WOODSTOCK — On a Monday earlier this month, the dining room of Ranch Camp, which recently opened on the east side of Woodstock’s downtown, was dotted with patrons tucking in for a casual lunch.
Bridgewater resident Aly Lamond had stopped by the combination restaurant and bike shop while running errands on her day off from working as a server at a restaurant in a neighboring town.
On a TV above the bar, riders in a mountain biking competition launched into the air, and posters for biking events that Ranch Camp’s owners have hosted across Vermont hung from the dining room walls.
Seated at the bar, Lamond ordered a beer, a side of fried artichokes and a crunch wrap — a kind of loaded quesadilla — with vegan chorizo to bring home to her boyfriend.
“He’s a hunter; he loves meat,” and she was curious if he’d fall for the imitation version.
Despite drawing crowds of tourists to its quaint center, Woodstock has had little in the way of casual food options in recent years, and Lamond often struggles to find a place to get lunch on her days off early in the week.
It’s a challenge that many in Woodstock can relate to.
“We’ve had fasting on Mondays in Woodstock for the past two years,” Woodstock Chamber of Commerce Executive Director Beth Finlayson quipped.
She attributed the challenge to a reduction in hours at the Village Butcher and the now-closed Dr. Coburn’s Tonic.
A high cost of living and limited rental housing has also made it difficult for businesses to find and retain staff, Finlayson said.
But in spite of these challenges, a handful of eateries that have opened their doors this fall are creating new dining options in town.
In addition to Ranch Camp, Farmer and the Bell, a bakery and cafe specializing in house-made French cruller donuts, opened in the town’s once sparsely-developed East End, at the intersection of Route 4 and Pleasant Street.
In the center of town, on Elm Street, Vermont pizza chain Positive Pie has unveiled a new location in the storefront formerly occupied by Dr. Coburn’s Tonic, and before that, Bentleys, the restaurant and bar that acted as a town watering hole for more than 40 years.
“It’s great because several of (the new businesses) are open seven days a week,” Finlayson said.
Craving community
The Ranch Camp in Woodstock, located next to Cumberland Farms gas station on Route 4, is the business’ second location after the flagship store that co-owners Evan Chismark, Nate Freund and Ryan Thibault opened in Stowe, Vt., in 2018.
Avid mountain bikers themselves, the trio wanted to create a hub where fellow enthusiasts of the outdoor sport could break bread and peruse new gear for their ride, or get it patched up.
With its network of biking trails maintained by the Woodstock Area Mountain Bike Association, Woodstock “was always at the top of our list” when looking to open a second location, Thibault said.
After enlisting the help of Killington, Vt. resident Brian Burchell to be the store’s general manager and fourth business partner, Ranch Camp opened in Woodstock in September. It’s open almost every day.
“One of the hallmarks of our business is consistency and being open 363 days a year,” Thibault said. (Ranch Camp is closed on Thanksgiving and Christmas.)
Between the restaurant and bike shop, the business currently employs about 30 people, with more set to join in the winter.
Finding enough staff is a common challenge throughout Vermont, said Thibault, so the partners “don’t fixate on it.” It helps that the restaurant is able to share staff with the Stowe location, he added.
The basement of the former bank building is a gear shop stocked with racks of mountain and road bikes along with fat tire bikes for traversing snow-covered trails. There’s a repair station set up on one side of the store and the remaining walls are lined with water bottles, riding accoutrement and Ranch Camp hoodies.
Full and half-day bike rentals are available for $50 to $100 or so, and the business also hosts group rides on the nearby trails.
Upstairs, Ranch Camp’s restaurant, open 11 a.m. to 9 p.m. daily, offers a menu of casual fare that runs the gamut from burritos such as the $17 “Vermexico,” a mixture of steak, black beans, cilantro lime brown rice, guacamole, corn salsa, maple sauce and sour cream; burgers; chicken sandwiches; potato skins loaded with cheddar, bacon, green onions and sour cream; and a variety of salads.
The restaurant seeks to find a balance between healthy and comfort food options, Thibault said, and many of their meals can be made vegan or gluten free.
“Everything is very fresh,” said Brian Hack, who stopped by for lunch with his wife Angie Hack a couple weeks ago. He went for the chicken sandwich, while his wife chose the deconstructed burrito.
Hailing from the coastal town of Buzzards Bay, Mass., the couple was up for the weekend to celebrate their 36th anniversary.
There are about 10 eateries in Woodstock’s center, but many of them are fine dining establishments, rather than casual lunch spots.
Faced with limited options, the Hacks had chosen to return to Ranch Camp for lunch after enjoying dinner at the restaurant the night before.
Across the dining room, Lamond took a bite of the fried artichokes she’d ordered.
“Perfectly crispy,” she said, nodding in approval.
Ever since Bentleys closed, Woodstock has needed a communal watering hole, she said. “I think this place could be that.”
