Maple season returns to Western Mass.

WINTER 2023′S unseasonably warm temperatures and lack of snow pack so far haven’t been particularly good news for maple syrup producers here in Western Massachusetts. The process of “sugar boiling” depends on frosty nights and above-freezing days to promote the most vigorous, best quality run of sap, and that sort of weather has been in short supply during the last two months.

Nonetheless, in the weeks ahead, a number of local sugarhouse restaurants will be offering patrons the distinctive sweet taste of early spring. These eateries traditionally open in late February and operate through the month of March; all close down by Easter Sunday or before. Sugarhouse dining evolved as a way by which those who made maple syrup could promote direct sales to consumers rather than simply relying on what they could get on the wholesale market.

Running a restaurant as part of a sugarhouse operation turned out to be an clever way to increase revenue, both by bringing in food sales and by attracting patrons who subsequently made retail purchases of maple products during their visits.

Over the last several years changes in the rural economy as well as the impact of the Pandemic have resulted in some maple syrup eateries being permanently shuttered. Thus this season’s not likely to see more than a dozen active sugarhouse restaurants west of Worcester, but those that do operate will deliver an experience worth seeking out.

Typically open only on weekends, sugarhouse restaurants specialize in foods that are traditionally made with (or served drenched in) maple syrup. Thus breakfast fare like pancakes, waffles, and French toast are standard; some sugarhouse operations offer the taffy-like treat known as

Wine

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Cru (In Barrel): Subtle, understated, delicate wine from the winery’s 1-acre plot in this 30acre Grand Cru vineyard in the southern part of Gevrey-Chambertin across the street from the famed Chambertin Grand Cru vineyard. This wine has soft, lighter-than-air fruit flavors, including hints of raspberry and a delicate fruit aroma.

• 2022 Domaine Duroche Chambertin Clos De Beze Grand Cru (In Barrel): One of

Menu

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“sugar on snow.”

Many have also developed their own house specialty, like maple donuts, maple cotton candy, or maple baked beans.

One operation, the North Hadley Sugar Shack in Hadley, has grown into a year-round farm store destination that, during the maple season, offers a “Sugarin’ Breakfast” seven days a week from 7 a.m. to 1 p.m. The Massachusetts Maple Producers Association maintains a directory of sugarhouse restaurants at its website, massmaple.org.

Liner notes

• Friendly’s, the Springfield area’s own hometown restaurant brand, has expanded its menu offerings.

Four new appetizer choices are available — a Spinach & Artichoke Dip, Fried Pickle Chips, Crispy Mac & Cheese Bites, and breaded Cheese Bites. The latter three of these menu newbies come with their own dipping sauces.

Friendly’s has also moved into the chicken sandwich space with a trio of new options. A Class Crispy Chicken Sandwich comes garnished with lettuce, pickles and mayonnaise on a toasted brioche bun, while a Crispy Buffalo Chicken Sandwich is enhanced with a slathering of spicy Buffalo and blue cheese sauces. A Parmesan breadcrumb coating is the hallmark of a Crispy Chicken Parm Sandwich, which is finished my favorite wines of the tasting, this subtle, light wine also has hints of spice and black pepper and a long, delicate finish. Made with grapes from vines planted in 1920, this elegant, refined wine from one of the best Grand Cru vineyards in Gevrey-Chambertin lives up to the hype. No wonder one of the characters in Evelyn Waugh’s novel “Brideshead Revisited” raves about a Clos De Beze wine. This one’s a showstopper that will taste great for decades.

• 2021 Domaine Duroche Village Gevrey-Chambertin (In Bottle): Intense, spicy wine with tomato sauce and shredded mozzarella as it’s assembled on a toasted brioche roll.

The new items are available now at participating Friendly’s locations.

• January is one of the months when publicly traded restaurant companies provided information to the investment community through “earnings calls,” and based on what she’s heard from those public pronouncements, one industry analyst, Alicia Kelso of Nation’s Restaurant News, believes the “great trade down is underway.”

Kelso bases her observations on fourth quarter results from a number of major restaurant brands. She reports that McDonald’s Corp. and Yum Brands, two industry giants that dominate the quick-service segment of the industry reported strong traffic and earnings for the last part of 2022, while casual dining concepts such as Chili’s, Outback Steakhouse, and Olive Garden experienced substantial customer traffic declines during the same period. Even Chipotle Mexican Grill, which prides itself on its loyal customer base, saw delivery orders drop 15% in the last quarter of 2022.

Kelso’s conclusion is that customers are “trading down.” Buffeted by inflation and uncertain about what the economic future is likely to bring, they’re forsaking lunch or dinner at casual dining operations and instead increasingly seek out “value” for their money at quick service with muscular, flinty hints of green apple and black pepper. Very promising wine that needs at least five to seven years to mellow out.

• 2019 Domaine Duroche Village Gevrey-Chambertin (In Bottle): Well-rounded, complex wine with a fleshy feel at first that gives way to spicier notes on the finish. Flavors include subtle hints of soft cherry and raspberry. Definitely a very promising, delightful wine.

• 2019 Domaine Duroche Champeaux Premier Cru (In Bottle): Powerful yet elegant wine from one of the northern- establishment like Taco Bell, Wendy’s, or KFC.

Kelso’s full article can be read at nrn.com/ consumer-trends/ great-trade-down-underway-restaurant-consumers

• Brignole Vineyards in East Granby, Connecticut, is hosting a St. Patrick’s Day murder mystery dinner March 10, starting at 7 p.m.

