Double Delight
by Kathryn Boughton
From Passport Magazine
Nothing breeds success like success. William S. Webber V, trained in classical French cuisine and the third highest graduate in his Culinary Institute of America class, is proof of the adage.
In 2000, he launched his highly successful Verdura restaurant in Great Barrington, Mass., defying the odds by establishing it on the busy upper corner of Railroad Street, where parking is at a premium from early morning to late evening. Now, he has compounded that success by opening Dué Enoteca, a hip bar/brasserie, in the space adjacent to Verdura.
Originally designed to be more informal than Verdura, and to broaden the focus beyond Tuscan cuisine, Dué has evolved over its first year into a casual cousin of the neighboring restaurant. Here, patrons can eat or drink at the long wooden bar under the amber light cast by the illuminated painted glass border installed high on the wall, or they can take one of the heavy wooden tables that dot the length of the long, narrow room.
A feeling of warmth enfolds guests in the winter months, made palpable by the rich, earthy tones of the rag-painted walls and the mellow light cast from wall sconces. Mr. Webber has brought another environmental element to his new endeavor, as well, a segmented environmental window that can roll up like an overhead garage door, opening the entire front of the restaurant on the sunny afternoons of spring and lazy days of summer.
The talented chef explained that he wanted to provide his guests with outside dining, but that sidewalk tables are forbidden in town. "I came up with the idea of opening the whole front of the restaurant," he said. "It is the only one like it in the Berkshires."
Indeed, on one of the first pleasant days of the season, the restaurateur threw up the sash and allowed spring zephyrs to waft in and the delicious smells of his expertly crafted cuisine to tantalize passersby.
The fact that he works to provide a pleasant environment redolent of nature is not surprising considering Mr. Webber’s background. He started his college career as a wildlife biology major at Colorado State University before quitting school in his sophomore year. "I felt like I was kind of floating, wasting my parents’ money," he said. Wanting to do something worthwhile, however, he volunteered for a year in Costa Rica before again turning his attention to his own future.
"My parents had given me the ultimatum that if I quit school, I would have to pay for my own education," he said. He had heard of the Culinary Institute of America in Hyde Park, N.Y., took a look and decided to try it. "I had always liked [working with food] and I thought I would apply for one semester," he recalled. "I liked it and I stayed. I graduated at the top of my class — not number one, but number three — in 1995. There was a small cadre of people there like me — we went through in streams of 100 and there were maybe four or five in my class who aspired to the same things I did — to work in the best restaurants, to work in France."
The next few years found him at some of the most celebrated restaurants in New York City — Zoe, the sophisticated purveyor of fine American cuisine, Le Cirque, the social institution where diners came not only to eat, but to see and be seen, and Bouley, where he worked under David Bouley, one of the most celebrated chefs of the last quarter century.
"That was what really inspired me," he said, "Just the passion and the drive he brought to his cuisine. David Bouley would come in wearing Armani suits — he was just on the cusp of that rock-and-roll thing. He was like the first real star [of cooking]. That’s where I learned that food not only has to be beautiful, but cooking has to be passionate, like music and art, to have this edgy thing."
He briefly traveled to the Napa Valley, where he worked for the hottest meal ticket in the region, the French Laundry, before returning east to Boston. He eventually settled down as sous chef at the renowned Wheatleigh country hotel in Lenox, Mass., where he stayed for four years.
During his sojourn at Wheatleigh, he decided he liked the Berkshires, an area that satisfied his yen for nature while offering a cosmopolitan food experience. "It’s a great soup out here," he commented, describing the culinary milieu. "You have progressives, macros, conservatives, farmers ... I didn’t want to be a chef anywhere else, so I decided to start my own restaurant."
Harkening back to his classical French training, he originally contemplated a bistro, but soon decided to alter his course. "Somewhere along the line, I decided I liked to eat fresh bread, pasta, prosciutto … and I decided on Italian. When I opened Verdura, I had never cooked Italian formally, but I went to Italy and found the whole thing was just a matter of getting out of my French head — all the reductions and everything — and to learn to put just three or four beautiful things on the plate."
