Roger K.
Yelp
Another year, another show at WTF (No, that stands for Williamstown Theater Festival)! And that means another dinner at Mezze. Their 5 pm opening on a Sunday is perfect for arrival after leaving the theater. Of course that means a large influx of patrons all at once. But they are obviously accustomed to it as staff very efficiently meet, greet and seat all comers.
Our party of eight were professionally served throughout the meal. Water glasses were refilled as needed, and dirty plates and serving dishes were whisked away as needed. The menu still had some holdovers from last year, but I can't vouch for their preparation being repeated. Last year, the Garganelli ($25) was popular with our group and I decided to order it for myself this year. It was delicious. Just a little bit of spicing in the tomato sauce, an excellent Italian sausage with a coarse texture that I wished there were more of, braised beef and pork bolognaise, and some bone marrow crumbs that added a crunchy texture to this pasta dish.
My wife ordered the Hen of the Woods appetizer ($20) as her main course since she enjoyed that dish so much last year. This year's preparation had an egg yolk, and ham crumbs over the mushrooms on broccoli puree (and was $3 less expensive). She thoroughly enjoyed it once again.
We ordered four different desserts ($8.50 each) for the table to share. I think the overall favorite was the Black Raspberries with lemon curd, shortbread, basil, and meringue. A very strong second was the Gammelgarden Buttermilk Panna Cotta with red raspberries. Possibly a tossup for second was the Chocolate Layer Cake with chocolate crumble and sweet milk ice cream. While the Angel Food Cake with strawberry pudding bar, vanilla cream, and roasted strawberries was the least favored, I think that was because people tended to view it as too closely resembling a simple strawberry shortcake that they make at home. I for one, really enjoyed the angel food cake and strawberries and got to eat an extra portion.
Their coffee is served in a French press and is rich and robust. I don't recall what the wine was that the table shared, but I know it went very well with my pasta dish.