Northeastern city inhabitants visit Berkshire County, Massachusetts, year-round as it is tucked away between two tiny mountain ranges, the Taconic to the west and the Hoosac to the east. Some come to meander through little communities like Great Barrington and North Adams and leaf peek in the gorgeous forests. Some come for the theater and artistic offerings, curated by a diverse group of artists who choose to live in rustic beauty instead of the bright lights of Broadway. Though they come for a variety of reasons, they always stay for the cuisine.
However, this once-farming town has evolved into one of New England’s top eating destinations thanks to creative chefs who turn the region’s produce into mouthwatering dishes at hidden eateries, pop-up pizza restaurants, and farm-side ice cream shops.
These Berkshire’s getaway ideas range from candlelight dinners in the centuries-old farmhouse to barbecues at modern art museums.
A-OK Berkshire Barbeque
A-OK Berkshire Barbeque, a restaurant in the city located at the former guardhouse on the Massachusetts Museum of Contemporary Art site in North Adams, offers four-hour smoked chickens for four hours, which customers can have whole, half, or quartered. Along with an abundance of sides like baked beans, potato salad, and mac and cheese, there are sandwiches prepared using co-owner Alex Oster’s bread, one of which is topped with cheddar sausage and fennel. There’s outside dining, but patrons may also carry their food into Bright Ideas Brewing, which is close by. A-OK stops serving lunch and supper when they sell out, so plan.
The Airport Rooms at Tourists
The stylish Tourists Hotel in North Adams has improved local lodging standards without sacrificing its ties to Berkshire’s history and culture. It is one of the group rooms in the berkshires. The 200-year-old refurbished rooming house, which has brown leather seats and matching furnishings, houses the hotel as well as its cocktail lounge, the Airport Rooms. The menu of traditional cocktails, modest selections of natural wines, caviar, burrata, steak frites, and other classic dishes is everything but dated.
The Break Room
The Break Room is a café and bakery located at the Greylock Works complex, a mixed-use project housed in a 19th-century mill. It also functions as a coworking space, culinary incubator, and events venue. Pain au chocolat, cinnamon buns, and seasonal fruit danishes are among the baked goods that pastry chefs Cynthia Walton and Amanda Perreault stock the bakery. Simultaneously, chef Brian Alberg employs a contemplative approach to the restaurant’s menu, with dishes like locally sourced or made-in-house roasted chicken soup with hen-of-the-woods mushrooms and pork shoulder with vinegar peppers.
The Lost Lamb
The Lost Lamb restaurant in downtown Stockbridge is just as comfortable as any other Main Street eatery, but the patisserie gives it a laid-back French flair that makes you feel as though you’ve wandered into a peaceful side street in Paris. Claire Raposo, a graduate of Le Cordon Bleu, is the mastermind behind all the bread, pastries, and sweets, including her opulent bundt cake with olive oil and orange flavor. If you’re seeking something savory, try the prosciutto and gruyere sandwich on a house-made baguette.
Final Words
Prepare to indulge in the greatest cuisines in the Berkshires, with favorites like A-OK Berkshire Barbeque, The Break Room, Bistro Zinc, The Lost Lamb, and Frankie’s, among others. We did the legwork and compiled a thorough list of eateries in the Berkshires. We combined all the results into one location and arranged them according to the frequency of reviews, with the most well-liked locations appearing at the top.
