Russelnod.com

For many Americans, Mexican food is refried beans and rice, tacos, enchiladas and quesadillas. Tex-Mex, in other words. Nothing wrong with Tex-Mex, which developed along the border between Texas and Mexico, but it’s not Mexican. For that, locally, there’s LA CASITA AZTECA, which specializes in cuisine from the Oaxaca state in southern Mexico.

La Casita Azteca (58 Cottage St., Easthampton, 203-5050) opened last fall in the building vacated by the Pirate’s Den. Set back from the street, it’s fronted by a long sidewalk flanked by grassy spaces with tables, flowers and a small stage. Inside, the restaurant is painted in shades of red and orange with purple highlights. The counter houses an array of sodas, both Mexican and American, beers (many Mexican beers) and Chilean wine, and a large menu is overhead. Read the rest of this entry »

It’s always Christmas at Yankee Candle in South Deerfield, but at Chandler’s Restaurant, the dining spot attached to the retailer’s Disney-like complex, it’s always the 19th century. From the dark wooden beams to the candlelit rooms to the traditional regional menu, Chandler’s has the feel of an old New England tavern or post road inn. Fortunately, the food and service are 21st century.

Chandler’s (25 Greenfield Road, Routes 5 and 10, South Deerfield, 665-1277; www.chandlers.yankeecandle.com) opened about 14 years ago, the brainchild of Yankee Candle founder Michael Kittredge. You could argue that a restaurant with “olde New England food” was simply a way to draw even more visitors to the acres of candles and the dozens of rooms filled with Northern European Christmas decorations. Still, I’d had some favorable reports from friends who eat a lot of business dinners at Chandler’s: The food was good, they said.

The menu has a nice range of entrees, from the usual meats (lamb shank, beef tenderloin and steak, pork loin, poultry) and several kinds of fish (haddock, scallops and salmon). The preparations are traditional, such as pork loin with a green bean casserole, haddock with a crab stuffing and scallops in sherry cream sauce. The accompaniments include more fashionable items such as goat cheese, which appears in several dishes, or the shaved prosciutto and potato galettes that accompany the scallops. There’s even an all-vegetarian entrée (baked apple with acorn squash).

So, my wife and I had several meals at Chandler’s to check it out. We were not disappointed. One meal started with a cheese plate from Charlemont’s Goat Rising Farm featuring an aged goat cheese, a cheddar-style goat cheese with rosemary, and, our favorite, a Reblochon that was creamy inside with a hard rind. The cheeses were accompanied by giant sweet red grapes and apple slices. It was good as an appetizer and, if you dine in the French manner, it would make a delightful dessert. We also had a field greens salad with roasted red peppers, goat cheese, sliced apples and some flavorful roasted butternut squash cubes. It was an appealing, unusual take on what could have been a commonplace salad.

My wife went for the mussels and I had the lamb shank for our entrees. The mussels were tasty although the broth was a little too heavily flavored by smoked tomatoes. The lamb was meltingly tender and accompanied by creamy roast potatoes, root vegetables and creamed spinach. The shank was topped by an unnecessary tomato sauce, which didn’t seem to have been cooked with the meat.

For dessert, we had orange chocolate cheesecake. The check arrived with two votive candles to take home, a nice touch.

There is an extensive wine list that ranges from $20 bottles to a cave collection with bottles closer to $200 (Chandler’s has received Awards of Excellence from Wine Spectator magazine for the past seven years). Wine by the glass is also available and there are a variety of beers, including South Deerfield’s Berkshire Brews.

On another evening, we went with two friends. For appetizers we had a Caesar salad and cheese and ham croquettes with a roasted red pepper sauce. Our entrees included breaded scallops, haddock with a crab cake, pork loin, and pan-seared duck breast accompanied by duck confit shepherd’s pie. All were prepared well, but the standout was the scallops, which were tasty and expertly cooked.

Watching the wait staff lower a sconce to replace its votives reminded us exactly how much work life in old New England entailed. Except for emergency lighting and some red LED-style lights along the ceiling, Chandler’s is entirely illuminated by candles. The manager told us the place has lost power on some evenings and diners never even noticed.

