Berkshire Tidbits: Wine Dinners & Return of MadJack's

Homemade mac & cheese will be served up at the annual Sheffield Senior Center cookoff.

'Cooking at The Chef's Shop' Series
Upcoming Cooking Classes

Thursdays, 5 to 7 p.m.
Sundays, 3 to 5 p.m.

Two or three times a month, from now through the middle of June, Julie Gale, chef and owner of At the Table Cooking School in Hillsdale, N.Y., will be teaching a series of timely holiday and seasonal cooking classes at The Chef's Shop, 31 Railroad St., in Great Barrington, on Thursday evenings and Sunday afternoons.

Gale's classes are fun, free-flowing and very much hands on. She will co-teach some of the classes with well-known local guest chefs.

This Thursday's class, titled "Halloween Treats, Savory & Sweet," prepares students to host a classy Halloween party for adults or just to have a few more good Autumn recipes. The class will make curried pumpkin soup, ghost-chili-turkey and beans and spider chocolate cupcakes.

Sunday, Nov. 1, Gale will be teaching a class on gluten-free cooking, "Gluten-Free Gourmet": Brazilian cheese rolls, quinoa salad with roasted squash, and Korean sweet potato noodles with beef.

Six-course, six-wine Italian Dinner at Chez Nous
Presented by Queensboro & Italian Wine Traders

Thursday, Oct. 22
6:15 p. m.

Chez Nous chefs and owners Rachel Portnoy and Franck Tessier are stretching outside France to create a seasonal Italian dinner to pair with artisanal Italian wines selected by importer George Schwartz.

Schwartz says of his choices, "The mindset of the company is to follow purity, typicity, logic of place and price, and to represent super quality wineries across the country."

Portnoy's and Tessier's menu could not be more Italian. They are making an antipasto, stuffed ravioli, a fish course, a meat course, an Italian cheese course. One of Portnoy's exciting dessert featuring cake paired with Mascarpone cheese will bring the meal to a close.

The cost is $65/person plus gratuity and tax. Call Chez Nous, 413-243-6397, 150 Main St./Routes 20 and 102 in Lee, for information and to make reservations.

Menu and wine pairing

• Antipasto: Grilled Zucchini & Duxelle of Fennel
• Trappolini Grechetto 2013
• House-made Ravioli of Butternut Squash & Sweet Potato, Sage & Thyme
• Roncolato Valpolicella Santa Barbara 2013
• Roasted Cod & Herbed Viennoise, Tomato Fondue & Grain Mustard
• Terra Mia Lacrima Christi Rosso 2014
• Roasted Filet Mignon, Foie Gras Sauce,
• Risotto Croquette with Parmesan & Wild Mushrooms
• Roncolato Amarone 2011
• Gran Cacio Etrusco Cheese, House-made Pear Chutney, Toast
• Giovi Etna Rosso Akraton 2012
• Dark Chocolate, Walnut & Confit Orange Torte, Mascarpone & Vanilla Bean Crème
• Nocino, Italian Walnut Liqueur

Polter-Heist 15th Annual
Murder Mystery Dinner Theater

Friday & Saturday, Oct. 23 and 24
6 p. m. showtime

In the gathering/meeting room at First Baptist Church, 88 South St., Pittsfield, enter from back parking lot

Chef Frank LaRagione will serve salad, pulled pork, mixed vegetables, applesauce, cornbread and "Disappearing Dessert."

Advance reservations required. Call 413-442-8592 for reservations. Ticket donation $20/person. Pick up tickets from the church office by Tuesday, Oct. 20; office open 9 a.m. to 1 p.m., Tuesday through Friday.

 

Mac & Cheese Cook-off
at Sheffield Senior Center

Friday, Oct. 23

5 to 7 p. m. continuous serving

Less than a week after her successful pie contest last Sunday -- 28 entries in the contest, 15 pies sold at silent auction, 65 attendees -- she has put together a mac & cheese cook-off to raise money to finish the lower level of the Sheffield senior center.

She has gathered restaurants, schools and individuals to donate pans of mac & cheese to be eaten as dinner then judged to be top cheese. Each diners receives a divided plate, chooses six mac & cheese samples from the array assembled, get salad, dessert and beverages for $10 per adult, $5 per child or $20 for a family of four or more.

The cook-off will take place at the Sheffield Senior Center, 25 Cook Road (behind the American Legion behind the cannon on Route 7), Sheffield, 413-229-7037. Call for more information or to make optional reservations.

"You don't have to make reservations but you can if you want to," DelMolino said. "We want people to come. The more the better."

MadJack's BBQ Reopens
in New Lanesborough Location

For Berkshirites still wondering whether MadJack's BBQ will ever open again since its departure from Pittsfield just about a year ago, MadJack's is open.

Since early July, chef and owner Jabari Powell has run his "low and slow, everything made from scratch daily including fries, sauces and piecrusts" dine-in and take-out operation in the storefront of his longtime catering space at 126 S. Main St. in Lanesborough next to Subway.

MadJack's is not a barbecue restaurant anymore. It has returned to its original barbecue joint roots. It is larger than Powell's first tiny Fenn St. spot but smaller than cavernous North St. It's comfortable.

The menu is large and varied. Hush puppies, sweet potato fries, pulled pork nachos, imaginative fresh and crunchy salads, ribs and racks, platters with cornbread and choice of over a dozen sides, house made to-die-for desserts and bottomless lemonade and sweet tea. No un-sweet tea, unfortunately.

While food comes out of the kitchen promptly, this is not a fast food place. But, even with totally fresh and homemade food, MadJack's prices are affordable. Since everything is freshly made daily, they sometimes run out of one or another dish -- collards, beef ribs, bourbon pecan pie with its from-scratch, melt-in-your-mouth crust.

MadJack's, 413-442-2290, is open for dinner five days, Tuesday through Saturday, from 4 to 9; and for lunch on Saturdays only, from noon.

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