Long weekend in the Berkshires

[Lippy]

What I did on my summer vacation:

 

Stayed at Cobble View Inn, Tyringham August 12 - 16

 

Sunday: concert at Music Mountain

antiquing in Sheffield

dinner at Route 7 Grill, Great Barrington

 

Monday: Walked a bit of the Appalachian Trail in Tyringham, but turned back early after being warned by a through-hiker of an active hornet's nest a few hundred feet ahead.

 

lunch - Joe's diner, Lee, for local color

 

matinee of Devil's Advocate, at Shakespeare & Compnay, a two-man play about Gen'l. Noriega and the Archbishop with whom he sought asylum.

 

dinner at Chez Nous, in Lee, a new, and not bad bistro in the 1840s house that used to be the oddly named restaurant, From Ketchup to Caviar.

 

Brass quintet concert at 7 Hill Inn, Lenox. Lots of fun with amusing and talkative musicians

 

Tuesday: Hiked Tyringham Cobble, shopped in Great Barrington, had sushi lunch at Bizen.

 

Imaginatively conceived and executed fully-staged production of Cosi Fan Tutte at Tanglewood, the the theatre.

 

No dinner, because the opera didn't end until well after the restaurants closed. Someone should cooridnate better.

 

Wednesday A full museum day, beginning with a Monet drawings exhibit at the Clark, then on to the piece de resistance, the Gerald and Sara Murphy exhibit at the Willliams College Museum of Art, and ending at Mass MoCA, where we met Omni (who was supposed to have met us several hours earlier but was delayed by work at the country house.) Lunch with Omni in the snack bar where I had a surprisingly good turkey sandwich.

 

Dinner was at the steak house, Pearl's, in Great Barrington, very pleasant and comfortable, with nearly professional service.

 

Thursday Birded and walked in Pleasant Valley Wildlife Sanctuary

 

Early dinner at the Pillow Cafe (don't ask, don't go) at Jacob's Pillow, so we could see the free Inside/Out performance at 6:30.

 

Saw Bridgeman/Packer in the Studio Theatre and enjoyed their very imaginative use of video.

 

Friday Lunch at the Church Street Cafe in Lenox before a matinee at Shakespeare and Company of Tom Stoppard's Rough Crossing before heading to Columbia County to spend the weekend with friends who live there.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

[helena]

what would be a good place for a casual lunch in Great Barrington?

[Lippy]

If the weather is still good and the deck still has tables and chairs on it, the little cafe run by Rubiner's, the upscale cheese and grocery store on Main Street, has sandwiches and pastries made from the first-rate ingredients for sale at the store itself, which is worth a look around anyway.

 

Route 7 Grill, on the edge of town, would also be good for lunch. It is open for lunch on weekends.

[omnivorette]

Has anybody been to a restaurant in or near Great Barrington called Chez Nous?

[g.johnson]

No. Nor would I.

[Lippy]

Has anybody been to a restaurant in or near Great Barrington called Chez Nous?

 

Yes, see my post, above. We liked our meal, although it was hurried, because we were on our way to Tanglewood. It's French bistro food, with an effort to source local ingredients. It's the Berkshires, not France, however and not even NYC, so tailor your expectations accordingly. The surroundings are very pleasant.

 

[Daisy]

Shropshire - Scotland

They haven't invaded again, have they?

That's what it said on the menu.

 

The restoration of the Mount is moving along slowly. The rooms on the piano nobile have been more or less restored, but most are filled with furniture from a decorators' showcase held last year. They will probably remain that way until more appropriate furniture can be found. Edith Wharton took her furniture with her when she moved to France and it was dispersed after her death. This year's project was the re-planting of the gardens. Next will be the restoration of Wharton's bedroom suite.

I was at The Mount over the weekend and a few more rooms have been restored or are under restoration and the work on the gardens appears to be almost finished. Still a long way to go, and the stables are supposedly slated for restoration as well. It's a beautiful house on a stunning site, much less grand (in keeping with Wharton's design principles as delineated in The Decoration of Houses) than other great houses of the same era. Only two rooms deep in many places and equipped with skylights, it is flooded with natural light. It was rather thrilling to see Wharton's library in situ and to see displayed in a glass case a book inscribed to Wharton from Henry James, a novel Wharton owned in which she made notes on the flyleaf , her husband's copy of a volume of Nietzsche, etc.

