Food + Booze
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,”...
Taste-Off! Slice Showdown, Part 1: Which Northampton by-the-slice pizza joint lays claim to the best?
Pizza — it’s as American as, well, burritos and frankenfurters. Determining what’s the best pizza is a heady, touchy business. And in an area where there’s a pizza joint every 50 feet or so, the stakes are high. For something that is, at its most elemental, just...
An Open Letter to Sandwich-makers: It’s time to ratify sandwich standards
Since the first time an Arab stuffed meat into a pita, the sandwich has been awesome. Sure, the Earl of Sandwich gave the lunchtime staple it’s name during a furious poker match, but the first recording of someone putting food between bread and eating it dates back to...
Raise Your Glass: Organic Wines That Are Well Worth a Try
Natura Cabernet Sauvignon 2014, Chile, $9.99-11.99 Natura Chardonnay 2013, Chile, $9.99-11.99 About a decade ago, I tried an organic wine. It was expensive and bad. I didn’t spit it out or even pour it down the drain, probably because of my Scots heritage, but I...
Beerhunter: Tips for your next brewery tour
Up in Vermont there’s a glow-in-the-dark circus party at the end of the world. Neon streamers and Mardi Gras beads hang all over the place. Colorful string lights set the room aglow. Some visitors hunker down at the long bar counter, but others try on jester hats,...
Dive! Five unpolished gems with cheap drinks and charm to spare.
Everyone has a favorite dive bar; a place you can go in your old jeans and sweater, have a beer for under $3 and watch some “Wheel of Fortune” with townies looking to unwind. Dive bars — and we use the term lovingly — tend to be physically and metaphysically secluded....
Madame Barfly: Mix It Up, Take a Shot
Shots cut to the chase. Whether you need some quick courage for that karaoke performance or don’t want a drink that sloshes on your dancing shoes, shots are great when you want to get that buzz rolling in one fell shoot. So, why not make it delicious? When it comes to...
Scene Here: Breakfast pie
Hunter Styles photo
Raise Your Glass: Thanks! Tip Yields Excellent Spanish Red
Evodia, Spain Old Vine Garnacha, 2013 $7.89 to $11.99 Over the last year or so, I had been noticing Evodia, a Spanish red wine with a distinctive bluish-purple label, on the shelves of the area’s wine stores, but I hadn’t tried it. For some reason, I hadn’t even given...
Dishing on Dishes: The stories behind five Valley signature plates
Coco & The Cellar Bar Easthampton The dish: Buttermilk Fried Chicken Simple is best Fried chicken may seem an odd fit for a gourmet menu, but Coco’s co-owners, cooks — and husband and wife — Roger Taylor and Unmi Abkin have embraced its simple pleasures....
Cookie Clash: Which chocolate chip cookie is the ultimate in the Valley?
The lines were drawn. On one side, #TeamChewy and on the other, #TeamCrunchy. The Advocate’s chocolate chip cookie Taste-off was about to commence. Who would have suspected the ubiquitous and beloved chocolate chip cookie would yield such feuding within our normally...
Where Food is King: Tully McColgan trades nighttime hotspot for world food drive-to
Owner Tully McColgan and head chef John Peter Wentworth say they’ve spent so much time together getting their business — King Street Eats — off the ground, that they’ve come to look alike. “People think we’re brothers,” Wentworth jokes. The two have turned the former...
Beerhunter: Lager Gets Crafty
In the warm, bright tasting room of Fort Hill Brewery in Easthampton, my friend took a sip from a sample glass and frowned. He took another and made the same face. “It’s a lager,” I said. “They’re all lagers here.” He looked surprised. Then he finished his drink and...
Scene Here: A Spot for Tea
Kevin Gutting Photo
The Wine Schmooze: How to taste a bottle of wine in a restaurant
Ah, the ever solemn, oft confusing restaurant ceremony of “tasting” a bottle of wine. Centuries of custom and formality have twisted it into a byproduct of wine snobbery, but it’s really a necessary quality control exercise. I call it the “Wine Schmooze” since it’s a...
