By BILL CHAISSON
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DARTMOUTH-SUNAPEE REGION – Seven area businesses received “Best of NH” recognition in the 17th annual contest. The Dartmouth-Sunapee region is one of seven in New Hampshire magazine’s annual Best of NH poll.
The Claremont winner was The Common Man, which won Favorite Restaurant and for its crab cakes.
Jennifer Swavely, the general manager of The Common Man had heard about the Favorite Restaurant designation and the award had already been inserted into the frame with the rest of their “Best of” honors. The crab cakes bow was a new one on her though.
The Claremont location is one of seven in the state, all of which are at what Swavely described as “unique sites.” The Sugar River restaurant is between the upper and lower falls right downtown on Water Street. It has been open for two and a half years.
Swavely recently moved up here from Pennsylvania and described the focus of her management style as making the staff into a family.
As is increasing common in restaurants in the northeastern United States, the Common Man incorporates a local farm-to-table component in their menu. “Everything is made from scratch,” said Swavely, who also spends time in the kitchen on the chef’s night off.
Some ingredients are very local. Swavely has strawberries growing on the deck of the restaurant that will eventually find their way into desserts, if the customers don’t eat them all first. There are also herbs planted on the premises that are used in the kitchen.
Ramunto’s Brick Oven Pizza was acknowledged as the best pizzeria in the Dartmouth-Sunapee region. In addition to its three locations in the immediate area, Ramunto’s has outlets in Vermont and northwestern Massachusetts.
Up the road in Newport, the Country Kitchen restaurant was recognized for its breakfasts. Manager Jim Campbell said that although he plans to buy local fruit later in the season, Country Kitchen isn’t known for farm-to-table cuisine, but rather for the generosity of their portions.
About 90 percent of his customers are regulars and he said the pancakes are particularly popular.
Further up the road in New London, Tucker’s was also recognized for their quality breakfasts.
Topstone Barber Co. in New London took home Best Barber this year. Topstone is a busy place, doing an average of 45 to 60 cuts a day, according to owner Andrew Maki.
All of his barbers are graduates of the New England School of Barbering in Pennacook, New Hampshire, where they put in 800 hours before graduating and qualifying to apply for a state license.
Topstone even holds barbering seminars at the shop. Maki said there were 26 barbers in Topstone last Sunday for a master class led by a barber from Kingston, New York.
Yet another New London business that attracted attention was the Flying Goose Brew Pub and Grille, which collected the most votes for both its brewery and its burgers.
Like Topstone and unlike some of the other winners, the Flying Goose has only one location. Owner Tom Mills answered the phone himself when the Eagle Times called.
“We’re pleased that we got them,” said Mills of the Best of NH awards, “but we don’t go crazy about it here.”
Flying Goose makes 20 different kinds of beer on site along with a cider. He established the business in 1993 and started brewing in 1996. For “quite a long time” he has devoted a large portion of the menu to locavore tastes.
His prize-winning burgers come from beef and lamb raised on Miles Smith Farm in Loudon, New Hampshire. Venison and bison meat for burgers comes from Yankee Farmers in Warner and he gets organic beefalo meat from Battles Farm in Bradford, New Hampshire.
All the other meat on the menu (and the duck eggs) comes from farms in Vermont and New Hampshire.
Other regional winners include St. Gaudens National Historic Site in Cornish and The Fells Historic Estate and Gardens in Newbury, which got exactly the same number of votes for best Summer Attraction.
Last but hardly least, Sanctuary Dairy Farm Ice Cream was voted best ice cream shop in the region.
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