Good news for downtown Amherst. On Feb. 3, Bart’s Café at 103 North Pleasant St., has re-opened. (www.bartshomemade.com, 413-253-2278) According to its Web site, Bart’s, which also operates a café in Greenfield, took a brief winter rest.
The store is now open from noon-11 p.m., Sunday-Thursday and from noon-midnight on Friday and Saturday. Welcome back.

A new spot has also opened. That’s a Wrap, with locations in Pittsfield, Dalton and Williamstown, is doing business at 23 North Pleasant St. in Amherst.

According to the Web site, thatsawraprestaurants.com, the restaurant will feature smoothies, wraps (of course) and salads.

********************

Cool and local food enthusiast Molly Merrett is offering a monthly series of cooking classes in Northampton. Participants will learn how to make meals with the harvest of the Pioneer Valley's farms and help support important food access projects in our area.

Classes will encourage aspiring locavores who want to learn some new skills and ideas for creating healthy, beautiful, satisfying dishes using local produce.

Classes will meet the third Saturday of each month, from 2-5 p.m. starting in April 16, at the Friends Meetinghouse in downtown Northampton.

Classes cost $50 each and $40 each if you sign up for two or more. A limited number or scholarships and barter arrangements will be available for each class session. A percentage of profits from this class series will be donated to food access and food justice projects in our area.

The first class is about wild edibles which are often the first treats of the year's local harvest. In this class , several dishes using foraged wild foods including fiddlehead ferns, nettles, ramps, dandelion greens and knotweed will be made Dishes may include a fiddlehead quiche or frittata, wild greens salad, and a knotweed crisp.

Recipes will be given out as well as guidelines and suggestions for foraging wild foods. E-mail her at mollymerrett@gmail.com to register or call (518) 435-5026. A non-refundable deposit of $20 is required to hold your place. For more information please visit Merrett's blog at http://localfeastcookingclasses.blogspot.com

********************

Hungry Ghost Bread in Northampton, nominated in February for a James Beard Foundation Award (http://www.jbfawards.com/2011/pdf/jbf-nominees.pdf) learned recently that it did not make the final cut for the award.

The list of those who did make it is impressive (and entertaining – take a look). But congratulations are still in order for the bakery.

***********************

The Young@Heart Chorus will hold a benefit concert for CISA and Safe Passage on April 10, from 4-6 p.m. at John M. Green Hall on the Smith College campus in Northampton.

The Northampton-based Young@Heart Chorus has performed world-wide and is the subject of an award-winning documentary. Performers, ages 73 to 89, consist of professionals, amateurs and those who never stepped onstage before age eighty. They will be joined by local bands LuxDeluxe and Spouse.

General admission tickets are $25; Premium tickets with reserved seating and a post-concert reception are $75. Tickets can be purchased on the CISA website at www.buylocalfood.org or at the following locations: State Street Fruit Store in Northampton; Cooper's Corner in Florence; Food For Thought bookstore in Amherst, World Eye Bookshop in Greenfield, Big E's supermarket in Easthampton; and Odyssey Bookstore in South Hadley.

CISA is a community organization comprised of farmers, institutions and residents working together to strengthen local agriculture by building connections between farmers and the community. Located in South Deerfield, CISA is the creator of numerous innovative programs, including Senior FarmShare, Agriculture Infrastructure programming, and the Be a Local Hero, and the Buy Locally Grown public awareness campaign.

Safe Passage provides women with the support and information that they need in order to make their own choices to keep themselves and their children safe and to rebuild their lives in the wake of domestic violence.