[Lippy]

Just back from a week in the Berkshires. We stayed at our usual B & B in Tryingham, now called the Cobble View Bed and Breakfast. The blue shutters that I complained about years ago are still there, but so is the view of Tyringham Cobble. We've been going to this B & B for many years, under the current and previous owners, and wouldn't consider staying anyplace else. I think it's the experience with MF and its predecessors that have made it possible for me to converse with strangers, even at breakfast.

 

R. and I both love the Berkshires, and especially, Tyringham.

 

Best meals:

Route 7 Grill, sitting on the back porch, overlooking the smoker.

I had baby back ribs, with a vinegary cole slaw and mac 'n cheese for me, the latter side not as good as Fantasty's, (no surprise) but the cole slaw was excellent. R. had regular ribs that he raved about and the creamy coleslaw, which he also praised. I couldn't resist a totally unnecessary appetizer of bacon-wrapped scallops and was very disappointed by the preparation, which is a shame, since the raw ingredients were excellent. Three huge scallops were wrapped around the top and bottom as well as the sides and baked in a thin, sweet, maple-y sauce. The bacon wasn't crisp even for me (and I don't like crisp bacon) and the sauce was too sweet.

 

Chez Nous, in Lee.

R had gazpacho, salmon with some kind of rice cake and a trio of sorbets

I had a puree of red lentils, cauliflower and fennel, salad and a lemon thyme panna cotta that they called a "posset" on the menu. Correct me if I'm wrong, one of you Brits, but isn't a posset almost liquid?

 

As for the rest, we did the usual.

 

Art: the Clark, Mass MOCA (very good this year, I thought). The new building, Stone Hill Center, designed by Tadao Ando, has opened and is worth seeing for its own sake. There was a small exhibit of some Sargent's and Homer's, and in the future the galleries here will show work from periods and styles not usually assocated with the Clark. Most of the building is a conservation center and you can see the conservator at work through the large windows.

 

Theater: Broke-ology at Williamstown, with a memorable performance by Wendell Pierce and some very funny lines. The influence of August Wilson is evident.

 

The Book Club Play at Berkshire Theater Festival (not very good)

 

A very free adaptation of one of Feydeau's farces, The Ladies Man, at Shakespeare and Company, unevenly acted in a very clever set. The physical comedy in this was deftly handled and I loved our seats in the first row, next to an aisle that was used from some entrances and exits, making me almost part of the production.

 

Music Mountain on the way up: Penderecki String Quartet

Pamela Mia Paul, Piano

Schubert: Quartettsatz (including 2nd mvt. fragment)

Mendelssohn: String Quartet in D Major, Opus 44 # 1

Dvorak: Quintet for Piano and Strings in A Major, Opus 81 (1887)

 

I had never seen the soloist (not heard of her, but she was very impressive in the Dvorak.)

 

Tanglewood: John Harbison, Symphony No. 5, with mezzo-soprano Kate Lindsay and baritone Thomas Meglioranza. Lindsay outclassed Meglioranza in every way. Opera lovers take note: she is scheduled to be at the Met next season in The Magic Flute. After the intermission: Mahler's First Symphony.

 

Berkshire Fringe: a new series of events at Simon's Rock College in Great Barrington. We saw two events, a one-woman play, Miracle Tomato a performance piece by Alexandra Beller, a most unusual and expressive dancer. a bit too expressive for my taste, I must say.

 

We hiked the Cobble, the McClellan trail and a piece of the Apalachian trail in Tyringham.

 

On Sunday, we thought of Rail Paul as we took the tound trip on the Berkshire Scenic Rail from Lenox to Stockbridge and visited the little museum in the restored Lenox station.

[Robert Brown]

Lippy, we have an underused Shaker house in Tyringham across the valley from the several on Fernside. We did just return from a two-week stay. We didn't like Route 7 Grill very much this time, but thought that Big W's BBQ on Rt. 22 in Wingdale has chicken and ribs that go down easy. I like it a lot.

 

Amy Loveless, an impeccable caterer in West Stockbridge who takes care of the cafe at the Mount gave us two recommendations last year, both in Pittsfield. One is Trattoria Rustica where the anchovies and marinated red peppers are fine (except for the meagre portion size) as is the grilled veal chop. The Colombian restaurant Lafogata is cheap and delicious. It's funky and honest. Good guacomole with warm house-made chips is a winner as are many other dishes. It merits at least a few visits to try as many dishes as possible. My grilled San Salvador beef with onions was the best meat one so far. It's much better than the UWS La Rural, for example.

