Cobble View Pub & Pizzeria

The Cobbleview Pub & Pizzeria is a new establishment in Cheshire. My earliest recollection of the building was as a laundromat, then it was sold and transformed into a small restaurant. Since, it has been many restaurants. The current owners also own the Freight Yard Pub and Taylor's Restaurant in North Adams. I predict it will be successful, since Cheshire has a need for a pizza joint that delivers.

The establishment's namesake are "The Cobbles", which are a large rock outcropping that overlooks the town of Cheshire and are part of the Appalachian Trail. The views from the summit are amazing.

We arrived in the afternoon and there is also a little bar that one can sit at. We opted for one of the surrounding tall tables, typical that you would see in a Pub or Tavern.

We were amused to find the burger offering under a menu heading titled "Hoofs, Fins, Feathers". They offer a 1/2 lb burger with fries for $7.99. One can add for a $1 the following various toppings: bacon, chili, cheese, peppers, onions, or mushrooms.

The burger is not cooked to order. We ordered the typical burger with American Cheese. I specifically asked for the burger to arrive as is the norm.


Our order arrived as you see above. I believe this is the first establishment where the hamburger arrived without lettuce and tomato. I really found this weird. We weren't even asked if we wanted them added, so I think rightly assumed they just came with it.

The kaiser roll was toasted on a griddle and the burger, which was hand formed, had a good griddle sear. The roll was a bit bigger than the patty, but was an appropriate size and there was one slice of American cheese.

Upon biting into the burger, mine was just past medium, a bit juicy, whereas Beef Boy's was more medium well and just moist. His did get progressively rosier as he ate toward the center of the burger, but one shouldn't have to hunt for medium! Anyhoo... the burgers were inconsistently cooked.

We thought that the French fries were going to taste seasoned, but they were just overdone. Through the "crispiness" we deduced that they were frozen shoe string fries that were deep fried cooked in old oil.

In determining the rating, we initially thought of the place as a pizzeria and that we probably should not expect it to have more than a typical burger (similar to our Pedrin's theory), but the more we talked, it occurred to us that if they wanted to have Pub in the title of the restaurant, they should live up to what the moniker entails. So... we gave it a rating of 3 burgers.

Unfortunately, it is not a Coca-Cola establishment.

Cobble View Pub & Pizzeria
41 South Street
Cheshire, MA 01225
(413) 743-1266

Patrick's Pub

Patrick's Pub has been around for as long as I can remember. In my younger days, I did happen to pop in there every now and again on a Friday or Saturday. It has always been a popular night spot, so this is how I have always thought of it. As you would guess, they treat St. Patrick's Day as sacred with all the expected accoutrements. They do pull a hell of a Guinness! Basically, it was the bar on the rotary in Pittsfield, which was fun to go to, but a pain in the butt to find parking for.

Before today, only twice in my life have I gone there for a meal. In regards to their hours of business, it always seemed vague. I have gone several times during the day, but they always seemed to be closed. Very odd. It may have changed hands over the years and maybe that is where the confusion lay. Anyhoo... I called them to see if they were open and indeed they were.

Patrick's Pub offers the "Patrick's Burger" for $7.50. It is a "half pound hand made burger cooked to order and served on a hard roll." All their sandwiches and burgers come with lettuce and tomato and are served with potato chips and a pickle. One may substitute fruit or fries for chips for and additional $1.50. Beef Boy went for the fries and I, thinking about my girlish figure, went for the fruit.

The burgers arrived as you see it above. Both had two slices of American cheese, red leaf lettuce, and two thin slices of tomato. Both burgers has a nice sear with grill marks and upon biting into the patty appears to have the requisite pink center. Both were juicy, but not greasy, done medium, although mine was medium with a hint of rare and his was medium with a hint of well, but they could both qualify as being medium. They were really delicious and seemed to have a charcoal cooked taste, although the waitress indicated that no charcoal was used in the cooking process. The roll was a proper size.

As you may note, my fruit consisted of two slices of kiwi, a slice of orange, a slice of honey dew melon, a half slice of pineapple, and 9 grapes on a bed of lettuce. Very fresh and yummy.

Beef Boy's fries were typical frozen crinkle "Joe" fries, not a bad thing, just ordinary.

