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Chicken Francais from O'Connor's on West Boylston Street in Worcester, MA

O’Connor’s sits on Rt 12, almost on the border of West Boylston, at the outskirts of the city. While it’s not part of the downtown scene, it’s well worth the visit for a really good meal and a great selection of beer. The restaurant is very large with a large seating capacity, but it can still fill up easily.

We opened our dinner with the Shillelagh Sticks, which is corned beef rolled in a puff pastry dusted with spices. The corned beef is ground, seasoned and almost creamy while the flaky puff pastry offers a great contrast to the meat filling. Corned beef can be on the salty side, but these little gems are cooked perfectly and delicious. Overall, one of my favorite appetizers anywhere in Worcester.

Next up was a cup of a Creamy Onion Soup, which was a special soup of the day. This was cream based but not too rich and loaded with well cooked onions and croutons. The flavor packed into this little soup was amazing and the flavors quite complex. I found myself wishing I had a full bowl instead of just a cup.

For dinner, I had the O’Connor’s Chicken Francaise. This consists of 3 chicken tenderloins, coated in an egg and parmesan batter and drizzled with a lemon butter sauce. The tenderloins were each fairly good sized and were served with sauteed baby carrots and a mixed vegetable medley. The chicken was cooked to perfection, being both juicy and tender enough to cut with my fork. The batter was pretty light and not overpowering, but was very flavorful and added a really nice layer of flavor with just a hint of lemon. The vegetables were cooked perfectly as well, slightly al dente and seasoned nicely with fresh herbs. Overall a fantastic meal and one I would certainly order again.

Crunchy Burger from The Fix on Shrewsbury Street in Worcester, MA

The recently renovated space formerly occupied by the departure of the original Mezcal to their new larger restaurant lends itself well to Niche Hospitality Groups latest venture. The Fix is a welcome addition to Shrewsbury Street offering higher end burgers, cocktails and shakes.

After reviewing the menu I opted for a fairly traditional burger called “The Crunchy” which was their house hamburger mix topped with fried prosciutto, a Parmesan crisp, potato chips and garlic mayo, mustard and pickles on a sesame roll. For good measure (and to add a little health to this burger) I opted to add avocado. The burger was a well prepared perfectly cooked top quality hamburger. The Parmesan crisp was the highlight of the burger served like a slice of cheese this baked crunchy Parmesan crisp was a guilty pleasure similar to when you make a grilled cheese and eat the cheese that has crisped up in the bottom of the frying pan. The crispy prosciutto and avocado also added to make this a great burger.

The one area that I think could use a little improvement would be the fries. The fries I had as well as the other varieties I sampled all seemed like they could have benefitted from a little more seasoning and being a little crispier. Overall The Fix is a great choice if you are looking for a gourmet burger. The staff was friendly and helpful and the burgers were worth the trip.