By JOY CHOQUETTE

The Burlington region might be called a "Foodie's Paradise."

"Foodie" is a slang term referring to individuals who love food and food-related activities. The Champlain Valley is filled with a plethora of food-related activities and venues to choose from.

Restaurants and cafés line the Church Street Marketplace, spilling ribbons of scent out onto the street and enticing passers-by inside.

The earthy, bitter aroma of coffee, the spicy tang of curry, the enticing warm sweetness of chocolate and the sharp scent of tomato sauce all mingle in the marketplace, begging to be sampled.

In summer months, Burlington has even more delicious food and beverage options available with the Farmer's Market held each Saturday in City Park. Here, vendors with crisp, fresh-off-the-farm produce, warm and portable lunch meals and a variety of specialty foods congregate to share their edible wares with the public.



Rookie's Root Beer

A handmade, all-natural root beer is quickly gaining notoriety in the Champlain Valley, and can be found at the Farmer's Market. Rookie's Root Beer owners Dave and Jenny Rooke are passionate about their product and about the importance of local food items.

"We're trying to keep everything as local as possible," Jenny said.

Rookie's uses Island Ice Cream, another locally owned husband-and-wife operation, to create their creamy root beer floats. "We're glad to be able to use their product," Jenny said.

How did this venture come about? Did the Rookes just wake up one morning and decide to make, market and sell root beer?

"It's kind of taken on a life of its own," Jenny said of the venture.

Dave previously owned a catering company, while Jenny worked in a 9-to-5 corporate job. Last summer, Dave participated in the Farmer's Market in Burlington. Along with the heavy warming chafers laden with food, he started bringing handmade root beer.

"I realized I was taking home all of the food and none of the root beer," Dave said.

From these humble beginnings, Rookie's Root Beer was born. The company prides itself on its use of only six natural ingredients. The soda goes through a process of forced carbonation. This process, according to Dave, produces a lightly carbonated beverage which is easy on the digestive system.

The Rookes eventually contacted American Flatbread, which was extremely interested in their product. Dave said that they were instructed to "get all legal" and American Flatbread would sell the soda. American Flatbread was true to their word.

"This is one of the finest small business teams we work with," said Lucas Gockley of American Flatbread. "It's a very nice alternative to today's giant sodas."

The local soda is now offered in three American Flatbread restaurants, as well as four other Chittenden County eateries: Sweetwaters, Scuffer Steak & Ale House and Muddy Waters of Burlington, and On the Rise Bakery in Richmond.

It is also available at the popular Rookie's kiosk on Church Street, run by Jenny seven days a week, weather permitting.

Jenny quit her corporate job and the couple invested money in an eye-catching cart last fall. When customers started coming to their home for their root beer fix, and the Rookes realized the need to get the product out of their kitchen and into the hands of their customers.

The root beer is currently offered only in draft form, but Rookie's does offer a "mug club." A glass mug is filled with the root beer and sold for $8.00. Additional refills to the mug come with 50-cent discount. This helps not only entice customers to keep returning, but also cuts down on the waste the company incurs with the use of paper or plastic cups.

"We make this in our home, right in our kitchen," said Dave. "It's a true cottage industry."

What are the future plans for Rookie's Root Beer? "There's always room for expansion," Jenny said. "You never know what will happen. We've just got to keep the doors open."

Dave said there is one portion of the business that will never change.

"If you're going to get a Rookie's Root Beer, you're going to get it from Dave or Jenny Rooke."



The Skinny Pancake

Another local food entrepreneurship also got its start in the Church Street Marketplace. The Skinny Pancake originated in 2003 when brothers Jonny and Benjy Adler and Jamie Williams served their first crepe out of a food vending cart, built with salvaged materials. From there The Skinny Pancake has become a Burlington phenomenon, outgrowing its cart on Church Street in 2007.

The restaurant moved onto Lake Street on the waterfront. Though Jamie is no longer involved in the company, The Adler brothers work with head chef Tim Collins to incorporate new menu items and twists on old favorites.

The Skinny Pancake is known for its delectable crepes. Savory options include choices such as Cheesy Pesto, The Lumber Jack (Vermont smoked cheddar with ham), and Apples and Brie.

Sweet options include crepes filled with Vermont honey and cinnamon sugar, (called the Pooh Bear), Lemon Classic and The Love Maker, a concoction of warmed Nutella, fresh strawberries and whipped cream, among many other variations. All crepes are available in a vegan or gluten-free option.

Pleasing customers is one of the top concerns at The Skinny Pancake. The other is supporting local farmers and food producers. Nearly 30 of its food vendors are Vermont-based companies, and the majority of those are close to or within Chittenden County.

Benjy Adler, who attended Middlebury College, states that during his college career a theme of local foods and sustainability kept presenting itself. Also, a college friend, environmental activist John Warnow, greatly influenced Adler.

"We had started to talk about ideas around local foods and sustainability," says Adler. "We started thinking along those lines."

Incorporating local foods into a street vending cart, however, was not as easily accomplished as he'd hoped. It was hard to get small quantities of food from local growers. As the restaurant grew, however, relationships between farmers and The Skinny Pancake grew as well.

"A few (local) vendors were willing to work with us right away," said Collins. "It's a process," said Adler. "We're constantly working on it. It ebbs and flows."

As many Vermonters find, eating locally is much easier in the mild-weather months. In the fall, Collins said, The Skinny Pancake will use a lot of root vegetables and local apples. In the spring, local foragers will bring in fiddleheads, ramps and mushrooms.

Winter though, is a tough time to get local foods. The restaurant is committed to maintaining and even increasing their use of local products, however. And that doesn't just end with ingredients for their menu.

"Everything here is local," said Collins. "The artists' work on the walls, the slate tables ..."

Adler said that even the wood trim on the tables was salvaged from old barn wood.

The Skinny Pancake offers local beverages as well.

Foodies can rejoice, knowing that these and other food entrepreneurs exist in the Champlain Valley region. Now is the perfect time to explore, sample and taste the local options.