The old-style feel extends to the kitchen as well. Executive Chef Greg Monette came up through the ranks, apprentice-style, from his first job as a short order cook at the Classe Café in Amherst to stints at Green Street Café in Northampton and the Blue Heron when it was at the Book Mill in Montague. Monette made a point of seeking out jobs with increasingly varied experience — he went to Crestview Country Club in Agawam to learn catering-style cooking, for example — and he’s worked with established chefs like Michaelangelo Wescott of Gypsy Apple in Shelburne Falls. What interests him in the kitchen, Monette says, is the tension between building on the traditional while still expanding diners’ palates. Even so, he maintains that cooking is a craft, not an art form, and he has no patience for artistes. “Someone’s grandmother has already cooked it better than you,” he says. Chandler’s is a member of CISA in South Deerfield (Community Involved in Sustaining Agriculture) and uses as much local produce as possible, especially in the summer. The current economic slowdown has affected business, but not as much as the industry average, Monette says. Still, a 30 to 40 percent rise in produce costs has influenced what specialty products he can buy.

Chandler’s is owned by a corporation and located in a tourist destination. You’ll see that in the attention to detail — like the well-trained servers — and the marketing of events like “Fancy Nancy” lunches, high tea, and wine, food and jazz dinners. It’s the kind of place you can take a group of people and feel confident that everybody will find something they like.

Chandler’s is open for lunch seven days a week from 10:30 a.m. to 4 p.m., and for dinner from Wednesday to Sunday from 5 to 8 p.m. Appetizers range from $9 to $12, salads from $6 to $7 and dinner entrees from $23 to $32.

 Originally published in the Daily Hampshire Gazette, May 1, 2009.

Downtown Holyoke has taken a large hit over the years. With the demise of Steiger’s and the move from downtown to strip malls, there seemed to be more boarded-up stores than open ones. While the growing Hispanic community has introduced some restaurants and markets — the San Juan Bakery, Cuba Supermarket and Fernandez Family Restaurant — one lunch place after another closed, most notably the Red Cat on High Street and the Artisan Cafe in Open Square. The downtown, in short, had a dearth of good local eateries.

Then I discovered Gramp’s (216 Lyman St., 534-1996, www.grampsholyoke.com). A Holyoke institution for 36 years, Gramp’s is remembered fondly by a generation that stopped by after church or Catholic school for soda, candy, ice cream and comic books. These days, the candy and comic books are gone, and in their place is a nostalgic spot for breakfast and lunch. The food is good, the service is friendly and there is always a parking space or two out front. What could be better?

The breakfast menu includes the usual omelets, eggs, waffles and pancakes, but interesting touches show up. There are sausages — chorizo, the Portuguese version, and kielbasa — as well as a bacon, cheese and tomato omelet. For lunch, you can get the familiar sandwiches, but a quick check of the specials includes homemade soups, hot dishes and Polish favorites. In fact, the menu devotes an entire page to Polish cuisine.

I started with the Polish Platter, figuring to try everything in one swoop. And a big swoop it was: three cheese pierogis, mashed potatoes sprinkled with some fresh snipped dill, bigos (a cabbage and kielbasa braise), a nice carrot and raisin salad with a couple of sliced cucumbers, a golumpki (stuffed cabbage) in a traditional light tomato sauce, and a link of grilled kielbasa. All for $9.25. I was hooked.

On another visit, the day’s special was homemade meat pierogis topped with onions and bacon. Apparently, that’s a traditional topping, but I hadn’t seen it before, and it’s a masterful touch. Plain pierogis call out for some kind of sauce or other extra. And what, except chocolate, is not enhanced by bacon? The dough is homemade and the meat filling is rich and flavorful.

