There is more fun to be had weekly in Middlesex.
Out of the stunning energy that has developed around Nutty Steph’s Bacon Thursdays, there has emerged another weekly drinking event at Camp Meade, central Vermont’s gem of artisan craft and food. Every Sunday, from 10-2, starting this Mother’s Day, enjoy an eating, drinking paradise offered jointly by Nutty Steph’s granola and choco
late shop and Red Hen Baking Company’s bread bakery and espresso bar. Two exquisite, German-style brunch buffets will be erected every Sunday morning at 10am, one at each location, both to include fine, freshly sliced meats, Maine smoked salmon, local cheese cuts, spreads, jams, honey, fruit, granola, yogurt, milk and fresh crusty bread, in long loaves for tearing. Crumbs are to be encouraged.
Head Gospel bartender and new Nutty Steph’s shop manager, Krista Gardner, will tempt the crowd with libations to include various mimosa concoctions with fresh slices of organic citrus. In the waste-free spirit of home-style consumption, the crowd will enjoy their goodies, gorging from thick, hand stiched cloth napkins, sewn by Dalliance Homecrafts, a company owned by the same Mrs. Gardner. Gospel music in the old, African American style, as well as early, Gospel-soul crossovers like Al Green and Otis Redding will be on deck – cassette tape deck, that is – at both delicious locations. Customers are incouraged but NOT required to wear their Sunday best. Hallelujia!
Camp Mead gospel brunch costs $10, and $5 for children 12 and under. Once a customer has paid for the privilege of their hand stiched napkin, they may enjoy the twin buffets at both or either of the sumptious Camp Meade locations. Fine espresso drinks and sweet pastry will be for sale at the Red Hen cafe, and can be enjoyed there, or at Nutty Steph’s, or on the sitting patios around the building. Alcohol can be enjoyed within Nutty Steph’s walls or on their outdoor side patio, (but may not be carried over into the Red Hen space, due to state liquor policy). The exquisite Red Hen loafs, as well as many of the fine meats and spreads available on the brunch, are grocery items regularly available through the Red Hen cafe’s gourmet grocery selection.
The “German-style brunch” was discovered by Jaquelyn Rieke, co-owner of Nutty Steph’s, while travelling to Germany in high school, and she deems it “the perfect spread.” Rieke was escorted to the mother land by her Aunt Jan Rieke, after 3 years of studying German, an arrangement used by her aunt to coax her into choosing German, becasue she did not approve of her studying Latin instead of the language of her ancenstors. Rieke remembers the food inspiration that came over her when Inn after Inn, along the hillsides of Deutschland, offered the same, well designed, perfectly chosen, simple, fresh selection of pure meats, cheeses, breads, and fruit for brunch. “American buffets just never cut the mustard for me anymore. Too compicated; too gloppy. The fine selection of pure meats, cheeses and spreads, available at Gospel Brunch, make the perfect showcase for Red Hen’s world class crusty baguettes and rolls. I remember peanut butter in Germany, but Randy, (George, Red Hen Baking Company co-owner), says there’s no way that’s German. ‘I remember it was there, Randy’, I tell him, ‘becasue every day, my sister and I took crusty rolls, spread ‘em with peanut butter, smushed in some dried apricots, and packed these perfect sandwiches into our totebags for later.’ I hope patrons at Camp Mead Gospel Brunch feel at home enough to do the same!”
Families are welcome. Camp Mead Gospel Brunch kicks off this week in a proper, Mother’s Day, she-worshipping fashion. The crowd may just be yelling by the end: Awomen!
