READSBORO, Vt. — The specialty of the house at the Readsboro Inn used to be a cheeseburger and a beer. Now it’s sesame-encrusted salmon and Chablis — among other more upscale dishes.
Owners Marcia Evans and Nadia Todres have brought an entirely new look to the historic inn and tavern on Main Street (Route 100), which they bought in December 2003 from the Bolognani family, who had been owners since 1931. Since the takeover, many of the regular customers have had to learn to leave their shotguns in their pickup trucks and to get used to white tablecloths and candlelit dinners.
They can still get their cheeseburgers, spaghetti and meatballs and beer aplenty, but they’re more likely to find that in a newly built, spacious tavern, which Evans and Todres built in a huge adjacent room that had stood empty as long as anyone can remember. The former bar on the north side of the inn’s ground floor has been completely revamped into an elegant dining room, complete with a breakfast and lunch counter and seating for about 40. With help from local contractor Gary Dix, Evans and Todres moved the pool table into the new tavern, ripped down ugly drop ceilings and tore out the multi-level floor, over which many a patron had tripped in the old days. Todres said Evans did most of the interior design work.
“She saw a lot more possibilities than I did. I saw it as sort of a mess,†Todres said.
In August, through a bit of luck combined with no small amount of charm, they landed not the short-order cook they had been searching for but a master chef, Helmut Eckart, who once cooked at the Ritz Carlton in Boston and aboard the five-star luxury diner MS Europa. Eckart has introduced a distinctive menu, featuring prime rib, steaks, pasta dishes and seafood, which prompted the proprietors to expand dinner to three nights a week, Thursday, Friday and Saturday, a move that has drawn in a large clientele from surrounding towns.
“Our best advertising has been word of mouth,†Todres said.
The inn already has 60 reservations for this Friday’s “German Night,†at which Eckart will provide a variety of traditional German dishes, including sauerbraten, potato dumplings with pickled red cabbage, wiener schnitzel, veal cutlet and “seezungin weisswe in sosse†(fillet of sole in white wine sauce). Those who don’t like beer, can get “gluehwin†— spiced red wine — or any number of other beverages.
Eckart, of Rowe, Mass., who has extensive international experience and last worked as executive chef at Mount Snow, said people are always asking him what his specialty is.
“I’ll tell them, ‘pick a year,â€â€™ he said.
This year, he’s catering to whatever diners like at the Readsboro Inn — or whatever he thinks they’ll like. That sometimes means whatever gourmet meal he is inspired to cook in any given week. Evans and Todres acknowledged that Eckart is “very overqualified†for the establishment, but they love the class he has brought to the place.
“He’s big on educating the customers,†Evans said. “I’ll just tell them, ‘If you can’t pronounce it, trust me, it’s good.’â€
Eckart admitted he almost didn’t take the job, once he walked into the inn, which was in the middle of renovations at the time.
“I looked around and said, ‘Oh gee.’ It wasn’t as nice then,†he said. “But I deeply sensed they needed help, and I couldn’t justify not helping them. That was in the middle of August, and I’m still here.â€
He said he’s enjoyed the camaraderie of working with Todres and Evans, and the restaurant’s weekend schedule has allowed him time to pursue his other passions: holistic healing and philosophy.
Evans, who grew up in Pownal, and Todres, who is from the Boston area and met Evans while attending Bennington College, have done more than just renovate the dining room and bar. They said they invested more than $25,000 of their personal savings to completely redo the building — installing a new kitchen, buying new restaurant equipment, building an outside deck and putting down hardwood floors, which were installed at a bargain price by Dix. They also fixed up the inn’s seven rooms, buying new beds, new televisions and supplying down comforters. The inn is open seven days a week, with single rooms available for $25 a night and doubles for $35.
Evans said she chanced upon the Readsboro Inn while out snowmobiling with a friend a few years ago. She soon learned it was for sale.
“I liked it,†she said. “It reminded me of a tavern my parents had run in Maine.â€
At the time, she and Todres had been living in New York City, where Evans was a bartender and Todres worked for a photography studio. They said they both yearned for a more rural life, off the beaten track, and decided to close the deal. They said it took awhile for many customers to get used to the idea of a more upscale and modern inn, but most of them seem to like the changes. They started with a clean slate, even allowing back one former customer who had been barred for life because he once rode a horse into the bar.
