St. Stanislaus School benefit, 9 to 4 in Kolbe Hall, Adams. Bake sale, snack bar, games, Chinese auctions, money raffle, crafts, and pierogi.
Blackinton Union Church, 1373 Massachusetts Ave., North Adams; 10 to 2. Crafts table, bake sale, Chinese auction, the Christmas table, and kid's grab bag. Lunch $4, $2 kids.
First Congregational Church, North Adams, 9-2.
Nov. 28 Becket Federated Church, Route 8, holiday bazaar from 9-3. Lunch, crafts, baked goods, holiday and other items. Information: Mary Peltier, Parish House, 413-623-5217.
Dec. 5
Holiday Fair at First Congregational Church, 25 Park Place, Lee, from 10 to 3; handcrafted items, raffles, children's shop, bake sale, cut Christmas trees and lunch from 11 to 1. Includes angel-themed goods from SERRV. Information, 413-243-1033 or www.ucc-lee.org.
Dec. 12-13
North Adams Country Club, crafts 9-4; food from That's a Wrap from 11-2. Information: Sheryl Morehouse at 413-822-3329.
Planning a bazaar this season? Submit information to info@iberkshires.com to have it listed here.
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Mammography Dispute The government's issued controversial new guidelines stating that women shouldn't get annual mammograms until age 50, rather than age 40.
iBerkshires will be meeting with local medical experts Monday. Have a question you'd like answered on this issue? Send it info@iberkshires.com with "mammogram" in the subject line.
By Jon DelSordo iBerkshires Intern 04:54PM / Monday, June 01, 2009
Jon Delsordo
Peter Camacho chows down on a foot-long vegetarian burrito at Los Amigos.
NORTH ADAMS, Mass. — Peter Camacho was having no trouble engulfing a giant vegetarian burrito on Monday at the new Los Amigos Burritos on Ashland Street.
"It's a great deal," Camacho said before starting in on his meal. "It's a great addition to the food choices in North Adams."
His bean-and-rice-stuffed wrap appeared to live up to owner Timothy Lanfair's promise to construct "burritos as big as your head."
It's a slogan Lanfair hopes will drive customers to his establishment in the long-vacant Pizza King site at 315 Ashland St.
Lanfair has single-handedly over two months revamped the entire building inside and out, painting the walls an inviting desert orange and adding to the seating capacity that will allow 22 customers to eat-in compared to a previous 14. A new addition of outside seating has been approved by the city and should be finished by the end of the month, said Lanfair.
Los Amigos features gigantic, foot-long burritos ranging from $3 to $7 that should please any appetite. It also offers a range of assorted Mexican dishes such as quesadillas, salads, rice bowls, soups and traditional tacos.
"The locals seem to love it; I'm glad that we are here with an alternative to just pizza and Chinese food," said Lanfair, whose burritos were being consumed so fast Monday that he ran out. Luckily, a truck full of supplies arrived in time for the dinner rush.
Lanfair is no stranger to the food industry. His track record dates back to his college years, spending three years as a cook for the Water Street Grill in Williamstown. He said he also was head food and beverage director at Orchards Hotel in Williamstown and head bartender at the former Gideon's Nightery; he's still working a few shifts at Gramercy Bistro. Lanfair also operated dragonflii, a clothing store, on Eagle Street for a couple years.
With little to no advertising, Lanfair opened up shop two weeks ago, serving more than 50 people in the first six hours of operation.
"I've been doing this my whole life. It's been my dream to own and run something of this nature for some time now," he said.
Featuring homemade salsas, guacamole, chili, chips and attention to fresh meat and cooking practices, Lanfair and his five employees say they are ready for the summer rush. With the burrito shop just steps away from Massachusetts College of Liberal Arts, the summer should be good practice before the campus is once again deluged with hungry students.
With daily specials and "99-cent Taco Tuesdays," Lanfair said his motivation is "to make people happy, satisfied and, of course, full."
Los Amigos is open Monday through Thursdays from 11 a.m. to 8 p.m., and Fridays and Saturdays 11 a.m. to midnight through the summer. The phone number is 413-664-0440. With double-dipped Oreo and cornflake-batter fried ice cream coming soon, Los Amigos will have something for everyone.
