Tag: Michael Covino

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Niche To Open New Restaurant In Canal District

Niche Hospitality Group's newest restaurant, Nonna's Kitchen, will open in 2017 at the Ice Rink in the Canal District

Niche Hospitality Group’s newest brand, Nonna’s Pizza & Pasta, is set to open in the Canal District later this year.

Nearly a year ago, when Craig Blais of the WBDC introduced Cliff Rucker to Michael Covino, it was to first to help advise on how to grow the Worcester community through Cliff’s hockey vision, the Worcester Railers. Today, the relationship has evolved into a passion for local community and has created a new Niche Hospitality Group brand to live in the heart of the Canal District. While the Ice Center will be kicking off the hockey season in October 2017, Niche Hospitality Group is putting all efforts into a new restaurant concept opening in the late summer. The concept echos the relationship between Rucker and Covino, as well as the ever-growing movement in Worcester: Community.

Niche Hospitality Group—the parent company behind Bocado, The Citizen, Mezcal, The Fix, and Rye & Thyme American Tavern—prides itself on creating unique dining experiences and the latest venture will be nothing short of what we have come to expect. Opening late summer 2017, Nonna’s Pizza & Pasta will be located inside the Ice Center and embrace the Italian family-style dining concept with a menu focusing on pizza and pasta. While pizza and pasta may not be new to the local culinary scene, it will certainly add variety when it comes to family dining. “The goal of the restaurant is to be family-focused and offer a pizza style that the city has yet to see,” says Covino. Worcester’s pizza offerings have expanded recently, with the introduction of Dacosta’s Pizza Bakery and Volturno, but with Nonna’s Pizza & Pasta, Niche Hospitality Group is on the mission to take pizza in a different direction with an emphasis on Long Island style pizza – a pizza that isn’t thin like Neapolitan, but not as thick as a Chicago deep dish or a Brooklyn Sicilian.

The inspiration for this new restaurant is personal, with a tip of the hat to Rucker’s mother-in-law, Erasmina Piccirilli. Piccirilli immigrated from Italy when she was eight months pregnant with Cliff’s now wife, Susan. Her family set roots in Somerville, MA where home cooking took center stage. Although she never mastered the English language, or registered for a driver’s license, her cooking remains—to this day—an indescribable experience. Rucker and Susan have been married for 30 years, but that doesn’t stop his face from lighting up when thinking about Sunday dinner at Piccirilli’s home. “Every one of her dishes are infused with an indescribable level of unparalleled expertise and they fill your belly and warm your soul,” Rucker continued, “Nonna’s will pay homage to my mother-in-law and all other ‘Nonnas’ who have nourished the spirits of their families with a home-cooked Italian feast.”

With 120 seats, Nonna’s Pizza & Pasta will also redefine how we look at Italian cuisine, with two-floors, a full liquor license, including beer and wine on tap and whole lot of growing room. While eating at Nonna’s will be like Sunday dinner at grandma’s house, it will also cater to the fast-casual aspect of Italian cuisine with an “order-at-the-counter and go” feature. Offering pizza by the slice, half tray and full tray, deciding whether to eat-in or dine-out will be the only tough choice.

While the Nonna’s brand hasn’t launched yet, it is already growing… STEAM, also located in the Ice Center will serve coffee, Gelato (now you won’t have to travel to Eataly in Boston) and desserts. STEAM will be a quick pick-me-up for hockey fans while watching the game.

Keeping their focus on building community, Rucker and Covino are expanding their relationship in other ways also. Niche Hospitality Group was recently hired to create the Railer’s Sports Tavern on 90 Commercial Street, helping to provide a place for hockey fans to pregame and watch away games while enjoying a beer and pub style food.

Covino and Rucker are on a mission, whether it is building Nonna’s Pizza & Pasta, STEAM, or the Railer’s Sports Tavern they are strengthening Worcester’s community with food and adding to the dynamic fabric of the culinary capital of New England.

