My wife and I took our first trip to the Berkshires this weekend, and before our travels, I had scoured Yelp for the best reviewed places. Brava was one of the places on top of our "to try" list. We loved it so much our first night here, we decided to come by again the second night! Brava is a small tapas and wine bar in downtown Lenox. Although it's tough to find a seat, this place is easily worth a 30 minute wait (in fact, that's how long we waited the second time we visited).
Overall, Brava delivers everything you'd expect out of a 5-star venue: the food is outstanding, the drink selection is incredible, the service is excellent, and even the ambiance is great.
For food, Brava offers a full menu page of cold tapas, hot tapas, pizzas and desserts. My wife and I were tempted to try the pizzas but (coming from NYC, where we can get pizza on every corner) instead decided to try some of the tapas. In particular, we selected the truffle fries, calamari, meatballs and brussel sprouts with bacon (we were told this was a seasonal item... we got lucky traveling here when we did). My wife paired her meal with a glass of sangria while I opted for a glass of Syrah (both were outstanding).
Before describing how amazing the food was, I just want to take a slight tangent to talking about the drinks. Folks, there are PAGES upon PAGES of adult beverages to choose from, more than at any bar I've seen before. The beers alone likely amounted to 100+ on 3 pages (most are bottled or canned, but even the draught items were local specialties rather than the standard national options). You could come to this bar for a full year, order 1 or 2 different drinks every night, and still not try them all. WOW!
Ok so back to the food. Everything we sampled was AMAZING. In order of my favorites (from best to still amazing):
1. Meatballs: holy moly are these delicious! They're served hot and homemade with a sweet tomato sauce loaded with just the right herbs and spices. So good!
2. Truffle fries: of course the Parmesan and rosemary were incredible on these fries but the real kicker was the pesto sauce. I would never have thought of that combination but it is SO GOOD.
3. Brussel sprouts - bacon + cheese + brussel sprouts. Really that's all I'm gonna say. Excellent smokey flavor, too.
4. Calamari - even something this simple was good. These tasty squid were fried up perfectly and had a terrific spicy tartar sauce that gave the calamari just the right amount of kick.
Everything was delicious!
I also want to talk briefly about the service. Our bartenders were both outstanding: friendly, personable, helpful, and kind. I later learned that one of the bartenders was the owner, Whitney. The fact that he put himself on the front lines is something I truly admire. He could easily be in the back barking orders (or not even there at all), but he put himself right at the bar serving guests directly. That's what you call a great leader (and a very smart restauranteur).
There was only one hiccough in our whole experience - the seasonal dessert, the pumpkin bread pudding. Neither one of us liked it. Still, it didn't dampen our feelings about this place at all.
Folks, this place is awesome! Make sure to swing by early to guarantee yourself a table or spot at the bar. Otherwise, wait it out anyway. It's worth it! read more