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Williamstown The Mill on the
Floss Genial Maurice Champagne, originally from Montreal, is the chef-owner at this established and well-regarded restaurant, tops on everyone’s list locally for special-occasion dining. He loves to socialize, and one reason he designed the open, blue and white tiled kitchen was so that patrons could come up and talk with him as he cooked. The dark brown wood building, pleasantly landscaped, was once a mill. Inside it is cozy, with beamed ceilings, paneled walls, a hutch filled with Quimper pottery, white linens and many hanging copper pots. Assisted by his daughter Suzanne, Maurice presents classic French fare. Among starters are chicken liver pâté, escargots in garlic butter, prosciutto and melon, and soups like cold cucumber or black bean. Entrées range from crab cakes dijonnaise to rack of lamb. Sweetbreads in black butter, coq au vin and tournedos with béarnaise sauce are some. The fish of the day could be herb-encrusted cod beurre blanc, halibut meunière or poached salmon hollandaise. For dessert, you might find crème caramel, deep-dish pie and frozen grand marnier soufflé, or you might prefer café diablo for two. Wines are quite reasonably priced. (413) 458-9123. Entrées, $23.50 to $29.50.
Dinner, Tuesday-Sunday from 5.
Contemporary restaurants come and go in Williamstown, but this has endured. It opened in hip quarters in the former Potter’s Wheel craft gallery down the street but was destroyed by fire. Owner Nancy Thomas got sidetracked briefly with her new Eleven restaurant at MASS MoCA, but reopened in 2002 in the quarters occupied by the short-lived Main Street Café. The space is perfect for her sophisticated bistro concept. Interesting uses of wood convey a mountain décor, from upright slabs of lumber serving as a divider in the foyer to a birch tree trunk serving as one of the columns in the skylit dining room. White-clothed tables are spaced well apart in the black and white room with polished wood floors. The other side of the foyer leads to a spacious bar/lounge, mod and spare with wide-board floors and banquette seating. A tavern menu is available here, and it’s the place to see and be seen. Nancy initially gave the food a Mediterranean and Moroccan twist, thanks to her mother from Morocco. But chef James Tracey’s contemporary American fare dominates the menu now. Typical starters are scallop seviche with avocado, pickled red onions and cilantro, and variations on salad, as in duck confit and poached egg with frisée and house-smoked bacon vinaigrette. Main courses range from roasted wild coho salmon in a porcini mushroom broth to rack of lamb with thyme. Roasted free-range chicken, seared duck breast and braised beef short ribs were recommended at our autumn visit. Desserts included chocolate-peanut tart with caramel ice cream, coconut macaroons with concord grape sorbet and maple pot de crème with a gingersnap cookie. A Mezze plate of antipasti plus beef stroganoff and grilled hanger steak with bordelaise sauce were featured on the bar menu. (413) 458-0123. Entrées, $22 to $26. Dinner nightly, 5 to 9 or 10.
Under new ownership, this old-timer has a new look but the same classic French cuisine. Boston restaurateur Jae Chung redecorated two dining rooms and the cocktail lounge, added a deck out front and installed a new kitchen in 2004. German chef Walter Hayn, the former owner whose 32-year tenure is the longest in town, stayed on as innkeeper and chef. His menu remains classic French, from the French onion soup to the escargots en casserole. A new raw and steam bar adds some novelty, as does a section of the menu categorized as steaks and roasts (five steaks from tournedos bordelaise to steak frites, plus grilled pork and lamb chops and grilled chicken breast). The “chef’s menu” runs the
gamut from frog's legs and sole florentine to Long Island duckling, all
nicely prepared and many with fine cream sauces. Another returning
favorite is grilled chicken breast with artichokes and béarnaise sauce.
Desserts tend to be rich, among them death by chocolate, hot fudge
sundae, New York cheesecake and pecan pie. Sunday brunch is offered for
$9.99. Wines from across the world have joined the previously mostly
French wine list. (413) 458-8032. Entrées, $19 to
$29. Lunch, Monday-Saturday from 11:30. Dinner nightly, 4:30 to 9 or 10.
Sunday brunch, 10:30 to 2:30.
This country-rustic place with paneled walls and beamed ceilings is a favorite of locals. Old tools hang on the walls, Tiffany-type lamps top tables and booths, and there are a few stools at the bar in back. Around the front door are wonderful panes of stained glass with flowers and birds therein. A rear addition was opened in 2001 to provide more dining space and an open lobster tank. Chef-owner Dan Campbell moved from Montana to lend a Western accent to the extensive steak and seafood menu. Hand-cut steaks, prime rib, five versions of chicken, cajun shrimp and grilled or blackened Norwegian salmon, scallops and fish of the day are featured for dinner. You can create your own surf and turf combo, perhaps Alaskan king crab and buffalo steak. Or you can make a meal out of pasta marinara or the salad bar, which is known for its organic produce. Start with shrimp wontons, sautéed mushrooms, tuna carpaccio or fried calamari. Finish with mud pie, grand marnier fudge parfait, apple strudel or death by chocolate. (413) 458-9101. Entrées, $15 to $21. Dinner
nightly, 5 to 9:30.
An offshoot of a gourmet Thai restaurant of the same name in Keene, N.H., this opened in the downtown storefront formerly occupied by Sandy Smith’s highly rated Cobble Café, which closed when he joined a parade of local restaurateurs to North Adams. Now one of seven Thai Gardens extending from Saratoga Springs to Boston, the Thai food is exotic and equally highly rated. The setting here is serene in beige and green. The extensive menu is designated as to spiciness, with up to three chiles (for drunken squid stir-fried with bell peppers, baby corn, mushrooms, broccoli and more). Seafood gra prow, seafood curry and spicy fish fillet are two-chile dishes. But the menu notes that the chiles and spices are toned down by other ingredients on the principle that “there must always be a harmony in a dish.” Those preferring less incendiary tastes can opt for steamed ginger salmon, tamarind duck or a combo called “three buddies” – chicken, beef and pork loin sautéed with pineapple, corn, snow peas and mushrooms. Desserts include homemade Thai custard, coconut and ginger ice creams, and chilled lychees. (413) 458-0004. Entrées, $7.95 to $15.95. Lunch
daily, 11:30 to 3. Dinner nightly, 5 to 10.
Modern Indian cuisine is served up in a modern Indian setting in this, the fifth in a series of highly rated Indian restaurants run by the Chola Group in New York and Connecticut. The décor is anything but traditional Indian. It’s spare in rich reds, with a few beaded wall hangings, iridescent colored light spheres suspended from the ceiling and gleaming silver steel-backed chairs at close-together tables. The weighty copper menu reveals the usual Indian fare, from “hot! hot!” shrimp vindaloo to lamb cooked with mint and mango in a masala sauce. Tandoori specialties include various kabobs. The menu lists ten vegetarian specialties and seven “popular dishes” from Bombay. Appetizer platters include a sampling of vegetable or meat treats, including samosas. The naan, paratha and poori breads are popular as well. There’s an $8.95 lunch buffet daily, and lunch boxes are available to go. (413) 458-5200. Entrées, $12 to $19. Lunch
daily, 11:30 to 2:30, Sunday noon to 3. Dinner nightly, 5 to 10 or 11.
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