Tag: Ceres Bistro

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4 Great Places in Central Mass to Dine Outdoors

A group of diners enjoying the weather at Ceres Bistro in Worcester, MA

Central Massachusetts’ all too short outdoor dining season has begun…with many local eateries capitalizing on the good weather and offering dining al fresco!

Dining outdoors means different things to different restaurants. Some restaurants, like Volturno, Lock 50, La Scala, Vintage Grille and The Mill 185 have built large open-air patios outfitted to take advantage of the good weather months. Others like Nuovo, Meze, Brew City and Corner Grille set up tables on the sidewalks in front of their restaurants giving your meal a bit more of an urban feel. Mezcal in Worcester brings the outdoors inside by opening the floor-to-ceiling glass doors while their Leominster location offers patio dining under umbrellas. Looking for waterfront dining? Guiseppe’s in Northborough offers upscale dining on a deck overlooking Solomon Pond and Point Breeze on Lake Webster bring deck dining (and drinking) to a whole new level. Still others like Smokestack, The Citizen and VIA offer covered patios to extend the outdoor dining experience even when Mother Nature doesn’t fully cooperate.

So whether it’s a quiet spot to enjoy a romantic dinner, a sun-drenched patio to people watch or dinner on the deck lakeside with cocktails and friends, there is an al fresco spot to match any occasion and mood!

Here are a few of our favorite places to eat, drink and enjoy the good weather months while they last!

Ceres Bistro

One of Worcester’s most elegant outdoor dining experiences, Ceres Bistro offers full-menu dining in the garden patio surrounded by luxurious plantings, flowers and landscaping. Live jazz on Thursday evenings and drinks at the open-air bar are also popular in the warmer months!

Flying Rhino

For outdoor dining, Flying Rhino has it all. Tables with umbrellas on the sidewalk for that urban feel, a huge outdoor deck for a more casual, relaxed experience and one weekend every summer, they transform their parking lot into a full blown, stick your feet in the sand beach and cookout experience that will make you forget you are on Shrewsbury St. One of the more popular decks in Worcester so get here early if you want a table.

Zorba’s

At Zorba’s Worcester location, you can enjoy a full Greek dining experience under an enormous covered patio that runs the entire length of the front of the restaurant. A summer experience not to be missed is enjoying one of their famous sangrias and a selection of meze’s on this patio! And for when the weather isn’t perfect, Zorba’s patio is covered to make sure you can still enjoy the experience.

NU Café

Located right outside the front door, the big comfortable patio at NU Café features lots of tables with umbrellas to relax and enjoy coffee, fruit smoothies, breakfast and lunch. A great place anytime of the day, the patio at NU Café sits off the street, making it a quiet oasis from the hectic pace of the day.

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A Quick Bite With Dale LePage

Dale LePage (Photograph by John Preves)

For thousands of years, food has become a synonymous component of success. Books, journal articles and scientific research have all indicated its enormous function in the equation for a healthy and productive lifestyle. These studies boost the utopian living of homegrown, organic, in-your-backyard, eating habits that suggest it is the fundamental distinction between successful and unsuccessful people, assuming that all of the Greats cooked, ate and digested the holy grail of foods leading them to the top of the totem pole.

Dale LePage taking the microphone and performing to a private crowd in Sutton, MA
Dale LePage taking the microphone with his trio during a private performance at Vaillancourt Folk Art in Sutton, MA

“Food and my success? Nope, I rarely cook. I once sprained my wrist cracking an egg,” exclaims Dale LePage, multi-award winning New England Entertainer. “When I do cook, my husband is surprised if it has any taste at all.”

LePage is a connoisseur of personality. A vibrant being in the center of it all. A jack-of-all trades in the entertainment industry but don’t connect his eating habits with that of the path to success, because the last place you will find LePage is in the kitchen baking cookies.

“Preparing a meal would include sharp tools and my husband, Jeff Burk, keeps that drawer locked,” says LePage. “I appreciate the experience of five-star dining, instead.” While appreciating the culinary skills of Chefs and their ability to cultivate dishes that entice every human sense, for LePage, the restaurant dining experience is about more than just the food. “Although, I understand all of the hard work that goes into preparing a five-star cuisine, the one thing that sets the mood for me, when dining, is the wait staff.  Having a great wait staff will set the tone for the entire evening. As of now, the best service I’ve had was at Padavano’s Place. Oh, and if you go, don’t forget to try the Chicken Marsala.”

Personality is contagious. Laughter, smiles and a good attitude is said to be infectious and for LePage, the friendliness, ability and personality of the wait staff can shake off the heebie-jeebies of a bad dish.

While craving for top-notch experience and the ability to indulge in pre-prepped meals to order, he appreciates the very foundation of the food culture – the piece of the equation making eating all worth wild; comfort foods. “I have always been a fan of comfort foods. My mom used to make the best Sheppard’s pie, but with a recent trip to EVO, deciding on who owns the title of Best Sheppard’s Pie is a tough call – but don’t worry mom, yours is still the best,” he says.

Although, cooking is not a routine part of the day for LePage – a man boosting a hectic schedule between television hosting for Worcester Pride TV and Woo Tube and performing across New England – it is ultimately a piece of his life that brings an enormous level of humility and satisfaction; that is, as long as someone else is cooking. “Whenever we host a dinner party, we are sure to be clear on the invitation that Jeff is cooking. To ensure that people come,” says LePage, as he continues to describe his affection for the dinner parties with family and friends. “Even on nights we dine out, I love getting together with friends for dinner. My favorite is gathering a group of six close friends and heading to Sweet for appetizers, then walking over to Nuovo Restaurant for dinner – which is where I’ve had the best salmon of my life – then we continue the night at Ceres Bistro for drinks on their patio. After a long night, we usually end up at Nick’s on Millbury Street for an amazing homemade ginger bread topped with whipped cream, to appreciate the music. With everyone on social media, tweeting, sharing photos on Facebook and yelping, I find new places to eat all the time.”