All Single and Nowhere to Mingle: Springfield has the most young, single people of any U.S. city, but where are they?
If you’re seeking a sweetheart in advance of Valentine’s Day, it would seem logical that your best shot at finding love would be to go to the city with the highest concentration of singles. According to the U.S. Census, 78.46 percent of Springfield residents between...
Madame Barfly: Well Booze or the High Road? When you’re young and/or broke it can be tempting to drink the cheapest booze around
We’ve all heard the rumors about the havoc cheap booze can wreak, but is that even true? Can you drink inexpensive alcohol all night without head-pounding, toilet-hugging consequences? The downside to drinking cheap alcohol is considerable: principal among the...
The Beerhunter: Save a Keg. Tap a Cask: Cask beers make a slow, sweet comeback
Nothing screams American mass-market beer like that big silver “Coors” bullet train. TV spots show it rocketing through a winter blizzard, smashing huge glaciers into ice rubble before steaming into town like the Polar Express for the college set. Ahh, refreshing!...
Raise Your Glass: Chewy, Hardy Wine From Sicily
Villa Pozzi Nero D’Avola, Sicily 2013; $8.99 – $11.99 A few years ago, when Sicilian wines were relatively new to New England, I tried a bottle. It was an inexpensive dark red wine made from a grape that I had never heard of, which is not unusual; after all,...
Scene Here: Big Easy Brunch
Remember that first wash of Technicolor in The Wizard of Oz? That’s what it’s like to step off the grayscale street and into Chef Wayne’s Big Mamou in Springfield. This little New Orleans-style restaurant is stranded on a run-down industrial block of Liberty Street,...
Raise Your Glass: ‘We’ve Got to Get Our Image Back’
Spellbound Cabernet Sauvignon California, 2013 $11.99 – $15.99 When the weather turns not quite so delightful and temperatures start to drop, a hearty red wine seems an appropriate answer to the sleet-smattered cold and the right choice to accompany winter fare...
Epic Chowder Smackdown: Old school fish shop takes top honor
Schermerhorn’s Seafood Restaurant clam chowder, Holyoke Score: 4.5 Price: cup, $3.99; bowl, $4.99 The judges found this chowder deliciously creamy and well-balanced. Amanda: Everything a clam chowder should be. You could actually smell the clams. Kristin: The clams...
Raise Your Glass: Sparkling Wine Redemption
Mionetto Prosecco Brut Treviso, Italy, $10.95-15.99 Jaume Serra Cristalino, Brut, Cava Penedes, Spain. $6.95-11.99 Before classes began my freshman year of college, an older friend took me out one night to celebrate, and we bought a couple of bottles each of...
Madam Barfly: A Festival of (Getting) Lit
I, Madame Barfly, am here to help you with all of your booze-loving needs. As a nine-year veteran of the restaurant business, I’ve learned a worthy trick or two. In this monthly column I’ll share trade secrets and scope out what’s shaking at local...Beerhunter: Iron Duke Brewing’s Signature “Baby-Maker” is Born
The new Iron Duke Brewing facility in Ludlow might be a bit of a trek for some Valley beer chasers, but the visit pays off in small pleasures. One of those is sitting at the bar in their busy taproom listening to college kids and grandparents alike shout, “I’ll have a...
At Table: Impulse Buy
When it’s this hot out, who wants to cook at home? This is just the sort of logic Whole Foods Market’s ever-expanding prepared foods department thrives on. While you’re picking up your weekly ration of local hormone-free milk and organic sprouted...
Go Greek
You’d never guess it, but buried behind Super Stop & Shop in the Springfield Plaza is one of the best restaurants in the Valley. It’s almost a miracle to find an independent, family-run restaurant serving real food amidst such a vast sea of pavement,...
Tapas With a Twist
Europa489 Granby Rd., South Hadley, 539-2551Hours: Sun. noon-9 p.m.; Mon.-Wed. 11 a.m.-9 p.m.; Thu.-Sat. 11 a.m.-10 p.m.Entrées: $17-$25.www.europasouthhadley.comuropa is probably the nicest restaurant in its vicinity—which isn’t a difficult feat...
