I once read an essay by a woman describing a parlor game she invented that challenged her family and friends to invent and use catchy new words to denote an object, a sensation, an emotional state, or anything that might lack a specific descriptor in the English language. Some of the coinages she shared were clever, most were just groaners, but one made-up word seems so useful that it deserves enshrinement in the Oxford English Dictionary: “suvescent,” an adjective to denote something you personally don’t find appealing, but that you understand someone else might like.

One genre of entertainment that I’ve always found suvescent is the competition show. Music has "The Voice," magic has "Penn & Teller: Fool Us," romance has "The Bachelor," and on and on. Personally, my tastes run to being entertained by professionals with whom my emotional involvement ends as soon they stop performing; I’m not particularly interested in listening to talented amateurs and finding out about their backstories and struggles. I can, however, see how people might like that sort of thing, so if I don’t watch competition shows myself, I do find them suvescent.

Except for cooking shows, which I find mostly unsuvescent. At least with the competition shows I mentioned above, you experience something of a finished product — if you like singing you’ll hear singing, etc. But the food shows? You can’t smell what they’re cooking or taste what they’ve prepared, and, unless you’re a trained chef in a professional kitchen, you have scant hope of replicating their dishes. At least the traditional cooking shows in the Julia Child mode provided a path to deliciousness you could follow at home. Cooking competition shows leave me forlorn and hangry. Wouldn’t it be great if you could have one of those dynamic, ballsy, larger-than-life celebrity flavor mavens cook just for you?

Well, RI readers in the Berkshires and environs, now you can. Gedney Farm in New Marlborough, Massachsuetts has a new executive chef, Michele Ragussis, a repeat judge on "Beat Bobby Flay" and a competitor on major television chef shows like Food Network Star" (where she was Season 8 runner up), and "Guy’s Grocery Games," and "The Bobby Flay Show," both of which she won. After working as a private chef for the last eight years, Ragussis has taken over the kitchen at Gedney and is already attracting crowds to this popular Berkshire destination best known over the years as a venue for weddings and outdoor receptions.

Key in her decision to return to restaurant life is her longtime working friendship with Gedney Farm’s co-owner Peter Miscikoski (his partner is the venue’s longtime manager, Michael Smith), with whom she collaborated at the Crown & Anchor Restaurant in Provincetown. Miscikoski says he and Ragussis first met when she answered a help wanted ad and “it was like we had known each other in another life.” They were together on the Cape for four years and performed the same kind of reimagination of that restaurant that is in-process at Gedney Farm.

Miscikoski is a sommelier whose client list has included well-known restaurants in Manhattan. He says he has long championed lesser-known varietals and regions, and developed relationships with small-batch winemakers that has allowed him to offer wines that oenophiles are unlikely to taste elsewhere. This summer, he will continue to host his popular wine-tasting dinners, with menus complementing his selections created by Raggusis. His wine-by-the-glass menu is among the most eclectic I’ve encountered – my dining companion started with a glass of the “Chill Pill” (an unfiltered, skin-fermented chenin blanc from Mendicino’s Subject to Change that looked like cider and was incredibly juicy and fruit-forward), and then enjoyed a glass of “Do Nothing,” a pinot noir/chardonnay blend that Oregon vintners Fossil & Fawn tout as tasting like “Hawaiian Punch and river rocks.” If they say so – but it was really good. I was drinking beer on the night I visited, and the craft offerings were as offbeat and intriguing as the wine list.

As likely as not, you’ll encounter Michele Ragussis making the rounds in the dining room – she’s a vivacious presence, a fearless culinary competitor on television who has nothing to fear by stepping outside of the kitchen, because she is feeding happy people very well. We started with her warm mushroom salad, a bold combo of sharp, bitter flavors and crunchy, chewy, and smooth textures – Tivoli mushrooms, guanciale lardons, crispy egg, chicories, pickled shallots, and shaved parmesan dressed in a guanciale vinaigrette. When we ordered our other appetizer, the oxtail croquettes, our server cooed, “Ooooh, that’s the best” – with feeling. And they were just a little taste of heaven, with the rich meat braised to a soothing creamy texture and then crusted in a light breading.

For entrees, we had the grilled rib eye locally sourced from Northwind Farm in Tivoli, New York, which was topped with bone marrow and chive butter that added a quality to the meat that my dining companion described as “fundamental.” The beefy goodness was complemented by a creamy blend of Swiss chard and spinach that gave me serious steakhouse flashbacks.

During her time on the Cape, Ragussis became known for her love of New England cuisine and mastery of fresh seafood. I ordered her cioppino and, unbeknownst to her, I was throwing down a gantlet — I’d spent a couple months last year along the California coast, where I sampled versions of this seafood stew from Santa Barbara to Santa Cruz. Would her version, prepared miles from the ocean on a rainy Berkshires evening, measure up? The bowl was packed with clams, mussels, scallops, and halibut, but what made Ragussis’s version soar was the tomato base they were cooked in. She told me she cooks down red pepper and adds it to the sauce to impart complexity and richness. Mission accomplished – her version was as at least as good, if not better, than the best I ate on the West Coast.

Dessert was polenta cake — and if you can imagine blood orange ice cream, sage oil, and candied orange peel being a good way to top that, you would be correct.

Years ago, when I first moved to the Berkshires, a friend noted that summer would seem to pass faster and faster with each year. True that — unless you develop a game plan about what you want to do and put things your calendar, you will be left out as summer speeds by. If you want to experience Michele Ragussis’s cooking at Gedney Farm in the months ahead, do what you can to secure your spot at what is sure to be a hot ticket. Moreover, unlike some other new upscale restaurants I’ve tried, it retains a real Berkshire casual vibe that is convivial and unfussy. Also, be aware that the restaurant is only open Thursday through Saturday (beginning April 10 opening days move to Wednesday through Friday). The venue hosts weddings on Saturdays during the season and shuts down completely during the winter months.

This is not amateur hour – you will know that you are being entertained by professionals. With the food now at a level that matches the gorgeous South County setting, let me use a new coinage to describe Gedney Farm. It’s “asuvacious” – a place not only that I liked, but that I can’t imagine anyone else not liking

Share this post

Written by
Albert Stern