Gramp’s is currently owned by Danuta and Krzysztof Wojcik. Each arrived in Boston in 1988 with just $10, all they were allowed to bring out of Poland. Both had been involved with the Solidarity movement and sought political asylum in the States. Mayor Ray Flynn helped them resettle in the Boston area, which is where they met. Kris had a degree from a culinary institute in Poland and had been cooking on passenger ships, so the move into restaurants was a natural. Kaz Zaluki, owner of the now-defunct Chopin Inn on Race Street in Holyoke, convinced them to move west to work for him, which they did. In 1994, Danuta opened a Polish delicatessen — called simply the Polish Deli — in the space next door to Gramp’s. In 2002, when owner Jim Hamel, whose family had run Gramp’s for 30-plus years, wanted to sell, Danuta sold the deli and bought Hamel’s business. She kept the name because, as she said, people know Gramp’s and why change something that works?

The green and white striped awning outside the restaurant is echoed inside by a smaller awning over what used to be the counter. With a stone arch leading to the back room, plenty of old wooden booths and flooring, and a large collection of vintage food tins, Coca-Cola paraphernalia and photos of some of the parties it’s catered, Gramp’s provides a trip back in time. The rear room was formerly a bakery, and both the oven and an old fire door remain. There is also an alleyway with tables and umbrellas for use in the warm months.

In addition to the Polish dishes on the menu, there are homemade specials, beef stroganoff or wiener schnitzel, and an array of soups. These include a bright-red Ukrainian beet borscht and a white borscht that begins with something like a rye sourdough starter and is filled with vegetables and kielbasa; it’s served with a piece of hard-boiled egg. There’s also a soup called chicken and pickles. “We make all our soups,” Danuta says, then adds, perhaps unnecessarily, “Chicken and pickles soup, you can’t buy that in a can.”

For dessert, there is ice cream plus daily specials. One day recently it was Black Forest Pie, a crust filled with a layer of dark chocolate and topped with cherry pie filling and whipped cream.

The deli is still next door and after lunch you might want to stop by for some baked goods or my personal favorite, natural fruit syrups. I mix the raspberry or cherry with sparkling water or pour them over ice cream. Danuta told me that you can add them to a fruit compote or mix them with hot water and sliced lemons and serve either hot or cold.

Breakfasts at Gramp’s range from $1.99 for an egg and toast to $6.95 for an onion, cheese and ham three-egg omelet. Lunch sandwiches are $3.75 for egg salad to $5.25 for roast beef. The Polish dishes are pricier, if three potato pancakes for $5.75 or two stuffed cabbage for $7.50 can be considered pricey. The restaurant doesn’t take credit cards.

Gramp’s is open from 7 a.m. to 3 p.m. Tuesday to Friday and 8 a.m. to 3 p.m. Saturday and Sunday, with breakfast served until 11:30. It’s closed on Mondays.

Originally published Daily Hampshire Gazette, April 17, 2009.

For many Hampshire County diners, Springfield and other Hampden County cities south of the Holyoke Range are pretty much unknowns. Certainly, when my only connection with the area was the colleges, Springfield sometimes seemed like an Amtrak station surrounded by dragons and sea monsters like some 15th-century map of the New World. After working all over the Pioneer Valley for nearly 20 years, it is no longer mysterious.

Certainly, the downtown has its share of empty storefronts that predate the current recession. Clubs, restaurants and hotels vie with adult entertainment and some urban decay. The 350 GRILL (350 Worthington St.; 439-0666; www.350grill.net) takes this mix one step further by sharing its parking lot with the Mardi Gras, a large adult entertainment club. There is valet parking for the 350 Grill and the outdoor patio has walls high enough to keep those hot summer nights private. It turns out that if you are in the Mardi Gras at lunchtime, you can order from the 350 Grill, which arrives on plates, not in tacky takeout containers. 350 Grill owner Sherri Via says that the two places coexist nicely and without trouble.

She’s right. When I told my friend Betsy that we were eating in downtown Springfield at a restaurant that shared a parking lot with an adult entertainment establishment, her first comment was, “We’re not going to get shot, are we?” I told her not to be so prejudiced, we#d be fine. We had a great time and left without incident. The next morning, an email from Betsy let me know that the night before had seen Springfield’s first murder of the year # at the Mardi Gras. Let’s hope that was a random occurrence.

