"Not too fussy, not too expensive." John Roettinger used those words to describe Schaefer's to Seven Days last April, before he and his wife, Courtney, opened the restaurant at 30 Bridge Street. The couple said they wanted to bring back some of the affection people had for the Bridge Street Café, which was in that building before Hatchet.
Schaefer's has now been open five months. The Big Spruce sits across the street at 39 Bridge Street with its own kitchen running. That means the village goes into this winter with both restaurant buildings open, which hasn't happened since the winter of 2023–24. The two hours pages fit together well. Between the two buildings, at least one kitchen is open on Bridge Street every day of the week.
How both buildings went quiet, and how they filled back up
The two buildings went dark one after the other and reopened in the same order.
- October 2024. The Big Spruce closed so its owner could focus on Hatchet, Seven Days reported.
- March 2, 2025. Hatchet served its last meals after close to ten years at 30 Bridge Street, and both buildings went up for sale.
- May through September 2025. Chef Christian Kruse bought The Big Spruce in May. The creemee window reopened in June, and the dining room followed in September, according to Seven Days.
- June 1, 2026. Schaefer's opened in the old Hatchet space.
Kruse was a 2022 James Beard Foundation semifinalist for Best Chef: Northeast. The Big Spruce's website calls it a chef-driven neighborhood restaurant with a wraparound porch, a firepit, a creemee window and a private dining room called the Parlour Room.
Schaefer's is named for a restaurant in Hoboken, New Jersey, that John's great-grandmother, Lydia Schaefer, started. It was a fixture there through the 1980s. The April preview listed pancakes, French toast and eggs Benedict for breakfast, pastrami on house-baked rye and a smash burger for lunch, and steak frites and roast chicken for dinner. The coffee is made with beans from Vivid Coffee Roasters in Burlington. The restaurant's website also shows a kids' play area. The Burlington Free Press published a profile of the restaurant on October 20.
Seven days, two kitchens
When Schaefer's opened in June, it served five days a week and closed Wednesdays and Thursdays. Its contact page now lists Thursday through Tuesday, 8 a.m. to 8 p.m., with a note that says "Now open Thursdays!" The Big Spruce's current hours are Monday and Wednesday through Saturday, 11:30 a.m. to 8 p.m. It's closed Tuesday and Sunday.
Here's how the two schedules overlap, with the standing weekly events at Stone Corral on Huntington Road and at Sweet Simone's at 40 Bridge Street added in.
| Day | Schaefer's, 30 Bridge St. | The Big Spruce, 39 Bridge St. | Also in the village |
|---|---|---|---|
| Monday | 8 a.m.–8 p.m. | 11:30 a.m.–8 p.m. | Open mic at Stone Corral, 7 p.m. |
| Tuesday | 8 a.m.–8 p.m. | Closed | Taco Tuesday at Stone Corral |
| Wednesday | Closed | 11:30 a.m.–8 p.m. | Trivia at Stone Corral, 7 p.m. |
| Thursday | 8 a.m.–8 p.m. | 11:30 a.m.–8 p.m., $10 signature cocktails 4–8 p.m. | Throwback Thursday and live music at Stone Corral, 7 p.m. |
| Friday | 8 a.m.–8 p.m. | 11:30 a.m.–8 p.m., $20 New England fish and chips | Aperitivo at Sweet Simone's, 4–8 p.m. |
| Saturday | 8 a.m.–8 p.m. | 11:30 a.m.–8 p.m. | |
| Sunday | 8 a.m.–8 p.m. | Closed |
On Wednesday, The Big Spruce is the only one of the two serving. On Tuesday and Sunday, Schaefer's is. Breakfast is still a Schaefer's thing, since The Big Spruce doesn't open until 11:30.
The Big Spruce's weekly specials page also advertises $10 burgers and $5 drafts every Tuesday, even though its hours page lists Tuesday as closed. Call ahead before you plan a Tuesday burger night around it. The creemee window keeps its own posted hours: Tuesday through Friday, 4 to 8:30 p.m., and Saturday, 11:30 a.m. to 8:30 p.m. Seven Days reported last November that the window would stay open year-round. The current page calls creemees a warm-weather tradition, though, so check before you count on one in December.
