margo's cafe & pastry

[suzilightning]

just back from our third sibling excursion to north hero island, vt with johnnybird's sister and one of his brothers. julie, john and i stay in a small motel; larry stays with friends. their idea of fun is to go fishing, swimming, riding around in powerboats and begin drinking at 1100 am(not julie, though - she likes sunning herself). my idea of fun is to explore the local area so this year i dropped husband and sil off and went around north hero, south hero and grand isle. there is a winery in south hero which does produce some wonderful products. will post on the wine forum about them. but there is a dearth of good, affordable food. i asked at the local chamber of commerce and was directed to a place called Margo's.

in an old house kitty corner from A&B supermarket - the largest one in the isles and across from a place that serves burgers and hot dogs - IF YOU ARE IN THE NORTH ISLANDS OR BURLINGTON DO NOT MISS THIS PLACE. did i make my point?

in a place where burgers, questionable pizza(sorry i have lived in new jersey too long) and subs are the usual fare(salad? macaroni, potato or coleslaw). this is a place that DESERVES to be supported. they are open mid may through mid october - full time only during the tourist months (july and august) but serving breakfast and lunch the rest of the time.

i had worked my way from antique shop to antique shop till i was in south hero at the local winery. a stop at the local chocolate shop for prezzies for work and to squirrel away for holidays/birthdays behnd me i wanted lunch. a lady at the local chamer of commerce suggested this place. not much parking and just a sign outside but when you walk in it is sheer heaven. there is a pastry case and a place to place your order. a room to the right hold several tables but i preferred to sit at one of the two tables in the main room. a cold case to the right holds many of the prepared product that will go into the wraps or quesadillas and there is cold box for drinks.

i ordered a veggie quesadilla that had spicy black beans, roasted corn and a chipotle sour cream with avacado. how do you describe crispy perfection? the smoothness of the beans the toastyness of the corn and the spice of the chipotle sour cream enclosed in a crispy warm tortilla was heaven on earth. it was served with a side of mescalun salad with grape tomatoes, chopped yellow and red peppers and cucumber with a raspberry vinaigrette. i could have eaten two of them. but i did something i rarely do - ordered dessert.

if for nothing else go to margo's PLEASE and support a pastry artist. the key lime pie was sold out. there were only 3 slices of the strawberry rhubarb pie, somthing else was sold out but there were full portions of operas and a german chocolate cake(that my server told me was better than the operas - i believe her but i detest coconut) and most of a blueberry cheesecake. there were three other cookie type things that were sold out but, since it was thursday, i expected this and figured there would be an orgy of baking that night and friday morning.

i asked for a piece of the strawberry rhubarb pie. now i love this pie but johnnybird doesn't and i can't eat a whole one by myself - a piece every now and then is fine - so...... OH MY GOD. the crust was a pate sucre but perhaps made with brown sugar and whole wheat flour. it was baked in a tart pan. the filling was minced rhubarb cooked with flour till all the flour tase was gone and mixed with minced strawberries. i have no idea how margo created the twisted pastry lattice on the top but i wish i had had the foresight to ask for the rest of the freaking pie to go...... NOOOOOOOOO instead i tried the opera which was a lovey piece of pastry - almond cake with a topping then a ganache. though i suspected it before margo's confirmed for me that i am a pie girrrrllll. orgasmic.

if you are in the north country please, please, please support this effort that this woman does in catering, patries and breakfasts. though i didn't get to sample the breakfast , perhaps i can get johnnybird up earlier one day next year and take the car so i can try her eggs barbaria and has browns with sausage and fresh squeezed orange juice.

[johnnyd]

I am just short of gassing up and going there. I love the champlain islands. And Margo's menu is making me hungry

[Margo]

Since my name is Margo and I live across the lake...

Thanks for the heads-up!

[GG Mora]

My eldest stepdaughter is a waitress there...

My husband and I had breakfast at Margo's when we were up north for his daughter's graduation. Huevos Rancheros looked like optimum fuel for a 30-mile bike ride around the islands. They were good, and performed well as fuel, but they weren't like any Huevos Rancheros I've ever seen, made, or eaten before. Baked in a small casserole til the yolks were crumbly, with lots of cheese and roasted corn, and if there was a tortilla in there, I missed it. And the service was agonizingly slow...

Stepdaughter assures me that it ain't always so, and I owe the place a return trip for dinner. Also, the torte ordered from Margo's for SD's graduation party was quite good.

If you go, and your waitress is a gorgeous young brunette with dreadlocks ( ), tell her GG sent you.

[suzilightning]

If you go, and your waitress is a gorgeous young brunette with dreadlocks ( ), tell her GG sent you.

gg-

i went but the young waitress didn't have dreadlocks. just brown hair.

the service could be described as slow i guess but i wasn't in a great hurry. oh, yeah and the guy who was cooking had pants like fat guys - the chili pepper ones.

[GG Mora]

Coincidently, I just learned that Margo's has closed. My info comes from the younger step-kids, just returned from up north, so while I can be sure the basic news – that it is closing – is correct, I would be loathe to accept the details presented as entirely accurate (or maybe accurate but not the whole story)...

"Well, John the cook-guy was making Margo really mad and being a jerk and stuff, so she closed the place and it's for sale."

Details to come, if anyone cares.

Edited August 6, 2004 by GG Mora (log)