We enjoyed the meal (especially my perfect Guinness) and we easily agreed on 4 1/2 burgers as the final rating.

We are happy to report it is a Coca-Cola establishment.

Patrick's Pub
26 Bankrow
Pittsfield, MA 01201
(413) 499-1994

Westwood Restaurant & Pub

Beef Boy and I ventured out to Westfield, MA with Mr. and Mrs. Maples today. We typically travel there periodically for a "Murphy's Irish Red Run", a great import that we can't get in Berkshire County. Mr. Maples has a "connection" and he is generous enough to share with me.

We knew we wanted to eat out and we had been to the Westwood Restaurant & Pub for drinks before. They have one of the largest circular bars I have ever seen in person. It is probably 3 to 4 times bigger than the bar shown in Cheers. They have a nice menu, so we figured next time we were in town we would try their nosh.

Their menu describes their signature burger as follows: "Pub Burger - Half pound of fresh, lean ground black Angus beef patty frilled to perfection then topped with lettuce, tomato, and onion. Served with french fries or coleslaw. $7.95" One can "Add bacon to your sandwich for $.75 or cheese for $.50. Choice of cheese: Swiss, Provolone, Cheddar, or American. Add any of the following toppings for $.50: Sautéed mushrooms, sautéed onions or roasted red peppers." "Have your burger or salad chicken, steaks or shrimp blackened, teriyake, or BBQ for $.50 extra."

The burger arrived as you see it above. The sourdough bun was grilled nicely. There were 2 thick slices of tomato along with 1 leaf of green leaf lettuce. It was topped off by 3 single rings of onion. On to the burger itself... It was hand formed, topped with American cheese, and cooked on the grill, resulting in a beautiful sear. Mine was a bit cumbersome to eat due to the thickness of the tomatoes and onions, but it was done to a juicy, luscious medium and damn it... I wish this was a Berkshire County establishment! It was really, really tasty. Beef Boy's experience mirrored mine, so it showed consistency in the cooking. Nice!

The fries were skin on and lightly salted and crisp. The pickle... a little to flaccid for my taste.

All in all a delightful meal and we agreed on 4 1/2 burgers as the final rating.

We are happy to report that it is a Coca-Cola establishment.

Westwood Restaurant and Pub
94 North Elm Street
Westfield, MA 01085
(413) 564-6963

Coffee Parisien

Our Adventurous niece is an au pair in Paris for the year. She was kind enough to send this special report, the first of its kind outside of Berkshire County... as a matter of fact, outside of the U.S.! So, without further ado, live and on the ground, straight from the trenches of Paris, France:

Coffee Parisien
46, Rue de Sablonville, 92200 Neuilly-sur-Seine, France
"BACONCHEESEBURGER"
14 euros (roughly $21.70 American)

As a fairly picky American living in Paris, I found out, very quickly, where to find the best burger Paris has to offer. It's a joke among the French that American food is fast food. I can't help but object, but must acknowledge, at the same time, that the Frogs are half right. We invented Hungry Man dinners (ask the proprietor of this blog for scary sodium information about my favorite frozen turkey meal), McDonald's, airplane food... need I go on? The burger, I believe, technically wasn't one of our own inventions. We just figured out how to mass produce and effectively market the (soy) cow, if you will.

So because canard and frites or jambon and something scary can't be eaten every night of the week, we must, as humans, resort to something more familiar and basic. And what is more pleasant or comforting than a big slab of ground beef surrounded by bread and hopefully cheese, ketchup, and spicy mustard.

Coffee Parisien provides just that. I've eaten there multiple times and I believe I almost always order the BACONCHEESEBURGER. It's delicious. I order it "à point" (pronounced a pwan) which is medium rare. I think it's generally been a technically good medium rare, by most American restaurant standards. The restaurant itself stands testament to the sort of "Camelot" image of America. JFK owns the place; his and Jackie's photos differentiate the men's and women's bathrooms. You can order milkshakes (which frankly, aren't worth the 7 euros). The placemat of the restaurant is a photo diagram of all of the American Presidents.



