chardonnay leek sauce | Mass Food & Wine

Tipsy Goat Pie from Corner Grille on Pleasant Street in Worcester, MA

When I was first invited to join Worcester Foodies I wondered whether I needed to add a “pretentiously intellectual” section to my closet, perhaps some thick-rimmed glasses and a scarf from Namibia. I’ve been fortunate enough to have amazing experiences travelling around the world but I grew up in small town central Massachusetts and if the food’s good, I’ll eat it. Truthfully, if the food’s there I’ll eat it. Worcester Foodies turned out to be a collection of folks after my own heart, people who love experiencing new places and new tastes with good company. Corner Grille captures that essence perfectly.

A small, relaxed environment located on the road you’ve traveled every day but don’t always notice, Corner Grille makes luxurious food creations accessible. I know what you’re thinking: are you really calling pizza a luxurious food creation? The level of creativity and willingness to experiment involved in creating a pizza with chardonnay leek sauce, chicken, prosciutto, goat cheese, and arugula is not something you typically find in the place you stopped to grab a pie on the way home. Calling that creation The Tipsy Goat demonstrates precisely how Corner Grille makes “high-brow” taste accessible and fun. The pizza was delicious and surprisingly light, thanks in large part to the thin, crispy crust. Arugula can be overwhelming, but when combined with goat cheese it has a delightful flavor (a pairing I’ve enjoyed many times before).

The Foodies being a friendly bunch, I sampled several other pizzas and found all of them to be a delightful, unique, and exciting combination of flavors. With home-made juices, buffalo mac and cheese, and desserts piled high, Corner Grille has the comfort of a trip to your grandmother’s kitchen: your grandmother who studied at the finest culinary institutes in Europe. Rather than something to write home about, it’s something to write about at home.

In the pizza world there wages a lifelong turf battle between New York and Chicago -style pizzas, but in my book, it doesn’t get much better than the crispy thin crust offered by Corner Grille on Pleasant Street in Worcester, MA.

In Worcester, we get spoiled. We have old school pizzerias with great history, like Wonder Bar and even modern pizzerias like Volturno, which is the first restaurant in Massachusetts to be certified by the Association of Neapolitan Pizza Makers. So regardless the style or atmosphere, there is a pizza place for you. But if you ask anyone in Worcester who makes the best pizza (and WorcesterScene did) one place that is always near the top of the list is Corner Grille. A small, quirky restaurant with an extensive and creative variety of pizza, sandwiches, and more.

Following my love for white sauce, the Tipsy Goat Pie stood out because of its Chardonnay leek sauce, prosciutto, goat cheese, chicken and arugula. Fellow foodie, Lynn, once described the crust at Corner Grille as “crunchy thin” and she’s right. The pizza came out as a square flatbread, with thin crust (I did manage to barely get the New York fold on a few slices) and generous chicken, goat cheese, and arugula. The homemade Chardonnay leek sauce was artistically applied and made for a very enjoyable alternative to the traditional sauces. The crust, however, was the highlight as both the texture, thinness, and seasoning brought the toppings to a new level.

Despite my peers urging me to go for years, I am ashamed to say that this was my first experience at Corner Grille in part because it is “out of the way” from my normal route. But because it’s not right downtown, street parking isn’t an issue and it’s easy to find a seat in their cozy, 15-seat storefront. And, yes, they do take out. After sampling several other foodies’ pizzas, I decided that I needed one for the road. The server was quick to inform me the best way to re-heat the pizza—on the stove in a frying pan. She made me pinkie promise that I wouldn’t microwave or throw it in the oven and I’m glad that I did—it reheated like new.