Stone Corral's November calendar lists Kip de Moll on Thursday, November 5. There's a Tacos & Strings set on Tuesday, November 3.
The street itself is getting back to normal
This year's restaurant openings happened on a street with construction on it. The town's waterline replacement covers Tilden Avenue, Bridge Street from the bridge to Cochran Road, Cochran Road from Bridge Street to the cemetery, and Huntington Road from Bridge Street to the Stone Corral. That covers both Bridge Street restaurants and the stretch of Huntington Road that leads to Stone Corral.
The town's October 19 update scheduled the last week of October for cleanup on Bridge Street, Tilden Avenue and Cochran Road. That meant storm drain cleaning, topsoil touchups and paving touchups. Huntington Road got the heavier work that week: trench paving, service line connections and the water main tie-in. It was set to close to through traffic from 8 a.m. to 5 p.m. Monday through Wednesday, with a detour on Farr Road and Thompson Road. The town said it didn't expect any more full-day closures after Wednesday, October 28. During closures, the town routed business traffic through the parking area access closest to Farr Road and posted signs saying businesses were open.
The town notes that the schedule depends on the weather, so plan on a few more flaggers and patched spots before everything is fully finished. The same page posts each week's planned work.
Out on the interstate, the I-89 southbound resurfacing runs 15.6 miles from Waterbury to just north of Exit 11. It had night striping and lane work planned for the last week of October, and the town lists October 2026 as its completion date.
Friday night moves indoors, then winter starts at the middle school
The Richmond Farmers Market finished its 2026 season on Volunteers Green in mid-October. From Labor Day on, it ran Fridays from 3 to 6 p.m. With the market done, the Friday options in the village are now the ones in the table: Sweet Simone's aperitivo and fish and chips across the street.
The next big village weekend is the Cochran Ski & Ride Sale at Camel's Hump Middle School, 173 School Street.
- Online consignment closed at midnight on November 3.
- Pre-consigned gear drop-off is Friday, November 6, from 6 to 8 p.m. Only gear registered online will be accepted.
- The sale runs Saturday, November 7, from 8 a.m. to 4 p.m., and Sunday, November 8, from 9 a.m. to 1 p.m.
- Consignor pickup for checks and unsold gear is Sunday, November 8, from 1:30 to 3 p.m. The site says there's no other chance to pick up.
Cochran's own season doesn't have a start date yet. As of October 22, Ski Vermont listed the opening as "TBD." The 2026/2027 pass form lists a family pass at $295, an individual pass at $195, and a $590 option that covers a family pass plus a second family pass donated to another household. Families can ask for a free or reduced pass by contacting the ski area. Passes are picked up on opening day.
The four-day lesson series for ages six and up costs $195 with lift tickets. Program-length rentals are $70. When the registration page was last captured, it showed no Level 1 options available, and the Level 2 and 3 winter break sessions had only a few spots left. Once the lifts start running, The Big Spruce's homepage invites guests to meet friends there for après-ski.
Two events in early December
The village calendar's next two events fall on back-to-back days.
The Friends of the Richmond Free Library hold their Book and Bake Sale at the library on Friday, December 4, from 5 to 8 p.m., and Saturday, December 5, from 9 a.m. to 3 p.m. Book donations started being accepted on October 26. The schedule is on the library's site.
The next afternoon, Sunday, December 6, at 4 p.m., the Richmond Historical Society hosts its Annual Carol Sing at the Round Church. It's the last event on the Society's 2026 calendar, which began with a harp performance on Memorial Day. The Saturday sale closes at 3 p.m. and the carol sing starts at 4 p.m. the next day. Schaefer's is open both afternoons, so lunch at 30 Bridge Street fits easily either day.
If the busier village has you thinking about your own house on one of these streets, or about which of these blocks you'd want to live near, The Hammond Team would be glad to talk it through. We're happy to compare notes over breakfast at Schaefer's.
