Winterfest 2005 Crowns New Chowder Champ

By Susan Bush12:00AM / Monday, February 28, 2005Print Story | Email Story

New Chowder Champ - Mountain View Restaurant
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North Adams - A first-time chowder cook-off entry captured the Winterfest 2005 Best Chowder crown on Feb. 26, and Mountain View Restaurant owner Michael Milazzo said he couldn't be happier. See Photo Slide Show Here "We entered mainly to get the exposure," Milazzo said during an interview following the event. "This feels awesome. I always knew we had one of the best chefs in the area." Chef Randy Beaudoin seasoned and simmered the winning New England-style clam chowder. Restaurant manager Joe Williamson and self-described "super-waiter" William Pikula dished steaming cups to dozens of chowder aficionados. The event was held at the Holiday Inn on Main Street. Victory meant besting the past chowder champion Boston Sea Foods restaurant; no small feat, since that eatery claimed the chowder title during the 2003 and 2004 Winterfests, as well as during a 1998 event. This year's entry scored a thumbs-up from 11-year-old Kayla Brown-Wood of Clarksburg, who said that she'd never before tried chowder and then scooped a spoonful of the Boston Sea Foods offering into her mouth. "Hey, I like it!" she said. The win wasn't a sweep; every competitor found a following. "The North Adams Hospital outdid themselves," said Elizabeth Ralston of North Adams. Kimberly Shand of Williamstown faced a tasty toss-up: "I liked the Purple Pub chowder, but I thought that Gringo's was really good." First-time chowderfest visitors George and Shirley Mullen of North Adams found themselves involved in a friendly debate about which chowder was the best but added that they weren't ready to vote. "We haven't gotten all the way around the room yet," Shirley Mullen said. And Lauren Holmes, a North Adams seven-year-old who said she's attended several Winterfest cook-offs, believed all the chowders were winners. "It's all good," she said. All those who tasted the entries were welcome to cast a ballot for their favorite chowder. Winterfest's mid-morning kick-off placed ice sculptors on Main Street and energetic children at the Northern Berkshire Early Intervention and Toy Library headquarters at 25 Marshall St.. By 11 a.m., over 60 people had joined the merriment at the toy library, said Mary Thigpen, a client services supervisor for the intervention agency. "And not many have left," she said. "The families really enjoy this." Afternoon events included horse-and-wagon rides along Main Street and special movie showings for children at the Western Gateway Heritage Park Visitor's Center. An evening Mayor's Skating Party was scheduled at the Viet Nam Veteran's Memorial skating rink. Chainsaws and chisels wielded by amateur ice artisans chinked and clattered against ice blocks for several hours as frozen water took form. A woman who identified herself as Walking Catamount worked diligently from a wheelchair and coaxed a feline shape out of an icy brick. "I'm making a cougar," she said. "You can say it's a big kitty with attitude." Sheri Simon of North Adams said that she was carving a Snoopy into shape in support of the Mill City Productions acting group. The company is planning to stage the musical "You're a Good Man Charlie Brown" this spring. Simon has participated in previous Winterfest ice-sculpting events, and said the weather this time around was "perfect." She recalled past rain-soaked efforts as well as Winterfests that occurred during 40-to-50-degree temperatures. "This year it's just great," she said as few snow flurries tumbled from the sky. "People stop and talk, and this is such a wonderful event." There's little opportunity to maintain ice carving skills, she noted. "I actually only do this once a year," Simon said. "With ice sculpting, you don't get much chance to practice." Gramercy Bistro owner Sandy Smith praised the event from his station at the cook-off. "People come out, they visit the shops, they try the food," he said. "It's great."

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'Frankie and Johnny in the Clair de Lune' Is a Sparkling Gem

By Alan PetrucelliSpecial to iBerkshires
02:39PM / Tuesday, August 18, 2026

The adult-oriented 'Frankie and Johnny' runs through Aug. 23 at Shakespeare & Company.

LENOX, Mass. — Talk about strangers in the night. There's lots of social intercourse between Frankie and Johnny. There's also lots of sexual intercourse.

There's grunting and growling and grinding and puffing and huffing and moaning and groaning as Frankie and Johnny make love to the orchestrated orgasmic overture. You could almost smell the sweat. When climaxes are reached, lights go up and Frankie wishes she had a cigarette. (One of her funniest lines.)

Welcome to "Frankie and Johnny in the Clair de Lune," now playing at Shakespeare & Company's Elayne P. Bernstein Theatre.

Terrence McNally's 1987 romantic comedy is sophisticated, sweet, sentimental and, yes, sexy. Post-coitus, Frankie wonders what she's gotten into. She and Johnny work at the same Manhattan greasy spoon. She's a waitress and failed actress with shattered dreams; he's a short-order cook and Shakespeare devotee with scarred hands.

On this Saturday night, they've crossed the line. Dinner, a movie and the move to become lovers in her one-room Hell's Kitchen walk-up. By three in the morning, Frankie is ready for Johnny to go back to his Brooklyn Heights apartment. No way. He declares he has found his soul mate. He suggests marriage and children. She expected a one-night-stand that probably wouldn't last a night. What she now wants is for Johnny to leave so she can watch TV and eat ice cream in peace.

What's love got to do with it? Everything

Stripped bare, literally and figuratively, Frankie and Johnny expose each other to their fears and frustrations. Nothing is simple or taken for granted. Frankie and Johnny hurl everything at each other; Frankie offers why they do not belong together, Johnny insists why they do. There are other times when she offers him food. She lets him stay. She gets into conversations with him. There are moments where she's genuinely interested in what he has to say. The play is a negotiation into intimacy.

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