Our chef, Steven Obranovich, begins his day from his kitchen on Main Street after talking with farmers. Steven is looking for local ingredients at their peak… nourished on the soil and water of Vermont, lovingly harvested and sometimes stored for Winter cooking. From there, he begins a journey that might take him down the road to a cheese maker or baker. He considers how the weather has flavored this season's produce, what local herbs or spices from far away might best bring out that uniqueness, and which cooking techniques are most suitable for the ingredients and the time of year.

Steven is always looking for those classics – something familiar or comfortable, as well as something with a twist – that recall the best days we've enjoyed with friends and family around the table. It is, as he often explains, "What farmers enjoy growing, people enjoy eating, and I enjoy cooking." His cooking is the most important part of our investment in our community. Measured by our purchasing within 15 miles of the restaurant or just a bit farther in Vermont’s Northeast Kingdom, Steven has crafted a menu that, from month to month and season to season, puts 80 cents of every dollar we spend for the food we serve directly in the hands of the farmers, artisans, and who are our closest neighbors. We don’t count the herbs and vegetables Steven produces in his kitchen garden, because Claire’s pays nothing for those.- Beyond 15 miles, we purchase cooking wine from Shelburne Vineyards, fruit from Champlain Orchards, and ice-cream from Strafford Creamery. Regional food-related purchases are upwards of 90 percent of our total food spending, which now include Vermont sunflower oil and other cooking oils from Maine and Quebec. The seafood we serve from our coastal neighbors supports Stowe Seafood as well as New England’s fishing industry. Our spices, chocolate, coffee, and sugar are certified fair trade, providing confidence that when our dollars travel, we support communities with a deep tradition of producing and trading food staples.

You won't find many adjectives on our menu, and we don’t list farms or producers on the menu, either. Every ingredient has come to us with care, and each plate is carefully prepared to yield the best results based on what’s available day by day. So our menu is a simple statement of fact. We encourage conversations about food, and we'd love for you to ask your servers or hosts any questions you might have, or just go up to the kitchen and ask Steven! You might even be dining next to one of our farmers, or your server might spend some hours in the morning working in the soil that has produced the food you are enjoying. Don’t hesitate to ask! And there’s ample information about our farmers and producers here, on our blog, and available for your perusal at Claire’s.

While our menu changes every day, we offer both smaller and generous plates, with affordable market prices, and options that vary from deeply flavored soups and clean salads to complex sauces, rubs, chutneys, and spice mixtures. And there are things you can almost always count on: When available from local farms, there will be a steak from our grill, though the cut will be determined by what our farmers have on hand. And you can count on a burger. Potatoes are of course a gift to Vermont, so they will be here roasted and mashed and in many other ways.

Steven likes to put the spotlight on vegetables to star on the plate, so there will be substantial entrées and a variety of plates for vegetarians and vegans.

Every day, we will feature a variety of cooking techniques, house made ingredients, and flavors that come from kitchens around the world. You might find a hearty stuffed squash in the fall, cured pig cheeks or slow cooked ox tail in the winter, or foraged fiddleheads and ramps in the spring. There’s always our own ketchup. And as the growing season changes from week to week, the menu evolves with savory and sweet applications of both traditional New England ingredients like rhubarb as well as new produce including fava and black beans from our farmers.. Nothing is more satisfying than to celebrate each ingredient at its peak.

At Claire’s, you can choose from an assortment of small plates to sample, take comfort from an entrée size bowl of hearty stew, silky soup, or generous salad, or savor entrées featuring local beef, chicken, pork, or trout, or sustainable seafood. Our food will help you celebrate, restart, relax, or savor your day. You can stop for a bite to eat or linger at your table.

Since we change our menu every day, we never post one because we don’t want to disappoint. But please call if you would like to know what we are serving, and click here for a sample of the plates we have featured in the past, You can also learn more about the local beer, sustainable wine, and cocktails we offer at the bar here.

Launched by four partners in May 2008 based on a community supported investment and business model, Claire's Restaurant and Bar offers a warm and comfortable environment, the best meals in the area, and live music. We have a commitment to investing in our community and much gratitude for the investment our community has made in us. A pioneer in developing the Community Supported Restaurant model, we recognize that our impact is greater than our food purchases. We do business with the Village Laundry and other professional services, we employ more than 25 people cooking and serving your food, and we purchase more than just food. Overall, our contribution to the local economy – the farms, businesses and families that make up our terroir – has totaled 64% of every dollar we spend in the restaurant since we opened our doors in May 2008.

Chef Proprietor Steven Obranovich trained in kitchens in New York, San Francisco, Chicago, and Strasbourg, France, before deciding to make a home in Hardwick where he could celebrate the distinct flavors of the best local ingredients from small farms and artisans. Co-owner Linda Ramsdell runs the Galaxy Bookshop in Hardwick, providing a home for writers and booklovers locally, and nationally she is a leader in the independent booksellers movement. Co-owner Mike Bosia of Hardwick is an assistant professor at Saint Michael's College, where he teaches comparative politics and the politics of food. Veronica Medwid is our dining room manager.

Claire’s Restaurant is named in honor of Claire Fern, one of Hardwick’s most beloved residents. Claire was an artist, gardener, educator, social activist, and cook extraordinaire. She was a lover of food and a generous host. When planning began for a restaurant in Hardwick, it made sense to honor Claire, who did so much to bring great food and great people together in her home throughout her life.

Claire was married to the artist Eugene Fern. They had two children, Arnold and Marcia; and grandchildren, Dacia and Adena. She also had dozens of cousins, nieces and nephews. But Claire’s family didn’t end with those related to her by blood. Whoever got to know Claire was soon adopted and made to feel like family. This extended family included local artists, many of whose work she and Eugene showed at the gallery at their East Hardwick home; community members of every stripe; former students from as far back as the nursery school she ran in New York; friends from around the country, and lots of children, drawn by the warmth and respect she showered on them.

To be a member of Claire’s family was to be fed. Her table held a perpetual feast. The refrigerator door barely closed. Friends joked that if the grocery store ever ran out of food, they could come to Claire’s and stock up. Just as Claire’s sentences never lost the humor and cadence of her native Brooklyn, her cooking was forever infused with the flavors of her parents’ Eastern European shtetls. Potato latkes, roast chicken, tsimmis, honey cake, brisket . . . from time to time she would try a “low-cal” recipe for one of these fatty, sweet wonders. Then she’d return to the original. Although Claire was perpetually on a diet, she would not deprive others of the unadulterated pleasures of her kitchen.

Claire put her belief in social justice to work on numerous boards and committees, from the Hardwick school board to the Northeast Kingdom AIDS Coalition. And she was always willing to “make a party” and raise money for a cause or candidate. Her love of beauty radiated from her batiks, prints, and handmade papers, her gardens and orchards, clothing and jewelry, and her prodigious collections of knickknacks.

When Hardwick lost Claire, in the spring of 2002, at 78, she left scores of people hungry—in many ways. Claire’s Restaurant & Bar honors Claire and her gift for bringing great people and great food together. We salute her boundless hospitality and her commitment to Hardwick.