Pangaea Lounge

After a long day of kayaking and sunbathing, these folks needed some dinner. 

Pangaea Lounge in North Bennington had some sweet reviews, so we headed in sans reservation.  Unforch we couldn't sit outside on this beautiful night, but we still got to sit within 10 minutes on a Saturday (early) evening.

Note that we are in the Lounge, not Pangaea Restaurant, which is shmancier.  It's like Palena Cafe or Bourbon Steak--we do it up right in the Lounge.  The menu had a lot of options, with sandwiches, burgers, salads, sides, and a bunch of appetizer or entrees, depending on the size.  We decided to choose a la carte from the tasting menu, mostly.

Roasted beet, spinach, squash, and chevre salad.  This salad was superb.  Recently when J of J&J asked me what year it was, as in "the year of the trail mix" or "the year of the zucchini," I suggested that for us, it's the year of the beet.  We've been roasting them up on the grill with their friends every week.  SO delicious.  Also pictured, less colorfully, is the chilled cucumber asparagus soup.  We probably shouldn't have gotten a bowl because the flavor and texture eventually wore on us, but we mostly enjoyed this dish.

Mmmm meat.  This burger was really well cooked (as in, medium rare) and the thin potato slice fries were a nice touch.

The star.  The diva.  The reason why we'll definitely return: gnocchi with peas and basil in a mustard cream sauce.  The gnocchi's texture was perfect - it wasn't mushy, it wasn't hard.  The flavor of the sauce was uhhhhhhhhhhhh ok, so I might have asked if they would sell it to me by the jar.  (They wouldn't.)  Go.  Eat seasonally, and enjoy the gnocchi.

Pangaea Lounge
1&3 Prospect Street
North Bennington, VT