The Gill Tavern: Cozy, Popular and Worth the Drive!

Last night I finally got a chance to eat at a restaurant I’ve heard praised right and left located way up near where 35 years ago I went to school. The Gill Tavern is so popular there’s always a line, last night a couple who lived nearby told about how much they enjoy coming here and dining at the bar, as we sat outside on the porch watching the diners enjoying sumptuous dinners.

The menu tonight included a turkey meatloaf with pillowy mashed potatoes and brussell sprouts. These were the small kind that were obviously grown right in Massachusetts, pungent and full of an olive-oil coated lusciousness.  Also on the menu was a Guiness Stew, made with beef, carrots and potatoes and that famous stout to thicken it up.

The servers made us feel welcome in the back room, which our friends from the porch advised weren’t as good seats as right out there by the bar ‘where the action is,’ but it didn’t matter.  As always when I am with an old friend like Joe, our conversation flowed, and as we imbibed in big bottles of Berkshire Steel Rail ale, the food and the ambience was all just perfect.

Then we drove down the hill and over the one-way Turners Falls bridge to the Voo, where we had a rendezvous with a Brooklyn-based band called Lake Street Dive.  The band consists of a woman playing stand-up bass, a trumpeter, and a sultry singer who captivated the room. The words were hard to understand, but we both agreed that made it even more exotic and intriguing. We decided they’re a combination of Cake and Macy Grey.