In my neck of the woods (western MA), the following are the places that we like to frequent/drool over/sometimes even travel an hour to get to.  In my eyes they are the super-heros of my hood.  It took quite a while to try these all out and determine who would make this list and who would not.   I’ve attempted to break them out into categories for you, but some certainly fall into more than one.

general

• apollo grill, Easthampton, MA
• coco, Easthampton, MA
• lattitude, West Springfield, MA
• mrkt, South Deerfield, MA
• perigee, Lee, MA
• slainte, Holyoke, MA
• spice dragon, Pittsfield, MA
• typical sicilian, Springfield, MA

fancy pants

• blue heron, Sunderland, MA
• blue ginger, Wellesley, MA
• the federal, Agawam, MA

pub

• high horse, Amherst, MA
• pic’s pub, Holyoke, MA (excellent pizza)
• plan b, Springfield, MA

latin flare

• frontera grill, Chicopee, MA
• mesa verde, Greenfield, MA
• mama iguanas, Northampton, MA

raw

• moshi moshi, Northampton, MA
• osaka, Northampton, MA