Food + Booze
Madame Barfly: Pumpkin and Bone Marrow
Nothing tastes like fall more than a pumpkin martini, unless it’s a pumpkin martini with a bone marrow bar snack. The Federal fine dining restaurant and pub in Agawam serves such tasty treats, but with an $11 price tag on the cocktail “Son of a Pumpkin” I was...
King of the Pumpkin Patch: 12 pumpkin craft beers face off
In 1923, when The New York Times asked George Mallory why he wanted to climb Mount Everest, the adventurer quipped: “Because it’s there.” That’s not the most promising mantra to cling to — Mallory perished on the mountain the following year — but I fear it’s one that...
The Pour Man: Dave Matthews’ Wine
In addition to wine and news, I try to keep up with what’s going on in the music world. As with wine, I have an eclectic taste in music. I pretty much like anything with a tune. Well, there are a few genres — sea shanties and ISIS campfire songs come to mind — that...
Dulce delish
For Valley foodies, Maria Moreno’s alfajores — Chilean cookies made with dulce de leche inside — are a novelty bought in local markets. But for Moreno’s two-year-old daughter, Olivia, they’re a daily staple. Inside Moreno’s home kitchen in Easthampton, where Moreno...
Which cider house rules?
Cider is a great fall treat that’s sadly been smothered by the wave of pumpkin spice that overtakes New England when the leaves start to change. Tart, tangy, sweet, a punch of apple to the taste buds, the underappreciated cider is a robust beverage that truly deserves...
Jaboulet is Back
Like white shoes, white pants and hats, white wines can go back on the shelf until the days lengthen and warm up. Sure, there will be occasions for a crisp Chardonnay, perhaps with a course or two of a holiday meal, and there are many other whites that are perfect...
5 things to love about Greenfield
Greenfield doesn’t get the same attention for being an arts and cultural center like Northampton, Amherst or Springfield, but we’d like to help change that perception. There’s a lot to love about this town and not just for its obvious attributes: Greenfield’s...
Madame Barfly: Bubbles! Burps aside, this Spiked Seltzer is pretty good
Bigger cities may have had a taste of Spiked Seltzer last year, but it made its first big splash in the Valley this summer — packies were having a hard time keeping it on the shelves. “It’s been really popular,” says one manager at Liquors 44 in Northampton of the...
Fall Bites … at Valley restaurants
With the chill of fall finally beginning to bite, it’s the perfect time to indulge in something more substantial than summer fare. Pumpkin, squash, apple, maple syrup, and any number of other fall delights await at restaurants throughout the Valley. So, when you’ve...
The Pour Man: Crystal Clear, Green Highlights, Picpoul de Pinet
Lately, I have been receiving some recommendations of wines to have with freshly caught seafood, so during a recent trip to Maine, my wife and I decided to try a few of them out. I had a couple of wines in mind, but I had not taken notice of Picpoul de Pinet, a white...
The Beerhunter: Brick & Feather Brewery in Turners Falls
The 11th-Hour Taste Test Lawrence George pours a hazy-gold sample of beer from the tank and passes it to me in a small glass. It is a bold and flavorful take on an American pale ale: hoppy, tangy, and delicious. In another tank, George is fermenting a slightly sweeter...
Review: New Food at the Big E, Deep-Fried Disappointment
New Food at the Big E: Deep-Fried Disappointment Ahh, Big E season. The diet crusher — the reason some of us worked to cut calories this summer — is here again. With nearly a century under the Eastern States Exposition’s belt, the crew there have perfected more than...
The Pour Man: Getting Lucky With McWilliam
Back in the beginning of the summer, someone suggested that I check out a “very nice” petite sirah and because I favor whites and roses during the hotter months, I filed the recommendation to memory without writing it down. However, my mental filing system is a bit of...
Taste-Off! Pizza Showdown, Final Round: Slices of the Southern Valley
The staff of the Advocate realized something this week: we are really full of pizza. That’s what you get when you commit to judging a blind-tasting contest between 27 of the Valley’s best by-the-slice pizza establishments. In round one, back in March, we chowed down...
Madame Barfly: A Hard Shake, there’s a new bar jockey in Amherst
Sitting down at Osteria Vespa’s bar for the first time, I’m surprised to find there’s no cocktail list. Josh Draghe, the soft-spoken, knowledgeable, and impeccably polite head bartender directs my gaze to a nearby board where staffers have handwritten signature...