 

I also thought Bizlion beyond central Great Barrington toward Sheffield (Rt. 7) offers more as a lunch place than Rubi's Cafe in the center of the town.

 

 

[omnivorette]

Oh, we'll have to try the places in Pittsfield. Thanks.

 

Our house is in NY - about 20 mins from Williamstown and 30 mins from Bennington.

[Rail Paul]

Just back from a week in the Berkshires. We stayed at our usual B & B in Tryingham, now called the Cobble View Bed and Breakfast. The blue shutters that I complained about years ago are still there, but so is the view of Tyringham Cobble. We've been going to this B & B for many years, under the current and previous owners, and wouldn't consider staying anyplace else. I think it's the experience with MF and its predecessors that have made it possible for me to converse with strangers, even at breakfast.

 

R. and I both love the Berkshires, and especially, Tyringham.

 

(snip)

 

On Sunday, we thought of Rail Paul as we took the round trip on the Berkshire Scenic Rail from Lenox to Stockbridge and visited the little museum in the restored Lenox station.

 

That's a lovely ride on the train. In years past, one could take the New Haven Railroad from Grand Central Terminal to Danbury, Stockbridge, Great Barrington, Lenox, and Pittsfield. Parlor cars were offered on Thursday and Friday evenings in addition to the usual coaches. That service ended in May of 1972, I believe.

 

By coincidence, I passed through Stockbridge on Friday, and thought of this precise thread. We considered lunch at the Route 7 Grill, but forged ahead. Spooky. Even spookier (?) we grabbed ribs, etc at Big W's in Wingdale, mentioned by Robert Brown in the next post.

 

[Melonious Thunk]

A very nice week, it seems.

[Lippy]

A very nice week, it seems.

 

But not long enough...

[ranitidine]

A very nice week, it seems.

 

But not long enough...

 

 

But as one of the guys in my office says, don't stay for two weeks or you'll never come back. Also, Elizabeth's in Pittsfield remains my favorite Berkshire restaurant. The sauce on the polenta was really exceptional this time.

[Rail Paul]

 

Dinner starts off with a hunk of dark organic sourdough from Berkshire Mountain Bakery and a bowl of vividly green Tuscan olive oil for dunking. Next comes the café's signature salad. It arrives by the oversized bowlful and includes whatever inspires Tom Ellis.

 

Ours had spankingly fresh mesclun, feta, chickpeas, carrots, chunks of apple and kiwi, golden raisins, kidney beans, slivers of red cabbage and pepper, all tossed in a tart balsamic dressing that picked up an extra oomph from a sprinkle of pecorino cheese. I am sure that the salads alone keep people coming back.

 

My daughter enjoyed the nippy heat of her soup -- a bisque of tomatoes and cream with coconut milk and Jamaican spices ($2.95). Tom Ellis also makes variations on this soup with Mexican or Indian flavorings, as the spirit moves him.

 

The simple brilliance of my oven-roasted wild mushrooms ($6.95) lay in the mingling of very good olive oil with the mushroom liquor exuded in baking, set off with caramelized onion and herbes de Provence. A goodly company of meaty shiitake, oyster and portabella fungi basked in this heady amalgam.

 

My husband's starter, Lizzie's Baked Polenta ($6.95), was recommended with one of the menu's amusingly suggestive asides: "Your first kiss should be this good."

 

It certainly was satisfying and enough for two hungry mouths to linger over. A soup-plate-size portion of tender cornmeal polenta napped in melted mozzarella was surrounded by tomato and mushroom broth and more of the caramelized onions. The latter are slow-roasted in oil for a couple of hours until they are deep brown with a concentrated mellowness that adds depth to a number of the dishes here.

 

Our pasta entrées (The three of us shared two, both $15.50, including the salad.) were based on penne, exactly al dente. One had a bold puttanesca sauce, hearty with bits of tomato, kalamata olives, garlic, capers, anchovies and hot peppers that nestled invitingly in the tube-shaped noodles.

 

The other was an unctuous meltdown of imported gorgonzola cheese and fresh cream. Heavy and clingy, it would have seemed a bit less intensely rich surfacing a long flat pasta, but this minor cavil aside, it was greatly enjoyed by my family of blue-cheese enthusiasts.

 

Elizabeth's on East Street (2002 review)