As Yogi Berra said, “No one goes there anymore. It’s too crowded.” I always liked the EASTSIDE GRILL (19 Strong Ave., Northampton, 586-3347, www.eastsidegrill.com), but the combination of its no-reservations policy and its popularity made for long waits. Often, by the time I sat down I felt there was nothing the place could do to make me happy. Not the best way to approach a restaurant, especially a good one.
When Debra Flynn bought Eastside from founders Dan and Gail Yacuzzo, who had run it since 1985, the restaurant’s many fans wondered whether the food would stay the same. The negotiations went on for nine months in 2007 and 2008, a stretch which allowed Flynn to observe every station in the restaurant. The sale had not yet occurred when she overhead a customer complaining to the bartender that the gumbo was different since the new owner took over. Such is the loyalty and resistance to change that marks restaurant regulars.
I was curious myself, so I dropped by one night last week during a snowstorm. I figured the place would be empty. It was three-quarters full.
Eastside has always had a strong Cajun menu, so I ordered a cup of the gumbo of the day ($3.95/$4.95 for a bowl), the chicken etouffée ($13.95) and the seafood risotto ($19.95). I planned to take the rest to my wife, who had elected to remain home due to the snow.
The gumbo had three sausages in it: andouille, kielbasa and sweet Italian. It had the peppery and cooked-roux flavor of a gumbo, with a nice black pepper front and a red pepper finish, although a couple of shots of Crystal Hot Sauce wouldn’t have gone amiss. The etouffée was the same: a credible reading of a Louisiana favorite, with chunks of chicken breast. No Southern restaurateur (or Asian one, for that matter) that I’ve met puts much faith in New Englanders’ tolerance for strong flavors and spicy cuisine. If your mama made gumbo from the okra and tomatoes in her garden and got andouille from the butcher down the road, you’re going to complain about the relative mildness of the Northern version. But then, we don’t go to restaurants for food our mamas cooked. We go to eat something we don’t make at home.
Which brings me to the seafood risotto. My count was nine mussels, four shrimp and eight scallops in a creamy tomato broth over a risotto studded with peas. Simply fantastic. I brought the remainders back home without telling my wife what I thought. “This risotto dish is delicious,” she said.
For dessert, the special was a banana bread pudding in a bananas Foster sauce ($4.50). The bread pudding was light and flavorful; the sauce involved butter, brown sugar and a healthy shot of liqueur and was authentically sweet. It arrived at room temperature and not microwaved, which I appreciated.
I went back the next night with my stepson. Gideon got the Eastside Jambalaya ($17.95), a chicken, sausage, shrimp and mussel combo in a flavorful tomato base studded with red bell peppers and celery. The rice was perfectly cooked, each grain al dente. My blackened steak arrived medium rare, as requested.
Based on the sides, I think the kitchen loves all of its starches, not just rice. Roasted Yukon potato strips were crispy on the outside and creamy in the middle. I loved the side of cheese grits ($2.95), creamy grits in a smooth sauce that had a strong cooked-milk flavor, like condensed milk or mascarpone. Forcing myself to save a few bites, I took them home to my Atlanta-born wife. “I like mine better,” she said. I like hers, too, but I’d recommend a bowl of Eastside’s grits without hesitation.
Flynn has maintained the smooth operation that the Yacuzzos created. That’s not surprising, given her background. A Springfield native, she studied French horn at the University of Michigan and the Philadelphia College of Performing Arts, performing with the Philadelphia Orchestra while working every front-of-the-house position in restaurants and bars to support herself. In 1984 simultaneous offers of a Juilliard audition and a management training program with Hilton hotels forced her to make a decision: professional music or the restaurant world? She opted for the School of Hospitality and Tourism Management at Florida International University. Flynn returned to Springfield in 1989, where she worked at the Café Manhattan for Roseanne Taylor, who became her mentor. She followed Taylor to the Colony Club, becoming the manager after Taylor left.
Eastside’s menu is pretty extensive, with plenty of steak and seafood offerings. Other selections range from Crispy Duck With Orange-Cranberry Glaze to Sweet Mustard Barbecue Pork Tenderloin to vegetarian choices like Butternut Squash Ravioli With Gorgonzola. It’s likely that everyone in your party will find something that appeals to them. Entree prices top out at $21.95, and most are less.
The biggest change Flynn has made has been accepting reservations for Sunday through Friday nights. She says most of the other changes are things most diners barely notice, such as new silverware and a different menu layout, and an upgrade to the system that runs the register and keeps track of orders. Staff turnover has been low and no one has been replaced. If you liked the Eastside then, it will be familiar now.
The Eastside Grill is open for dinner from 5 to 10 p.m. Monday through Thursday, and until 10:30 on Friday and Saturday. Sunday hours are 4 to 9 p.m.
Originally published in the Daily Hampshire Gazette, March 5, 2010.
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Burning Black Walnut
by Don on March 6, 2010
The next day, Friday, I got some pictures. The front of their house was completely framed in green. The backyard
was filled with trunk and branches. I called a local tree service which dispatched a crew to get the roof cleared. The insurance company sent out an adjuster and a clean-up company who got the roof covered. Once they could look at the roof, the damage was limited to a large hole over one bedroom. Fortunately, the house was still livable. We flew home on Sunday.
I talked with the tree service crew to give my OK to cut back some bushes so they could get access to the backyard. “Black walnut,” the crew boss said. “They use that for gun stocks and furniture. Worth a fortune.” It’ll probably pay for the cleanup.
The tree guy I called that Monday was less enthusiastic. “Yeah, I took down a black walnut a couple of years ago and I heard the same thing. No one wanted it. I ended up selling the trunk for $500.” Still, he agreed to leave the main trunk whole while I shopped the tree.
Two sawmills I called had the same response. “We don’t take backyard trees. Nails. Who knows what. Our blades cost $1500 each.” I offered to pay for a new blade if it was needed, but got the same response. I ended up selling the trunk to a local woodworker for $500 and the promise of a bowl from the wood in a year or two. He left a lot of scrap that I figured I would burn. It took me until October to cut and split the scrap and I had close to three cords when I was done. We go through that much in a winter, so I figured I was set for a year. With the insurance, the $500 and the savings on the wood, we probably made some money, if you don’t add in the time I spent splitting and stacking and dealing with the insurance and roofers. [click to continue…]
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