The Pour Man: Rip van Drinkle — Discovering Albarino 20 Years After the Craze
I think it’s safe to say that many wine drinkers tend to seek out comfort zones — wine brands, varietals, regions — that they return to time and time again. After all, there are so many wines on the market that it can be confusing, and once you know a wine that you...
Taste-Off! Pizza Showdown: The best slice in the Valley is at …
Drum roll please … After four rounds of blind taste-tests of cheese slices from 27 pizzerias across the Valley — from Greenfield to Springfield — the Advocate staff is ready to announce the winner of our summer slice smackdown. Without knowledge of where the...
Food Truck Fest or Bust: Valley residents say Connecticut man took money, provided no service
Will Betsy and Jimmy Tarr, owners of the Hatfield-based Bistro Bus, ever get their money back? Jimmy Tarr said he still hasn’t heard from Rob Craven, organizer of the never-realized inaugural Massachusetts Food Truck Festival, about getting back his $425 deposit. Tarr...
The Beerhunter: Drink Local! The Valley’s Top 10 Must-Try Craft Beers
Welcome back from summer vacation! Sadly, the heat wave isn’t over just yet. But the Beerhunter predicts cool evenings ahead, so be sure to make time to kick back on your couch, porch, or at your favorite neighborhood bar and appreciate everything the Valley’s craft...
The Pour Man: Oyster Bay Saves the Day
In general, I think it’s safe to say that to like New Zealand sauvignon blanc, it doesn’t hurt to have a taste for grapefruit juice. I don’t mean the sweet, pink stuff, but real grapefruit juice, squeezed from tangy, sour white fruit, grown on ancient trees like the...
Pop-Up Foodie Paradise: A Night With the Hush and Proper, the area’s newest travelling dinner service
The saloon doors swing open, and Emily Pichette steps into the small kitchen of the Foundry in Northampton. A wave of sound follows her from the dining room: murmuring, laughter, and clinking glasses. “Are we ready for the first course?” she asks. The staff turns to...
Taste-off! Brownie BRAWL, Valley brownies go head to head and the winner may surprise you
Ah, the classic American brownie — it’s the chocolate chip cookie for chocolate lovers. Everybody has a brownie story. Whether your Grandma made the best, you ate that funny smelling one and couldn’t speak for a while, or you had the munchies and ate a whole tray of...
Madame Barfly: Hope and Olive in Greenfield serves drinks to your health
Jim Zaccara says his bar is an appletini-free zone. Zaccara, 45, grew up working in restaurants, and bartending was always his forte. When he began making his own style of cocktail at his first full-bar restaurant — Hope and Olive in Greenfield — eight years ago, he...
The Beerhunter: Brattleboro by the Glass
The southern Vermont town of Brattleboro does a lot of things right: green hills, friendly people, fun bookstores, and a few stellar swimming holes. But this month, the Beerhunter looks into this town’s newest promising trend: craft brewing. Out of the beer spots in...
Pay It Forward With Produce: Where to donate your extra garden greens
Summer is a great time to celebrate the bounty of Pioneer Valley farms, but many households face difficulties — financial and otherwise — in planning meals, feeding mouths, and accessing good nutrition. According to The Food Bank of Western Massachusetts, about one in...
Can I Do It? A half-ass guide to canning
I always feel bad when the tomatoes from my garden rot on the counter waiting in vain for me to chop them up into salsa or boil them into a marinara. I have the best of intentions in May when I ask my husband to plant boccu tomatoes in our garden, but come the sticky...
The Pour Man: The Mystery of Cotes du Rhone
During a sunny early June gathering, I ran into a friend, who suggested that I try a Cotes du Rhone that I hadn’t come across before. He said the wine, which he buys by the case, is his go-to wine for dinner parties and gatherings. I tried to dissuade him, suggesting...
An Open Letter to Kale: What happened to you?
Let me tell you a story, kale. My Uncle Dale — his musical world was anchored by the “Moods in Music” LPs from George Melachrino. He loved those mellow vinyl releases, emblazoned with hair-helmeted women lazing around on shiny upholstery and gazing over Atomic Age...
Plotting Out a Harvest: Northampton Community gardeners dish on what they’re doing with the harvest
The green-thumbed spend hours in the summer sun growing delicious food that all seems to be ready to harvest at the same time, in abundance. So, what happens to the over-abundance of bounty once it’s pulled from the ground? We stopped by the Northampton Community...
13 Things You’ll Actually Want To Do With Kale
By Advocate Staff Like an itchy sweater your auntie knitted, you can’t just throw kale out, you have to do something with it. Lord knows eating it is out of the question, so here are some suggestions for how to get the most out of that claw-like green: 1. Hang a sprig...
