Jason Morin and Elizabeth Osimo pose at the bar of their recently opened shop, The Parlor Cafe, located on 303 Ashland St.
NORTH ADAMS, Mass. — Last year a popular coffee and tea shop, The Elf Parlor, closed its doors for good.
But on Wednesday, a new coffee and tea shop, The Parlor Cafe, opened in its place.
"It's a love story," owner Jason Morin said. "I can't name anybody that wasn't heartbroken when it was closed."
Morin opened the shop with Elizabeth Osimo after spending about two months renovating the Ashland Street building. Morin has business experience running his own website-building service, BerkSites, while Osimo previously worked as a barista and bakes the goods.
The Parlor Cafe uses Dean's Beans, which is roasted in Orange and uses certified fair trade, organic and kosher beans, for its coffee. A 10-ounce to-go cup or a house mug costs $1.67 and a 16-ounce to-go cup costs $2.04.
An array of Ann Arbor tea flavors are also available — $1.75 for a 10-ounce to-go cup or house mug, $2 for a 16-ounce cup or $2.50 $3.20 for "Tea for Two," served in a 24-ounce teapot.
For food, a variety of baked goods, fudge, Sunshine Bagels, salads and sandwiches are available. Specialty sandwiches range in price from about $3.50 to $7.75.
Morin said he hopes to have a liquor license in the spring, once all the needed paperwork and application process is completed.
The Parlor Cafe will offer late-night entertainment. Friday will be open mic night and Morin plans to host more structured shows on Saturday. Morin is also open to having smaller, local private functions at the shop on Tuesdays and Wednesdays.
Morin and Osimo are welcoming more ideas; at the bar, a chalkboard is displayed with the message "Tell us what you'd like so we can be your cafe!"
The Parlor Cafe, located on 303 Ashland St., is open Tuesday through Saturday, 7 a.m. to 11:30 p.m. and Sunday from 10 a.m. until 4 p.m. For more info, check out The Parlor Café Facebook page or website. The drink and food menus can be found here and here, respectively.
Burger Kings Closed in Pittsfield, Lenox
By Joe Durwin On: 11:21AM / Thursday June 28, 2012
The signs at the Burger King on First Street assure patrons the closure is temporary.
PITTSFIELD, Mass. — A local Burger King franchise closed the doors on three of its eateries Thursday morning.
Signs at the drive-up window at the First Street location say "Closed temporarily, sorry for the inconvenience." The Burger King on Merrill Road is also closed with the same signage; someone who answered at the Burger King in Lenox said that eatery closed Wednesday night, but the closure is only temporarily.
When contacted about the closures, franchise owner Richard George of Pittsfield replied, "I'm not at liberty to say right now."
According to Manta, the private company has annual revenue of $1 million to $2.5 million and employs a staff of 20 to 49. It was established in 1984 in Pittsfield.
North Adams Dunkin' Doughnuts Closed For Renovations
Staff Reports On: 09:15PM / Wednesday April 25, 2012
Forget the doughnuts this week. The Dunkin' Donuts at the corner of Union and Eagle streets in North Adams is getting a facelift, including new paving in the parking lot.
Great Barrington Friendly's Casualty in Bankruptcy
Staff Reports On: 10:16PM / Monday January 09, 2012
GREAT BARRINGTON, Mass. — The town's lone Friendly's Restaurant was shuttered on Monday as the ice cream scooper emerged from Chapter 11 bankruptcy.
The Great Barrington restaurant was the only closure in the Berkshires. Thirty-six other restaurants were also closed, including three in the Springfield area and seven others in Massachusetts. Several in the Capital Region of New York also closed their doors.
According to a statement from company, "we were unable to reach an acceptable agreement with landlords at 37 restaurants. Therefore, the Company has made the difficult decision to close these Friendly's effective at the close of business on January 8th."
The Great Barrington location is no longer listed on the company's website.
That makes 100 restaurants closed since the Wilbraham company first entered Chapter 11 last fall. The company has about 7,500 locations. The restaurants employed about 20 people each.
Friendly's Ice Cream Corp. emerged from bankruptcy after selling the corporation and its subsidiaries to Friendly's Ice Cream LLC for a reported $75 million.
Crazy Cakes Bakery in Adams offers homemade baked goods and specialty cakes, including wedding cakes.
ADAMS, Mass. — A new bakery is bringing more dough to a local pizzeria.
Crazy Cakes Bakery opened the beginning of October inside Pizza Jim's on Howland Avenue but instead spreading pizza sauce, it's specializing in cakes and baked goods.
One family works together to run and operate the pizzeria and the bakery. By combining the two, customers have a wide variety of choosing either pizza or baked goods to enjoy.
The bakery was started by Cindy Rosenburg. The pizzeria is operated by Jim and Linda Rosenburg Montgomery, who moved the operation to Howland Avenue nearly two years ago from Commercial Street.
"We've always gotten along and worked well together," Rosenburg said of her sister-in-law Linda and her husband.
She started baking and selling cakes and goods from her basement in the town of Florida and felt the need to expand. So she contacted her in-laws about joining forces. "We got together and decided to try it," she said.
Crazy Cakes specializes in typical baked goods from whoopie pies to cookies to wedding cakes. Rosenburg said "everything" is specialty. The family hopes business will take off and keep customers happy.
Check the out the bakery's Facebook page for daily specials. Hours are 8 to 4 and the bakery is located inside Pizza Jim's at 86 Howland Ave. in Adams. For more information, call 413-743-1379.
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Crazy Cakes Bakery in Adams offers homemade baked goods and specialty cakes, including wedding cakes.