Trendy is really the best word to describe the place. It's always full on the weekends and Mr. Jean Sarkozy has been spotted there. The Coffee Parisien in the 6th arrondissement is frequented by Hollywood types. Well, kind of Euro-Hollywood types. Read: Diane Kruger. But the best way to describe Coffee Parisien is simply as a French diner that's trying to be American-ish. "Quelconque." (Plain, ordinary)


My BACONCHEESEBURGER arrived on a lightly toasted sesame-seed bun with lettuce, tomatoes, and onion. The bacon used at Coffee Parisien is more like ham-con, which suits a burger well. The cheese is cheddar. It was accompanied by the lovely "hashbrown" that you see above.

The specific time in question, ie, when this photo was taken, I had forced my visiting mother and sister to travel to Neuilly for a cheeseburger, because I knew they would be disappointed in one they acquired anywhere else. Unfortunately, because my mother and sister are pains in the ass, they both asked for modifications to their meals: they wanted mashed potatoes. If I've learned one thing about France, it's this: never ask for anything that's not on the menu. Never try to change anything. If you really want the salad, but are allergic to pickles, choose something else. If you make them accommodate you, they will usually do so happily. But in making a change, something will likely go terribly wrong. Equilibrium is lost. The world becomes a spinning vortex and before you know it, you've woken up in Prince's (or the Artist Formerly Known as Prince's??) bed and it's the year 2037. He is no longer hot. He is no longer human. Anyway, those are the consequences you face if you want to shake things up... so go ahead, as you like. Anyway, my little sister got a bacon cheeseburger with no bacon and the hamburger itself was completely rare (she had ordered it a little past medium). I ate it happily, but I'm also disgusting in my love of raw meat. My hamburger was overcooked, but everything on my plate was otherwise normal. I think my mother got the California Chicken Burger, which was also delicious.

Because now that I've done the conversion and am forced to remember how expensive everything here is, I want to give the cheeseburger two hamburgers. But due to lack of other options and just it's inherent goodness, I'm giving it three. If we were in the Berkshires, though, you'd be sure that I'd get a hell of a lot more than a BACONCHEESEBURGER for twenty-bucks....

Proud to report it is a Coca-Cola establishment and they also serve Ben and Jerry's and Stewart's sodas. Hell yes, America.

Coffee Parisien
46, Rue de Sablonville, 92200 Neuilly-sur-Seine, France
Tel : 01 46 37 13 13

The Mill Town Tavern

So close and yet...

As you know, we have had a number of places recommended for a burger. The establishment that we visited today was The Mill Town Tavern located in Dalton. Their menu boasts "Burgers Are Our Specialty." We were excited about the fact that this seemed to be the first place where the burger was their "tour de force" so to speak.

Straight from the menu, the Milltown Burger at $ 8.99 is "Our signature Burger!!!! Half pound Angus burger with Havarti cheese (horseradish & chive) topped with bacon and caramelized onions. Outstanding!!!" Please note that all exclamation points were copied exactly as it reads on the menu. Just by the punctuation we were cranked for the experience! ... or would that be !!!? All their burgers are served with a pickle and their "delicious" french fries.

The burger arrived as you see it above. The cornmeal dusted kaiser roll was grilled and came with a small to medium slice of tomato on one green leaf lettuce. The burger appeared to have a great sear with nice grill marks. The french fries were skin on and appeared to be crispy.

Now to the eating of the hamburger. *SIGH* The first bite was absolutely delicious. The burger was a lovely medium pink and Beef Boy and I were delighted. However, once again, tragedy struck for the Wench here... My second bite into the burger encountered some lovely caramelized onions, but *SOB* also some sadly undercooked bacon. Ack! Undercooked bacon!

As we decided in a previous post about our guidelines, if the eatery has a signature burger with a number of components, all the components must equal the quality of the burger. Alas, that was not to be! Of course, once again the Burger Gods were kind to Beef Boy and his bacon was cooked fine.

He thought the burger rated easily 4 1/2 burgers, where I was only willing to give it a 4. If you are wondering why I thought the undercooked bacon should cause a docking of 1/2 a burger, then you don't know me. Bacon is my #1 stranded on the island food. I absolutely adore bacon. If Arthur Guinness would be my first husband, Oscar Mayer would be my second. So this is quite an effrontery to me.