Madame Barfly: Summertime and the Drinkin’s Easy
For every season there is a drink. Just as beer nuts ditch cold-weather porters and quads to settle their summertime cravings for IPAs and light brews, cocktail sippers also change their choice of beverage with the heat. Fruity, delicious cocktails enjoyed on the...
PODCAST Taste-Off! Slice Showdown Part 3, pizza from the northern Valley
It’s round three in our all-Valley pizza slice smackdown. This month we tasted pies from the northern half of the Valley, grabbing slices of cheese from Amherst House of Pizza, Sibie’s, and Sub and Pizza, all of Amherst; Antonio’s and Papa George’s, both of...
Our crappy diets are speeding up climate change: Livestock responsible for 20 percent of all greenhouse gases
E veryone has counted calories at some point. Some of us tally them religiously. I only think of them when I’m staring at the side of a cereal box at two in the morning. But given the state of our warming world — rising sea levels, falling bee populations, and all...
Vegetable Valley: Columnist and author Claire Hopley on what to do with all those local veggies
Many of us have faced an inevitable problem. You bring in the bounty of a farm share. You’ve done the right thing, aided the local economy and your health. You should feel proud — your counter is jammed to capacity with celeriac, beets, radishes, carrots, and a...
The Pour Man: Consider the roses
One of my favorite wines for a warm summer evening is a crisp, dry rose. Rose is a happy bridge wine between the reds of winter and the brighter whites of summer. It’s excellent with a light meal, such as a salad with grilled shrimp or chicken, or just sipping with...
The Beerhunter: The The Other ‘L’ Word, never fear, good light beer is here
Thinking about “light beer” brings up distasteful, albeit fun, memories. Long nights in college spent pouring cans of Keystone into red plastic cups; fly-fishing with grouchy uncle Roy, paddling around with a cooler full of Molson; going to that barbecue last summer...
The Pour Man: Acrobats that aren’t too sweet
Madame Bar Fly: Springfield’s Cheers, Serving up charm, good company, and cheap booze at the Ale House
The Ale House on Worthington Street in Springfield is surrounded by boarded-up buildings that loom ominously up over the small, cozy one that the bar occupies. But inside, the vibe is warm and welcoming. “It’s somewhere you can go in Springfield where you don’t have...
Taste-Off! Local ice cream makers go head to head
Now that summer is almost here, we’re reaching for one of our favorite ice cream combos to get us through the work week: thick ribbons of fudge and belts of peanut butter cups in sweet vanilla ice cream. We’d call it Moose Tracks, except that name has been owned by...
The Pour Man: Clever label masks a fine wine, Chateau La Paws
I’m generally turned off by cute wine labels. If I come across a bottle with say, a smiling, cartoon version of Ebenezer Scrooge and a name that borders on the scatological, I immediately assume the taste must resemble the appellation, and a clever label is required...
The Beerhunter Abroad! Perusing Peruvian Brews
Peru The American craft beer landscape is an ever-expanding picture, but if you want to call yourself a seasoned beerhunter, you need to wander off the map from time to time. So in late May I set off on vacation to Peru, primed to enjoy a break from routine — and to...
Keep on Food Truckin’: Mobile chefs keep pumping out the good eats — and charm — despite the wearying pace
As if the stationary restaurant business weren’t tumultuous enough with its high overhead costs, perishable products, and unpredictable customers, food truck owners kick it up a degree by taking it to the streets and exposing themselves — and their kitchens — to the...
Madame Barfly: In Bloom, Easthampton’s Coco serves up some simple heaven
The fact that Coco and the Cellar Bar’s best-selling cocktail is their ginger margarita is a testament to why people pack this place: simple delights. This tasty cocktail is exactly what you’d expect it to be. Spicy fresh ginger is added to the classic margarita trio...
Scene Here: Nightly Rounds at Tandem Bagel Co. in Easthampton
Melissa Haller rattles a wheeled rack across the concrete floor. It holds 15 pans with 24 raw bagels in each. The unbaked dough shines in the fluorescent light. The air in the kitchen is thick with a warm, herby smell, cut with the savory tang of onion and garlic....
Raise Your Glass: Zin Is In
Terra d’Oro Zinfandel Amador County, Calif. $9.99 to $15.99 In the early 1970s in Atlanta, you could be considered knowledgeable about wine if you knew that the rose from Lancers and Mateus came from Portugal. And there were ego-boosting bonus points given if you...
