She assisted Compton and his wife, Christine Homer, in all aspects of their pottery business, which focused on works of Jomon Pottery, an ancient form founded in Japan. The term Jomon translates into “the pattern of rope.” Arsenault prepared clay and glazes, and assisted participants in their work. She loaded and fired kilns and assisted with the gallery’s daily sales.

JMA, Arsenault’s initials, are carved in her clay and pottery creations.

JMA Clay is located in Middletown Springs, VT. For more information, call 802.235.1410.

Farmers Diner
By ED BARNA

Farmers Diner founders Tod Murphy and Denise Perras say they would like to see their restaurant concept spread nationally, but are content to concentrate on Addison and Chittenden counties for now.

They have opened a second restaurant, in Middlebury, and hope to start another in the Burlington area later this year, according to Murphy.

At the same time, he said, they will be looking for a good location for a “commissary,” a central food preparation facility that would supply both restaurants.

The first Farmers Diner opened in Barre in 2002 and moved to Quechee in 2006. Murphy said the first commissary remains in Barre, while the Quechee branch is large enough to serve as its own commissary.

The commissary plays a pivotal role in making the restaurants efficient and effective, the owners said. They said the average food-line employee or prep cook has little experience with some ingredients – such as forked carrots and other oddly shaped produce and whole animal carcasses that need to be turned into proper portions – so a central kitchen can help the local restaurants concentrate on cooking and service.

Murphy said they contract with transportation companies to move shipments from a commissary to the restaurants. Black River Produce in Ludlow, whose trucks deliver materials around Vermont, is one of their haulers, he said.

One of the businesses supplying the eateries, Vermont Smoke & Cure in Barre, is part of the same group, he said. About half of the pork in their ham, bacon and sausages comes from Vermont, and they hope to find more Vermont pork producers.

Besides supplying the restaurants, Vermont Smoke & Cure sells “The Farmers Diner” branded products to high-end stores, inns and food services, helping to increase revenues while marketing the restaurants.

As a child, Murphy derived the idea of Farmers Diners from his great-grandmother, who brought extra farm produce to town on Saturdays to sell to local grocers.

When the Farmers Diner enters a new market area, it attracts local farmers, business leaders, investors and others who care about viable communities, according to Murphy and Perras. The Farmers Diner provides such local partners with technical and financial resources to launch and manage a pod of new diners in their areas.

Both Murphy and Perras have relevant business experience. At one time, Murphy ran a coffee company out of Seattle that supplied offices in Los Angeles, Atlanta and New York City. Perras was the general manager at the Dog Team Tavern in New Haven before the restaurant was destroyed by fire.

The Middlebury Farmers Diner is striving to obtain at least 75 percent of its food from producers within 70 miles, Murphy said.

For instance, it serves Monument Farms Milk from Weybridge; Vermont Heritage Grazers pork products and free range eggs from Bridport; and Cabot cheddar cheese from its plant in Middlebury.

It also will soon make baked goods with Ben Gleason wheat out of Bridport; have Champlain Orchards cider and apples from Shoreham; and poultry from Misty Knoll Farm in New Haven. More such arrangements are in the works.

Murphy said the restaurant opened in June, after students at Middlebury College left for summer, to allow the owners enough breathing space to work out details of supply, service and décor. “We get a couple hundred critiques a day,” he joked.

It has already begun something the college’s students might appreciate: staying open from 7 a.m. Friday until 8 p.m. Sunday, which also accommodates workers on later shifts or those doing farm work.

Some people are surprised to find the Farmers Diner isn’t a gourmet restaurant, but rather is a real diner with classic American dishes, Murphy said. But, their goal, he said, was to create “a comfortable place that our suppliers could afford to eat at.”

The Farmers Diner is located in the Marble Works Complex. The mailing address is 99 Maple Street, #209, Middlebury, VT 05753. The telephone number is 802.458.0455; the e-mail address is info@farmersdiner.com. The Web site is www.farmersdiner.com. Hours are 7 a.m. to 8 p.m. Mondays, Wednesdays and Thursdays, and continuously on weekends from 7 a.m. Friday until 8 p.m. Sunday. It is closed on Tuesdays.