Monarch's Restaurant (Deerfield, MA)

Warm, inviting, kid friendly, and relaxed while still providing above average dinning. This is a perfect place to break up your day before going on a tour of the Butterfly Conservatory or relaxing after a day of hustle and bustle at the Yankee Candle Factory. The wait staff is experienced and inviting with wonderful advice on the menu options which change with the season.Their expert knowledge of the surrounding attractions and ability to articulately point you in the right direction prove to be helpful and informational.

The food- Home cooking with a wide variety with your basic American New England offerings- breakfast, lunch, or dinner it is a great stop.

My meal- New England clam chowder and a BLT sandwich with homemade maple iced tea.

The New England clam chowder was rich, flavorful, tons of clams [without the fishy taste] served with crackers and optional toasted bread crumbs. Delicious! It was not overly salted and had such a kick of flavor, one would have thought it came right out of the sea. My BLT sandwich was just as rich with homemade EVERYTHING!!! The bread was cooked that morning, the lettuce and tomatoes were grown in the backyard garden, and the bacon was cured from a pig at a nearby farm. Being served with locally grown products always delivers such a richer experience and lends further credence. Complimented with seasoned potato fries and homemade coleslaw, it was ample portioning. My maple iced tea, I was a bit leary of, but I decided to be adventurous....the tea was refreshing, not too rich with a gentle hint of maple and lemon. It reminded me of a summer drink best served in the cool of an evening on a hot day.

****(4 Stars) Breakfast/ Lunch/ Dinner

While you are in the area you may want to check out the Yankee Candle Factory or Historic Deerfield.

Magic Wings Butterfly Conservatory (Deerfield, MA)

281 Greenfield Road
South Deerfield, MA
(413) 665-2805

PBC: Poconos Brewering Company (Mt. Poconos, PA)

Interesting fact about restaurant: After PBC built their brewing room, they discovered that Pennsylvania law says that if you brew your own, that's the only beer you can carry. So, PBC decided to contract with another brewery to produce the Pocono Brewing Company "Ball & Chain Lager" as well as a "Black Ghost Porter."

Beverage:

Old Bastard- This is a new offering from Pocono Brewing and is not the same beer as the PBC Pale Ale that was brewed several years ago. On draught, it arrived at the table in a pounder glass a clear gold with a very thin head that faded to a ring after several sips. Light aroma of flowery hops and malt. Flavor was a bit light but balanced between malt and hops with some lingering hops bitterness at the finish. Very easy to drink. Poured hazy dark straw toward copper with off-white head. Tasted crisp, caramel malty, with a nice solid hop element that integrated well with the malt.

Ball & Chain- My dinning partner for the evening tried this barrel aged- (apparently this is xtra gold aged in wine barrel with rose hips and elder flowers.) the pour was super murky yellow orange and the bottle was an unexpected gusher. it smelled fantastic! VERY floral even a bit sweet, but earthy...the flowers dominate the smell, can't really describe it other than strong flower with wonderful sweetness...almost potpourri in taste. Overall, this was a super awesome treat. It tasted delicious and was a major highlight of the evening and of our conversation.

Samuel Adams: Cherry Wheat-5.30% ABV Appearance - Cloudy yellow body. Medium white head with medium retention.Smell - Moderately strong maraschino cherries up front. Slight undertones of wheat beer. Smells delicious. You've really got to be in the mood for it though.
Taste - Wheat front end. Corny musk body. Cherry finish... though somehow still dry. Little weird. Pretty much no sweetness. A bit of earthy musk and astringency throughout. A strange astringency kills the beer for me. Overall - Had high hopes for this beer, because I like a good sweet fruit beer once in a while. But this was just dry, astringent, and kinda weird.

Food:

For our evening meal we split the Pesto burger with homemade french fries. The pesto was homemade (lots of basil and Parmesan cheese with pine nuts), which this in itself is enough to make me go back purely because it was really, really good. The rest of the charbroiled 8 oz. burger with red onions, lettuce, tomato, jack cheese, red sauteed bell pepper. Ordered medium well and received medium well. (Rave review of burger!!!) PESTO, PESTO, PESTO...I would go back just to get that pesto....so good!

Service: Slow, came back to check on the table only once and had a slow wait time for a greeting or drink order.

( 3 Stars) American (Traditonal), Bar

Poconos Brewing Company

RR 611
Swiftwater, PA 18370 (570) 839-3230

http://www.poconobrewingcompany.com/