Berkshires (MA) restaurants?

[anjuli]

My DH and I will be going to the Berkshires area in the fall and would love restaurant suggestions. We enjoy all types of food and can afford to splurge (a little) for a couple of nights. Thanks!

[Rico'sAlice]

Berkshires has wonderful dining. Very focused on organic, local grown ingredients. Here are some places I like. Let me know if you have a question about some other place.

Great Barrington- Downtown/Main Street

Baba Louie's Sourdough Pizza
286 Main St., Gt. Barrington MA
Phone 413-528-8100
Amazing "gourmet" pizza. 100% organic. They get their crusts from a local bakery. You can order whole wheat or spelt as well as sourdough white. They have this awesome salad Dawn's something with pear and stuff.

Cheesecake Charlies
271 Main Street, Great Barrington MA
Phone 413-528-7790

Great desserts, but the reason to go is the entertainment. If Vicki True is playing go see her, she is a great singer who puts on a good show.

Bizen Sushi Bar & Japanese Restaurant (Railroad Street)
Excellent sushi and cooked dishes. Great salads. Organic ingredients. We eat here often.
If they are too full (you can have 1hr+ wait on the wrong nights) go to Shiro Sushi & Hibachi which is very good, just not as “special” as Bizen.
105 Stockbridge Rd
Great Barrington , MA 01230
Phone: (413) 528-1898

Verdura Cucina Rustica
44 Railroad St
Great Barrington, MA
(413) 528-8969
A little upscale. Incredible Italian dishes. This and Bizen are usually rated best restaurants in area. There is a fancy (well, fancy for the Berkshires) place “Pearls” located next to it, but no one that I know has ever eaten there.


Siam Square (By the corner of Main & Railroad Streets): Good Thai. Delicious but nothing surprising. If you are in the mood for Thai it will be fine.

Union Bar & Grill
293 Main St
Great Barrington, MA 01230-1608
(413) 528-6228

Just what the name sounds like. Very good. Worth stopping by.



Also, I know you asked about restaurants…but make sure you go to Tanglewood. Listening to the Boston Symphony Orchestra while sitting on the lawn is such a different experience than hearing it in a hall. James Taylor and other pop/folk/rock acts also have shows there. Bring a picnic basket!

Helsinki Tea Company
284 Main St
Great Barrington , MA 01230
Tea and scandanavian food. Next door is a club. Gets some great lesser known bands and has a decent open-mic night.

Also, in the middle of the block there is a little “mall” - right next to Baba Louie’s. Inside there is a place that makes huge burritos to go. Very small, but we love it. La Choza. My husband and I would get some almost every week. You pick your meat (chorizo, beef, chicken, or portabello muchrooms) and then add all kinds of toppings. Nothing fancy but really good and very filling. The same people have a Mexican restaurant at 75 North St
Pittsfield, MA


Castle Street Café: 10 Castle Street, Great Barrington, Massachusetts 01230 413-528-5244 One block S of Railroad, off of Main.
Really good food, pricey but worth it. High quality ingredients. . Some nights have jazz. Probably the most written up/ awarded place here.


On Stockbridge Rd/Rt 7 The road w/ Kmart, McDonalds, etc. Basically the only other “big” road in Great Barrington.

The Aegean Breeze
327 Stockbridge Rd
Great Barrington , MA 01230
Phone: (413) 528-4001
Good greek/ Mediterranean food. Nice fish.


If you take Main Street out the other way, towards Sheffield there is the Berskhire Bagel Co. They are really decent. If I hadn’t grown up in North Jersey I would think they were the best, but I know better. However, they do have amazing cream cheeses they make themselves, like bacon horshradish. Their lox CC is full of huge chunks. They also make good bagel sandwiches for breakfast (egg, sausage, etc) or lunch (ham, roast beef, etc)



I don’t really eat in other towns. DH and I never plan very well, and are always starving by the time we realize we want to eat, so we don’t drive too far for dinner. Lenox Café has great coffee from the local Barrington Coffee Roasters.
I have been to the Dakota in Pittsfield. It’s probably the only place around to get decent steak and/or lobster. It was good, but not cheap and I’ve had better steak at the Outback.

And from the local paper:
Best Bets Under $30 http://www.berkshireeagle.com/dining/ci_2833381

[anjuli]

WOW! Thank you Rico'sAlice ! I didn't think anyone was going to respond to my thread, but you've certainly made up for it!

All those restaurants sound so good that it's going to be hard to choose. For now I know we're definitely going to Baba Louie's Sourdough Pizza because it sounds so yummy and we're staying in Great Barrington. :)

I heard Tanglewood is great in the summer, but unfortunately we're going for the fall foliage in early October so we'll miss the Boston Symphony Orchestra. But it certainly sounds like a fun thing to do. I'll keep it in mind for our next trip out there.

Thanks again. You've been a tremendous help. It's good to hear a real person's opinion after reading through the restaurant reviews in the guide books.

[justcbk]

in lenox, you could consider:

firfly

church st. cafe (a personal favorite)

napa

[anjuli]

Thanks justcbk ! I've added your suggestions to our list of restaurants.

[BSBC]

If you're in Greenfield (where the flower bridge is), go to Gould's Sugar House for breakfast. The people who run it are farmers, so the restaurant is only open for sugaring season (in the late winter/early spring) and in the fall through the last weekend in October. They make the best pancakes I've ever had, along with really good corn fritters and maple ice cream shakes. And the maple syrup is there own and it is really good. The only iffy thing - the couple who runs the restaurant are in their 70s/80s and every year they think about not opening it.

Here is a link to their tiny Web site: http://www.goulds-sugarhouse.com/

[anjuli]

Maple ice cream shake? I've never knew maple ice cream existed, so it's definitely on our list of things to try. Thanks BSBC for the suggestion.

[BeachBum]

We stayed in Lenox, MA last fall and had such a great time. We stayed at a B&B called the Birchwood Inn, and I can't recommend it highly enough.

Have a great trip.

[anjuli]

Thanks for the B&B recommendation BeachBum. Unfortunately we've put a deposit on another B&B already.

Bellefior : I'm glad this thread has help you too. Have a great time at the Jazz Festival!