NORTH ADAMS, Mass. — The Brassard family have done the unthinkable and have not only survived the pandemic but expanded. 

 

"We always felt that North Adams was kind of a sweet spot for us, and then this opportunity came up," co-owner Paul Brassard said. "You can't deny that this area has a charge, and this location feels essential to a lot of it." 

 

The Brassard's family of restaurants started humbly in Williamstown with Berkshire Palate.  Chef Zach teamed up with his brothers, Aaron and Nolan, and his father, Paul, and they quickly became a local favorite drawing locals and tourists alike.

 

In 2021, Berkshire Palate planned to move from the Colonial Plaza to Hotel on North in Pittsfield. 

 

When a second opportunity presented itself the Brassards had some concerns over growing too quickly, but the former owner of the now Hotel Downstreet assured them he was willing to make the family an offer they couldn't refuse.  

 

He was right.  

 

According to Paul, originally he hesitated to even mention the possibility of opening both spaces in what amounted to the same season, in fear that his sons would "hit him over the head with something."  

 

Instead, Aaron and Zach sat in on a Zoom meeting where the former owner made his pitch.  After exchanging pleasantries and agreeing to speak again in the next 48 hours, Paul closed his laptop.

 

That's when Aaron said, "This is too good an opportunity, we've got to do both,"  Zach quickly added "I'm in" and a quick call to Nolan made it unanimous.    

 

"We said 'giddyup,'  and opened two restaurants in three months. Good times," Paul said.

 

Although a bold move, Paul said it did fit into their overall strategy. When the pandemic first hit, many restaurants retreated and focused on survival. Paul didn't knock this strategy but said his family took a different approach. 

 

"I have learned from people smarter than me that sometimes it's hard to grow a business in difficult times but it actually can become easier to grow market share," Paul said. "So we really decided to focus on that. We have to somehow keep advertising, keep marketing, and stay aggressive. We wanted to increase market share and be ready for when the market comes back." 

 

413 Bistro opened in the summer of 2021 at the former Richmond Grill at the former Holiday Inn. The hotel, now named Hotel Downstreet, was purchased by NA Hotel LLC and is undergoing redevelopment.  The renovations have allowed the restaurant to remain open throughout the process.  

 

Brassard couldn't stress this enough as he and his staff have run into people who continuously ask when the hotel is reopening, or when the restaurant is reopening.  

 

"We're open and we aren't going anywhere," he said.

 

Paul said they do plan to renovate and refresh the space, but they want to do this in step with the hotel. A fresh coat of paint is in store in the near future, and to date, the biggest positive impact to the restaurant from the hotel's renovation is the creation of an ADA compliant ramp into the restaurant's Main Street entrance.

 

The Brassard's are most excited about the restaurant's location, just down the street from MassMoCA and central to downtown North Adams.

 

"I can throw a rock and hit MoCA from here, that's our jam right there. In Williamstown, we had a ton of MoCA people and that was 4 miles away," Paul said. "We think being about 400 feet  from their parking lot will work out real well long term."

 

"We aren't just looking to be a tourist location though, our local patrons are our bread and butter," he added. "It's simple. No locals equals no restaurant."

  

The Brassards are ready to kick the restaurant's patio into high gear as the warmer weather comes. 

 

"This deck is more valuable than ever," Paul said. "COVID put a real premium on outdoor dining and, frankly, I think it could be years before we don't see some fallout from COVID."

 

The Brassards plan to update the patio and purchase some new furniture. They added that live music is also on the agenda this summer, with the first event of the season taking place on May 5. 

 

Follow their Facebook page for updates.

 

Paul said the hotel has been working diligently to upgrade the event spaces as well.  

 

"We've been assured this will bring the space up to what people expect when they schedule all these destination events here in the Berkshires," Paul said.

 

He added that they've catered many events for groups from as far away as San Francisco, Chicago, New York, Boston and beyond, often hosting them in re-purposed mills or at farms. 

 

And while pleased to offer off-premise catering services, Paul said: "Having event spaces attached to our restaurants gives us a bit of a home-field advantage."

 

413 Bistro's menu is ever-changing and has standard eats like burgers and flatbreads, of course with the Brassard stamp on them, while also featuring some modern dishes not always expected in a small-town restaurant.  The Brassards pride themselves on using as many locally sourced products as possible using more than 20 local farms and food purveyors over the course of a season. At the same time, their draft beer list almost exclusively features Massachusetts breweries.

 

"There are so many great farms here in Berkshire County, many that residents don't necessarily know about or appreciate yet. We've been able to source some really cool stuff," he said. "During the Berkshire's growing season, if you're eating a vegetable in one of our restaurants, it was likely just in the ground somewhere in the Berkshires within the last couple of days.  It makes a difference."

 

The full menu can be found here.

 

He recalled a simple berry dish that one New York couple ordered three times within 24 hours. Begging him for the recipe, Paul said there really wasn't much to it - it was just local and fresh. 

 

Paul said more local farmers are now selling meat which is a welcomed option. He said in the past it was sometimes difficult to source local proteins as well as to justify the higher price. 

 

"I know everyone wants local stuff until they have to pay for it so you have to make that call," Paul said. "But with this runaway inflation sometimes it had more of an impact on the bigger national sellers and oftentimes their associated transportation costs.  So prices are surprisingly a little bit closer now, in some cases it's evened the playing field a bit."

 

The Brassards also acknowledged the fact they have been lucky to hire some great people. 

 

"Emilie, Cheyanne, and Jared are pushing 5 years with us now.  We hired all of them in our first month or so in business.  Without people like them, there's no chance we can accomplish some of the things we've been fortunate enough to accomplish.  It's not a stretch to say that we think of them like extended family" Paul said. " We were lucky to find these people and sometimes it's better to be lucky than good.  I'll just say in our case we've been extremely lucky."

 

In 2021, the Brassards hired around 40 people between their two restaurant expansion. 

 

"It wasn't easy, to say the least," Paul said, "But I think we have worked through most of the kinks and sorted through the hits and misses. In addition,  we've added some seriously talented people to our roster since and we continue to do so. While the talent pool has famously been pretty thin the last couple years, it seems to have started to rebound a bit, as we've been noticing more stronger candidates than what was available in ‘21 or most of ‘22."

 

Paul is optimistic and thinks 2023 will be a strong year for both of their restaurants.

 

"This pandemic taught us that we all need to be flexible. Everyone bent over backwards to try new things and many of us tried real hard to make the best out of a pretty bad situation, patrons included.  There were a lot of creative solutions invented out of necessity," Paul said. "Fast forward a couple years and now I think some of those solutions will just make us stronger post pandemic.   As for us, we have a much better footprint than pre-COVID, and I think a pretty solid game plan moving forward.  We are eagerly looking forward to what the future has in store for us."