It wasn’t all that long ago that the typical Easter get-together featured a home-cooked dinner, the centerpiece of which was a baked ham or a roasted leg of lamb. In 2025, however, Easter gatherings are increasingly likely to take place in a restaurant setting, with brunch as the daypart timing involved.
Promoting an Easter brunch has become a “must” element in the springtime marketing efforts of many restaurants, and typical of such events created for the occasion is the Easter brunch menu planned at Figaro Italian Restaurant in Enfield.
Their brunch buffet, which is to be served from 11 a.m. to 2:30 p.m., will feature leg of lamb, baked ham, roast pork, chicken, scrod and ziti marinara. An assortment of breakfast food favorites and side dishes will also be part of the layout.
Call Figaro at 860-745-2414 to make Easter reservations.
Hotels have a reputation for creating buffets with style and flair, so the Sheraton Springfield’s Grand Easter Buffet promises to be a memorable food experience.
A chef’s carving station stocked with honey-baked ham and roast beef tenderloin will be one of the buffet’s focal points. Other entree selections include pan-seared cod and chicken breast with wild mushroom Marsala sauce will be among the offerings.
Those preferring breakfast-style fare will be able to indulge in made-to-order scrambled eggs or fresh waffles served with strawberry topping and whipped cream.
A make-your-own salad bar and a smoked salmon and bagel bar also will be featured.
The Sheraton Springfield’s Grand Easter Buffet will begin at 10:30 a.m. with the last seating scheduled for 1:30 p.m. Reservations, which are required, can be made by calling 413-263-2117.
Instead of putting on a buffet, some establishments are instead opting for an a la carte menu, like the Easter Brunch being promoted by the Center Square Grill in East Longmeadow.
To be offered from 11:30 a.m. to 3 p.m. on Sunday, April 20, the brunch menu will feature “classics & carvings” such as herb-encrusted leg of lamb, slow-roasted prime rib, blueberry and lemon mascarpone pancakes and prosciutto strata.
The Grille is also promising a selection of special handcrafted Easter cocktails to go with their Easter brunch.
The Center Square Grille answers at 413-525-0055.
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Side Dishes
On Saturday, April 5, Red’s Bakery of Goshen will be operating a “pop-up” at the Elbow Room Coffee Company in Williamsburg. Red’s will be on hand starting at 8 a.m. with a selection of their “from-scratch” baked specialties.
Red’s Bakery answers at 413-570-6130.
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Bnapoli Italian in West Springfield has organized a five-course Sicilian Wine Dinner for Monday, April 7.
The dining experience, which is scheduled to start with a 5 p.m. cocktail hour, is being planned around a selection of wines from Sicily, an often-underappreciated wine producing region.
The meal will begin with traditional arancini (rice balls) as antipasto; the dinner’s second course Is to be a salad of citrus and fennel.
For the “primi” (first entree), the kitchen is planning pasta alla Norma, with e secondi (second entree) of swordfish puttanesca to follow.
Dessert is to be a cassata Siciliana.
Each course will be paired with a different, selected-to-be-compatible Sicilian wine.
Tickets, which are available online at Eventbrite.com, are $100 per person plus a convenience fee.
Bnapoli Italian can be reached at 413-240-2106.
MGM Executive Sous Chef Syron Wheeler prepares food at the culinary institute on Race Street in Holyoke, which is hosting an Open House. (Frederick Gore Photo)
The HCC-MGM Culinary Arts Institute in Holyoke is hosting an Open House on Wednesday, April 9 from 4 p.m. to 7 p.m. at its 164 Race Street location.
The program will provide visitors with the opportunity to taste “what’s cookin’” at the institute, as well as offer the opportunity to ask questions of the institute’s instructional staff.
The HCC-MGM Culinary Arts Institute offers degree and certificate programs in the culinary arts as well as workforce training and one-day classes for food enthusiasts.
Questions can be directed to the Institute’s staff via email at cai@hcc.edu or by calling 413-552-2838.
