Allium

44 Railroad Street
Great Barrington, MA 01230
413-528-2118

This was probably the single best three course meal I have had thus far since writing this blog. I have been here once before and had a very nice meal, but this time all three courses hit it out of the park.

First off, if you make a reservation, and you are a party of three or four, ask to sit in the window. There are two tables for four in window nooks - great for people watching if you are so inclined. We were seated in the window by chance and it was fun to see the goings on in the center of Great Barrington on beautiful late spring evening.

Allium is one of the many Berkshire restaurants that tries to build its menu around seasonally available local produce. So two of us tried the spring vegetables with goat cheese as an appetizer - turnips, beets, broccoli were blanched and cooled, and then radishes were on a generous bed of fresh local goat cheese - incredibly flavoful. My dad had the spring lettuces, which he said were uncommonly crisp.

For an entree, I had a soft shell crab po boy on toasted ciabatta with greens and lightly fried onion rings on the side. The crab was delectable, with a slightly spicy remoullade on the bread. I disassembled the po boy and the reassembled the components in smaller bits - the salty, crispy, spicy, crunchy sandwich all surrounding the soft crab - excellent. I also ordered a side of hand-cut fries which were the kind of fries that make you realize you eat most fries mostly out of habit. These were generously sliced, cooked to a crisp golden brown with just the right amount of salt. The size of the entrees is not overwhelming, so splitting an additional side is a nice compliment to your meals.

My parents had grilled salmon and a slow-roasted chicken - they reported both were excellent.

For dessert, my mom and I both had maple pot de creme. This was the kind of dessert that I kept scraping the sides of the bowl to make sure I had retrieved every last bit. My dad got an almond and apricot bakewell tart, which was served with ice cream but the tart itself was also cold, which he found disappointing.

I would have those three courses again in heartbeat! And the decor is interesting as well - we sat in front of a large, weird painting that was a topic of conversation, and many of the light fixtures are artisan-made.