The menu leans toward steak house and that’s where its strength lies. There are two rib eyes # one a bone-in 20-ouncer, the other a smaller boneless cut # plus a sirloin with Gorgonzola cheese and a tenderloin filet. The 350 Grill also serves veal, lamb, pork chops, chicken, duck, seafood and pasta.

Rib eye is my favorite cut, and, eschewing the server’s recommendation of the sirloin, I immediately went for the bone-in. Touched with some Caribbean spice and cooked medium-rare as ordered, it was a tasty steak that proved large enough to take home for lunch. My wife had the sirloin, which was chewier but still good. The sides that night were mashed potatoes and butternut squash. At our request our server substituted sautéed spinach for the squash, which was agreeably garlicky and a trifle oily. Our friend Betsy had the veal chop, a large cut with a thin jus that she liked a lot. We found a Murphy-Goode zinfandel by the glass that complemented the meat nicely.

350 Grill is a comfortable place to eat, with large banquettes along one wall like giant scallop shells. The rugs absorb the sound so that you get a background buzz of conversation that still lets you hear your table mates. The lighting, too, is nicely balanced between low enough for privacy and light enough to read a menu.

The menu lists tapas instead of the more familiar appetizers and I went back with a friend for a tapas lunch. Truth be told, they are mostly typical appetizers, like coconut shrimp or fried calamari. However, like some “Top Chef” Quick Fire challenge, where the competitors are given standard appetizers and told to make them more contemporary, these have been goosed past the boring. For example, the coconut shrimp, three large shrimp, came grease-free with a sweet sauce touched with some Chinese mustard. Three ocean scallops, dusted with hot pepper and served with a hot chutney, were also tasty. The mushroom-risotto balls, arancini and veal meatballs all came in a good tomato sauce, the last inexplicably enhanced with a scoop of ricotta cheese. The standout was two small pork shanks cooked in a sweet Thai sauce served over angel hair pasta. We followed our server’s recommendation to order the pork shanks rather than the sliders (mini hamburgers) and I’m glad we did.

The 350 Grill is something of a family affair. Owner Sherri Via, who grew up in Monson, has worked in the bar and liquor business since she was 16, most recently with a holding company that owns other area restaurants. She herself owns the building where the 350 Grill is located, and for a time she ran a bar there. But Via always wanted a restaurant. So she talked her sister Doreen into joining her as executive chef for a place she envisioned as just a lunch spot. The sisters are foodies and Via says they got a little carried away, abandoning their original plan of featuring simple fare like burgers and designing a menu that reflected all the foods they like.

They use local ingredients and vary the menu seasonally. In the summer, Via said, a local farmer might drop off a load of corn or tomatoes that go into the day’s specials. An expansion designed to open this May will add a banquet room and increase the size of the kitchen. I have to say that, small kitchen or not, the food comes out timely and hot.

Given the easy parking and comfortable yet interesting menu, the 350 Grill is a good choice for an expedition to Springfield, preceded perhaps by a visit to one of the museums in the nearby Quadrangle or a club visit after dinner.

Tapas range from $5 to $12 (for the signature lobster/shrimp ravioli). Seafood is $16 to $24, pastas $14 to $20, and other entrees $17 to $28 (for the 20-ounce rib eye). Lunches run from $6 to $10.

Originally published, Daily Hampshire Gazette, February 20, 2009.

Who among us does not love a burger? Even when we were too young for a burger and a beer, even when we switched to turkey burgers, or, god forbid, veggie burgers, something there is, to mangle Robert Frost, that loves a burger. And some fresh-cut french fries wouldn’t hurt either.

One of the newest entries to the Northampton dining scene is LOCAL BURGER AND FRIES (16 Main St., 586-5857, www.localburgerandfries.com). Located in the corner spot recently vacated by Fire Cuisine, it is the brainchild of three brothers, Jeff, Chris and Steven Igneri, who opened it in early January. The menu is pretty simple: Black Angus or Easthampton’s Chicoine Farms beef burgers, and turkey, veggie or portabello mushroom burgers; home-cut white or sweet potato fries; and onion rings. There are some burger combos and sides, but burgers are the main attraction and they are good.

