On November 2nd, Executive Chef Bill Brady hosted the first exclusive chef’s dinner in Sonoma’s new home at The Beechwood Hotel. The guest list included members of the local media who took to the distinct space right away, slurping down oysters and sipping on champagne like old friends.
There was a great deal of reminiscing about Worcester’s restaurant renaissance throughout the night and I did my best to learn from those who have watched the city’s transformation carefully for decades. Telegram & Gazette correspondent, Barbara M. Houle and International Hotel Management and Development President, Sayed M. Saleh, exchanged one extraordinary culinary story after another. (I was pleased, for instance, to learn that the late American chef, Julia Child, served Goldfish Crackers at all of her house parties.) I sat alongside Jim Eber of Mass Foodies, pressing him for details about what it was like to work closely with Thomas Keller of The French Laundry. The evening was a freshman food writer’s dream.
For Chef Brady, there may have been a marked shift in adapting from a “five-day dinner house” to a “six o’clock in the morning to midnight, seven days a week, yearlong operation,” but one would never know it by the look of things. Sonoma’s servers are as attentive as ever, but now they operate beneath the regal sheen of The Beechwood’s stained glass dome.
Brady began washing dishes in a Leominster restaurant at age 13 and never left the kitchen. Formally educated at Johnson & Wales, he completed stints in New York City and Florida before returning home to Central Massachusetts where he settled down with his wife and children. His humble simplification that he’s, “been a part of the Central Mass fabric for quite some time now,” is an understatement, to say the least. Not only has Brady maintained one of the most successful area restaurants over the last two decades, he has also served as an effective culinary educator at both Monty Tech and Worcester Technical High School. Brady credits his ability to balance simultaneous careers to his incredible staff, but I imagine his work ethic had something to do with it as well.
Sonoma remarkably retained all of its staff in the transition, as well as that of the previous tenant, Ceres Bistro. Beechwood Co-owners Dr. Charles and Janet Birbara, detected a unique synergy with Sonoma from the beginning. During an opening toast last night, Dr. Birbara recalled his strong instinct that Brady would be the only chef capable of elevating the one-of-a-kind boutique space to an entirely new plane. If last night’s four-course affair was any indication, Birbara may very well be correct.
We dined like kings on sweet potato and ricotta gnocchi with pancetta and escargot, mushroom and goat cheese strudel, and char-grilled Korean short rib. When our server poured off glasses of the 2012 Trimbach Pinot Noir Reserve, a bewitching aroma took to the air with the resonance of a summer strawberry patch.
Sonoma will not only draw its regulars from Princeton to the city, it will also leave a lasting impression on guests of the elite hotel and the proud citizens of its new Worcester neighborhood. Just, don’t ask Brady to pick his favorite dish on the new menu, because he’ll tell you that’s like asking him to choose his favorite child. You will simply have to try everything for yourself.