The success of his effort to surmount his French training is evident in the following that his restaurant has developed in its few short years of operation. Matt Hayes, who tends bar on the Dué Enoteca side, says that during the peak months of the summer, weekend reservations are frequently necessary two or three weeks in advance.
It was this crush of patronage that prompted Mr. Webber to contemplate a less formal adjunct to his business. "I’m still trying to find a niche [for Dué]," he said. "We started with a tapas and bar menu in Dué. Verdura is Italian and Dué was originally Spanish-inspired, but now it has morphed into one restaurant. I offer Verdura’s menu on both sides. It just seems to run smoother."
True to its more casual style, Dué requires no reservations, and, in addition to the full Verdura menu, Dué sill offers a bar menu. "People can come in, sit at the bar and have a snack," said Mr. Hayes. "Especially in summer, this is a very cool place. You have the window open and everyone is sitting around with nice drinks and good food. We get everyone from 21-year-olds to grandparents, and everyone has a good time."
"The menu in Dué is a little more contemporary," observed Mr. Webber, noting that patrons can choose from "Piattini" such as roasted olives and Marcona almonds [$5], roasted dates with jamon Serrano, almonds and cabrales [$8], chickpeas with smoked paprika and lemon [$5], or a plate of the sumptuous artisanal cheeses from Rubiner’s [market price].
Panini with spicy fries are also served in Dué and customers can choose from among duck confit with caramelized onions, frisee, Provolone and mustard [$9], a "Philly" steak with cheese [$10], roasted Portabello, Swiss chard and goat cheese [$8], or an organic wood-grilled burger with balsamic marinade, onions, Swiss cheese and bacon [$12].
Those looking for something more substantial can refer to the Verdura menu to choose among antipasti such as shaved fennel with lemon [$3], smoked marinated mushrooms [$4] or a roasted beets with ricotta salata [$3].
"Primi" courses (some of which can also be ordered as entrees) include such items as lobster saffron risotto [$17/$34], foie gras with oven-dried grapes, bruschetta and balsamic jus [$17] or pizza funghi with local chevre cheese, roasted mushrooms, leeks and porcini dust [$14].
"Secondi" courses can consist of such entrees as a wood-grilled veal loin with polenta cake and green and a porcini jus [$33]; artisan penne with oyster mushrooms, leeks, ricotta salata and gremolata [$22] or, perhaps, homemade gnocchi with spring vegetables, lemon and basil [$23.]
Verdura is a member of Berkshire Grown, and all the dishes are crafted from local, seasonal products — organic when possible — and are prepared in a busy kitchen that is visible from the seating area. The kitchen houses a wood-fired stone oven for baking thin-crust pizzas and a grill for wood-roasted meat, fish and vegetable dishes.
The pasta and pizza dough are all made in-house, and the salmon and mussels are smoked on premises.
Mr. Webber, executive chef for both sides, is ably assisted in the food preparation by his chef, Thomas Lee, also a graduate of the CIA who met Mr. Webber nine years ago when he was an intern at Wheatleigh. He has since worked in a number of the Berkshire’s finer restaurants, gathering experience as he goes. "This is a cool place to work," he observed. "There is a lot of good energy here."
A ’97 CIA graduate, he said he gave himself 10 years to decide which cuisine to follow when he branches out on his own, and is considering "an all-encompassing noodle" cuisine that would draw on pasta-based dishes from around the world. In the meantime, he is content to turn out Verdura’s and Dué’s ever-popular dishes, while Mr. Webber oversees the development of the menu. He changes it four times a year, and though he’s the owner of a booming establishment, he likes to take sabbaticals to work in city restaurants.
"Even now I like to go to the city to work, to look for inspiration," he said, adding that he worked briefly in the kitchen of Il Buco, an enoteca on Bond Street in New York that David Rosengarten of Gourmet Magazine called "one of the best, most exciting restaurants in the whole of America ... ."
"I was there just before they got this acclaim," he said. "I have one of their dishes on my menu — although, as with any recipe, you give your own little piece to it."
Verdura and Dué Enoteca are located at 44 Railroad Street in Great Barrington. During summer months, they are open seven days a week, with dinner served weekdays from 5 to 9 p.m., and Friday and Saturday until 10. The bar remains open into the wee hours. For reservations, call 413-528-8969. |
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