Who is John?
John is actually Giovanni, grandfather of Susan Bianchi Smith the co-owner with chef Dan Smith, of Egremont’s most singular dining experience.
Giovanni’s unique style and vision, as well as his great Italian gustatory appreciation continue to inform and shape John Andrews Restaurant.
Dan and Susan have been creating innovative menus here for 12 years. Though it is both a fine dining experience and a versatile, atmospheric function room (Susan describes the occasional hunt dinner and wine tasting), it is mainly a place where nourishment of the senses takes place. Dan’s Award-winning New American cuisine is served in the warm ambience of this fine late 1800’s Berkshire county home. In winter the golden woodwork, copper tones and fireplace warm the interior, while in summer the restaurant opens to its patio and gardens beyond.
The Springfield Union News praised "...the dazzling assortment...an equally polished fusion of rustic and sophisticated."
The Albany Times Union wrote that the wine selection was "absolutely impeccable," with a "wonderful cheese assortment."
The Boston Globe described John Andrews as "...worth the ramble - for the views, for the secluded country ambience and, most importantly, for the food."
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Dan Smith
Dan Smith was brought up on his family farm in Iowa, surrounded by the simple beauty of America's agricultural heartland. His connection to food was immediate and its effect enduring. He went to school to earn a degree in agriculture in order to run the farm, moonlighting in restaurants to help cover school expenses. Dan realized his passion was not in growing food but in cooking it.
Today Dan is the chef-owner of John Andrews Restaurant, which opened in 1990 and which he runs with his wife, Susan, and is named for her grandfather. The restaurant is located in the Berkshire hills, not far from the New York border. The building is a 19th-century New England clapboard house consisting of two simple but beautiful dining rooms, one of which overlooks lovely perennial gardens.
Dan experiences cooking as an art and as an outlet for his own artistic nature. "It's an expression of how I feel about food and hopefully my clients are picking up on it...picking up on my beliefs." Dan's studio is his cramped kitchen, where he works his craft quietly behind the scenes. He has a small kitchen staff, and rarely is he not cooking himself. He shies away from public exposure. Dan is one of the least egotistical chefs I have ever met.
He has always been fascinated by the variety of food ingredients and is delighted by recent trends in local and organic agriculture. Today there are more fresh and thus better products available to him in season. The appearance of a new supplier with new ingredients is always appealing. Dan believes one of his very important roles as a chef is to "help keep things sustainable, which makes the local area more viable and, of course, produces a better meal." His only regret about being a chef in New England is that the season of farm production is just too short.
Dan describes his cooking as "new American with northern Italian influences." One of his specialties is duck. Dishes include a Local Roast Muscovy Duck with Risotto Style Barley and Black Trumpet Mushrooms with Caramelized Shallots.
Spend an evening at John Andrews. You may not see Dan, but you'll know he's there. It's worth the trip.
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