‘Field of Dreams’ at Bonnie B’s Country Kitchen in Greenfield

By TINKY WEISBLAT

For the Recorder

Published: 02-28-2023 5:32 PM

Bonnie Brown is bright in appearance and in personality. “I love what I do,” she told me last week as she tidied up her kitchen at Bonnie B’s Country Kitchen on Main Street in Greenfield.

She has been in the food business for more than four decades. Before opening Bonnie B’s, she ran the Trail TOC Diner in Shelburne. Bonnie B’s came about by chance, although chance may be the wrong word. Brown believes that things happen as they are supposed to.

In 2017, she retired to help care for her ailing mother in Arizona. Her mother died before she could get there, however, and Brown and her sister decided to sell their mother’s house. Brown went to Arizona to help close up the house and then returned to Greenfield with a nest egg, her share of the sale proceeds.

Suddenly the space for Bonnie B’s, which had most recently been the Brass Buckle, became available.

“The funny thing is, I waited 30 years for this corner,” she said. “When I first came to Greenfield, that was where I wanted my restaurant.”

The building’s owner asked how long a lease Brown wanted. “I told him, ‘Eternity!’” she laughed.

Brown settled into the small space, which usually seats 45 but can squeeze in 50 when necessary. She renovated extensively, painted the walls a cheerful, blue-green shade and opened for business.

Bonnie B’s serves breakfast and lunch every day of the week except Wednesday, 7 a.m. to 2 p.m. Brown has an alternate cook whom she trusts, but usually she is at the restaurant by herself with a waitress or two.

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The other major member of the staff is Nyke, Brown’s German shepherd mix. Nyke is a registered support dog and is, in Brown’s words, “too cute not too love.” He charms the customers.

“If I’m having a conversation with the customers or the waitresses, he’s just joining in on the conversation,” Brown said.

Brown enjoys offering a completely homemade menu. Her eatery serves breakfast all day, and she prides herself on her pancakes and her egg dishes. When she worked at the now defunct Bill’s Restaurant, a Greenfield institution, she was known as “the omelet queen.”

Brown’s corned beef hash is also extremely popular with her customers, she told me. “They can see the love put into the corned beef hash.”

Her clientele is a mixture of regulars of all ages and travelers. She observed that Greenfield is the halfway point to a lot of destinations, including many ski resorts. The restaurant’s reputation is growing. She rejoiced that on a recent Sunday she had her busiest day ever.

Brown enjoys the open floor plan of her restaurant. “[Customers] can watch me cook. They can watch me prep the food. We have a small space, and I think we’ve utilized every inch of it … 

“We just want to make everybody full and happy. … We don’t turn anyone away. If you’ve got a couple of seconds to wait, we can fit you in,” she said with a smile.

Cooking six days a week for the restaurant clientele might daunt some, but Brown embraces that work and takes on catering gigs as well.

“I’ve been doing this a long time. I’m a multitasker,” she said.

When I asked Brown what recipe she wanted to feature in this column, she chose her Field of Dreams sandwich. She enjoys roasting her own turkey every week, and that roast turkey stars in the sandwich.

Bonnie B’s Field of Dreams

Ingredients:

■2 slices untoasted rye bread (Brown says that the bread can be varied or toasted, but she prefers it this way)

■Mayonnaise as needed

■Several leaves of lettuce (Brown prefers green leaf)

■2 slices tomato

■A small handful alfalfa sprouts

■4 generous slices oven-roasted turkey

■¼ avocado, sliced

■1 slice Swiss cheese

Instructions:

Spread mayonnaise on both slices of bread. On the first slice, pile some lettuce, the tomato and the alfalfa sprouts. Put more lettuce on the second slice, followed by the turkey, the avocado slices and the cheese.

Carefully put the two sides of the sandwich together, and place them on a plate. Use a toothpick to keep the sandwich together. (It’s quite thick.)

Serve with your favorite side dish. Brown likes her potato salad and/or coleslaw; both recipes come from her grandmother. Serves one generously. Brown said even people with large appetites often bring home part of the sandwich.

Tinky Weisblat is an award-winning author and singer. Her most recent book is “Pot Luck: Random Acts of Cooking.” Visit her website, TinkyCooks.com.

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