Dining in New Marlborough

It is the summer of our discontent but two restaurants in New Marlborough are finding ways to inject a feeling of seasonal relaxation into a social environment fraught with frustration and fear. They have taken outdoor dining to a new level, providing beautiful settings while at the same time giving diners superlative meals.

Since mid-June Gedney Kitchen, the restaurant at Gedney Farm, has been reimagining its service, shifting its schedule, reopening its outdoor Argentine grill and rekindling its wood-fired oven for the summer season.

“In an unexpected way, it has been a busy summer,” said manager Michael Smith. He explained that normally weekends at Gedney Farm are booked for weddings and that the restaurant is open on weeknights. But COVID-19 caused many couples to postpone their weddings plans and “we were left with an open slate.”

“We made a conscious decision to feel good about it as a possibility,” Smith said. “Everyone is in the same boat here and we’re trying to make it a good summer to be out and about. We used early spring to plan to open the restaurant to the general public on weekends. We added a Sunday brunch and special Saturday events. In June we opened for outdoor dining.”

Smith said the Farm has 50 acres with a “very private, beautiful lawn area—a very pretty setting” where people can eat. In addition, it has a covered patio for use in inclement weather. And now, with limited indoor dining allowed, people who opt to eat inside can still have the sense of sitting on a patio when the lofty glass doors at the end of the barn are pushed open. “We have lots of latitude for indoor dining that feels like you’re outdoors and appropriately spaced,” he said.

And the dining options don’t end there. For parties that exceed the six-person maximum set by the state or who are hyper cautious about social distancing, the Farm offers a “grab and don’t go” alternative. As an alternative to full table-service, a limited number of dining tables have been placed out in the fields, under the canopy of a tree or up in the meadows overlooking the barns. Most items on the summer menu will be available “to go” and customers can take away a fully packaged dinner to enjoy “picnic style” out on the property at any of these remote tables.

“We have these beautiful little sites out in the fields where people can sit and look across the fields to the barn. Some people just come to sit and have a glass of wine and enjoy the views, “said Smith.

Much of the food is also prepared outside on the grill. “We have five special-event Saturdays with different menus,” Smith said. “July 4th we had a barbecue pig roast with a really nice, simple Fourth of July menu. People came out in droves for that. This Saturday we will be hosting an art show opening with sculptor Susan Clinard, whose work we will showcase in a two-month, reflective exhibition.”

The award-winning sculptor was to have had a pop-up show but the Farm’s managers quickly adapted to changed conditions to extend it through the summer. The “Reflection on Our Times” show, which is on view now, will formally open on July 1st and run through August 30th.

“This weekend we will have an opening reception on Saturday with a Rosé and Raw Bar event with Massachusetts sustainable seafood from 3 to 5PM, followed by a sustainable fish dinner and a Q&A with the sculptor,” he said.

Other planned events include a film night, a beer dinner and a clambake.

Sunday brunches offer “a good old-fashion brunch menu, with some excellent jazz,” Smith said. One wedding, scaled down to intimate proportions to conform to state guidelines, will be held July 26th, interrupting the flow of brunches for that weekend.

Gedney Kitchen serves dinners from 5 to 9PM Wednesdays through Fridays; holds Summer Saturdays from 1 to 8PM, with the Sunday “Jazz” Brunch from 11AM to 3 PM. Reservations can be made by calling 413-229-3131; gedneyfarm.com.

Down the road at the elegant Old Inn on the Green, owners Peter Platt and Meredith Kennard are also adjusting. The inn is now open for lodgings every night and is attracting a list of guests who have either stayed there in previous years or those who “just want to get out of the city to relax,” according to Platt.

The Inn, known for its superlative cuisine and termed by Yankee Magazine as the number-one historic inn in New England, reopened for dining July 1st, and is serving, inside and out, from Wednesday through Sunday, 6 to 9PM.

“We are confident that our new, attractively-priced prix fixe dinner menu will be a huge hit with locals and visitors alike,” said Chris Lyons, spokesman for both the Inn and the Southfield Store, a popular eatery in neighboring Southfield MA.

“In addition to its original flagstone patio out back, the Inn has recently installed a 1,200-square-foot screened tent on the back lawn to provide more socially-distanced seating for both nightly dinners and for guests' breakfasts,” Lyons said.

“People have been very enthusiastic,” said Platt. “We’ve been full every night we have had the tent. We’ve had some inside dining, not as much. People go outside for the most part where they feel safer. We will need to have a vaccine to make people feel safe before we can put them closer together.”

As always, reservations are required and can be made at 413-229-7924. Meals to go must be ordered by 3PM with pick-up between 5 and 5:30PM. The menu may be viewed at oldinn.com.

While Platt terms COVID-19 “a disaster by any measure,” he reports that the Southfield Store has been busier than ever. It has served take-out food throughout the pandemic and is now resuming dinner service, its popular Sunday Brunch and its authentic Thursday night Oaxacan menu. Hours of service for Old Inn and the Store can be found at oldinn.com.