The evening’s mystery production, “A Wee Bit O’ Murder,” features a story line in which a stolen pot of gold figures large. With help from the audience, a cast of leprechauns is tasked with finding the culprit. A corned beef dinner precedes the performance, with a menu including a mixed green salad, a breadbasket of Irish soda bread and cheddar biscuits, all the traditional boiled dinner accompaniments, and a Bailey’s mousse cream puff for dessert.

Tickets, which are priced at $90, are available at the Brignole Vineyards website, brignole-vineyards.square. site. For more details, contact Brignole Vineyards at 860653-9463

• It’s Shamrock Shake season again at McDonald’s; the mint-flavored treat returns for its limited-time engagement. A blend of vanilla soft-serve flavored with mint syrup, the shake has been a seasonal tradition at McDonald’s for the last 53 years.

Also back for March’s “green madness” is the Oreo Shamrock McFlurry, a soft serve most Premier Cru vineyards in Gevrey-Chambertin. Spicy, pepper-like flavors up front evolve into a long, subtle, softer finish with hints of cherry, raspberry and floral aromas. Made with grapes from vines planted in 1986 in this limestone-rich vineyard, this luxurious wine tastes great now but will easily age beautifully for years.

• 1970 Domaine Duroche

Lavaut St. Jacques Premier Cru (In Bottle): One of the highlights of my trip to Burgundy, it was an absolute thrill to taste this 53-year-old wine. I wrote an entire wine column about dessert flavored with mint syrup and enhanced with Oreo cookie pieces blended in.

• Fans of Belchertown High School hockey have a chance to support their favorite team while at the same time enjoying pizza can do so by visiting the Belchertown location of Antonio’s Pizza on Feb. 27.

Antonio’s has pledged a portion of all food sales that day to support Belchertown High School hockey. To take advantage of the offer, customers that day need to mention Belchertown hockey, either when ordering take-out or dining in. For more details contact Antonio’s Pizza at 413323-6844.

• Not to be upstaged by another chain’s green shake, participating Dairy Queen locations are offering a new Under the Rainbow Shake for St. Patrick’s Day. The shake is made by blending strawberry syrup and multicolored sprinkles into vanilla soft serve; whipped topping and more sprinkles serve as garnish.

Also returning to DQ as a St. Patrick’s season special is the Mint Brownie Blizzard, a mint-flavored soft serve confection into which brownie pieces and “choco” chunks are blended. Both items are now available at DQ outlets, subject to individual operator participation.

• Cabs & Slabs returns to Max Tavern at the Naismith Memorial Basketball Hall of Fame in Springfield tomorrow. A five-course extrava- this wine several weeks ago. What’s amazing about this wine is how powerful and spicy it still tastes straight out of the bottle more than half a century later. Its complex, subtle fruit flavors linger for several minutes after each sip, like the fading light of a distant sunset just over the horizon. This magnificent wine could have easily aged well for another 15 to 20 years, but I’m sure glad Pierre Duroche opened it! Cheers! ganza of meaty experiences paired with first-rate cabernet sauvignon wines, the dinner starts at 6:30 p.m.

Wine Press by Ken Ross appears on Masslive.com every Monday and in The Republican’s Weekend section every Thursday.

Max Tavern executive chef Nathaniel Waugaman has assembled a lineup that includes beef tartare, roast pork, spiced duck breast, and a roasted ribeye. For dessert, the kitchen crew at Max Tavern is planning a bacon flan. Along with the five-course menu the staff at Max Tavern will be pouring a select California cabernet with each savory course.

Tickets for the dinner are $125 not including tax or gratuity. Call Max Tavern at 413746-6299 for reservations.

• Domino’s, the pizza delivery giant, has added three varieties of “loaded” tots to its menu. Melty 3-Cheese Loaded Tots come topped with mozzarella, cheddar, and provolone; they’re finished with a ladle of Alfredo sauce.

Philly Cheese Steak Loaded Tots borrow the flavor profile of the classic sandwich, thanks to a garnish of shaved steak, onions, green peppers, and cheese. The third tot option, Cheddar Bacon Loaded Tots, are finished with a drizzle of garlic parmesan sauce. All three are planned as permanent additions to the Domino’s menu.

Hugh Robert is a faculty member in Holyoke Community College’s hospitality and culinary arts program and has nearly 50 years of restaurant and educational experience. Robert can be reached online at OffTheMenuGuy@aol.com.

Garden

but due to facility and/or producer issues, this Connecticut show is now the only one left in New England, she explained. The show “brings many a great happiness to get out of the doldrums of winter,” she said. “When walking into the show every sense is awakened. Smells of spring, sounds of spring and visions of spring are what people will discover here at the show.”

February is a good time for the show as gardeners begin to plan gardens and start seeds for a spring crop, and landscape designers are in the process of booking their schedules for the spring/summer work load.

Returning to the show this year is the popular Barnes & Noble Center selling flower, plant and garden books, including those written by the show’s seminar speakers.

The Connecticut Flower

Majestic

CONTINUES FROM PAGE E4 at times by his own life with a mentally ill sister, a drunk for a father who worked for a shoe company, and his own desire to escape from it all,” he said.

Cast members include Robbie Simpson as Tom, Cate Damon as Amanda, Abigail Milnor-Sweetser as Laura, Tosh Foerster as Jim, and Ann-Marie Messbauer, the musician providing additional drama to the play.

The play, part of the Majestic’s 25th anniversary season, runs through April 2. Ticket prices range from $29 to $35 and can be obtained by visiting or calling the box office at 413-7477797 during hours of operation, Monday through Friday from 10 a.m. to 5 p.m. and Saturday from 10 a.m. to 1 p.m. Tickets are also available on the Majestic Theater website at majestictheater. com