Berkshire Bound

Last I had left you, I had been traveling for roughly two weeks and had enjoyed a dinner out with the Hubs. Well, the refrigerator situation didn’t improve between Friday night and Saturday night so I called up my parents to see what they were having for dinner. As it so happened, they were going to be heading out to dinner to celebrate their 35th wedding anniversary. (DOH! I forgot!!)  After some back and forth of me sheepishly trying to back out, I conceded and was the third wheel for their big night out.  Luckily, they had me to help narrow their dinner options down.

The town I live in happens to have a number of wonderful restaurants so we parked in the center of Lenox and walked to Alta Restaurant and Wine Bar which was very close to our parking spot and is across the street from Nudel (you remember them from this post, right?) Unfortunately, it was Saturday night and they didn’t have any availability. Serves me right for thinking that even though it was a Saturday night, the fact that we were going out to dinner at 5:30pm would be earlier enough not to need a reservation. So we walked a little further down the street in search of another place that might be able to seat us.  Next stop was Bistro Zinc located at 56 Church Street in Lenox, Massachusetts. They’re open 7 days a week for lunch 11:30 – 3:00 and for dinner 5:30 – 10:00. Yay! Success! We were able to get a table in the window. Now, don’t think that I would have preferred to eat at Alta over Zinc. From experience, I know they are both equally fabulous! I would strongly suggest making a reservation at either of these places on the weekend in the off-season. During the summer I would say reservations for dinner are a must regardless of the day.

Zinc is a modern French bistro that boasts fine cuisine and a refined but welcoming atmosphere according to their website and I couldn’t agree more.  We toasted my parent’s anniversary with a round of cocktails – I had a Grey Goose Dirty Martini (my personal fav), Mom had a St. Germain Pear Martini which she actually finished (If you know my mom that means she really liked it because she rarely finishes an alcoholic bev) and Dad had a glass of Sauvignon Blanc. We all began dinner with French Onion Soup. It was served in beautiful white soup tureens and was quite tasty. Sometimes I find French Onion Soup can be a little on the salty side but this was perfect. For dinner Mom had the Boeuf Bourguignon which had braised short ribs, portobello mushrooms, roasted carrots, and mashed potatoes. I have to say it was delicious and I will go back just for that dish! Dad has the special which was Broiled Mahi Mahi with coconut black rice and pineapple salsa. He really enjoyed it and there wasn’t a speck left on his plate. I had the Pork Ragu which was slow cooked pork, stewed tomatoes, homemade pappardelle, and parmesan. There was a ton of it and after having my soup for an appetizer, I just couldn’t finish it. I ended up having it wrapped up and sending it home with my parents. It was yummy and comforting, like snuggling up in a favorite blanket.  There was also a ton of pork in the dish.

Although there were some amazing dessert selections which I strongly suggest you save room for if you go to Zinc (especially the profitéroles – mmmmm!) we opted to just pick up some ice cream on the way back to my house to enjoy on the couch in front of the wood stove.

Wait, no photos again?! Don’t despair! I will grab pics the next time I’m out and about! For now you’ll just have to settle for visiting the websites of the places I’m describing and check out their own shots.

If you’d like to learn more about Bistro Zinc here are some links:

http://www.bistrozinc.com/

Bistro Zinc on Facebook