Nuovo Restaurant announced last week that they’ve tapped The Queen’s Cups to bake desserts for their Shrewsbury Street restaurant. This is the first restaurant that The Queen’s Cups, which relocated from Millbury to its new home in Worcester this year, will be providing cupcakes for in Worcester. Renee King, founder and owner of The Queen’s Cups, explained, “I love Nuovo—their food, the atmosphere, the family; they’ve always been great to me, so when Loreta approached me to offer our desserts there, I immediately knew the partnership made sense.” For Nuovo Restaurant, which opened in 2011 and is operated by Chef Alex Gjonca and his wife Loreta, the addition of The Queen’s Cups to their dessert menu means Alex and Loreta can be creative offering cupcakes paired with seasonal drinks, a first in Worcester. “We can offer an apple cider pairing in the fall, hot cocoa for the winter, or even cordials depending on the kind of cupcake—because of the creativity the bakers at The Queen’s Cup have means the opportunities are endless. It will be fun to be able to offer the customer such a different way to end dinner.”
Nuovo expects to taste test options this week and hopes to have regular offerings beginning in the fall.
deadhorse hill co-owners, Jared Forman and Sean Woods.
Brazilian Artist, Arlin Graff, painted the striking Pow!Wow! mural adjacent to deadhorse hill’s Main Street space, which has become synonymous with the restaurant. Graff was spotted coming in and out of 72 Shrewsbury Street earlier this month, and although he was tight lipped about his “secret project” for Woods and Forman, Graff was thrilled to be back in Worcester. “Some cities are hard to return to after you have completed a wall, but I’m so happy to be back here,” Graff said, adding, “Worcester has a great heart.” Consequently, the word “simjang” means “heart” in Korean.
“Worcester is known as the Heart of the Commonwealth, and we want this restaurant to be attached to our community in the same vein,” Forman explains. “This city is where things used to happen and where so much is happening once again. Excitement and growth is pulsing through Worcester, and we love continuing to be a part of it by sharing one of our favorite cuisines with the neighborhood. We want simjang to be a place you can have fun, get messy, learn something new, and indulge.”
Forman and Woods have rapidly transformed Worcester’s culinary scene, drawing visitors from all over New England for the chef’s tasting menu, which speaks proudly of the seasons. Forman spent time at some of the nation’s top restaurants including Per Se, momofuku Ssäm Bar, Gramercy Tavern, and Strip T’s in Boston, where the duo met. Woods is a veteran of Craigie on Main, Strip T’s, and ribelle, all in Boston.
The new concept will offer easy-to-order items that are quickly prepared, an attractive option for on-the-go patrons at neighboring Wormtown Brewery. Along with Graff’s heartfelt mural, simjang’s interior will feature a space for love locks akin to many of the world’s most famous pedestrian bridges.
Sean Woods with Brazilian Artist, Arlin Graff, as Graff paints the wall for the new restaurant, simjang, in the space previously occupied by Sweet Kitchen & Bar.
Mass Foodies first observed Executive Chef Jared Forman exploring the new concept earlier in the spring with the launch of a late night menu featuring Korean Style Chicken Wings and other casual bites. The dish included artisanal gochujang sauce called Rhei-Maid, favored by many of Boston’s top chefs. Rhei-Maid is a fermented pepper paste that carries a subtle spice along with light floral notes, produced by a friend of Forman’s from New Jersey. For his Korean Style Chicken Wings, Forman uses a blend of four flours and fries the wings twice for a crackly skin that stays crunchy for hours. The evening the Korean staple premiered on deadhorse’s menu, Forman promised Mass Foodies, “There is no other wing like it in Worcester.” Simjang will change that, allowing Forman’s broad culinary experience to sail a mile across town.
