Restaurants offer Mother’s Day brunches, baskets

MOTHER’S DAY has traditionally been the busiest dining out day of the calendar year, and this year’s holiday is unlikely to be an exception. Restaurants have been reporting that previous 2023 holidays such as Easter were early sellouts.

Unlike back in the 1950s and ’60s, when Mother’s Day meant taking mom out for a full-dress, sit-down dinner, today’s idea of a Mother’s Day treat is often far more casual.

Brunch has become a popular Mother’s Day option, and even “pick-up-and-heatat-home” brunch meals are available. The Delaney House in Holyoke, for instance, is offering a brunch “pick-up” package that serves four to six. The package, which must be picked up at the Log Cabin Banquet and Meetinghouse in Holyoke, will include fresh fruit, blueberry bread, chicken piccata, pancakes, and waffle wedges. A half dozen supplementary entrée options are also available to enhance the basic brunch.

For more details, visit delaneyhouse.com/ mothers-day-to-go.

Judd’s Restaurant at Gateway City Arts in Holyoke is offering Sunday Brunch on Mother’s Day, following the meal with a benefit concert for Safe Passage, a program that supports children impacted by domestic violence. An additional part of the afternoon-long Mother’s Day package is a Race Street Bazaar held inside the Gateway City Arts complex.

Mother’s Day is also a chance to experience some of the function venues not often open for public dining. The Roosevelt Room, a dramatic Romanesque-style space in Northampton’s Union Station, is an example. That space will be hosting a Mother’s Day Brunch buffet starting at 10 a.m. More details are available at 413-326-4151.

A more rustic approach to Mother’s Day dining out is being planned by Hartman’s Herb Farm in Barre, where a Mother’s Day brunch can be paired with a visit to the Farm’s greenhouses, which has nursery sets ready for spring planting on sale. Brunch at Hartman’s Herb Farm is being served from 11 a.m. to 1:30 p.m. and will feature traditional brunch favorites along with decadent desserts. Reservations are required, and can be made by calling 978-355-2015.

If a lavish hotel-style Mother’s Day brunch is more your style, the Sheraton Springfield Monarch Place is ready to accommodate. Its Grand Buffet features a made-toorder avocado toast station, a risotto bar, chef-carved roast sirloin of beef, luncheon and breakfast favorites, and even a selection of hummus “shooters” with pita bread and veggie “stix.” A chef’s sweet table will feature monkey bread, mini pastries, and chocolate mousse shooters. Reservations are required and can be made by calling the Sheraton Springfield at 413263-2117.

Blue Door Gathering of Holyoke and Quonquont Farm in Whately have partnered to create a special “en plein air” Mother’s Day experience.

Blue Door is packing Mother’s Day Picnic Baskets. The movable feast, which accommodates four, includes a grazing box of cheese and crudities, an assortment of pastries, lemon curd with berries, a mushroom quiche, and dressed greens. A deluxe version of the picnic incorporates bagels and lox.

The baskets, which must be pre-ordered, can be picked up and enjoyed at Blue Door’s Holyoke location or at Quonquont Farm in Whately.

For more details and an online link to order a picnic, go to bluedoorgatherings. com/eventtickets.

Blue Door Gatherings answers at 413-537-8722.

Side dishes

• The Shortstop Bar & Grill in Westfield has

WEDNESDAY

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355 East Street, Ludlow, 583-6385

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All Cards are included with Admission

THURSDAY

Fairview Knights of Columbus

1599 Memorial Drive, Chicopee (413) 532-2011

DOORS OPEN 4:30PM MASKS OPTIONAL Progressive Jackpot 6:15pm Early Bird

6:20pm Start Min. Entry Package $15

Electronic Bingo Aval. Snack Bar, Open Seating, Handicap Restrooms

CALL TODAY 413-788-1250 TO LIST HERE

CONTINUES FROM PAGE announced that its patio is now open for the season.

Hours are Sunday through Thursday, 11:30 a.m. to 9:30 p.m., and Friday and Saturday evenings until 10:30 p.m.

Live music is featured Thursday through Saturday, and Shortstop has brought back lobster rolls for the summer season ahead.

The restaurant picks up at 413-642-6370.

• On Saturday, Barstow’s Dairy Store and Bakery in Hadley will be holding its annual Pasture Day celebration. The event marks the turning out to pasture of Barstow’s dairy herd, with the pasture opening scheduled for 1 p.m.

The celebration will include lunch and ice cream for sale, live music, and wagon rides around the farm. There is also a walking tour of about a quarter mile’s length planned for 11:30 a.m.

Barstow’s Dairy Store and Bakery can be reached at 413586-2142.

