REVIEW

Summer along the New England shore means seafood, but what about inland New England? What’s the great roadside food to be found at summer only stands in the Green Mountains of Vermont? How about seafood? Yes, improbable as it may seem, locals flock to Onion Flats in the Bethel countryside for belly clams, haddock, scallops, and lobster rolls.

The fried scallop roll, while not as overflowingly apportioned as its coastal cousins, is, like all the seafood served here, made with fresh scallops, breaded to order, and expertly fried.

The appeal of summer-only Onion Flats, aside from its curious name, is the fact that their seafood is not frozen, and it is breaded and fried to order. The onion rings and fries are made from scratch. Cole slaw is made fresh each day. They serve burgers and some sandwiches but the real draw is the seafood and rings.

The finely chopped cole slaw is homemade.

You place your order at one window and, when your number is called, pick up at another window. There is an indoor dining area but the choice seating is outside at picnic tables, some under cover, others under the sun, beside a corn field. When you are finished with your meal, head back to the ice cream window for that Vermont favorite, a creamie (Vermontese for soft-serve).

Enjoy your fried seafood by the edge of a corn field.

Onion Flats is located on a rural stretch of road between the towns of Bethel and Randolph, not far from the drive-in theater. They generally open for the season in early May, and close in early September.

LAF TRAK: 

FOOD: 

BEST THING TO EAT: Onion rings