‘Restaurant row‘
While Ranch Camp’s owners have expanded their business’ reach, opening Farmer and the Bell in Woodstock marks a kind of homecoming for owners April and Ben Pauly.
The Woodstock couple started experimenting with making donuts during the coronavirus pandemic as a way to use up the eggs from their 100 chickens.
In 2022, the they started slinging donuts out of the Parker House, a former inn in Quechee.
But after 10 months, a complicated pregnancy forced the couple to take a step back from the business.
Launching their own cafe was still a dream, and after about a year of construction, Farmer and the Bell opened last month in a rustic brand-new building designed by Geobarns, an environmentally conscious architectural company based out of White River Junction.
The barn’s construction was backed by the property’s owner, Eva Douzinas, who was looking for a way to transform the site, where a service station had previously stood.
The two-story barn seats 82 inside and out. A stone fence decorated with dozens of pumpkins wraps around part of the store’s perimeter.
On a recent Friday, piles of maple, double chocolate, sugar spice, and lemon coconut donuts going for $4 each were lined up on the display next to the counter alongside stacks of cheesy garlic bread, olive and rosemary focaccia and kale and ricotta hand pies.
Vegetable and mushroom soup was also on the menu at $9 a bowl, along with coffee, cold brew, tea and creemees.
Behind the counter, bakers loaded trays of donuts onto tall racks and a bucket of lemons stood prepped for juicing.
At the Parker House, customers would often try to peek into the kitchen, so this time around the owners went for an open kitchen so “you could actually see your food being made. You could see the love going into it,” April Pauly said in an interview at the cafe earlier this month.
While she manages Farmer and the Bell, her husband has kept his job as director of property operations and design for the Woodstock Inn.
That afternoon, the cafe was abuzz with activity. While 10 people waited in line, Jane and Richard Reece, of Quechee, polished off two orders of veggie soup, a cup of coffee and a maple donut. Altogether, the meal came to $30, which struck Richard Reece as “pretty pricey,” though Jane Reece said she’d stop by again just to enjoy the cafe’s ambiance.
“They’ve done a wonderful job on the place and the landscaping,” she said.
Upstairs is a bright mezzanine with additional seating including a couple long communal tables Ben Pauly built with his dad.
“We live in a world where everything is very separate,” April Pauly said. “We want people to come together.”
Between newcomers such as Farmer and the Bell, Ranch Camp, and the Ottauquechee Yacht Club, a casual bar and eatery that opened two years ago on Maxham Meadow Way, and more longstanding joints such as Worthy Kitchen and Cambodian restaurant Angkor Wat, Woodstock’s East End is morphing into what April Pauly called “restaurant row.”
“I just feel a good energy going on,” she said.
‘The dream’
As of last month, Woodstock also has welcomed a new restaurant to its downtown. Positive Pie, a Vermont-based pizza chain with locations in Montpelier, Hardwick and Plainfield, has set up shop in Elm Street space formerly occupied by Dr. Coburn’s Tonic.
“We’ve been welcomed into this neighborhood with open arms,” Heather Lucas, Positive Pie’s regional manager, said.
Her hope is to make the new store the flagship location, as it’s the largest of the four restaurants. A central location that seats 125 in a town as well-trafficked as Woodstock is “the dream in Vermont” for restaurants, she said in an interview at the store.
Positive Pie’s menu covers the classic flavors such as margarita and sausage pizza along with some specialty pies such as “The Vermonter,” a combination of wild garlic sauce, spinach, apple slices, bacon, caramelized onion, maple syrup and mozzarella.
A small pizza goes for $17, while a large is $25, and a “family size,” or extra large, is $29.
The Woodstock location also stocks pre-made sandwiches for patrons looking for something fast on the go.
Earlier this month, in the center of the dining room, a group of women from the Boston area paid the bill on a buffalo chicken pizza with ranch dressing, a cheese pizza and a round of sodas.
One of them, Deirdre Straley, was turning 50, so the group had planned a weekend getaway to celebrate.
They’d all met in college at Northeastern University and had stayed close friends since. “I wouldn’t have it any other way,” Straley said.
Straley, who considers herself a “pizza snob,” was impressed with the group’s lunch. The pizza crusts weren’t too hard or soft, and the sauce wasn’t too sweet.
“I would definitely recommend,” she said.
Positive Pie’s arrival has been met with enthusiasm from Woodstock business owners such as Kim Smith, who runs Red Wagon Toy Co., 37 Central Clothiers and the ice cream shop Woodstock Scoops.
That fall afternoon, she polished off a calzone at the bar while catching up with a friend.
Smith has long bemoaned the lack of dining options in Woodstock. With the arrival of Ranch Camp, Farmer and the Bell and Positive Pie, the scene finally seems to be in a better spot.
“This is what we need,” she said.