“This is a tough town. Many people were reluctant to change,†Evans said. “The inn’s reputation before was a rowdy, rough smoky bar. It’s a lot different now.â€
The new bar in the tavern area might look familiar to some customers. Todres and Evans bought it and much of their furnishings from the former Howard Johnson’s in Greenfield, Mass., and Dix helped them move it and set it up. They also established a “history nook†in the tavern, featuring historic pictures of Readsboro and the inn, most of which they obtained from the Bolognanis. Customers in the tavern who don’t like pool, television or just plain eating and drinking can enjoy video games or a round of darts in the history nook. Once a month, live bands perform — anything from bluegrass and rock and roll to country. The tavern still allows smoking, but the dining room is completely smoke-free.
Dix, in addition to being a main force behind the renovations, has helped out by being the breakfast and lunch cook on weekends, because it is winter and his flooring business is slow. He said he met Evans and Todres in his usual place, “the corner seat†at the former bar, and they’ve since become good friends. When he’s not cooking chili and homemade apple pie or pitching in on the latest renovations, he often occupies the corner seat in the new tavern.
The tavern is open daily at 4 p.m., except Friday and Saturday, when it opens at noon. The dining room is open for breakfast and lunch Friday through Sunday and for dinner Thursday through Saturday. On Thursdays from 5 to 9, Eckart offers “Thursday nights for two,†during which couples can have their choice of several Italian offerings, plus a bottle of wine, for $17.95. Without the wine, the cost is $11.95. On Fridays and Saturdays, entrees range in price from $8.95 for pasta dishes to $14.95 for prime rib.
On Feb. 1, Super Bowl Sunday, the inn will try something a little different — a potluck buffet, to which customers are invited to bring their favorite dish for game time and enjoy $1 draft mugs of Coors and Bud all day long.
Evans said she and Todres plan to continue improving the inn, restaurant and tavern, in phases, over the next several months.
“We don’t have time to think about it, really. There’s so much to do, always something to fix,†she said.
“It hasn’t been easy,†Todres said. “We still have people talking about how it used to be, and there’s been some resistance to ‘outsiders’ running the place. But people are starting to find out about it and how nice it is now. And we’re really not that far away from things — only 18 miles from North Adams.â€
Walk-in customers are welcome anytime, but reservations are recommended for the dinner specials. For information and reservations, call 802-423-5048 or visit www.reasboroinn.com.
And remember: Leave the shotguns — and horses — outside.
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Lanesborough Planners Bring STR, ADU, Signage Bylaws for Town Vote
By Breanna SteeleiBerkshires Staff
LANESBOROUGH, Mass. — The Planning Board held a public hearing on the much anticipated bylaws for short-term rentals, accessory dwelling units, and signage to be presented at the annual town meeting.
For the past few months, planners have diligently been working on wordage of the new bylaws after Second Drop Farm's short-term rental was given a cease and desist because the building inspector said town bylaws don't support them.
The board voted on each of the four articles and heard public comment before moving to entertain any amendments brought forward.
A lot of discussion in the STR section was around parking. Currently the drafted bylaw for parking states short-term rentals require two parking spaces, and with three or more bedrooms, require three spaces but never more than five.
There were questions about the reasons for limiting parking and how they will regulate parking renters choose to park on the lawn or the street. Planners said it is not their call, that is up to the property owner and if it is a public street that would be up to the authorities.
Some attendees called for tighter regulation to make sure neighborhoods are protected from overflow.
Lynn Terry said she lives next to one of the rented houses on Narragansett Avenue and does not feel safe with all of the cars that are parked there. She said there can be up to 10 at a time on the narrow road, and that some people have asked to use her driveway to park. She thinks limiting to five cars based on the house, is very important.
The wordage was amended to say a parking space for each bedroom of the house.
Rich Cohen brought up how his own STR at the Old Stone School helps bring in money and helps to preserve the historic landmark. He told the board he liked what they did and wants to see it pass at town meeting, knowing it might be revised later on.
He said the bylaws now should not be a "one size fits all" but may need to be adjusted to help protect neighborhoods and also preserve places like his.
After asking the audience of fewer than 20 people, the board decided to amend the amount of time an short-term rental can be reserved to 180 days total a year in a residential zone, and 365 days a year in every other zone. This was in the hopes the bylaw will be passed and help to deter companies from buying up properties to run STRs as well as protecting the neighborhood character and stability.
They also capped the stay limit of a guest to 31 days.
Cohen also asked them to add "if applicable" to the Certificate of Inspection rule as the state's rules might change and it can help stop confusion if they have incorrect requirement that the state doesn't need.
The ADU portion did not have much public comment but there were some minor amendments because of notes from KP Law, the town counsel.
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