Berkshires break:
Berkshires spot boasts a novel setting and a menu with options to satisfy any taste
Inventive postindustrial setting and array of well-crafted dishes on menu make The Break
Room a North Adams destination.
Unlike the many “break” rooms that literally offer sledgehammer destruction as a form of rage entertainment, The Break Room in North Adams, Mass., is a restaurant and bakery — a place for a break — embedded within Greylock Works, a 240,000-square-foot architecturally reclaimed former cotton-spinning mill.
The Break Room itself is defined from the expansive event and tenant space by a wall of windows made from the mill’s original skylights. Tabletops were constructed from old floors, lights from old steam pipes, and an original hoist from the cotton mill assembly line adds to the cranking industrial vibe above the bar. Behind the raw design, and physically present in the open-plan kitchen, is chef Brian Alberg, a familiar Berkshires fixture from Main Street Hospitality Group and executive-chef roles at The Red Lion Inn in Stockbridge, Eat on North in Pittsfield, Seeds Market Café at Hancock Shaker Village and, new in 2019, The Taphouse in West Stockbridge.
Fresh from co-authoring “The Berkshires Farm Table Cookbook,” released earlier this year, Alberg planned to open The Break Room as an all-day restaurant catering to Greylock Works tenants, students and tourists drawn to the Williamstown and North Adams area. With the Clark Art Institute just 8 minutes away, Mass MOCA at 4 minutes and the Tourists Welcome hotel a minute down the road, the future looked bright in an area flourishing with art, culture agriculture and tourism. Instead, faced with the pandemic shutdown and a liquor license still pending, Alberg and partners — Greylock Works’ owners Karla Rothstein and Sal Perry — pressed ahead for a retooled July opening, grafting an interim farm-focused, regionally sourced café into the premises and limiting dinners to a fourcourse, prix-fixe affair on Saturday nights.
The Break Room is as much about its food philosophy as the eco-designed, open industrial space. A comfort-food menu stacked with beef or turkey Reubens and saucy lamb ragu celebrates both vegetarian and vegan dishes (protein options include seitan or vegan cheese) and local terroir with produce from farms and artisan makers of the Berkshires and Capital Region. (Alberg lives in farm-heavy Kinderhook.) A drive to limit waste anchors operations, from gleaned farm crops to composting with local farmers, so meats on the menu are fed with the café’s veggie scraps in a satisfyingly symbiotic relationship.
But it’s the beauty of ingredients laid bare that strikes the clearest note. In a seasonal root bowl, softly roasted beets and carrots are simply seasoned; kale from The Berry Patch Farm added to udon noodles swims with kombu and smoked tofu in miso broth. More kale — or collard greens when available — is braised in a stewy tomato ragu, where flavor from local Lila’s Mountain Lamb delves into earthier, richer depths from porcini mushrooms. Celery stars in a light green curry, its gentle sweetness getting more pungence from celeriac tops. Its warmth contrasts against cool smashed avocado and raw spinach leaves under crunchy sautéed quinoa in a lunchtime grain bowl.
Alberg is part of a tight, five-person crew. There are no official titles so, as Alberg says, they all “do everything.” But the team clearly hinges on industry-trained copastry chefs Cindy Walton and Amanda Perrault, friends since third grade, whose springy multigrain and rye breads are rustic heft to the airy croissants and flaky pastries that make The Break Room a destination bakery from 8 a.m. on, and turn office workers who grab a baker’s dozen ($30) into MVPS to their colleagues. Add Currency Coffee, roasted in nearby Dalton, to your morning Danish (I fell hard for the rum and raisin) and your carbon footprint will stay nearly zilch.
Should you even question the democratic nature of the team, the menu features a trio of burritos that pits Perreault’s spicy ranch seitan, onions, rice and beans against Alberg’s crispy po’ boystyle fried haddock wrap inspired by a New Orleans pop-up at The Tap Room last year and served with a twist of cold noodles. Meanwhile, Walton goes Greek with a marinated-kale and artichoke wrap to which you can add whipped feta and lamb for a vaguely doner-ish angle. Light and shareable, a smattering of these plates on modish outdoor wooden tables will leave room for desserts. Perhaps a stonefruit crisp packing fresh Kleins Kill Fruit Farm peaches with enough natural sweetness and body for a welcome al-dente bite.
The onsite presence of other startup tenants, including The Distillery at
Greylock Works and Berkshire Cider Project, has resulted in other opportunities for collaboration. Guests of Alberg’s Saturday pop-up farm dinners can sample and purchase cider while dining under the sunbreaker sails shading the mill’s rear courtyard.
Identity-driven and conscientious by design, The Break
Room dared to open with room to grow; Greylock Works’ event and performance space affords ample room for socially distanced dining or planned dinner-and-a-movie nights when temps drop. Currently offering breakfast and lunch until 3 p.m., there are evolving plans for heartier dinners to go.
Susie Davidson Powell is a British freelance food writer in upstate New York. Follow her on Twitter, @Susiedp