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On April 10, chef Michael Anderson of Tucker’s Restaurant in Southwick will be sharing his kitchen with two other well-known local chefs, Joshua Houghton and Brad Kline. The three will be working together to produce a special Spring Collaboration Menu.
The four-course dining experience they’ve planned will begin with a shaved asparagus salad that’s dressed with pistachio vinaigrette and garnished with whipped feta. After the salad, dinner attendees will be presented with a seafood duo of grilled swordfish and seared tuna.
The main course is to be a Mediterranean beef brisket sauced with caponata and paired with toasted couscous.
Lemon olive oil cake is planned for dessert.
Tickets for the event, which are $75 including tax and gratuity, can be reserved by calling Tucker’s Restaurant at 413-569-0120.
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The Munich Haus German Restaurant in Chicopee will be offering its last Game Feast of the season at 6 p.m. on Saturday, April 12.
The cost to attend the dinner, which will feature a carving station stocked with venison, bison, elk and kangaroo, is $65 per person. Tickets can be purchased online at munichhaus.com or by calling 413-594-8788
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KFC has introduced a new, limited-time-only side dish to its menu in the form of Mashed Potato Poppers. As their name suggests, the Poppers are fried mashed potatoes balls and are available a la carte in a five-count portion that also includes warm gravy for dipping.
There are KFC locations on Center Street in Ludlow, on Memorial Drive in Chicopee, and on King Street in Northampton, across from the Stop & Shop Plaza.
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The April Cooking with Rico event at Avellino in Sturbridge is being held on April 16 starting at 6 p.m.
This month, Table 3 Executive Chef Enrico Giovanello will be drawing his inspiration from the cooking of Anne Burrell, one of the Food Network’s celebrity chefs.
Burrell’s influence will be front-and-center as Giovanello demonstrates three dishes - paella with chorizo, shrimp, clams, and chicken; watermelon feta salad; and bacon-wrapped dates stuffed with Manchego cheese.
Cost to attend the event is $59 per person, tax and gratuity not included. Reservations, which must include a $25 deposit, can be made by calling 508-347-2321.
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Chefs are increasingly treating pizza crusts as blank canvases upon which to create their own unique combinations of ingredients and flavors.
AK Crust, a Green Bay, Wisconsin-based manufacturer of pizza dough and preformed crusts, recently released a report, The State of the Pizza Nation 2025, as part of a marketing effort in advance of the International Pizza Expo, which was held last month in Las Vegas.
Noting that pickles and hot honey drizzles were the “it” pizza toppings last year, AK Crust’s report predicted that pizzas topped with salad ingredients like romaine and croutons would become increasingly commonplace this year. Chefs, AK Crust believes, will be bringing the flavor profiles of Caesar and Greek salads into the pizza-topping space.
Alternative sausage garnishes like bratwurst and chorizo are also expected to gain in popularity during 2025.
Locally, it’s possible, in a number of Franklin county pizzerias, to order an option as unconventional as kielbasa as a pizza topping, and Johnny’s Bar & Grille is South Hadley has a specialty pizza menu that promotes chef-curated pies like “Bacon Date” and “Crab Rangoon.”
The former is a white pie topped with arugula, goat cheese, dates, bacon and a balsamic drizzle, while the Crab Rangoon pizza is spread with cream cheese before being garnished with crabmeat, wonton chips, scallions and a sweet chili glaze.
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On April 9, from 4-7 p.m. the UNO Pizzeria & Grill in Sturbridge will be hosting a Dinner with the Easter Bunny.
The evening will feature a meet-and-greet with the Easter Bunny himself as well as some Easter-themed coloring activities. Goodie bags will be provided for all kids attending.
Reservation for this event are essential and can be made by calling 508-347-6420.
Hugh Robert is a faculty member in Holyoke Community College’s hospitality and culinary arts program and has nearly 50 years of restaurant and educational experience. Robert can be reached online at OffTheMenuGuy@aol.com.