Worcester Business Journal

with sour cream, beets and horseradish at deadhorse hill; to the Hangover Pub's "crab rangoon" – scallion pancakes topped with scrambled eggs, kimchi, cream cheese, fresh lump crab and fresh jalapenos. All of those restaurants opened in the last year. According to the Worcester Regional Chamber of Commerce, 60 new restaurants have started the per- mitting process in the city over the last 18 months. Interest has been city-wide, but downtown in partic- ular is getting a lot of attention, said Andreoli. "You have the success of Hanover Theatre, the redevelopment of a downtown, [so] you now are see- ing all the parts in motion," said Luke Vaillancourt, the founder of Mass Foodies, a restaurant review and promotion organization. "Worcester is interesting in that each pocket – Shrewsbury Street, Downtown, Canal District, and such – has activity." New restaurant in up-and-coming city Downtown was a big pull for the owners of dead- horse hill – Jared Forman, Sean Woods, and Albert LaValley – with the Palladium, the DCU Center and the Hanover Theatre driving traffic to their restaurant, which opened on Main Street last May. Woods, who runs the beverage program, is a musi- cian who has worked at Boston restaurants and cock- tail bars. Forman, the chef, is a Brooklyn native who has cooked in New York City, on the Food Network's "Cutthroat Kitchen," and in Boston, where he met Woods. And LaValley, the CFO, is a WPI grad. Forman was on his way back to cook in NYC when Woods approached him about opening up a restaurant in Worcester, as the trio was attracted to emphasizing quality food and drink in an up-and-coming city. "The city's kind of got a clean slate, and we're kind of on the leading edge," Forman said. "That was really important to us, to make a big splash in a small city." Worcester's foodie turning point Long-time restaurants like Dino's Restaurant, Leo's Ristorante, and the Ahlquists' Sole and 111 Chop House stood the test of time because of their reputa- tions and consistency, Vaillancourt said. Yet, the turn- ing point started in 2005 with Block Five opening in the Canal District, the first restaurant from the team that became the Niche Hospitality Group. "Because of Block Five, restaurants and chefs have been able to take risks," he said. Today, Niche operates seven restaurants in Worcester, Wellesley and Leominster, including the Fix Burger Bar and Mezcal Tequila Cantina. Back when Niche started, Worcester's food scene lacked depth, said Owner Mike Covino. "People in Worcester ... traveled outside the area to get more depth with their dining," Covino said. "After we opened, they were grateful, and they thanked us." Cooperation, not competition While Niche served as a turning point for the city's food scene, downtown started to get attention after Sherri Sadowski and Alec Lopez opened their gastro- pub Armsby Abbey in 2008 on Main Street. "Its early focus on beer allowed them to be one of the first restaurants in the country to bring the craft craze to the public," said Vaillancourt. "They were also able to capitalize on exclusivity in the marketplace which allowed them to introduce two new concepts: local eating and sustainability." Sadowski and Lopez opened Armsby after a bad dinner at an unnamed Shrewsbury Street restaurant and felt they could do better. Lopez said he was skep- tical of opening on Main Street – he hung up on Sadowski after she said she found a spot downtown – but 10 minutes later called her back, standing in front of what would become Armsby, saying it was perfect. "Regardless of what North Main Street was, eventu- ally it was going to gentrify in a way where it had to be something," Sadowski said. "To me, it seemed someone was overlooking this amazing location, and for us it was the perfect spot to do what we wanted." V eteran bartender and beverage consul- tant Ryan Goodspeed has advised cruise ships, Fortune 500 companies, restaurants and others on their drink programs. Now, the Central Massachusetts native is back at home and has been tasked with amplifying the bar program at Sweet Kitchen & Bar on Shrewsbury Street. Goodspeed left the Worcester area when he was 20 to go to college in Santa Barbara, Calif., before moving to Los Angeles for three years, and finally to Miami, where he worked for over seven years as beverage director for Genuine Hospitality Group, a recipient of the prestigious James Beard Award. Family reasons brought him back to the Worcester area, and while looking for jobs, he found an advertisement for a bartender at Sweet. After a conversation with Executive Chef Alina Eisenhauer, he read between the lines and saw she was actually looking to elevate the restaurant as a whole. "I was starting to feel like, 'You placed an ad for a bartender, but this is like a whole other thing you're talking about,'" said Goodspeed, who joined Sweet in December. By raising the level of the food, the beverage program, the service and the profile of its event space, Eisenhauer hopes Sweet will start to be- come more widely recognized as a full-service restaurant – not just a place to grab dessert. "This is a big piece of making that happen – elevating everything, starting with the bever- age program," she said. "We're bringing wine service, dinner service, everything to a new level and making this a full service restaurant that can stand up to other full service restaurants in the city." He may have come back to the area for personal reasons, but Goodspeed said he's ex- cited to be a part of the burgeoning Worcester restaurant scene. "I'm happy to be here and would love to make good use of my time by bringing any and all experience and awareness to the scene here," he said. Bringing back local restaurant talent BY LAURA FINALDI Worcester Business Journal Staff Writer Ryan Goodpseed, beverage director, Sweet Kitchen & Bar Well-executed seafood dishes have been the hallmark of The Sole Proprietor, including salmon with tomato basil vinaigrette, herb roasted swordfish and haddock with blue crab crust. W P H O T O / N A T H A N F I S K E P H O T O / L A U R A F I N A L D I 10 Worcester Business Journal | January 23, 2017 | wbjournal.com

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