Inspired-Modif-Car: Travel Tuesday: Dining in the Berkshires

I've been posting about my trip over the weekend to the Berkshires and any good trip includes good food, of course! I wanted to share some of the delicious locations and foods we ate over the weekend.

The first evening we were there, we ate at Alta Restaurant & Wine Bar right in Lenox Center. By the way - don't blink or you'll miss the center. It's very tiny! I wanted to take photos of the restaurant, but didn't want to disturb other diners, so have to be satisfied with the images on their website. It was raining that evening (of course, it's been raining a lot here recently!), and the covered porch seating was delightful! The food was quite tasty, including a goat cheese and walnut salad, grilled steak and fries. My friend had the duck and reported that it was quite nice. We ordered wine by the glass and even so, we were shown the bottle and offered a taste prior to making the commitment. A nice touch.

On Friday, we visited Edith Wharton's home and enjoyed a lovely luncheon on the back veranda under a striped awning, overlooking the gardens. I had the delicious tarragon chicken salad on a ciabatta roll with a side of carrot salad and iced coffee while my friend Rob had quiche and lemonade. Tasty! By the way, take note of the herringbone pattern of the brick floor - loved it!

The big draw of Lenox and the Berkshires is, of course, Tanglewood! We attended concerts on Friday and Saturday night, dining on the lawn along with thousands of others. Some folks really went all out - including silver candelabra, flowers and lots of food! This image shows the break between the Shed and the lawn seats. At $16, the lawn is a great deal!

I would highly suggest the use of the classic little red wagon as both mode of transporting picnic baskets, chairs and food. Plus, it made for an excellent dinner table!

For our picnic al fresco, I borrowed a red mini-check tablecloth and napkins from my mother, which I made for her several years ago and did a little shopping at The Christmas Tree shops for some inexpensive dishes, glassware and utensils. I spent less than $20 for the baskets, melamine lobster plates, plastic tumblers (stemmed glasses are too likely to spill!), silverware and a candle under glass. It made everything so easy (and light!). We dined on baguettes, different cheeses and crackers, apples and wine. Yum! What is it about eating outdoors that makes everything seem so tasty!

Here was the table of one of our neighbors. It got a lot of attention from photographers. I loved the sunflowers in a vase. Later in the evening, they had a couple of candles going.

The last day we went out for brunch and found ourselves at the Haven Cafe & Bakery. It's a casual place, bustling with patrons and servers.

I forgot to photograph our food prior to eating it, but as you can tell, it was tasty! I had croissant french toast with scrambled eggs (which were cold, unfortunately) and Rob had eggs benedict and hash browns. Even with the cold eggs, yum!

I really enjoyed the casual ambiance and simple decor of the restarant. The floor is gorgeous and the chairs were quite beautiful and of higher quality than one normally gets in such a restaurant.