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By Lin Stone

Before dining at the Flatbread Factory in the Shelburne Bay Plaza with my friend Cherie on Friday evening, I had some assumptions and biases to overcome. First, I had heard about several (seven to be exact) TVs in the restaurant to watch sporting events while you down a cold beer. I rarely watch TV, and have never watched sports on TV (not ever!). And I'm not much of a cold beer drinker. It's just not my cup of tea, so to speak. Nonetheless, I enjoy exercises that require me to stretch and have new experiences as I age...

Well, crow wasn't on the menu, but I certainly should have eaten it: the restaurant was warm, and cheerful; the food was good contemporary comfort you could relax with; the choices of beer and wine by the glass were fabulous-16 craft brewery beers and, note this, a wine bar with 16 varieties of wine kept perfectly on tap. We were so comfortable and enjoyed our food and drinks so thoroughly that I never noticed what was on those big screen TVs.

The flatbread pizza menu was tempting with its fairly exotic as well as more traditional options, for example: Pear and Prosciutto with goat cheese and drizzled honey; or, Vermont Smoke and Cure sweet Italian sausage meatballs with house-made San Marzano roasted tomato sauce and fresh mozzarella. The Flatbread Factory also offers a selection of foods from south of our border: chipotle chicken burritos, cheese quesadillas, fish tacos, and a selection of more than four approaches to nachos. Finally, the menu includes an assortment of panini sandwiches as well as full plate salads.

I opted for the Au Pear Salad: caramelized pears tossed among mixed baby greens and topped with candied pecans, gorgonzola, and bacon bits. It was a perfect complement to my warm, smooth, glass of Australian Shiraz. Cherie ordered the pulled pork panini sandwich served with a house-made BBQ sauce and topped with great coleslaw and onion rings. Well worth mentioning was that neither the pulled pork, nor its cap of coleslaw, was drowning in too much sauce or dressing; this restraint was a big plus as it allowed Cherie to taste the succulent pork and carrot and cabbage slaw as well as the sauce and dressing. The small surprise on the side of the plate was news to this northerner—fried pickle slices. Who knew?

Back to the Tap Room's bounty of virtues: the selection of local and craft brewed beers on tap were plentiful. Our server that evening, Julianne, took pity on our difficulty choosing just one beer to try and allowed us to taste several small samples. I loved an Olde Burnside Ten Penny Ale, a dark amber Scottish-style ale from Connecticut. Cherie really liked the Southern Tier Creme Brulee Stout made in New York, which was so rich, strong, and sweet that she declared it a dessert beer, much like a fortified wine such as port. We both liked another Southern Tier Jah-Va, an Imperial stout-style dark beer. Tasting the beers and the wines on tap was so interesting that we suggest the Flatbread Factory and Tap Room offer a small tasting tray of three or four beers/wines on their regular menu for taste adventurers to savor together.

The Flatbread Factory and Tap Room won over an unlikely customer and provided a perfectly pleasant end to the workweek. I'll be back. And who knows, maybe next time I'll go on a Sunday, watch a football game on the widescreen HD TV, and learn to tell the difference between the Patriots and the Giants.