Chef-driven, wine-list-considered, view-when-the-light-drops. Reservations recommended at all of them; required at three.
The white-tablecloth dinner in Middlebury, inside a nineteenth-century inn on Stewart Lane — tuna crudo, black cod with black rice, and a wine list that earned Wine Spectator's Award of Excellence in 2025. The inn serves a separate breakfast most mornings for guests and walk-ins. Book ahead for a Saturday table; the dining room seats fewer than a restaurant this well known usually does.
Downstairs pizza room under Two Brothers Tavern, dim and brick-walled with a dollar-bill ceiling — a better pick for a date night than the tavern upstairs. Same ownership, same phone number, an entirely different mood. Reservations recommended on weekends; it fills fast once the tavern crowd figures out there's a quieter room below.