Best of the Wurst
Munich Haus13 Center St., Chicopee, 549-8788Hours: Sun.-Mon. 11:30 a.m.-9 p.m.; Tue.-Sat. 11:30 a.m.-10 p.m.Entrées: $9.50-$26.75Munich Haus usually draws an older clientele for its elegantly prepared traditional German specialties and its excellent lineup of...
Chill Out
Bamboo House676 Belmont Ave., Springfield, 732-0741Hours: Sun.-Thu. 11 a.m.-10 p.m.; Fri.-Sat. 10 a.m.-11 p.m.Entrées: $5.75-$25.50.It’s certainly not the décor that makes it worthwhile to eat at Bamboo House in Springfield. But this little...
Pub Crawl
Northampton Brewery11 Brewster Court, Northampton, 413-584-9903Hours: Mon.-Thu. 11:30 a.m.-10 p.m.; Fri.-Sat. 11:30 a.m.-11 p.m; Sun. noon-10 p.m.; bar open until 1 a.m.Entrèes: $6.95-$17.95When it’s still warm and sunny at 7 o’clock Saturday...
At Table: Take and Bake
Hillside Pizza265 Greenfield Rd.,South Deerfield, 665-5533. Hours: Wed.-Sat. 11 a.m.-8 p.m. Closed Sun.-Tue.Entrées: $6.50-$13.Cash or check only.For several years, Bob Linder and Craig White have been peddling their “take and bake” organic pizzas...
At Table: Big Haul
Zoe's is a big ship with manifold quarters and multiple levels, all devoted to seafood. A vast menu matches the meandering layout and covers all the bases of ordinary ocean fare. Oysters, shrimp, scallops, calamari, lobster, crab, clams, mussels, salmon, scrod and...At Table: Four Stars
T.J. Buckley's Uptown Dining132 Elliot St., Brattleboro, VT, (802) 257-4922 Hours: Wed.-Sun. 6-10 p.m.Entrees: $35Cash only; reservations strongly recommendedSometimes all of a restaurant's forces align to create an unforgettable experience that is much more...
At Table: Homegrown
The Farmers DinerQuechee Gorge Village, Route 4, Quechee, Vt., (802) 295-4600Hours: 6:30 a.m.-7:30 p.m. daily; Fri.-Sat. until 8:30 p.m. during the summerEntrees: $5.25-$10.95www.farmersdiner.comIn 2002 Tod Murphy started the Farmers Diner as a modest...
Wined and Dined
Del Raye Bar and Grille1 Bridge St., Northampton Phone: 413-586-2664Hours: Sun.-Thu. 5-10 p.m., Fri.-Sat. 5-11 p.m. Bar open late on weekends.Prices: To $30.95 for dinner menu; wine dinners $40-$70 per person. Local Harvest is one of 12 wine dinners being held through...
Advanced Courses
food 101 bar & bistro19 College St., South Hadley, 535-3101Hours: Dinner only. Tue.-Thu. 5-10 p.m., Fri-Sat. 5 -11 p.m., Sun. 5 – 9 p.m. Closed Mondays.Prices: $6 to $26.This South Hadley eatery across from the verdant campus of Mount Holyoke gets an A for...
At Table: Café Evolution
Café Evolution22 Chestnut Street, Northampton586-0200Hours: Breakfast and lunch Mon.-Wed. 7:30 a.m.-4 p.m. Open all day (until 9 p.m.) Thu. and Fri. Brunch Sun. 10 a.m.-2 p.m. Jazz on Saturday nights. Sandwiches and entrées: $6.95-$8.95.No...
Suburban Spoleto
I suppose it was inevitable that Claudio Guerra’s Spoleto empire would eventually spread south to capitalize on Springfield’s wealthy suburbs. Opened last fall, Spoleto East Longmeadow is now a successful branch of the Northampton-based conglomerate that...
