New Hampshire - Editor’s Favorites

Appetite Meets Ivy League at this Place of Good Taste

The food at the Canoe Club in Hanover is every bit as varied, experimental, and filling as you would expect in an ivy-league university town. The late-night menu, full bar, and nearness to Dartmouth University ensures that this places hops with good conversation and hearty appetites (example from the late night menu: Red Hen raisin Walnut bread, Vermont honeycomb, fig almond tart). The clincher is the almost-nightly live music, ranging through many genres but mainly focusing on jazz and folk. The seasonal menu offers lots of favorites, among them is the Prince Edward Island mussels served with fries. The more adventurous among you can go first, though, when it’s time to try the chocolate martinis. Phone: 603-643-9660.

Beans & Greens Are Only the Start of this Farm’s Treasures and Pleasures

Beans & Greens in Gilford opens with a blast of vigor and plenty of spring flowers at the start of May, and stays open through the last pumpkin of autumn. Operated by the Howe family, this busy farm, located within a mile of the shores of Lake Winnipesaukee, offers a wide range of products. The farm is open daily, 9 a.m. to 6 p.m., for a season that begins with the strawberry harvest and continues with produce, cut flowers, herbs, and autumn squashes. There is a petting area with farm animals, an observation beehive, hayrides, and a corn maze beginning in August. The farm stand is located in a historic post-and-beam barn that was built in 1838. This is a fun, historic, and stomach-satisfying trip for all ages. Phone: 603-293-2853.

Bid Farewell to Hunger and Stress at This Streetside Eatery

One of the grand old denizens of the city of Keene is the E.F. Lane Hotel, located on a traditional New England main street of century-old brick buildings, a center park, and a white steepled church. The E.F. Lane’s restaurant, Salmon Chase, is a true bistro: relaxed atmosphere, old-fashioned charm with lots of exposed brick and turn-of-the-century decorative touches, sidewalk dining in season, and large windows looking out onto the bustle of Main Street. The menu of traditional and contemporary American food offers something for everyone, with many local ingredients such as Annie's Preserves, local maple syrup, and local produce in season. A wide range of beers includes British ales and a selection of New Hampshire and Vermont brews like Long Trail, Magic Hat, and Smuttynose. Phone: 603-357-7070.

Conde Nast Gives Balsams a Perfect Score

A 15,000-acre resort set high in New Hampshire's White Mountains, the Balsams Grand Resort in Dixville Notch offers a spectacular setting and activities all year. Excellent dining is consistently named as one of the most popular guest activities. White linens, sterling utensils, heavy mahogany furniture, waiters donned in bowties and gold paisley vests set the stage for the main attraction, which is the exceptional food and drink. The resort has been included in the 2007 Conde Nast Gold List, which represents the top 700 hotels and resorts in the world. The Balsams is one of only several hotels in the entire United States that received a perfect score of 100 percent for its food from Conde Nast. If you would like to experience the best of the best in the culinary world, a visit to the Balsams Grand Resort dining room should be on your culinary to-do list. Phone: 877-225-7267.

Home-Grown Vegetables and Local Seafood Leap Off the Menu

Portsmouth restaurant owners are becoming more and more inspired to create masterpieces using ingredients from the bounty of the sea caught just outside their doors and from the local farms just over the hills. The cuisine of Ben Hasty, chef at The Dunaway Restaurant at Strawbery Banke, has been receiving recognition and prestigious awards, including the Best of New England 2007 and Yankee Editors' Choice 2007. This chef, a former farmer from Maine, and his staff use the fish, fowl, vegetables, fruits, and herbs produced within a few miles of Portsmouth. In season they also include the herbs, fruits, and vegetables that they grow in their own kitchen garden. This restaurant is considered to be a hot spot so be sure to make reservations before heading over for your culinary delights. Phone: 603-373-6112.

