At the junction of curving roadways, Zach Gorham’s restaurant, Eclipse—now less than a year old—looks out onto Northampton’s Main Street. Eclipse stands at the bend where Main Street angles toward Smith College, providing a clear view of both ends of the sharply curving street. In the summer, patrons can dine at sidewalk tables.
Gorham, a Northampton native who got his start working in a series of local restaurants, and his partner, Emma Donoghue, opened the new restaurant last March. Without advertising and with little fanfare, Gorham says with a wide grin, “We got slammed.”
Eclipse offers dinner only, with live music on weekends. Inside, several booths line one wall, tables fill the floor and a bar of dark curly maple, with a charming wine hutch, stands by the windows. At the back of the den-like space, the wall is filled by an open kitchen where Gorham and his sous chef, Kevin Doubleday, work against the Northampton skyline.
Doubleday apprenticed with Gorham years ago, when Gorham was sous chef at the Lord Jeffrey Inn. “In two years, he left for culinary school, but he could do my job. I’d taught him everything I knew,” Gorham said.
After graduating from culinary school, Doubleday spent a number of years working in New York City, and Gorham heard of his return to the area just as he was planning to open Eclipse. Doubleday left his other job as a breakfast cook and helped Gorham and Donoghue with the construction. Says Gorham, “I call him my sous chef because that’s what you do. But in reality he’s my co-chef. We’re partners. I have 15 years’ experience on him, but he’s at my level.”
The co-chefs enjoy shopping together (they’re regulars at the Tuesday farmers’ market in Northampton) and deciding on their menu based on the best of what’s available.
“Sometimes people think it’s more difficult changing the menu every night, but I think it’s easier in a lot of ways,” Gorham said. Because he’s preparing a menu from what he has on hand, he’s not hunting down ingredients. His passion for culinary composition shows in details such as polenta croutons, and vanilla fig butter as a garnish for pork loin.
While Eclipse’s small menu of eight to 10 appetizers and entrees is ever-changing, certain meals have become recurring favorites. Coq au vin appears regularly, and people seem to enjoy Gorham’s spin on chicken cordon bleu: Cornish hens with Gruyere and pancetta. Lamb Crepe, a braised leg with pureed celeriac, bacon and Pecorino, is another ambitious entree, as is Duck Two Ways: boneless breast seared to medium rare and confit leg quarter with gorgonzola gratin.
“Duck is another thing we love to do,” Gorham said. “We buy whole ducks: we use their breasts in an entree, we confit their legs, make pate out of their livers, and boil down their carcasses into stock and then into demi-glace. And it’s… it’s awesome. We slip the duck demi-glace into everything. We drizzle it on steaks. … Just the other day we filled up our fryolator with duck fat. It’s like every chef’s dream to do things like that.”
For Gorham, who describes himself as being “in love” with his work, there’s romance in providing diners with the sensuous pleasure of carefully crafted combinations. He savors “the look on someone’s face when they’re eating a great meal; the creative outlet of making food: playing with recipes and presentation. I found fulfillment in it.”
