Ski Life: Vermont Classics, A Sweet Life
Fall Line
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You could call Phil and Libby Moore old-fashioned. Maple Sugar & Vermont Spice, the rustic, two-story pancake restaurant and sugarhouse they’ve run for 16 years on the site of the old Ripley Estate in Mendon, Vt., doesn’t have a website (largely because they don’t have a computer, although Phil says he saw one once on a trip to New York City). What it does have is extraordinary Vermont maple syrup, aka “liquid gold,” made on-site using the age-old method of “sugaring.” Skiers on their way to Pico or Killington pull in for breakfast, served “till closing” (sometime after lunch), and chow down stacks of buttermilk pancakes, waffles, pigs-in-a-blanket and French toast liberally laced with the sweet, sticky stuff. (There are eggs and omelets, too, if you’re so inclined.) If you can spare your first run, check out the candy kitchen and syrup-making operation downstairs. Stop in the gift shop and grab some sweets for the slopes¿or stash them away for the drive home.
