Like the tree that falls in the woods when no one is around to hear it, does a culinary movement exist if foodies haven’t yet anointed it with a clever epithet? Craig Bero, longtime restaurateur and owner of Pleasant & Main in Housatonic, one of many small, picturesque villages in the Berkshires of Western Massachusetts, thinks so. For more than 30 years, he’s been following the farm-to-table philosophy, even if he’s referred to it by one simple name: good food.

Bero grew up on a farm in a small town in northern Wisconsin. An early interest in food led him to the kitchens of the town’s Italian grandmothers, who taught him to cook quality ingredients sourced locally and prepared honestly, with no pretension. He earned a degree in theater from the University of Wisconsin, and moved to New York City in 1977 to act and do set design, among other jobs.

Bero’s skill in the kitchen soon became the main attraction. He opened a string of beloved West Village restaurants, from Anglers & Writers to Atelier and the Bespeckled Trout, which were frequented by the likes of writers Calvin Trillin and David Mamet and actors Julia Roberts and Danny DeVito. “I lived and breathed the Village,” Bero says.

Then came September 11, 2001. Some of his restaurants sustained damage; others suffered from blocked street access. The once-steady flow of customers slowed to a trickle. He tried moving operations to Tribeca, but of his new venture, the Cosmopolitan Café, Bero, recounts, “Something about the spirit wasn’t the same. Maybe it was that the clientele was younger and had grown up on chains like Starbucks.” He passes a hand over his forehead, still sweat-beaded from the kitchen. “There just wasn’t an appreciation of what I was doing anymore.”

When Bero’s landlord announced a tenfold rent increase in 2014, he and chef Sixto Rodriguez had packed everything in a moving truck and hightailed it to the Berkshires, where Bero’s mother had lived, and noticed a For Rent sign on the former Jack’s Grill storefront.

The space—and the town—felt like home. “There was something so reminiscent about Housatonic,” he says. “The mill had left, the fabric industry was gone. It was down to the original immigrant community and their kids, plus some new families. We thought, ‘Maybe we’ll draw a clientele.’”

Bero spent much of the winter renovating the 5,000-square-foot venue into a charismatic mash-up of spaces. There’s Pleasant & Main’s open, light-filled dining room, with a combination of communal and small tables. Bero’s collection of antiques—many from his family’s farm—line the built-in shelves. He also transformed the area in back, where high stone walls bear witness to an old coal-storage barn that collapsed long ago. Now customers can kick back on the oasislike garden patio.

The garden has become a source of inspiration for Bero, who grows berries and fruit, wild ginger, and herbs. He also harvests wild mushrooms, such as hen of the woods and morels, and fresh river trout. These ingredients, part of the fabric of the Berkshires, are transformed into recipes like Swedish berry pancakes, stuffed mountain trout or apple-smoked trout, and Cornish hen with cherry sauce.

As always, Bero’s focus remains on pared-down, local ingredients prepared with a masterful attention to flavors. He serves five different local varieties of breakfast potatoes in the winter. He spends hours simmering wild game bones into stocks. He delights in slow-roasting, extracting the flavors from all sorts of foods, from heirloom carrots to pot roast. But mostly, he’s happy to feel excited about food again, based on what was in or on the ground mere hours ago.

“The clients here are more laid back—they’re real people,” he says. “They aren’t here to see 29 menus and pay hundreds of dollars. I’d much rather make these people really happy.”

While that might sound like a platitude from anyone else, for Bero, it’s as uncontrived as the food at Pleasant & Main. He proudly displays a thank-you note left by an elated pair of travelers, and ticks off a list of events he hosts for the community: birthday and anniversary parties, funerals, church brunches, a free Christmas Day breakfast, and three-times-weekly, three-course community suppers for $15. And don’t forget the fish fry on Fridays, featuring New England treasures like an oyster bar, lobster rolls, clam fritters, and fish burgers.

Bero often works 14-hour days to make this intricate dance happen, but he’s showing no signs of easing up. He’s planning to debut fresh potato rolls made in a vintage Vermont Castings oven he’s reconditioning, and is prepping a range of fall and winter events, from a Halloween party to Thanksgiving dinner and winter brunches. He’s also considering live-theater performances.

Though Bero knows Pleasant & Main is in a quiet building phase, he’s just fine with that. “Being under the radar allows me to do what I’m doing,” he notes. “We’re here for the community. There aren’t as many expectations.” There are, however, plenty of inspirations to be found as far as the Berkshire landscape takes him.