Photo: B.A. Nilsson

A Bounty of Options

hobson’s choice

159 Water St., Williamstown, Mass., (413) 458-9101. Serving dinner nightly from 5 PM. AE, D, MC, V.

Cuisine: American fare

Entrée price range: $15 (grilled chicken) to $24 (lobster pasta)

Ambiance: comfortably rustic

By B.A. Nilsson

Given the range of entrées and appetizers and the generous salad bar, “Hobson’s Choice” would seem to be an inappropriate name for this restaurant. But the aphorism, commonly taken to mean a choice between two undesirables, actually dates from 17th-century England and is equivalent to “Take it or leave it.” I’ll take it, thanks.

Chef-owner Dan Campbell was taken with it—the restaurant, not the name—when he visited Williamstown for a 20th-anniversary high school reunion and discovered the place was for sale. It had been shuttered for a couple of years, but the name lingered.

“It’s a moniker we were hung with,” he says. “One of my principal investors really liked the name.”

Which meant that he had to forge new relationships with suppliers who’d been stiffed by the previous owner. But that was 15 years ago. Campbell, who grew up in Williamstown but pursued his cooking career in places as far off as Montana, has given his hometown a restaurant whose popularity has been steady and sure.

It’s a warm and comfortable place inside, rustic-looking and decorated with oddball items like fly-fishing gear. The hot bread that hits the table makes it feel like an old-fashioned home.

It’s no insult to note that the menu is hardly innovative. It’s safe and, based on our brief incursion into its promises, reliable. A key to assessing a restaurant’s worth is to determine its intentions. Does it wish to offer high-priced, meticulously detailed plates of innovative preparations? Then you can adjudge a place like, say, Charlie Trotter’s as successful. Likewise, Olive Garden deserves kudos if you determine its intention is to sell tasteless mock-Italian fare at high enough prices to fund its high-saturation ad campaigns.

Thus with Hobson’s Choice. Clearly, the intention is to serve that part of the community seeking not-too-adventurous stuff. Chicken, for example, is offered five different ways: grilled or barbecued, blackened or teriyaki-marinated, or sautéed with green chilis and tomatoes and finished in a cream sauce (this one is $18; the others are $15 or $16). The last-named cried out to be sampled, and so it was. In fact, my wife, undaunted by the prospect of spiciness, opted for the dish.

And was rewarded with a mixture light on heat, rich with buttery cream. She availed herself of a shrewd and interesting feature of the place: a half portion ($15.50). “Americans expect such large portions,” says Campbell, “that we’re happy to wrap any leftovers for them. But we have a lot of tourists passing through, and that’s just not feasible for them. So the half portion lets them pay less for less food.”

Susan’s plate was garnished with an aromatic mound of garlic mashed potatoes; alongside, crisp snap peas glistened green with freshness. “A lot of our produce comes from nearby Peace Valley Farm,” Campbell explains. “I think I buy just about everything he grows.” It’s the shrewdest move any chef can make: Buy fresh and buy locally. No amount of fancification can gussy up mediocre ingredients to a point at all competitive with what’s fresh.

A list of appealing appetizers covers a page. The ubiquitous spinach-artichoke dip is replaced here with, of all things, an artichoke ($6), served with mayo and butter. Grilled Portobello-mushroom cap ($5.50), potato-crusted sea scallops ($8) and tuna carpaccio ($8.50) are offered, alongside standards like shrimp cocktail ($7.50) and fried calamari ($6.75). We resisted the starter lure, however, because Hobson’s Choice also provides an old-fashioned salad bar, $12.50 on its own, free with an entrée.

When you go up to assemble your salad, you’re facing the open kitchen, and you’ll probably catch a glimpse of Campbell. He and his staff are looking for you, because they fire your entrée when you start putting greens on your plate.

Campbell acknowledges that the salad bar is a costly option, “but we bite the bullet and say, ‘Hey. It’s a bounty.’ And the salad should be made your way. Still, I see people who are obviously aware of the price of things loading up on red peppers and cherry tomatoes.” He also likes the idea of getting customers out of their seats. “Your next-door neighbors could be sitting two tables away and you’d never see them if you didn’t get up. I like the social aspect this provides.”

And he likes it when customers talk to him. “This way, I can make sure we’re preparing their dinners just as they want them. Even though you already told the waiter that, say, you can’t have wheat, it makes the customer feel good to confirm this with the chef.”

There’s a tank in the kitchen where lobsters swim. The salmon is wild-caught, not farm-raised. And it’s available steamed or blackened or grilled ($24), the last of which my daughter chose as prep style. How nice to have the real flavor issuing forth, a bounty that seems to be provoked by the grilling. Beside it was a hillock of colorful rice pilaf and more of those delicious snap peas.

My plate, an 8-ounce portion of teriyaki-enhanced filet mignon ($23), was expertly finished to my specification and as tasty in its bright-red middle as on the crunchy skin. It was an end piece, tricky sometimes to get right, but this obviously was no problem.

Surf-and-turf combos, prime rib, a center-cut pork chop, lots more seafood and a page of vegetarian entrées complete the menu. Our server, who took excellent care of the table, determined at the start of our dinner that we were theater bound and got us out of there in plenty of time. And this is where we’ll return when we’re back for another show.

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