Dream Away Lodge

A long time Provincetown resident, artist and chef, Alice Brock, has died just days before Thanksgiving. In 2014 we reminisced about the fame game. She returned to the Berkshires to host a dinner at Dream Away Lodge. She described her cuisine as "heavy handed" which may well be a metaphor for her remarkable life.

Now elderly, infirm, and living in Provincetown, Alice Brock, the famed proprietor of Alice’s Restaurant in the Berkshires, has always helped others. Her restaurants were staffed with friends and neighbors. She was always a soft touch for a free meal, job, or handout. Today it’s Alice, afflicted with ailments, who needs a helping hand.

When chef Amy Loveless invited Alice Brock to design a special event and menu for Dream Away Lodge in Becket, Mass. they got slammed. Over two days they sold out three sittings on each evening. It turned out to be the hottest event of a busy Berkshire weekend. Alice personally greeted each and every old and new friend during an amazing occasion and triumphant return which she described to me as "overwhelming."

The rambling song “Alice’s Restaurant” by Arlo Guthrie is an icon of the 1960s. It spawned the film by Arthur Penn as well as “The Alice’s Restaurant Cookbook” which has gone through four printings. For the past 36 years Alice Brock has lived in Provincetown. She returns to Dream Away Lodge May 17 and 18 with evenings of her recipes prepared by Chef Amy Loveless. It is the second in a series created by Loveless to honor renowned women chefs of the Berkshires.

Sweet Soubrette, a melodic, ukulele-powered indie rock band based in NYC, will perform an acoustic concert at Dream Away Lodge in Becket on August 18. WBRS (Brandeis University radio) says: “Sweet Soubrette’s music is modern and sonically diverse…talented instrumentalists and tightly sung melodies make for a really exciting listen.”

Fran Mandeville and Lisa Burnstine Mandeville live in North Adams but they make sweet music all over the Berkshires. Here is a schedule of the Beeline Ramblers for the summer season. If you catch them at the Dreamaway Lodge in Becket be sure to enjoy dinner. Tell em we sentyah.

Bob Dylan and Joan Baez put the funky Dreamaway-Lodge, hidden in the woods of Becket, Mass, on the map when they filmed it during the Rolling Thunder tour. Now it is a popular Berkshire destination for atmospheric family style dining and entertainment.