Montpelier restaurant that helped start Vermont's farm-to-table scene announces closure

One of the longer-running restaurants on the Montpelier dining scene will serve its final customers this weekend.

Kismet began as an early entrant in Vermont’s burgeoning farm-to-table restaurant scene in 2006 and first welcomed customers to a tiny space on Barre Street. The restaurant moved to a larger location on State Street before returning to Barre Street, where it will conclude its run after business Sunday, July 30.

The restaurant announced its upcoming closure days before devastating floods hit Montpelier on July 10 and 11. The restaurant’s location on higher ground on Barre Street spared it from high waters that have shuttered almost all downtown Montpelier dining establishments for weeks to come.

Kismet owner Crystal Maderia declined additional comment when reached by phone last week by the Burlington Free Press. The restaurant did post a “thank you” note to its customers on its website.

Maderia wrote that she came to Montpelier to raise her children, creating Kismet “so that they could eat the best foods and be surrounded by community.” The children have grown and left home, “and are exploring their independence,” according to the message.

“It seems appropriate that I consider doing some exploring myself,” Maderia’s note reads. “I’m not 100% sure what is next, but I feel certain that it is time to move on.”

In a message on July 6 on social media, just before heavy rains descended upon Montpelier, Kismet noted in announcing its closure that “It’s been a wild ride through fires, floods, a pandemic and so much in between.”

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In a 2008 article, the Free Press referred to “huge plates of locally grown, simply prepared food” at the Barre Street restaurant. Also in that article, Maderia described Kismet’s farm-to-table approach.

“When the quality of your ingredients is the best and you buy directly from the people who grew it, you don’t have to do much to the food to make it delicious,” Maderia said in 2008.

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Contact Brent Hallenbeck at bhallenbeck@freepressmedia.com.

This article originally appeared on Burlington Free Press: Kismet, a leader in Vermont farm-to-table scene, to close