Bacon Night At Nutty Steph’s | Salty and Delicious
This is Sophie, the poster child for chocolate and bacon. Right now she’s staffing the register at the decadent food emporium, Nutty Steph’s in Middlesex, Vermont. It’s the morning of Bacon Night. Let’s say you’re a vegetarian with a chocolate allergy: Sophie will still make your day. I have barely explained my purpose for visiting […]
Nutty Steph's sells bars of chocolate labeled: Lemon Ginger Pecan, Cherry Dark Chocolate, Espresso Dark Chocolate and something called, Smoky the Bar
Photo Credit: Julia Shipley
Sophie Kirpan is appropriately Nutty about her job helping customers at Nutty Steph’s. Photo Credit : Julia Shipley
This is Sophie, the poster child for chocolate and bacon. Right now she’s staffing the register at the decadent food emporium, Nutty Steph’s in Middlesex, Vermont. It’s the morning of Bacon Night.
Let’s say you’re a vegetarian with a chocolate allergy: Sophie will still make your day. I have barely explained my purpose for visiting (to get the low down of this evening’s plan for high-fat fun), when she spontaneously proposes, “Hey! You could take a picture of me with stickers all over my face!”
The [unofficial] employee handbooks at Nutty Steph’s in Middlesex Photo Credit : Julia Shipley
When a regular customer drifts in and asks her how it’s going, Sophie replies breezily, “Oh, you know, just another day eating chocolate.” Then adds, “Have you had the Whiskey Cayenne? It’s got a nice spicy bite.”
Nutty Steph’s sells bars of chocolate labeled: Lemon Ginger Pecan, Cherry Dark Chocolate, Espresso Dark Chocolate and something called, Smoky the Bar. Photo Credit : Julia Shipley
Savvy readers may recognize Yankee already named Nutty Steph’s savory event as the “Best Bacon Celebration in Central Vermont.”
So why the double dip? Well, because really, how could I resist an excuse to do more boots-on-the-ground “reporting” about a store that creates a regular social occasion out of two diabolically delicious foods: bacon and chocolate?
Sophie models the mask of Kevin Bacon and other inspirational Bacon Night regalia. Photo Credit : Julia Shipley
Sophie understands. When management neglected to respond to her job application, Sophie just began showing up, joining the team wrapping bars of chocolate. Five months later when they needed a granola packager, guess whom they chose? Now Sophie works at least 40 hours a week in the store that first began selling bags of granola, and then added a line of dark chocolate covered granola clusters and then branched into eclectic chocolate bars with flavors like Milk Chocolate-Peanut Butter-and-Bacon, which led to the live music infused cabaret affair you’ll find here tonight, if you can make it.
On a sparse Bacon Night, you may be one of three attendees, outnumbered by the six piece band wailing Old Dixieland Tunes, or, as Sophie warns, you may be stuffed in the store with 33 other inter-generational munchers and imbibers and one hard working, winsome musician.
Already booked? No worries, Bacon Night happens at least once a month, and you can find out more here: www.nuttystephs.com.
Alas, I will not be sticking around tonight to do a head count, nor to partake of beer, wine, homemade sodas, chocolate drinks and vegetarian fare along side sizzling plates of Bacon with caramel, chocolate, peanut butter, and maple dippers.
But I’ll be back.
Nutty Steph’s shares a building with the Red Hen Bakery and Cafe (with wifi, which is where I composed this post). Photo Credit : Julia Shipley
Julia Shipley
Contributing editor Julia Shipley’s stories celebrate New Englanders’ enduring connection to place. Her long-form lyric essay, “Adam’s Mark,” was selected as one of The Boston Globe's Best New England Books of 2014.
Thank you so much for writing about our Bacon Thursdays! We are so proud to have such a fun, community-building event and it’s a pleasure for us to see this!
I just have a few suggestions on how to make the article more accurate:
1) “Bacon Thursday” happens EVERY WEEK! Every single Thursday we have a bacon chef in the back and tunes and beer and wine out front.
2) We have wifi available to the public for free for all of the hours we are open.
Thanks again for coming in and writing us up! So fun!
Julia,
Thank you so much for writing about our Bacon Thursdays! We are so proud to have such a fun, community-building event and it’s a pleasure for us to see this!
I just have a few suggestions on how to make the article more accurate:
1) “Bacon Thursday” happens EVERY WEEK! Every single Thursday we have a bacon chef in the back and tunes and beer and wine out front.
2) We have wifi available to the public for free for all of the hours we are open.
Thanks again for coming in and writing us up! So fun!
Thanks so much,
Charlotte
Nutty Steph’s Inc.
Great article about a fabulous place!
Great lively, delicious story with fun photos! Along with Nutty Steph’s, Julia Shipley is a gem in our midst!!