Love at The Village Porch

Valentine's Day is stupid for two reasons:

1.) When you are single.
2.) Because there is too much crap at stores for too long.

But, the fact that there is a day to celebrate love is good. Holidays, even if simple, are good. They shake things up a bit and help people at least think out of the box, which is always good.

I have had some depressing Valentine's Days in my time and some pretty cool ones. This year is certainly the best yet since I spent it with my sweetie Mitch who's the guy I'm actually planning a future with (before him it was hard to even plan a camping trip with dudes!) It started of with a wake up love text and later an e-card, then a dozen red roses (I got him a drum key) and a long drive listening to romantic tunes down to Rochester, Vermont for Valentine's dinner at The Village Porch.

The Village Porch has become one of my absolute favorites and Valentine's dinner confirmed it! I love the little hippie village of Rochester, I love driving on Route 100, I love the Victorian home turned bistro, I love the cozy feeling of intimate dining outside of the attitude of Burlington, and I love the lower prices that come with it!

The drive is long, but I am a Viber so I love driving and my fuel efficient Vibe makes Vibing an activity I can still afford. The drive is also beautiful and I love dark country roads because that's how I roll. The Village Porch is right in the center of Rochester and of course has a porch wrapped around it. Owners Dean and Connie Mendell have done a terrific job creating a picturesque Vermont atmosphere with elegantly prepared dishes at proportions that don't yell "supersize me!" The Valentine's Dinner featured a five course meal for $38! Soup, salad, appetizer, main course, and dessert - Mitch and I each picked opposite items (there were two selections for each and three for the meal) and savored each one. Well, Mitch didn't like his appetizer, but that's because he has issues with certain consistencies, not because it wasn't good. I was especially happy with my entree because it was a decedent seafood dish and I LOVE seafood!

There are two dining rooms, one with a little bar and the other with the window into the kitchen. The waitstaff are so great and I am probably fussiest about waitstaff of everything when I visit restaurants. We dined next to folks from the North Shore Ski Club who were thoroughly enjoying themselves and making Mitch and I look forward to when we can live in a small Vermont town and have our group of local couple friends to go have dinner with at places like The Village Porch.

While The Village Porch may be a little far for some as a destination (even though it's worth it and half the fun can be found in getting somewhere), I do suggest making it a point to stop there when traversing along Route 100 at some point. They don't have a website but can be found on the Vermont Travel Planner and reached at 802-767-3126.
Enjoy!!