Western Massachusetts

I had planned to write about a different set of restaurants this week, but after a devastating fire in Hadley destroyed my favorite Banh Mi and Pho place, a much beloved Mexican restaurant, Mi Tierra, the Asian International and Casablanca Hallal markets, plus a host of other small stores and eateries, I found myself searching for other places to feed my international food cravings.

In Northampton, Noodles, serves a wide variety of noodle soups, plus salads and rice bowls. I reviewed Noodles when it first opened so I tasted a wide variety of their noodle soups which start with a good broth and a selection of noodles, and add various vegetarian, seafood, pork and beef combinations. I tend to stick with the beef variations and I've never been disappointed with them. 

King Street Eats opened this summer with the most eclectic menu I've seen in a long time. Where else do homemade falafel, pastrami, and potato chips share a menu with poutine and fried Brussels sprouts? The Banh Mi sandwich can be ordered in various combinations, but I went with some nice pickled vegetables in addition to the roast pork and vegetables on a good and crusty roll. It'll hold me over until Banh Mi Saigon can reopen. Plus they serve shrubs—vinegar based infusions with flavors like watermelon mint—that are tangy and mildly sweet. 

Mi Tierra was my wife and my go to place when we wanted a good Latin American meal. They served what I called honest food—the ingredients were recognizable as being fresh and homemade. Fortunately, this is not the only restaurant in Hampshire County that fits this mold for us.

In Easthampton, La Casita Azteca, a Oaxacan eatery, serves the same kind of honest food. I've liked pretty much everything they serve (the Al Pastor with pineapple and pork stands out in my memory) and I once had a serving of mushroom-tasting huitlacoche, (black corn fungus) in an enchilada that crossed another food off my To-Try list. They have beer and wine as well as Mexican sodas, which are sweetened with cane sugar rather than corn syrup. During the warm months, they have outdoor tables and I'm told the owner something takes out his guitar. They're open for lunch and dinner seven days a week.

In South Hadley, there's  El-Guanico, a Mexican and Salvatoran hybrid. It is a small place, though there are outside tables in the warm months. I haven't eaten there extensively, but what I've had, I've liked. Also open seven days a week for lunch and dinner.

And in South Amherst, Mission Cantina is a rocking place whose recent expansion speaks to its demand. Again, the emphasis is on good ingredients, a good menu, and beer and margaritas. It's a much more assimilated type of place and the menu leans towards the Tex-Mex favorites of burritos, enchiladas, and tacos, but Mission Cantina shows why these are all favorites. It's open seven days a week for dinner from 4 p.m. on but also serves lunch some days, too.

The Hadley businesses are missed and everyone I talk with who knows them is rooting for their reopening. In the meantime, there are alternatives and, should you be so moved, donations to a fund for the business owners can be made to the Amherst Chamber of Commerce.

Don Lesser has lived, eaten, and worked in Hampshire Country for 30 very odd years. He blogs about the local scene at russelnod.com.