The Sugar Shack is this quaint little restaurant that got yanked out of obscurity when people started noticing how adorable it was, and came running in to eat pancakes and buy the jugs of maple syrup they make in-house.

You sit at wood tables, next to wood walls, in what looks like the home of a woman who really likes wood decorating, and eat obscenely cheap food. A cooked egg costs eighty-five cents. So does a donut. And it’s delicious. As you eat the home fries (with local potatoes, on a plastic plate) It really feels as though someone very nice is doing you a favor.

If the prices aren’t a good enough reason to come, and the very solid food isn’t enough reason to come, then stop in for a visit just because they support local farmers, and not in that sort of yuppie way where they call it local and jack up the price. Take a look at their website and you’ll see that they tell you where they’re getting their milk, and their potatoes, and blueberries and eggs. I really respect that.

But respect doesn’t make a restaurant – good food does – so I recommend the home fries and an apple pancake. And if anyone goes and tries some of their more sugar-y concoctions, like a maple milkshake or a donut with maple cream, let us know how it is, will you? I was tempted, but it was just a little too early for me.

(They’re open at odd hours and close some seasons, so check their website or call before making the trip.)