Well, maybe next time the bacon will be done better. We will go back.

The french fries were excellent. They tasted spicy and we asked the waitress to ask the Chef what spices were used, but the waitress came back and stated she was told that there were no spices used. She did, however say, much to our amusement, that the Chef could easily be lying. What a hoot! If they weren't spiced then that cook has some great seasoning mojo.

After much discussion, negotiation, and Beef Boy's adamant stance, we agreed on 4 1/4 burgers as the final rating.

Unfortunately, it is not a Coca-Cola establishment.

The Mill Town Tavern
16 Depot Street
Dalton, MA 01226
(413) 684-0900

Rouge Restaurant & Bistro

Rouge Restaurant & Bistro was one of the most recommended burger locations in our query amongst our friends and co-workers. People absolutely raved about this place, so with this in mind I decided to not let the expectations get the better of us. I find that sometimes when an event, movie, restaurant, etc. is puffed up by massive recommendations that I am always disappointed.

We went down in the evening and were quickly greeted and were led to the dining room. Beef Boy and I perused the menu and saw that no burger was listed. This is when we realized that the bar and the dining area had different menus. Oops! We let the wait staff know we were there to try the burger and since it wasn't as yet busy, they were happy to accommodate us.

We ordered the "Rouge Burger with Fontina & Tomato & Field Greens" that is listed at a cost of $8.

The burger arrived as you see it above. The ciabatta bun was nicely grilled as was the hand formed beef patty. The patty had a lovely crusty sear with grill marks. As you can see, the fontina cheese was nicely melted. There were two slices of tomatoes and a slice of red onion that was about the thickness of one of the tomatoes. There were field greens used for lettuce on the bun. The watercress salad was extremely fresh. The french fries were made on premises, lightly salted, skin on, and tasted good. The plate was finished off with two tiny gherkin pickles.

Now about the donnybrook that Beef Boy and I almost had... He thought it was outstanding and it appeared to have been cooked beautifully medium to an angelic light pink and had an excellent juicy bite. Unfortunately, we did not receive the same burger. My burger arrived just past medium and was moist with a nice flavor. The inconsistency was proven after I made him switch burgers, so that he could experience my patty. I actually think he thought I was over reacting, but he agreed with my assessment after his bite, but was still quite happy with his burger. Taking into account our criteria and after much discussion, his 4 1/2 rating and my 3 3/4 rating was averaged to a 4.

The atmosphere was excellent and we will definitely go back to try something off the dinner menu. All in all, we had a very nice experience. This is just the way the burger flipped!

We are happy to report it is a Coca-Cola establishment.

Rouge Restaurant & Bistro
3 Center Street
West Stockbridge, MA 01266
(413) 232-4111

Pedrin's Dairy Bar

Pedrin's Dairy Bar has been around for as long as I can remember. It opens on Good Friday and closes sometime in the fall. Growing up, we all knew it was basically a fried food haven. This was a place that was recommended. As I was thinking about it, I can't believe in that in all the years, I haven't had a burger there, but I indeed haven't.

Beef Boy and I ordered the cheeseburger special at $2.75. According to the person who waited on us at the window, what made this "special" as opposed to just a cheeseburger was that it came with lettuce, tomato, and mayo. This is not a cooked to order burger, so what we got was what we got. We ordered french fries at $1.90.

The burger and fries arrived as you see it above. The bun was a typical hamburger bun that fit the standard patty. We believe that both the patties and the french fries were purchased off site and then cooked there. The fries seemed to be typical frozen fries that you can get at the supermarket. They were also unsalted. The burger was fry cooked on a griddle and was well done. The outside did have a griddle sear on it.

This was basically a fast food burger you eat while sitting at a picnic table. It was nice eating outside, but the burger and fries were ordinary, similar to a McDonald's. In fairness, it was fine for that type of burger and the price was cheap. Also, Pedrin's does not advertise themselves as a burger joint. They state they are "The Home of the Fish Fry", so that may be where they excel.

Keeping our criteria in mind, we decided that it receives a rating of 2 burgers. Unfortunately, it is not a Coca-Cola establishment.

Pedrin's Dairy Bar
1360 Curran Highway
North Adams, MA 01247
(413) 664-9540