A Quick Bite With | Page 5 of 10

Posted on March 22, 2017March 22, 2017 by Staff Writer

A Quick Bite with Cliff Rucker

The name Cliff Rucker has become synonymous with the future of Worcester and why not! Mr. Rucker is committed to bringing professional hockey back to Worcester in 2017 with the Worcester Railers, he is building a 100,000 square-foot skating rink in the heart of the Canal District, as well as numerous other proposed building projects in the City. But for our purposes, we are really interested in his eating habits and his relationship with local restaurant king, Michael Covino of Niche Hospitality. At Mass Foodies, we recently broke the news of Mr. Covino’s new dining concept, Nonna’s Kitchen and Café, to be housed in the aforementioned ice skating rink and featuring a style of pizza not currently found in Worcester. Long Island style pizza isn’t thin like Neapolitan, but not as thick as a Chicago deep dish or a Brooklyn Sicilian. That relationship led us to believe that Mr. Rucker might just be a foodie in business attire.

Cliff Rucker (Photo courtesy of MassLive.com)

First and foremost, let us be clear. Rucker is a man who simply enjoys a great meal by great people outside of the food chain phenomena. So, don’t expect to walk into your local Applebee’s to witness a feast led by Rucker. Instead, look for him in the crevices of the city and at local mom and pop shops. “We definitely stay away from chains,” says Rucker. “When we travel, sampling local cuisine is at the top of the list.” Luckily for Rucker, Worcester has morphed into a melting pot of food choices. Between the established local restaurants like the One Eleven Chop House or Niche’s The Fix Burger Bar, new up and comers like deadhorse hill and Lock 50, eclectic hole-in-the-wall restaurants like Talyta’s Café or Addie Lee’s Soul Food and the ever popular Hangover Pub, there is no real excuse to eat at a food chain. “With all the information about dining experiences available online, it is easy and fun to investigate a restaurant before you try it. Just remember, you can’t believe everything you read, so draw your own conclusions,” says Rucker.

Rucker is a lover of all things dinner time. “Like most people, I grab a quick breakfast on-the-go, usually a homemade smoothie and a muffin,” he says. “Lunch generally revolves around a business meeting but dinner is my time with my family. I usually try to be home for dinner with the family as often as possible. We have five children, so there is no such thing as a quiet meal at home but eating dinner with them has always been the highlight of my day. Watching my children interact with each other and evolve over the years at dinner has always been the reason behind why I get up and go to work every day.”

Dinner with family is always the right ingredient for a great night but at the Rucker house, and his wife and a few of her special recipes, are the star of the show. With an Italian heritage to back years of culinary skills, the Ruckers are fans of hearty, homemade dishes, but one is a crowd favorite. “My wife makes a fantastic chicken pot pie and I am a big comfort food kind-of-guy and I don’t want to ever live without her chicken pot pie.” If those words don’t melt your foodie heart, then we don’t know what will.

A family man in love with his wife’s chicken pot pie, Rucker also loves being around friends and enjoying dinner the good ol’ Italian way – with a lot of wine. “Hosting a dinner for six friends isn’t at the top of our list of “fun” things, mostly because of all of the prepping before and cleaning after,” he says. “I love going out to an upscale Italian restaurant and ordering a lot of courses: soups, salads, pasta dishes and a main course, just like in Italy. With a lot of wine and being very loud.”

Mr. Rucker is clearly making his mark in Worcester and we think, the community will be better off for it!

Posted on February 24, 2017February 20, 2017 by Staff Writer

A Quick Bite With Jessica Walsh

Jessica Walsh from Worcester Wares sitting down with Mass Foodies for "A Quick Bite" at deadhorse hill.

They say the most important meal of the day is breakfast, but for Jessica Walsh, only one meal really makes her happy and that’s dinner. “I grew up in an Italian household where dinner was a big deal every night. My father asked my mother, every morning over a cup of coffee, ‘what’s for dinner tonight?’ and I’ve learned to think the same,” she says.

When you think of Italian food, the closest association is the thought of an endless bowl of fettucine alfredo or a hearty slice of pizza, but the culinary history of Italy is far deeper than that your average slice of faux-authentic pizza. Walsh, owner of the new Worcester loving retail space, Worcester Wares, stays true to her roots when playing capocuco in the kitchen. Prepping dinner for six close friends at the Walsh house is like walking into Rome and asking the chef to make you the best dish they have. “Making food for friends would entail making the traditional Italian dish, braciole – think steak rolled up with prosciutto, garlic, parmesan cheese and simmered in a deliciously rich tomato sauce,” says Walsh. “I’d serve it over penne – because, why not – and I would even start the dinner with a tomato and mozzarella salad and end it with a raspberry chocolate tart for dessert.” If eating with Walsh is like this for her closest of friends, we need to be part of this circle.

While growing up Italian instilled a culinary trait at the heart of Walsh’s personality, it also created a lover and admirer of all foods. “My dining room table and kitchen counter is where I’ve had some of my most favorite and meaningful conversations of my life – over the exchange of food – but I love dining out too. Especially in Worcester,” smiles Walsh.

Standing tall for her love of Worcester and as a supporter of the Renaissance movement circling every corner of the city, Walsh can’t help but dive into some of the latest additions to the local food hub. “I frequent many places in Worcester – including Figs & Pigs, Wooberry, Lock 50, Dalat, BirchTree Bread Company and deadhorse hill, to name a few and the best part of dining out in the local food scene is that I always run into someone I know. People I may only see in a professional capacity, I can see out of the job and in a real setting. Food is a great equalizer.”

“As much as I would want to have great food at any dining experience – it would be just as important to me to have great company to share the meal with,” she says. “Everything tastes better when you eat it with the people you love and I know its cliché but it’s true. Throughout my life, food was always part of the moment we all stopped to connect. It provided a break from the rest of the day and stress. I’m just happiest when eating with friends and loved ones – whether it is around my kitchen table or out at a local place.”

Living without food is like living without air and we can all attest to this. Whether you are eating for necessity or pure enjoyment, there is nothing like biting into your favorite dish after a long day and for Walsh, that means tacos at El Patron. “It’s all about those carnitas and green sauce,” says Walsh. “I love my mom’s ‘party cake’ – a coconut, pineapple cake with homemade cream cheese frosting and her meatballs and I love my mother-in-law’s pork pies which she serves with pickled beets and gherkins but anyone who knows me, knows that I am the absolute happiest when I’m eating tacos.” We can’t find a way to disagree with her. The tacos at El Patron are authentic and the serving portion is large, so after a long day of supporting the “Love Worcester” movement, sitting down at El Patron with a tequila drink, a taco and some close friends, is the ideal way to spend a Wednesday evening.