Pittsfield: Elizabeth's

PITTSFIELD -- Elizabeth's is one of Pittsfield's fairly well-kept culinary secrets. Forgive me, if you are among its loyal following who don't want it publicized.

Why is it not more widely known? For one, because of its pretty unlikely location -- a lone white house with a big porch out in the industrial reaches of East Street, just beyond the Newell Street intersection; for another, because it is not listed in the restaurant section of the Yellow Pages, and for a third, because it doesn't advertise.

It is the kind of place that earns its almost-always-repeat clientele by word of mouth.

I owe that favor to my friend Billie, who, many years ago, fed me a slice of memorable asparagus pizza that was better warmed over the next day than most pizza is just out of the oven. That was back

when the place was a pizzeria -- with homemade crusts and rigorously fresh ingredients.

A couple of years ago, proprietors Tom and the eponymous Elizabeth Ellis switched to a more sit-down menu emphasizing international appetizers, a handful of pastas and daily specials that might include authentic bouillabaisse, Tuscan white bean stew or braised ribs.

The attention to the best ingredients has not changed, and as many as possible are bought locally.

The decor is not fancy. It runs to colorful art prints, snapshots of family and friends, a few beautiful travel and cookery books, a few fanciful mobiles.

Glass-topped tables, paper napkins and a hodgepodge of china might not appeal to those in search of swank, but they are fine for the people of all ages who come for the generous food, reasonable prices and genuine welcome.

The open kitchen is the heart -- and most of the ground floor -- of the place. Tom Ellis reigns there by day, doing most of the cooking, and Liz Ellis takes over at night, finishing the dishes and keeping them moving.

This leaves Tom the role of host, for which he is amply suited. He brings food, adjusts tables and fills in wherever needed, but most of all he obviously enjoys talking to people, helping them order, basking in their compliments, and freely offering up culinary and other lore.

When we visited, he got to talking about poetry with our table neighbors and ran off in mid-conversation to fetch a slim volume of Richard Wilbur's works, enjoining the guests to borrow the book and bring it back when they came in again.

Most of the tables are upstairs, and it is a testimony to the staff's dedication to hospitality that they are unflaggingly friendly even after all of those trips up and down. The more so because they bring each dish when it is ready, rather than all together, which might be disconcerting to those whose orders come later were it not customary to dip in and share whatever is on the table.

Dinner starts off with a hunk of dark organic sourdough from Berkshire Mountain Bakery and a bowl of vividly green Tuscan olive oil for dunking. Next comes the café's signature salad. It arrives by the oversized bowlful and includes whatever inspires Tom Ellis.

Ours had spankingly fresh mesclun, feta, chickpeas, carrots, chunks of apple and kiwi, golden raisins, kidney beans, slivers of red cabbage and pepper, all tossed in a tart balsamic dressing that picked up an extra oomph from a sprinkle of pecorino cheese. I am sure that the salads alone keep people coming back.

My daughter enjoyed the nippy heat of her soup -- a bisque of tomatoes and cream with coconut milk and Jamaican spices ($2.95). Tom Ellis also makes variations on this soup with Mexican or Indian flavorings, as the spirit moves him.

The simple brilliance of my oven-roasted wild mushrooms ($6.95) lay in the mingling of very good olive oil with the mushroom liquor exuded in baking, set off with caramelized onion and herbes de Provence. A goodly company of meaty shiitake, oyster and portabella fungi basked in this heady amalgam.

My husband's starter, Lizzie's Baked Polenta ($6.95), was recommended with one of the menu's amusingly suggestive asides: "Your first kiss should be this good."

It certainly was satisfying and enough for two hungry mouths to linger over. A soup-plate-size portion of tender cornmeal polenta napped in melted mozzarella was surrounded by tomato and mushroom broth and more of the caramelized onions. The latter are slow-roasted in oil for a couple of hours until they are deep brown with a concentrated mellowness that adds depth to a number of the dishes here.

Our pasta entrées (The three of us shared two, both $15.50, including the salad.) were based on penne, exactly al dente. One had a bold puttanesca sauce, hearty with bits of tomato, kalamata olives, garlic, capers, anchovies and hot peppers that nestled invitingly in the tube-shaped noodles.

The other was an unctuous meltdown of imported gorgonzola cheese and fresh cream. Heavy and clingy, it would have seemed a bit less intensely rich surfacing a long flat pasta, but this minor cavil aside, it was greatly enjoyed by my family of blue-cheese enthusiasts.

The bill of fare doesn't emphasize desserts because diners are usually too well satisfied (not to use the grosser term, stuffed) with earlier courses to want any. However, those who need a sweet to finish a meal will not be disappointed. We shared a Belgian chocolate truffle cake with a dense, dark filling and a denser, darker ganachelike coating. Very rich, bittersweet and unabashedly chocolaty.

Our only complaint was that it was served too cold. The chocolate would have been far more yielding and delicious at room temperature. The café also usually has a choice of cheesecakes, in flavors that change seasonally. These delectables are made by nuns at the New Skeet monastery in Cambridge, N.Y., whose other specialty is raising dogs.

My husband's selection was a creamy hybrid of lush cheesecake and pumpkin pie with a lightly gingered crumb crust (each dessert was $3.95).

Our enjoyment of the desserts would have been even better had the coffee been -- as the menu so floridly recommended it -- "black like the night, bitter like death and hot like love."

It was, unfortunately, uninspiringly brown, supermarket variety and not very strong at that. Our meal cried out for a killer espresso or European roast or a thick Turkish brew.

Alas, even "café heaven" has an imperfection.

Restaurant Review

Elizabeth's, 1264 East St., Pittsfield, 01201. Tel. (413) 448-8244.

Style: Eclectic "world food" café, mostly Mediterranean.

Dress: Casual.

Hours: 5 to 9 daily during summer; closed Sunday and Monday in winter.

Prices: Soups, $2.95 and up; appetizers/salads, $5.95 to $7.95; entrees, $14. 75 to $15.50; desserts, $3.95.

Bar: Wine only.

Accessible: No.

Credit Cards: None, checks or cash only.

Reservations: Parties of four or more. On weekends there can be a wait.

Smoking: No.

Dec. 18, 2002