Instant Gratification: The Tap House At Shaker Mill
NOTE: THIS RESTAURANT HAS CLOSED.
When I was a kid, I had two grandmothers who could cook. One lived across the street, the other lived in the apartment below us. The smells drifting out of those two kitchens are entombed in my mind. I miss those fine women, and their food. Most times when I go out to eat, I am secretly hoping to be brought back to them through my taste buds.
It finally happened. On a chilly, almost-autumn night I sat with my longstanding "food date" at one of the outdoor picnic tables of the newly minted Tap House at Shaker Mill (managed by Chef Brian Alberg and Denise Albert of the Main Street Hospitality Group). I pored over the menu with childlike greed, albeit with a bourbon in hand. The menu listed all the comforts — sandwiches like chicken club, classic burgers ($13-$15); several different salads including arugula and blueberry ($9-$17); beer/cheese dip with a soft pretzel ($9); baked clams casino ($16); flatbreads and cavatappi mac and cheese in all incarnations; fried chicken ($25); grilled NY strip steak ($29) — making selection a tough endeavor.
“They have burgers,” I said to my date. He’s a burger aficionado.
“I know,” he said. “But they also have mac and cheese!” His eyes darted all over the menu.
It took us a few reads before we settled on our choices.
The “naked” wings ($12) arrived in a large metal bowl. We opted for the sauce — a potent mix of blue cheese, Cholula hot sauce and butter — on the side. The wings were huge, and for a minute we thought they might be more duck than chicken. The skin was crisp and had sealed in the juice from the meat. We could have eaten them on their own and been perfectly content. But we dipped. Not surprisingly, the sauce had a tremendous heat (Cholula, guys) but the burn was muted by the blue cheese, and as I was licking my fingers, I contemplated sticking one right into the remainder of the sauce to finish it off.
Our entrees came out with a dramatic steam trailing behind the plates thanks to the night’s chill. My date had ordered the BBQ braised pulled pork version of the mac and cheese — other incarnations were bacon, Maine lobster, and veggie ($17-$24) — and I went with shrimp and grits. The strong scent of smoked paprika broke through every other thought I had in that moment, and I took that first blessed bite, hoping they “got it right.”
While I was savoring the meaty shrimp, crisp collards and creamy grits, my date finished his first two bites of the mac and cheese and came up for air just long enough to say, “You gotta try this.”
I was still blissed out on the grits and didn’t want to muddy the experience, but I had to write this review, so I was obliged to taste everything and not just take his word for it. I’m glad he insisted. The pulled pork mixed with the mac and cheese had a balancing effect that is seldom accomplished with this classic staple.
“It’s not cloying,” he said. And he was right, as I thought back to all the mac and cheese dishes I’ve eaten, and been overwhelmed by, throughout the years.
We could have easily polished off all that food and died happy right at that picnic table. But the thought crept in about halfway through devouring my grits: If this entrée is so good, what must the dessert be like?
My date was thinking the same thing, because he laid his fork across his dish and said, “I need to save myself for dessert.”
And so, that’s what happened. Somewhere between the salted chocolate chip cookies and milk ($7) and the Harney & Sons Paris Tea crème brûlée ($8) we made a choice: apple brioche bread pudding ($8) and local stonefruit crisp ($9).
I’m glad we stopped ourselves with the main course when we did. The bread pudding, served beautifully, was a light, not-too-sweet showcase for the white wine poached apples. The stonefruit crisp, topped with almonds and an oatmeal cookie crumble (not to mention two healthy scoops of SoCo Madagascar vanilla ice cream) was tart and crumbly and perfect. We were reluctant to leave that place, with its twinkling strings of lights and magical food. My date got the rest of his mac and cheese in a to-go box, saying something about bringing the rest to his mother for her to try.
“Yeah, right,” I said. “That will be gone before it even gets cold in your fridge.”
The Tap House at Shaker Mill
5 Albany Road, West Stockbridge, MA
(413) 232-8565
Monday and Thursday, 5-9 p.m.
Friday, 5-10 p.m.
Saturday, noon-10 p.m.
Sunday, noon-9 p.m.
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