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The restaurant, which has operated as an Italian eatery and several variations of Mexican/Southwestern, seats 100.
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The Korean Garden opened last month on Ashland Street in North Adams.

New Korean Restaurant Opens in North Adams

By Jack GuerinoiBerkshires Staff
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NORTH ADAMS, Mass. — A pair of veteran restaurateurs are offering traditional Korean and Japanese cuisine and sushi.

The Korean Garden at 139 Ashland St. opened more than a week ago in the former Red Sauce location.

After living in North Adams for eight years, Yong and Jenny Pae thought it was time to open up their own eatery.

"We know a lot of people like Korean food and good sushi so we thought a long time ago that we wanted open up here," Jenny Pae said.

The Paes are not new to the restaurant scene and have worked with Boston restaurateur Jae Chung, who grew up in Clarksburg. They ran their own small Korean take-out business in Boston for a decade about 15 years ago.

Pae said the menu has many traditional favorites such as bulgogi, kimchi, and hot stone bi bim bab. There are aso various sushi and maki specials, including the North Adams Maki and the Red Sox Roll.

"It's different," Pae said. "A lot of people say North Adams only has a Burger king and Chinese food and we need something new and something fresh. We try to give the best service and the best food."

She said they have been busy since opening a week ago Saturday.

"Business has been busy a lot of people come in late," Pae said. "I think maybe we need a couple weeks to really get a lot of people in here all the time."

She said the restaurant seems to be a hot spot for college students with its close proximity to Massachusetts College of Liberal Arts. She added that a lot of Williams College students stop in, too.

The building has been mostly empty since Red Sauce Ristorante abruptly closed in 2012. More recently there were a short-lived Italian and a Southwestern restaurant.

The Korean Garden is open every day except Monday for lunch and dinner. During the week the hours are 11 to 9:30 and on the weekends, 11 to 10.


Tags: new business,   opening,   restaurants,   

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North Adams Panel Advises Traffic Sign Removal, Debates Animal Control Ordinance

By Tammy Daniels iBerkshires Staff
NORTH ADAMS, Mass. — Police officers stuck at Center Street and Holden won't have to flash their lights to get through soon. 
 
Public Safety Committee last week recommended the City Council follow the Traffic Commission's lead to remove the "No Turn on Right" sign next to Public Eat and Drink.
 
"Most of the officers are saying you're stuck at that intersection," interim Chief Mark Bailey told the committee. "If you have an emergency, but it's not really emergency, you're trying to get to somebody, a call, a citizen or something, and you're not required to turn the blue lights on, you're stuck at that intersection light for a long time."
 
The police station was relocated to the Berkshire Plaza in 2023, in what had been the juvenile court. That offered plenty of more space for officers and better access for citizens, but also put the cruisers on one-way Center Street. 
 
Cruisers turning left have to put their lights on to make it through the dense crossing but vehicles turning right have to sit through the long light — even if there is no traffic.  
 
Bailey explained that this change will allow police officers more flexibility when responding to non-emergency calls, reducing wait times at the traffic light and reducing potential traffic congestion when emergency vehicles need to pass through.
 
"If you have other civilians that are stuck at that traffic light waiting for it to turn red to turn right, we have to turn blue lights to move them out of the way in order to get through the intersection, because it's very narrow," he said. "It's not like we can just sneak by."
 
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