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| Taster's
Choice The Sierra Grille in Northampton has microbrews on tap and a choose-your-own menu |
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By Caroline Pam The Sierra Grille 41-A Stong Ave., Northampton, 584-1150 Hours: Bar menu 3-5 p.m. and 10 p.m.-midnight; dinner 5-10 p.m. daily. Entrées: $10-$20. Sometimes you don't know what you've been missing until it falls in your lap. O'Brian Tomalin's new beer bar, the Sierra Grille, feels so natural in Northampton it's hard to believe he's actually carved out a fairly innovative genre. The Sierra Grille opened this summer in the former Brasserie 40-A space below Mulino's and Bishop's Lounge. This classy, casual pub has seating at the bar and a few high tables with stools, and a fairly large dining room with lovely sculpted wooden booths. Above all, though, it's a destination for beer lovers, offering a revolving list of 18 quality craft beers and microbrews on trap, predominantly from Belgium, Germany and the U.S. Beers like Arrogant Bastard and Allagash White seem to be popping up all over town, but the Sierra Grille sets itself apart by offering many of its premium beers in a half-pint taster portion for as little as $2, or a 20 oz. imperial pint for 50 cents more than a regular point. Wines are also available in small sizes for sampling. I wish the draft list had provided details about each beer's style and origin, as the wine list does even for its modest offerings. My server's vague descriptions ("very flavorful" vs. "a lot of people like it") were only moderately helpful, but I nonetheless enjoyed the Maudite (Canadian red ale), McChouffe (Belgian brown ale), Dogfish Head Punkin' Ale (Delaware spiced ale), and Rapscallion Blessing (Massachusetts amber ale). A bar menu of "small bites," like steamed mussels and Belgian fries with homemade catsup and aioli, before and after dinner service makes this one of the few non-pizza options in town after 10 p.m. Roasted garlic cloves in olive oil with crunchy baguette toasts were tasty, if mild, but certainly generous for only $2. Less satisfying were the olive anchovy bites--dark, crunchy cheese wafter that tasted "Small bites" of roasted garlic cloves, Belgian fries and olive-anchovy crisps are among the bar snacks available before and after dinner service at the Sierra Grille. |
like burnt Cheez-Its with a fishy
aftertaste. Twice-cooked Belgian fries, on the other hand, are
unusually good here: slender, crisp, creamy and bronzed, with plenty of
coarse salt. The dinner menu itself follows an unconventional format. The diner is asked to select one of eight sauces to be paired with a grilled main entrée, such as duck breast, salmon or tempeh, and a choice of two sides, like roasted garlic smashed potatoes or sesame-soy green beans. This choose-your-own-adventure style of ordering allows for the possibility of unfortunate combinations like tuna with olive and sun-dried tomato cream or ribeye steak with citrus salsa. But it's fun to exercise your own creative intuition, particularly since the sauce options here are more interesting and well-executed than the usual generic Alfredo or Madeira reductions available elsewhere. Grilled jumbo shrimp paired well with a mildly spicy, silken Thai basil coconut sauce that was rich and satisfying without being cloying. Char-grilled, juicy hanger steak provided a reminder how flavorful this deliciously chewy cut is meant to be. A sauce of caramelized onions and mushrooms simmered in Belgian ale complemented it perfectly. Prices are almost too reasonable. I can't imagine how it's tenable to charge $4 for a delicious appetizer special of slow-cooked port shank with a sweet and spicy chipotle glaze when the ingredients alone probably cost that much. Desserts are smallish, but housemade gelato, crème brulee and fruit crumbles are still a steal at $3. It's hard to argue, though, and Sierra Grille's accessible, original menu and fantastic beer selection seem to be just what Northampton's been waiting for.
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