Chandler’s Restaurant at Yankee Candle

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.