VIA Italian Table should be credited as one of the first restaurants in the city to have recognized the value in hosting pairing dinners for local clientele who sought equal parts education and camaraderie. These days, VIA routinely offers a plethora of both wine and beer dinners for guests to enjoy. The carefully curated multi-course affairs tend to evoke an experience that is both thoughtful and memorable. Now, Corporate Executive Chef Mark Hawley has begun to play with the idea of multi-course group dining in an entirely new fashion. In January of 2018, Hawley rolled out the Suckling Pig Dinner, a family-style meal intended to spark interactive dining for parties of 8.
Hawley oversees all three Worcester Restaurant Group – The Sole Proprietor, One Eleven Chop House and VIA – kitchens and has proven his ability to construct tidy plates fit for foodies time and time again. The Suckling Pig Dinner was conceived as the epitome of convivial dining – an intimate and gregarious feast that places emphasis on quality ingredients and good company. For Hawley, this is the sweet spot where fine dining and family dining meet.
Guests begin with a selection of appetizers, like the crispy pork meatballs with sweet and sour glaze, bruschetta built on loaves of grilled Tuscan bread, and the caprese salad, piled high with fresh burrata. The main course arrives on a silver platter, taking Chef Hawley an entire day to prepare. Its delivery comes in a whirlwind of fanfare – first presented whole, then carved for consumption. The suckling pig boasts tender light meat with a crisp exterior. Around the table, portions are large, laughs are inevitable, and old tales are ripe for the telling. We should warn you: given such a spectacle, other guests are apt to stare. Sometimes it’s okay to be the center of attention.
Reservations for the Suckling Pig dinner are open to parties on Tuesday evenings at a cost of $365. Beverage pairings of beer, wine, or whiskey are available as well and promise to be hand selected by VIA’s exceptionally knowledgeable team.
We’ve come to understand what Hawley means when he says, “Sometimes, we just want to eat like a family.” This is your chance.
Restaurant juggernaut Danny Meyer is noted for his adage: “Business, like life, is all about how you make people feel. It’s that simple and that hard.” Here at Mass Foodies, we couldn’t agree more, which is why November marked the start of a new column by contributor Veronica Van Jura dedicated to Atmosphere and Appetites. As an abstract painter, Van Jura has always maintained vast appreciations for both interior design and the culinary arts. This month brought her to the new home of The Queen’s Cups, which she found sleek, classy, and marvelously inclusive. Van Jura also visited VIA Italian Table where she effectively located the “best seat in the house” – a rear nook containing a privately commissioned painting of Florence and a custom engraved table. She also notes that the bar was constructed in a shape which beckons for “love at first sight.” VIA is all about feelings.
Van Jura wasn’t the only Mass Foodies correspondent to visit VIA this month. I also had an opportunity to enjoy the hard labor of Corporate Executive Chef Mark Hawley for his first suckling pig dinner. Hawley has begun tinkering with family style experiences for small groups. “Tidy plates can be very nice, but sometimes I just want to eat like a family,” Hawley explains. Every eye in the restaurant followed the platter as General Manager Keith Carolan made an ornate presentation of the suckling pig, which took Chef Hawley an entire day to prepare.
Sonoma also made its Chef’s Dinner debut at the Beechwood Hotel with a well-attended media event featuring the likes of sweet potato and ricotta gnocchi with pancetta and escargot, mushroom and goat cheese strudel, and char-grilled Korean short rib. Chef Bill Brady commented on the transition from his former outpost in Princeton, noting the weight of adapting from a “five day dinnerhouse” to a “six o’clock in the morning to midnight, seven day a week, yearlong operation.” Beechwood Co-owners Dr. Charles and Jane Birbara were on hand for the evening. During an opening toast, Dr. Birbara recalled his strong instinct that Brady would be the only chef capable of elevating the one-of-a-kind boutique space to an entirely new plane.
White Hut Cheeseburg (via Facebook)
Mass Foodies was proud to publish Chris Rassias’ first on-the-record remarks about his new venture, Josephine at the Hanover Theater. Rassias is the owner of Fairmont Grille in Boston’s Hyde Park. As a Worcester native, Rassias is excited to launch a new concept in his hometown inspired by the panache of 1920’s theater. For every new restaurant, it seems like another one falls. This time, it was The Chameleon at 166 Shrewsbury Street – a storied space marked by the arrest of its former owner earlier this year.
Still, other new additions to the area’s culinary landscape are faring well. The Worcester Foodies visited Kummerspeck where they enjoyed an homage to some American classics like chicken pot pie, and shrimp and grits. Robyn enjoyed chatting with head butcher Erin Hockey who has since departed to join the team at deadhorse hill on Main Street in preparation for an impending high profile opportunity looming on her horizon. Chef Jared Forman of deadhorse hill will cook at the James Beard House this week in New York City with his team, a tremendous culinary milestone.
Contributor Giselle Rivera-Flores continued her quest for an idyllic #SundayFunday, indulging in the likes of Union Square Donuts and White Hut burgers. Rivera also sat down with the director of Julio’s Liquors Toni Deluca who set out to debunk wine’s pompous reputation. “Wine is for everyone,” she assured readers, adding, “my job is to educate both novice and advanced wine drinkers into exploring new flavors, regions and, grapes.”
Union Square Donuts (Source: Facebook)
I couldn’t agree more after my visit to UxLocale in Uxbridge where the staff led me to the perfect pairing. I ordered the Sausage in Vodka Sauce with the Sasyr Sangiovese and Syrah blend, a wine possessing supple tannins. The Italian wine’s inky density and earthy aromas complemented my savory red sauce and the Tuscan roots of the dish’s pecorino romano attested to a fine artisan union. I met another unlikely pairing in the last week of November at Bull Mansion in the form of KrafTea Kombucha and Cricket Creek cheese. I was surprised to find that the potent and funky properties of kombucha brought out curious dimensions of my artisanal farmstead cheese plate.
If what Meyer says is true, then hospitality put simply is how the delivery of a product makes us feel. Central Massachusetts certainly has no shortage of a heartfelt, passionate, and sentimental service industry. Among the atmospheres, appetites, exclusives, openings, closings, pairings, and pinings – hospitality is alive and well in Worcester.
