Legendary restaurant Hen of the Wood to move to new Waterbury location

A restaurant that helped ignite Vermont’s renowned farm-to-table movement is vacating its original Waterbury location for another space downtown.

Hen of the Wood, which opened its Waterbury spot in a snug, atmospheric former mill in October 2005, posted Sunday on social media what the rumor mill had been manufacturing for months – that the restaurant will move from 92 Stowe St. to 14 S. Main St. That location is across the street from Prohibition Pig, another restaurant overseen by Hen of the Wood founder Eric Warnstedt.

The restaurant’s Instagram post quoted bluesman Mississippi Fred McDowell in explaining its rationale for the change: “You got to move!”

“We can’t let this stone gather dust!” the post continued.

Warnstedt did not respond to several inquiries over the past few months from the Burlington Free Press seeking details regarding the move. He wrote in a March 6 email that “we just haven’t been ready to talk.”

Hen of the Wood, which also has a Burlington location, served its final meal at the old 1840 mill building over the weekend. “Cheers to the teams that have cooked over 300k meals and to the kind and gracious customers that have allowed us to serve them!” the Instagram post reads.

Hen of the Wood is not, however abandoning the mill space entirely.

“We’ll hopefully be back in the mill in the fall with a new brand, lots of fresh pasta, carafes of wine, waterfalls, and those sexy little rock wall mice,” according to the Instagram post. The post indicates that the new Hen of the Wood location on South Main Street should be ready to serve customers “in a few weeks.”

Contact Brent Hallenbeck at bhallenbeck@freepressmedia.com. Follow Brent on Twitter at www.twitter.com/BrentHallenbeck.

This article originally appeared on Burlington Free Press: Hen of the Wood restaurant in Waterbury to move to new location