(iBerkshires gives the pulled pork burrito a 4.5 out of 5 without sour cream; a 5 with it.)
I've enjoyed many meals at this shop. Half the time I've brought at least one friend with me. We like the food. The staff is friendly. I've eaten at the counter and not noticed any problems with the handling of food. They are busy during the peak eating times. What place isn't busy if they are good and/or affordable. I try to get there a little early for dinner and beat the crowd. I am surprise at the raw comments here. I hope they are successful.
from: tried it and returned
on: 09-24-2009
This place is not worth anyone's time, I'm good friends with several employees at this restuarant, and I've eaten there a couple of times. The preparation is completely unsanitary no matter what the owner says, personally I find him pretty shady, considering he's owned how many other failed businesses? dragonflii, mill city printers etc. He doesn't pay his employees, he's constantly out of half of the ingredients. Check out RipOffReport.com, he's in a category of his own. This restuarant has no place being in business. All of the chaos makes the atmosphere uncomfortable for even the most ignorant customer.
from: pammmy
on: 09-07-2009
Wow, tough crowd. I ate there a few days ago and it was great. It took a few minutes for the pulled pork soft tacos, but I watched them cook it. The veggies were fresh, chips were crispy and the pulled pork was great. I had 3 tacos and enjoyed every last bit of them. I will go again and bring friends.
Now I'd be surprised if a brand new place got everything right 100% of the time. Keep that in mind and try to cut them some slack.
from: Neal
on: 08-28-2009
I had heard mixed reviews so I touhght that I would give it a try.
It was awful!!!
The tacos were cold, the lettuce in them was welted and I think that it was suppose to be salsa on top but i could'nt tell.
Two bites and it went in the trash. Good thing the tacos were only $.99.
from: LOUISE
on: 08-19-2009
It sounds to me like Mr. Burrito guy needs some health care lessons...handling food for the public regardless of whether it is "raw" or "prepared" should not be done without gloves.
As a nurse I know that hands carry all sorts of bacteria and I doubt that your employees have the time to do frequent hand washing with the amount of buisness you say is being done at your establishment...therefore gloves should be worn!!!
from: laurie b
on: 08-06-2009
after reading the last two comments, I thought i would pass on some education, handling raw, not prepared food with no gloves is perfectly fine, as long as frequient hand washing occurs,
prepared food, does require gloves, in regard to the female mentioned,I do not believe the claim, we are overly sensative to washing hands and to the cleanliness of our work space, as it is an open kitchen
in terms of wait time, a booming business will have waiting times, periods of large influx of people at one time, rememeber this is a 22 seat place, it was not designed to do the business that we are doing, as of week ending july 24, in one week we serve almost 700 customers, 200 on tuesdays alone! I tell all my customers to call in an order if they have a time constraint, and we can meet that need, but a line at the door, we can litterally only cook so much food at once
from: xxlburrito guy
on: 07-24-2009
After reading William's comment, I too had a similar experience while waiting for my order. I found the service to be very slow...three females and one male working that day and people were waitng a long time for their orders. I watched the people preparing the food, and noticed they were not wearing gloves which I thought was mandatory for food handlers...this alone was enough to deter me from returning for another meal.
from: Sarah S.
on: 06-18-2009
Don't waste your time with this place. I waited almost a 1/2 hour for a burrito,while waiting I watched one cook wipe her noise with her hand 3 times with out washing and none of the cooks were wearing gloves.The rice and beans were old they tasted like they had been left out on the counter all day.
from: William
on: 06-12-2009
Waiting on approval from the town?
Wouldn't that be part of your Planning Board packet?
North Adams is a city.
What happened to that bottle of Chaute De Rothchild?
from: theif
on: 06-03-2009
re joe
we are going to deliver just waiting on approval from the town
from: burrito guy
on: 06-02-2009
Please please please add delivery
from: Joe
on: 06-02-2009
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With little to no advertising, Lanfair opened up shop two weeks ago, serving more than 50 people in the first six hours of operation. 