Details: The Lounge at Eat on North: 297 North St., Pittsfield. hotelonnorth.com, Dinner (Monday-Sunday): 5 to 10 p.m. Bar snacks (Monday-Sunday): 10 to 11 p.m. 413-553-4210. Craft Night at Hotel on North: every Tuesday, 6:30-8:30 p.m.
Recipe for success: Summer in the Berkshires is in full swing! This time of year, you'll find me in the center lounge at Hotel on North. Located between the restaurant and hotel lobby, it's a quiet, casual area where you can gather around with a few friends, enjoy some oysters, grab some board games and find respite from the buzz of the Berkshire summer. Tuesday nights at the hotel lounge are also home to Craft on North, a weekly craft night. Organized by artist Nathan Hanford and Jedidiah Thompson, (of the new floral shop and gallery Township Four), Craft on North offers a space to learn a new craft or bring your own project while noshing on a cheese board or sipping on a gin and tonic. This month, the group is learning embroidery techniques, and past months have included making hip cocktail umbrellas, to pom-pom chick displays, to leather printed coasters. It's free to join and crafters of all levels are welcome.
What we can't get enough of: The restaurant menu has a range of dining options from fine dining dishes to flatbreads, charcuterie boards and smaller bites, depending on your appetite. On a recent evening, I had the cured salmon with caper berries, cre me fraiche, and a fingerling potato salad and shared a cheese board with locally sourced Camembert cheese served with house pickles and crostini. Exciting additions to the menu this summer include a Tuna Poke with a seaweed salad, sesame seeds, pickled ginger lime-chili chips, fried garbanzo bean fritters with cucumber dill sauce and roasted half duck with soba noodles and vegetable slaw, and orange gastrique. Keep an eye post-summer season for the return of Taco Tuesday and other specials that pop up.