Ordering is simple. At the counter, you pick your burger, specify “pink or not pink,” whether you want lettuce, tomatoes, onions or pickle, and what you’d like for sides and drinks. You pay, taking note of the number on your check, and find a seat. After a while, someone will walk through the place calling out your number. Bus your table when you’re done. Once Chris, who usually takes your order during the day, gets to know you, he’ll chat a bit. But not too long; the place is busy.

The basic burger is a Black Angus from the Midwest, all-natural and free of antibiotics, for $4.99. For a buck extra, you can get Chicoine Farms organic beef, which has a good, strong beefy taste and is well worth the extra cost. The fries are about the best I’ve had in a restaurant. Clearly homemade, and fried twice # once to cook them and once to brown them up # they have been tasty and crispy each time I’ve tried them. The housemade onion rings # large slices of Spanish onion in a thick beer batter # are Steve’s specialty. I prefer fries to onion rings, but the Local Burger and Fries onion rings draw raves from the aficionados I know. The homemade chipotle ketchup that accompanies them should be an option for the burgers, too; it’s got a good flavor and just a touch of fire.

For the non-beef inclined, there is a farmhouse turkey burger, a veggie burger and a portobello burger. Combos include the Southwestern burger with grilled chilis and a teriyaki burger. The adventurous can order a fried pickle, originally a Mississippi treat, or construct their own burgers from an array of extras.

Normally, the rule is to wait three months before writing about a restaurant, just in case it doesn’t make it. That’s always a possibility, especially in these troubled times. But there has been a lot of interest in Local Burger since the sign went up in December. When I mention it, people ask whether it’s open yet. The business has a lot going for it: The menu is inexpensive and appeals to a wide audience, and Jeff, who Chris calls the brains of the operation, has a graduate degree in hospitality from Johnson & Wales and years of restaurant work behind him.

Not to say Local Burger doesn’t have its rough spots. During the rush, burgers may come out more, or less, cooked than requested, not so good when you’ve ordered a turkey burger. Sometimes the server can wander for a bit trying to find the person who placed order #53, say. These, however, are the kinds of things that, when you like a place, you chalk up to growing pains. The staff will fix anything that’s not right, which is about all you can ask.

Jeff Igneri spent the last 15 years in the Providence area, at restaurants ranging from a tavern in North Attleboro to the Providence Westin. He came here to visit his girlfriend, a local, about six months ago and fell in love with the Pioneer Valley. He recruited his brothers from New York, where Chris was working front of the house at places like the Mesa Grill and Indigo. They scouted out locations, ultimately finding 16 Main on Craigslist. The Igneris spent three months fixing it up and opened in early January.

The three brothers are essentially living at the restaurant to put in the hours it needs. And Local Burger is a family affair. The gentleman you see helping out in the kitchen is their father.

It’s not like Northampton doesn’t have good burgers or even homemade ketchup (at the Toasted Owl directly across the street), but there’s a good feeling to Local Burgers. Some restaurant locations seem to be cursed # one place after another opens and closes in regular succession # until someone gets it right and lifts the curse. Panda East did that for its location in Amherst and Local Burger seems poised to do that in Northampton.

For now the brothers are working hard on getting things running smoothly rather than expanding the menu. They are CISA members and buy their potatoes from Szawlowski Farms in Hatfield, and they plan to use more local produce this summer in specials and side dishes. They are also looking into a beer and wine license.

Prices range from $4.99 for a basic burger to $8.99 for the Juicy Lucy (a 12-ounce patty stuffed with American cheese). Fries are $1.99 or $3.49, and onion rings are $3.79. There are wings and hot dogs as well as a kid’s meal. Fountain sodas are $1.79; bottled drinks, $1.95.

Local Burgers is open from 11:30 a.m. to 10 p.m. Sunday through Wednesday, and until 3 a.m. Thursday through Saturday. It takes Visa and Master Card and you can B.Y.O.B.

Originally published Daily Hampshire Gazette, February 6, 2009