• Hitchcock Brewing Co. in Bernardston will be hosting a Food Truck Friday event on Friday from 4 to 8 p.m.

The Keene-based Wicked Groovy Grill Food Truck will be in attendance, serving mac and cheese as well as an assortment of chef-curated grilled cheese sandwich creations.

Hitchcock Brewing Co. answers at 413-648-3172.

• Teresa’s Restaurant in Ware will be hosting an Elton John tribute show on May 20.

This “Benny and The Jets” performance will feature Greg Ranson and will be part of a dinner and concert evening that begins with a 5 p.m.

Wine

CONTINUES FROM PAGE E5 grape may have come from somewhere else even before then, according to “Wine Grapes,” by Jancis Robinson, Julia Harding and Jose Vouillamoz. The same book notes that pinot noir began being used as cocktail hour.

Dinner, which is scheduled for 6 p.m., is a six-course, family style meal of ItalianAmerican favorites. Tickets, which include dinner, show, tax, and gratuity, are $60 per person.

Call 413-967-7601 for reservations.

• Great Awakening Brewing Co. of Westfield is welcoming a Cousins Maine Lobster food truck to the Brewing Company’s riverside outdoor beer garden

The “Floats and Food Trucks” event is planned for Saturday, May 6, from 5 to 8 p.m., and Great Awakening’s own kitchen will be preparing and serving a variety of ice- a name sometime in the 1300s. Since then, pinot noir has become one of the best-loved wine grapes in the world.

Wine regions: If someone’s making wine somewhere, odds are they’re making wine with pinot noir. Nearly every wine region in the world includes a winemaker attempting to make wine with pinot noir cream-topped beer floats to go with the lobster specialties being sold.

Great Awakening Brewing Co.’s phone number is 413875-7868.

• Bond 124 in Somers will be holding a Cinco de Mayo Fiesta on Friday. The daylong celebration will feature, in addition to the taproom’s standard menu, themed appetizers such as Mexican Chicken Corn Chowder, Muchos Nachos, and Jalapeno Poppers.

Cinco de Mayo entrée specials will include beef empanadas, quesadillas, tacos, fajitas, and enchiladas. A selection of celebratory drinks such as sangria, grapes. This is surprising since pinot noir can be a challenging grape to grow. If it’s too cold or too hot, these thin-skinned grapes can freeze or ripen too early and shrivel on the vine. But when done right, they can create some of the most magical red wines in the world. Some of the best-known pinot noir wine regions in wild turkey, roasted wild boar, game sausages, fried alligator, and rabbit stew. An assortment of sides such as red cabbage, sauerkraut, and more will also be part of the spread. margaritas, Mexican beer, and tequila shots also will be available.

Cost to attend is $65 per ticket with assigned seating. Tickets can be ordered online at munichhaus.com or by calling 413-594-8788.

• With warmer weather ahead, Dunkin’ locations are ready with added cold beverage options.

A new Raspberry Watermelon Dunkin’ refresher has been introduced as of April 26, when it was accompanied by the return of the Mango Pineapple Refresher.

Dunkin’ is also celebrating butter pecan’s permanent addition to the menu with three drink creations and a special donut.

Bond 124, which is located at 124 Main Street in Somerville, can be reached at 860-6986011.

• The Munich Haus German Restaurant in Chicopee has further extended its series of Wild Game Feasts, adding a May 20 date.

The event will begin at 6 p.m. in the restaurant’s second floor ballroom and will feature a fresh-carved buffet station stocked with venison, bison, elk, and kangaroo.

Other “wild things” selections will include the world include France’s Burgundy region, California’s Sonoma County, Oregon and New Zealand. And if you love Champagne, many of the best ones include pinot noir grapes blended with other grape varieties.

• North America 2019 Rodney Strong Russian River Valley Pinot Noir Sono - ma County ($19.99 at Table & Vine in West Springfield): Wine grapes are like sponges. They absorb the flavors and aromas around them in the soil and the air. That’s why I’ve long been a big fan of pinot noirs from California’s Russian River Valley. Located in Sonoma County just west of Napa Valley

Butter Pecan Iced Coffee is now available, and a new Butter Pecan Frozen Coffee has been introduced. The latter features frozen coffee blended with a butter pecan swirl and cocoa caramel sprinkles.

A new Turtle Signature Latte incorporate butter pecan and mocha swirls, espresso, and whole milk. Topped with whipped cream, the drink is available either hot or iced. A limited-time-only Butter Pecan yeast donut is filled with butter pecan flavored buttercreme, iced with vanilla glaze, and topped with butternut crunch.

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.