Crumbs

Tiny Montgomery Center is on its way to becoming a tourist destination — and, perhaps, a culinary one. When the Inn [1] opens this weekend at 241 Main Street, it will give that building a very different character from its predecessor, the Inn on Trout River.

Scott Pasfield [2], the photographer behind the book Gay in America, and his partner, Nick Barletta, purchased the inn last spring and worked on renovating the space into something worthy of a Travel + Leisure photo shoot. They recruited New York consultant Wil Crutchley to assemble a small-plates pub menu that the public can taste this Saturday. Pasfield says to expect the opening of an additional, fine-dining restaurant as soon as next month.

For now, the pub will serve what Pasfield calls “reinvented, worldly comfort food.” On a given night, fare might range from Cabot cheddar fondue and chicken livers with deviled eggs to pad Thai and potstickers, he says.

— A.L.

*****

It’s hard to fathom, but Hill Farmstead Brewery [3] beer may be even more in demand now that the January 2013 issue of Vanity Fair, featuring brewer Shaun Hill, has hit the newsstands.

In “Setting the Bar,” a grinning Hill appears alongside pictures of both his brewery and his beers, which writer Spike Carter says are “delicious enough to win over wine-and-spirit lovers” because some of them, such as the bourbon-barrel-aged porter Birth of Tragedy, blur the line between wine and beer at first sip.

Carter is clearly smitten; maybe Vanity Fair’s 1.2 million subscribers will soon be, too.

— C.H.