Yankee Ingenuity

     What do you do when you own a catering business and experience a seasonal lull every year from January to mid-spring?  That was the question facing Sarah DiBernardo at the Harvest Moon Catering Company in Saxtons River, Vermont.  As you might expect things are slow in the dead of winter for a catering service in New England.  But being a creative and resourceful Yankee business person, she kept her staff busy by opening two soup shacks along heavily traveled roadways.

 

     Smokin' Bowls operates from December until March, Thursday through Monday from 11am to 7pm just down the road from Johnny Seesaw's at the intersection of Routes 11 & 30 in Winhall and in Rockingham at Exit 6 just off I-91.  Sarah has a repertoire of 30 to 40 soups that she rotates on the menu depending on ingredient availability and season.  Everything is made fresh from local sources like vegetables from Black River Produce in Springfield, VT and Pop's Smoked Maple Syrup right in Satxons River.  And of course they use the famous Vermont Cheddar from nearby Grafton.

     Their offerings include gluten free, vegan and vegetarian soups like the cumin cauliflower and apple amalgam that is topped with curried shrimp, caramelized onions and browned bits of cauliflower as a garnish.  But perhaps the best seller is the Cheech & Chong chili made from all natural ground beef mingled with chunks of tomato, onions and garlic and infused with a hint of that smoked maple syrup.  During the height of ski season the staff cooks up 120 gallons of it a week and delivers it to the soup shacks.

 

     Following the tradition of authentic Yankee cuisine, the soups and chilis are fresh and healthy with clear and bright flavors.  It's "fast food" done right, and without a side of fries.