Learn to Cook a New Creation in an Evening

If you are looking to perfect your cooking skills or maybe just learn some new tricks from seasoned professionals you may enjoy taking one of the many cooking classes offered at the McIntosh College in Dover, home to L’Esprit restaurant. Located in the Seacoast region, just north of Portsmouth, McIntosh College offers classes in the evenings from 6 to 9:30 p.m. With a little advance planning, the one-session classes are easy to fit into a vacation trip. The classes are taught by faculty who bring varied, long-term experience and expertise to their teaching. These classes are designed to be a hands-on learning experience and are open to people of all cooking experience levels. Students are encouraged to ask questions and to discover their passion for food and cooking. Artisan breads, soups, recipes with cheese, and creating a plant-based diet are just a sampling of some forthcoming class offerings. Classes are held at Atlantic Culinary Academy in Dover. Phone: 888-268-2777.

Macaroons in the French Tradition Means More Almonds

A classic French almond macaroon might be a different taste adventure than what you expect (for one thing, ingredients don’t include coconut). These sweet delights are made by hand by the Price family, operators of St. Julien Macaroons at White Oaks Farm in Sandown. The French recipe dates back to the 1600s and the Price bakers stick to it religiously. Ingredients are crushed almonds, egg white, sugar and honey — no coconut, flour, shortening, salt, egg yolk, leavening or artificial preservatives. The egg white is kosher, and the absence of cholesterol, lactose, and gluten make the macaroons appropriate for many special diets. Don’t crumble at the price of these macaroons; almonds are expensive and only the finest ingredients are used. If you can stop by the shop in person, the almond-scented aroma will greet you before you open the door. The company also operates a mail-order service. Phone: 603-887-2233.

Marketplace Presents an Array of Fine Food (Even for Your Dog)

If you are traveling in the Seacoast area be sure to stop into the Durham Marketplace for a trove of enticing fresh and prepared foods, many of them locally grown. This unique grocery store has a large selection of locally produced and organic food items, popular wines, an exclusive selection of Champagnes, and one of the best specialty food selections in New England. The prepared meals in the form of platters, like the Crab Claws and Dip Platter and the Gourmet Meat Platter, are works of art to the eye. Fresh seafood and meats are abundant, and the marketplace has a wide range of gift baskets with themes such as "Pepper-Head" with hot sauces and salsas, and "Laundry Baskets” for college students. Don’t hold back from taking home some of New Hampshire-made hot sauces, salsas, spices, trail mix, local honey or doggie treats. Phone: 603-868-2500.

No Longer Candy Counter Exists Anywhere (Guinness Says)

Littleton, a little town with a warm, inviting Main Street, is home to Chutters, a general store that is reported to have appeared in the dreams of candy lovers. The central feature of Chutters is a counter loaded with an incredible amount of sweet and sour, tasty, old-fashioned and unusual types of candy. Measuring just a quarter inch shorter than 112 feet and holding 800 jars of treats, this candy counter has been certified by the Guinness Book of World Records as the longest candy counter on Earth. You may not be able to try all the candy in one visit but you can get started on your claim to being the first person to have eaten a piece of every candy offered there. Taffy, caramels, Mary Janes, Pixy Stix, bottle caps, licorice twists, rock candy and so much more can be found at Chutters. Phone: 603-444-5787.

Sugar-Free Baked Goods Satisfy Any Sweet Tooth

People who love sweets but cannot eat sugar, take heart. Chatila's Sugar Free Bakery in Salem has conducted extensive research to create extraordinary products that taste great and are good for your body. This business pairs the best ingredients with exceptional recipes to create products that are sugar-free, gluten-free, low sodium, low fat, or kosher dairy-certified. Breads, bagels, pies, cakes, cheesecakes, pastries, muffins, doughnuts and chocolates are available. The bakery’s New Generation Muffins are made with organic almond meal flour; bagels are baked not boiled with very low sodium and there’s no yeast added; the fine Belgium chocolates are sugar-free; and the rich, creamy cheesecakes are sugar-free and gluten-free. Chatila’s is open daily. Phone: 877-619-5398.