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Chef’s Best: The Champagne Experience

Chef Steve Champagne introducing the first course at the Chef's Best dinner at Bocado in Wellesley, MA.
Michael Covino, president of Niche Hospitality Group, talking to attendees about each wine pairing during Chef's Best: The Champagne Experience at Bocado in Wellesley, MA
Michael Covino, president of Niche Hospitality Group, talking to attendees about each wine pairing during Chef’s Best: The Champagne Experience at Bocado in Wellesley, MA

Mass Foodies celebrated the fifth installment of their popular Chef’s Best dinner series at Bocado Wellesley. Touted as “The Champagne Experience”, eager guests arrived for an evening of food, fun, and education as Executive Chef Steve Champagne created a unique and flavorful dining experience for his guests.

Bocado Tapas Bar has restaurants in Worcester, Providence, and Wellesley and has introduced the concept of tapas dining (small dishes to be shared) to thousands of New England diners each year. In Spain, tapas are a way of life, infusing a sense of home with the social connection so many yearn to create. But for The Champagne Experience, Chef Champagne and his team stepped outside the tapas box, pushed the limits of creativity and delivered a meal his guests will be talking about for a long time.

Pan-Roasted Bacon-Wrapped Short Rib: Charcoal charred celery root purée, mushroom conserve, rioja glaze
Pan-Roasted Bacon-Wrapped Short Rib: Charcoal charred celery root purée, mushroom conserve, rioja glaze

Expectations where high and Bocado delivered as the night began with an elegant display of artisan cheeses and charcuterie, assorted pinchos and tapas. From the start, the dishes became a transformative experience, bringing out the Spanish admirer within everyone. As Chef Champagne expressed his passions for foods and inspirations found in the Spanish culture, Michael Covino, President of Niche Hospitality Group, complemented each dish with a perfectly paired glass of vino.

Diverse, eclectic and true to form, the first three courses inspired the palates of each guest, bringing approval with every bite. The Josper Grilled Octopus Salad – a salad of beet carpaccio, parsnip, carrots, micro arugula, lemon and olive oil blended with a sherry balsamic, Maldon salt and crispy shallots – was a light start to the meals. A delicately presented dish with a fresh scent, the Josper Grilled Octopus Salad was served with a glass of La Cana (Albarino) wine.

 

Kurobuta Pork Loin: Roasted Brussels, buttercup squash, foie gras maple syrup, crumbled house sausage
Kurobuta Pork Loin: Roasted Brussels, buttercup squash, foie gras maple syrup, crumbled house sausage

Diving into the second course, Chef Chamagne’s creative interpretation of a “Spanish Western Omelet” was an easy way to open up the appetite of the room for a savory dish follow-up. Paired with the Muga Rosé from Rioja, Spain, this dish was a great example of the event’s purpose: to blend tastes from Spain and The West. “Rioja, Spain is not seen as a destination for visitors but it is a must if wine is of importance,” said Covino. “The Rose is made from red grapes and a mix of old and new world. While some of the blend is created in oak barrels the other is kept in stainless steel for freshness and youth,” he added.

Lemon Olive Oil Cake: Currata, honey roasted apples, toasted salty caramel
Lemon Olive Oil Cake: Currata, honey roasted apples, toasted salty caramel

The pork was featured next, with two interpretations of the succulent meat for the third and fourth course. First, a Kurobuta Pork consisting of Berkshire pork, roasted Brussels, buttercup squash, foie gras maple syrup and crumbled host sausage was paired with a glass of El Chaparral – a French influenced wine created by a one-woman wine maker in Spain. This medium red wine is bottled in a Burgundy-style bottle to connect to its French roots, and paired perfectly with the pork. Next, a Roasted Bacon-Wrapped Short Rib served over a charcoal-charred celery root puree, with mushroom conserva, rioja sauce and fried capers was served with a glass of Alonso del Yerro. This wine is bottled along the river, in higher temperatures, giving it a stronger structure, deep red color and incredibly rich and powerful flavors which complemented the rich meaty short rib.

Ending the night was bittersweet but delicious as guests were presented with a Lemon Olive Cake lined with honey roasted apples, salted caramel sauce, and burrata cheese.

The tour of Spain presented by Chef Champagne lasted only three hours, but will not be easily forgotten by the folks that attended. At the hands of Chef Champagne, the event truly embodied the concept of Chef’s Best, encouraging Chef Champagne to go beyond the Bocado brand and create dishes he considers his best.