what's for dinner?

We were thrilled to walk by Smokejacks restaurant yesterday morning and see some bustle going on in there. Our favorite summer spot has been closed since the beginning of the season because of a kitchen fire. We (being Em, Kev, Col and me) called immediately to make a reservation.

"Yes, we're opening for dinner," the kind lady on the other end announced. "We can fit you in at 8. Can't wait to see you!"

"Sweet!" we gloated. We just scored a perfect dinner reservation on parents' weekend and during peak leaf peeping season. Luck was on our side.

But see them we didn't as we walked up to the corner of Church and Main at 8-on-the-dot only to find the dining room completely empty and the lights turned off. All dressed up and no place to go.

"Look there's a note taped to the door!" Emi said and walked up to read it. "'We'll be open for dinner on Sunday. See you then!'"

Huh? What happened to our reservation? Guess they didn't open. We were a little confused (but we hadn't left a number with the reservation either, so no wonder they didn't call!) We weren't eating at Smokejacks for dinner and we probably weren't eating anywhere else either. All of the restaurants were completely booked and we were hungry.

We could've gone home sulking. But we didn't. Instead, we tried to turn a (very!) unfortunate circumstance into a memorable night. "Let's get out of town!"

So we hopped in the car and headed to The Bearded Frog in Shelburne. We got there around 9, hunkered down at the bar and right there had ourselves a fabulous meal that included bison cigar rolls with dipping sauce, mussels with chorizo, lime kaffir caesar salad, stuffed artichokes, crusted salmon on corn pudding, and a fresh peach bavarian dessert with honey sauce and a yummy basil berry sorbet that came atop a candy tarantula. So cool! So yummy. And so fun.