New North Adams Restaurant Celebrates BBQ & Bourbon

Editor's Note, Dec. 29, 2011: RUB closed its doors in early December because the owners are separating. Gramercy Bistro at Mass MoCA remains open.

NORTH ADAMS, Mass. — A new restaurant will open its doors Wednesday celebrating Americana through its bourbon and barbecue.

Rub: Bourbon and Barbecue is opening in the former Marshall Street storefront of Gramercy Bistro, which moved its operations onto the Massachusetts Museum of Contemporary Arts campus last year.

The menu will feature a variety of barbecue sauces and about 20 different bourbon whiskeys.

"I have a secret rub that's going on the product," owner Alexander "Sandy" Smith said on Friday. "It's all about celebrating Americana and barbecue is very American."

The menu will definitely be different from Smith's contemporary French cusine at Gramercy, with regular barbecue items from ribs to brisket to chicken splattered with the customer's pick of sauce. The styles of sauce vary in flavor depending on origin, such as Texas or Kansas. The food will be available for eat in or take out.

"We have a Texas sauce that has a very Mexican influence so it is a little spicier. The most popular would be the St. Louis or the Kansas City style," Smith said.

The restaurant will feature a bar but will specialize in bourbon whiskey. The whiskeys range in price and quality and some are distilled locally, Smith said.

The restaurant will be open from 11 a.m. until 11 p.m. Wednesday through Saturday and from 11 a.m. until 8 p.m. on Sunday. It will be closed on Monday and Tuesday.

Smith said he has only to hang a sign and artwork and then prepare the food prior to Wednesday's opening.

"People are scurrying around trying to get those last-minute details," he said. "I'm just going to open it and see what happens."