Worcester Business Journal

12 Worcester Business Journal | September 30, 2019 | wbjournal.com Creating a scene Although well-regarded restaurants have opened in the city, Worcester still fights for talented chefs & industry respect BY GRANT WELKER Worcester Business Journal News Editor F O C U S F O O D & D R I N K I S S U E H appenstance largely created in 2016 what could be Worcester's most acclaimed restaurant. Chef Jared Forman helped lead the opening of Main Street eatery deadhorse hill aer joining from renowned restaurants in New York City and Greater Boston, where he met dead- horse co-founder Sean Woods when they both worked at Strip-T's, a celebrated but now-closed eatery in Watertown. Woods, a Worcester native, helped draw in Forman, who in his native NYC worked under some of the country's most accomplished chefs at Per Se and Gramercy Tavern. Worcester's dining options have inarguably improved in quantity and quality in the last decade, with high-pro- file restaurants opening during that time including deadhorse hill and sister restaurant simjang, Armsby Abbey, Volturno and BirchTree Bread Co. One ingredient remains missing though: respect from the top organiza- tions in the industry bestowing awards and recommendations that lend credibil- ity, create buzz in culinary circles, attract other high-striving chefs, and burnish a city's reputation as a destination for creativity and innovation in cuisine. Worcester and Central Massachusetts have struck out when it comes to top industry prizes, including the James Beard Award, the highest industry honor, for which the region has had no semifinalists; the travel agency AAA's four- or five-diamond ratings, or Forbes Travel Guide five-star honors. Zagat, a well-known restaurant industry guide, doesn't publish a Worcester edition. For Worcester restaurants to earn those honors, it will likely take more Formans, more deadhorse hills, and other notable chefs and restaurants who made their name in the city in the past decade. "I don't know that there's a silver bul- let," Forman said, believing an improved downtown and support for a dining culture in Worcester can give the city the dining recognition it's looking for. In the meantime, if that lack of prestige is a sign, it may be that it's still early in Worcester's growth curve as a dining destination on par with Portland, Maine, or Providence. "at comes with time. at doesn't happen right away with a few chefs going out there," said Bob Luz, the pres- ident and CEO of the Massachusetts Restaurant Association. "It's not outside the question that it won't be too long until we see someone nominated [for a James Beard Award] from Worcester," Luz said. "We're close." Becoming a foodie destination A range of factors can contribute to such notoriety: cheaper costs for restaurateurs than in larger cities, a tourism industry bringing a steady stream of visitors, or the right market- ing or culinary events drawing from a broader area. Worcester has been touting its restau- rants. Discover Central Massachusetts, the government-funded tourism office for the region, has marketed the city's restaurants on billboards by Boston's South Station, placed radio ads on WGBH and print ads in Boston maga- zine and Edible Boston, and sponsored restaurant content on Yankee Maga- zine's website. "It's important for Worcester to have a diverse array of dining options – that can range from a high-end steakhouse to a small and intimate ethnic eatery. In my opinion and based on what Jared Forman, the chef at Worcester restaurant deadhorse hill, has worked at some of the most acclaimed restaurants in his native New York City. In just a few years, his Worcester restaurant has become perhaps the city's most notable in culinary circles. PHOTO/MATT WRIGHT

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