Pogonip Pizza, at 222 Cardiff Place next to 7-Eleven, opened a few days ago. Co-owner and head chef Ryan Thompson is a Santa Cruz native and a third-generation Santa Cruz restaurateur.

Tucked inside a historic firehouse in downtown Barre, Vermont, the Ladder 1 Grill serves up calzones so magnificent they’ll haunt your culinary dreams for days after you’ve licked the last bit of ...