Great Barrington — In the midst of many changes in downtown Great Barrington, here’s a change that promises no change at all. Chef Michael Ballon is selling his Castle Street Café, which he has operated for almost 28 years on Castle Street next door to the Mahaiwe, and the new owner promises to keep everything about the restaurant the same,…same name, same menu, same staff, except, of course, there will have to be a new chef.
The new owner will be Vern M. Kennedy, a Canaan, N.Y.-resident who, in the spring of 2016, bought The Morgan House Inn in Lee, where he also pledged to keep everything the same. Not your typical restaurateur, Kennedy is, by day, an electrical engineer, executive and entrepreneur in the world of high-tech, cloud-based telecommunications. When Crain’s New York Business recognized him in the year 2000 as one of “40 under 40,” they noted that he and his wife liked to restore old houses for fun. So, now, is he restoring – or preserving — old restaurants for fun?
The new owner will take over on January 4, right after Ballon serves his last New Year’s meals. As for Ballon, he’s ready to try something new. “I’ve worked 37 years as a chef (28 of them at Castle Street), which is the equivalent of 60 regular human work years.”
Ballon continues, “I am not leaving he community. I will continue to live in Egremont. And I will still want to work, but not necessarily in food. I want to reinvent myself while I am still young enough to do so.”
And given his track record, there’s no reason to doubt that Ballon can be inventive. His whole history at Castle Street Café is marked by innovation. “We were buying provisions directly from farmers right from the beginning in 1989, way before the phrase ‘farm-to-table” had been coined. And who would have imagined, in 1989, that there would be a jazz club in downtown Great Barrington that supported local and regional musicians?”
“I have accomplished far more than I ever thought possible – doubling the size of the restaurant, building a busy catering business, all the while retaining employees who have worked here for decades, enabling families to buy houses and send their kids to college.” And, he points out, the restaurant has been part of the renaissance on Castle Street, creating a theater and arts district alongside the Mahaiwe.
Now, he says, “I hope to work a little less, and enjoy life more. Running a restaurant has involved a lot of sacrifices, and I am no longer willing to make so many.”
