If you’ve never seen Woodstock Inn & Resort in person, you’ve probably seen it in photos or ads. It’s a long, three-story brick building painted white. Its portico shelters arriving visitors from the snow or the elements of the season. Step inside, and you’ll encounter what is probably the largest fireplace you’ve ever seen. The logs crackling in its depths raise the lobby’s temperature and warm your heart. Whether you’re a guest at the resort or coming for dinner, your entrance alone tells you that you’re in for something special.

If this is your first time at Woodstock Inn & Resort or you haven’t been for a few years, you’re about to have a dining experience curated by Executive Chef Matthew McClure. He took that job in August 2022, returning to Vermont many years after graduating from New England Culinary Institute in Montpelier. Work took him to Boston and then his home state of Arkansas, where he strove to tell its culinary story through local foods. When the chance to move back to Vermont arose, Matthew saw an opportunity to share what he learned.

“To me,” Matthew says, “ingredient-driven menus are how you build relationships with farmers, with growers, with the local community. It’s not just having a place to eat, but also this economic opportunity to support these local growers directly.”

To that end, Matthew has “guys.” “I have a guy who I just get honey from,” he says. “I have a guy who I get maple syrup from. I have a guy I get beef from.”

The resort, which runs two year-round restaurants, three seasonal dining locations, and hosts events such as weddings, needs more than one guy for some ingredients, for example, pork and beef, so Matthew works with Black River Produce, a local purveyor that tries to source regionally.

If you’ve experienced dining at the resort maybe a year ago, you’ll be happy to know that both restaurants are available again, now that Richardson’s Tavern is reopened. You’ll also learn that the eateries have swapped their focus.

The Red Rooster became more of an all-day café. It’s the place that resort guests and locals can go for a brighter, more spacious restaurant that’s family friendly. Richardson’s Tavern, smaller, darker, and more intimate, is now the resort’s signature dining experience.

The menus for both change frequently, the chefs drawing inspiration from the current season and what they can source from their local partners. Each highlights the story of the eateries’ differences. The Red Rooster’s menu is bigger and simpler, offering small plates and soups such as New England Clam Chowder, Kale Caesar Salad, Mussels Dijonnaise, and the extremely heartysounding dish Lamb Poutine. Larger plates include what you’d expect at a fine restaurant: New York Strip Steak, Duck Confit, Cioppino (a seafood-based Italian stew), Pasture-raised Chicken, and the Woodstock Burger, made with meat sourced from Sunnymeade Farms in Hartland, just eight miles away.

The menu at Richardson’s Tavern is shorter, its type bold and fresh, and its labels clever. Its smaller plates (For Grazing on the menu) include Marinated Olives, New England Baked Oysters, and Chicken Liver Mousse. The larger plates (Solos) feature Maple-cured Cod, Crispy Pork Shoulder, and Oxtail Mafalda, which incorporates oxtail and locally cured pork jowl with lemon ricotta, kale, sofrito, and chili gremolata, served over house-made pasta. Like The Red Rooster’s Lamb Poutine, it sounds about as hearty and winter-appropriate as it gets.

On any winter night at Richardson’s Tavern, you’ll find an energy that wards off the cold. The room is toasty—thanks to the fireplace—and the windows are painted with condensation. Servers bounce from table to table. One party is celebrating a birthday with champagne and a tasting menu chosen for the event. A couple in the corner is on a date night, enjoying time together before their kids are home for winter break. A guy at the bar is chatting with a visitor from California. They’re drinking Vermont IPAs and delving in to deeper conversation now that they’ve asked and answered the silly small-talk question, “Cold enough for you?”

The answer for both of these men and everyone else dining at Woodstock Inn & Resort in the middle of February is likely “yes.” After three-plus months of wintry weather, a little warmth would be welcome. But until Mother Nature provides it, a different warmth can be found at Woodstock Inn & Resort’s restaurants and, perhaps, by a few minutes sitting by the fireplace in the lobby before you head out into the winter cold.

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COCKTAIL AND APPETIZER

Beer ‘n’ a Shot—Brown-buttered bourbon, sweetened ale, bitters

Chicken Liver Mousse—Cranberry orange marmalade, cacao nibs, herb salad, brioche toast

New England Baked Oysters—Four baked oysters, smoky uni butter, bonito crumble

ENTRÉE AND SIDES

Charred Cabbage—Herb Butter Beans, Garlic Scapes, Seed Crunch

Oxtail Mafalda—Locally cured pork jowl, house-made pasta, preserved lemon ricotta, kale, sofrito, chili gremolata

Cabernet Sauvignon—Textbook “Pey Family Reserve” Napa, California

DESSERT AND DIGESTIF

Profiteroles—Pumpkin mascarpone, rice krispie, white chocolate

Tawny port—Taylor Fladgate 20 Year