Slice Showdown Part 2: Which pizzeria makes the best slice in Springfield?
It’s a tough job, but someone’s gotta bloat their bellies with massive amounts of pizza to find the best slice in the Valley. This week we bring you Part 2 of our Slice Showdown and we tasted Springfield pies. Limiting our pizza to slices only, we hit the streets. And...
Best Of Winners’ Photo Booth
On Cinco de Mayo the Advocate threw a party at the Log Cabin in Holyoke for the first place winners of the 2015 Best Of the Valley Readers Poll competition. There was a photo booth there … things got silly, here’s the proof.
Raise Your Glass: Bargain Wine From South Africa
The Wolftrap Red Blend, 2013 Western Cape of Good Hope, South Africa $7.98 to $9.99 Last week, I heard a wine expert say that the best way for a regular wine drinker to become knowledgeable is to try something different every time. According to his plan, if you are...
The Beerhunter: Black and White and Red All Over, jump on the beer color wheel
At the beginning of The Matrix, Morpheus gives Neo a choice: Swallow the blue pill and wake up to his old boring life, or take the red pill and discover everything he’s been missing. I felt like Neo the other day as I stood in the package store, gazing at an...
Taste-Off!: Dueling Donuts, which shop makes the best donuts in the Valley?
Dueling Donut Podcast Homer Simpson said it best when he drooled out, “mmmm … donuts.” That pretty much says it all: fried, crispy, sugary-sweet, warm, melty cake. Or for short “mmmmmm.” For this Taste-Off! the Advocate staff searched around the Valley for the...
Madame Barfly: By the Light of the Night ‘True shine’ moonshine made right in our backyard
After getting laid off, 32-year printing press veteran Scott Santaniello decided to move into an industry that always seems to stand the test of time: booze, baby. Two years ago, Santaniello, a 51-year-old life-long resident of Springfield, got a distiller’s license,...
Raise Your Glass: I’ll Have a Glass of Ernest and Julio Gallo Wine — No, Seriously
When I was in elementary school, we were considered cool if we could say a few lines from television commercials. We memorized a lot of them. One ad I still remember is “What’s the word? Thunderbird,” an ad for cheap, fruit-flavored, fortified wine named for the Ford...
Tantalized: Foods we’re psyched to try during Springfield Restaurant Week
Did someone say “Restaurant Week”? Woo-hoo! We’re all over it. Sign us up! The City of Homes is holding its first Restaurant Week, April 23 through May 2. The event, organized by the Springfield Young Professional Citizens Committee, gives restaurants a chance to...
Come again! How the corner store competes in a world of Amazon and Big-box
Trans World Food Market 50 Russell Street, Hadley Small Valley, big world Brothers David Tran, 22, and Sockha Son, 30, say the success of their market hinges on staffs’ ability to help customers find just what they’re looking for — even when customers don’t know...
Food Deserts in Springfield: How many buses would you take to buy groceries?
For many residents of Mason Square a full week’s grocery shopping — picking up fresh fruits and vegetables, stopping by the butcher, buying some fresh bread, eggs, or pasta — means taking two buses to get to the Big Y across the river in West Springfield and cramming...
The Beerhunter: You’ve Got to Try Sour Beers
Who’s up for a fresh glass of saccharomyces cerevisiae? I’ll take one! Though, personally, I like to mix this yeast variety with water, hops, and barley. Combine those four magic ingredients and you’ve got yourself a beer — tastier, and much easier to pronounce. But...
Raise Your Glass: Portuguese Red Lives Up to Its Reputation
Periquita, 2012, red wine, Portugal, $7.99-$9.99 For the last decade, the national wine gurus have been raving about wines from the Iberian Peninsula as the best value on the market. They’ve all said things like: You’ve got to try them — they’re unbelievable, just...
Madame Barfly: The Craft, The Green Room’s head mixologist stirs things up
A cocktail revolution that’s been percolating in major cities has finally made its way to Northampton in earnest: craft cocktails. A craft cocktail is exactly what it sounds like — a craft unto itself. It’s more than expensive alcoholic liquids poured into a glass....
MAP Al Fresco! Outdoor Dining in the Pioneer Valley
Even back in January, customers at the Munich Haus restaurant in Chicopee were asking owner Patrick Gottschlicht when the biergarten would re-open. “I kept telling them it was too cold, that they’d have to wait. But they’ve really been putting the pressure on me,”...E-Edition
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