At Table: Bittersweet Man
The latest buzz about chocolate says bitter is better; dark chocolate has fewer calories than other varieties, and packs a powerful antioxidant punch. In fact, scientific studies from The American Journal of Hypertension tout the Valentine’s Day staple (in...
At Table: A Rare Find
Gypsy Apple Bistro65 Bridge St., Shelburne Falls, 413-625-6345 Hours: Dinner Tue.-Sun. 5-9 p.m.; brunch Thu.-Sun. 11 a.m.-2 p.m. Entrées: $19-$26. Reservations recommended.Knowing how difficult it can be to get a table on the weekend in Shelburne Falls, it was...
At Table: Sienna Revisited
Sienna Restaurant6B Elm St., S. Deerfield, 665-0215Hours: Wed.-Thu. 5:30 p.m.-8:30 p.m.; Fri.-Sat. 5:30 p.m.- 9:30 p.m.; Sun. 5:30 p.m. – 8:30 p.m. Closed Mon.-Tue.Entrées: $20-$25.When I started writing this column a year and a half ago, Sienna was one...
Follow Your Nose
Garlic sausage, garlic vinaigrette, garlic focaccia, even garlic ice cream are just a few of the aromatic offerings that will be assembled Sept. 15-16 at Forsters Farm for the Garlic and Arts Festival in Orange. The “stinking rose” is one of those foods...AtTable: Living Bread
When Alaskan gold seekers put away their gold pans at the end of the day, they picked up their baking pans and a scoop of sourdough. Although the nickname "Sourdoughs" will forever belong to Alaska's gold rush era, the skills of sourdough baking go back...
At Table: The Smell Test
You've finally been adventurous enough to buy a container of it. Now you've got it home, taken off the lid—but wait a minute, phew, is it supposed to smell like that? And if it is, what can you possibly make with this stuff?Don't panic, and don't...At Table: Flying Food
If you ask frequent flyers what they most dislike about flying, the answer you’ll get is unanimous: the food! It’s tragic because, however experienced we are, we somehow look forward to the most expensive “free” food in the world. We know...
Life Is a Cabaret
What good is sitting alone in your room? Theme dinners are capturing niche audiences around the Valley. During the last game of the World Series, Northampton’s Del Raye hosted a harvest supper pairing regional wines with local cheese, produce and fish. While on...
A True House of Blues
For the last year, Doyle's has been trying to change its image. Formerly a kitschy country bar, it's been slowly but steadily evolving into one of the premier blues venues in the Valley, even in its almost-undisclosed location in Palmer. This change of face is...At Table: Quick and Tasty
Bueno Y Sano1 Boltwood Walk, Amherst 253-4000 or 549-0077 for Delivery Express134 Main St., Northampton586-7311Hours: 11 a.m. to 10 p.m.Prices: To $8.50.Bueno Y Sano, which means “good and healthy,” should be called “bueno and muy...
At Table: South America Calling
Café LatinoMASS MoCA, Building 11, North Adams, (413) 662-2004Hours: Wed.-Sat. 11:30 a.m. to 3 p.m. Wed.-Sat. 5 p.m. to 9 p.m. Sun. Brunch 11:30 to 3 p.m.Prices: $8 to $23.Omar Montoya is the chef of this restaurant, one of a three-kitchen dynasty in the...
At Table: Hot Diggety Dog
Nick’s NestRoute 5 at Dwight St., Holyoke, (413) 662-2004Hours: Mon.–Sat. 11 a.m. to 8 p.m., Sun. 11 a.m. to 6 p.m.Prices: To $5.10.News flash: Nick’s Nest, the historic hot dog emporium on Route 5 in Holyoke, has made a major addition to its 80...
At Table: When in Rome…
Villa Napoletana664 North Main St., East Longmeadow, 413-732-9300Hours: Sun.-Thu. 5-10 p.m., Fri.-Sat. 5 – 11 p.m. Reservations suggested. Prices: $6.95 to $22.95. There is always a place in the community reserved for ritual, no matter what town you’re...E-Edition
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