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By Melissa Hanson
A new year is coming, and with it is something new to bite into.
The ongoing renaissance of dining and development in Worcester is blazing into 2018 with various new restaurants and businesses already under construction.
Worcester foodies will see a new concept on Shrewsbury Street, a dining option at The Hanover Theatre for the Performing Arts and several new eateries on the Grid in the new year.
A new hair salon in the Canal District and an organic foods supermarket just over the city line in Shrewsbury are in the works as well.
Here’s a look at the businesses and restaurants that will become a part of New England’s second-largest city in the coming year.
simjang
A new concept from the people behind the popular Worcester restaurant deadhorse hill are preparing to open “simjang,” a new concept specializing in American-Korean cuisine.
Simjang will fill in the Shrewsbury Street location that formerly housed Sweet Kitchen and Bar.
An exact opening date for simjang has not yet been announced.
The new concept will offer quickly-prepared foods for people on the go as well as dishes to share and cocktails.
Simjang is the Korean word for “heart.”
Whole Foods Market
Whole Foods Market is opening its first Worcester-area location on Jan. 30 at Lakeway Commons in Shrewsbury.
The 50,000-square-foot grocery store is the anchor of Lakeway Commons, the old location of Spag’s discount department store on Route 9, which was owned by Anthony “Spag” Borgatti.
In fact, Whole Foods will honor that memory with a unique feature inside the market: The Borgatti Bar, a restaurant on the second floor that will have 12 craft beers on tap, wine and cocktails and menu items including snacks, sandwiches and salads.
Maddi’s Cookery and TapHouse
Chef Adam Hicks of Milford’s Depot Street Tavern decided it was time for a second venture, and has invested in a Canal District location to open a second restaurant.
Maddi’s Cookery and TapHouse, will offer a range of homemade dishes, including fresh salads, sandwiches, hamburgers, fish and chips and rotating specials. Maddi’s will also have an approachable and affordable wine list and 20 craft beers on draught.
The name is a combination of Hick’s children’s names: Matthew, 9, and Addison, 2. The location was formerly home to The Perfect Game.
Maddi’s, at 64 Water St., is expected to open in early spring.
Pageboy Hair Studio Inc.
On the opposite side of Maddi’s, Pageboy Hair Studio Inc. will open a salon with a storefront on Harding Street.
The salon will have six stations and feature an industrial-style design with concrete floors, Worcester developer Ed Murphy said.
With Maddi’s on the Water Street side of the building, Pageboy and another available retail space on the Harding Street side and 16 residential units upstairs from all of it, the building is set to become a destination spot in the Canal District.
Josephine
Josephine, a 1920s-American-themed restaurant, is set to open inside the Hanover Theatre for the Performing Arts in spring 2018.
Having a restaurant of the first floor of the Hanover at 551 Main St. will bring an added level of entertainment to downtown Worcester.
Chris Rassias of The Fairmount Grille in Boston has signed a lease with the Hanover to create the restaurant.
Josephine is a working name for the joint, inspired by Josephine Baker, an entertainer, and activist who was extremely popular during the 1920s in France.
Rassias grew up in the Main South section of Worcester and still has family in the city.
Fuel America
Fuel America is planning to open a cafe and roastery in Worcester’s Mercantile Center, a mixed-use development downtown, in fall 2018.
The cafe will offer custom specialty coffees, espresso drinks, fresh-pressed juices, seltzer drinks, fresh baked goods, handmade breakfast alongside sandwiches, salads and fruit smoothies.
Fuel America will occupy 5,264 square feet on the street level at the corner of Front and Mercantile Streets. Construction will begin in the first quarter of 2018.
Roastery tours and coffee tastings will be available. Fuel America will source local ingredients, including all creams and milks.
The Brew Garden
More evening entertainment is coming to downtown Worcester with the anticipated opening of The Brew Garden, a beer garden with more than 300 seats, a stage and a pavilion.
It is just one of the ideas hatching from Frank Peace, the CEO of New England Craft Restaurant Concepts. Peace has already opened Brew on the Grid coffee shop on 56 Franklin St., and Techni Mediterranean Grill on 8 Portland St.
The Brew Garden will be sandwiched between Brew on the Grid and Stix (more on Stix later) and have 300 indoor seats and another 150 seats outside alongside picnic tables and fire pits.
People will be able to order food from all of The Grid’s concepts while at the beer garden. A group of friends could be sitting at one table and have different foods from Stix, Revolution Pie & Pint and Craft Table & Bar.
In addition to live music, The Brew Garden will also feature its own specialty menu of finger foods. Peace plans to transform Techni into “The Missing Link,” which will serve homemade sausages, sliders, pretzels and other comfort food.
The Brew Garden is slated to open in spring 2018.
Stix
Stix is coming to Worcester in late January and will serve Asian-inspired dishes such as ramen and kushiyaki, or skewered meats.
More unique will be wok-inspired dishes made in two woks inside the Stix kitchen.
Stix is expected to have windows that guests at The Brew Garden can walk up to and place an order.
Craft Table & Bar
Craft Table & Bar is one of two concepts expected to open under the Bancroft building at 50 Franklin St.
The other attraction will be Revolution Pie and Pint, a pizza joint. (More on that later).
At Craft Table & Bar, diners will be able to order signature burgers and pasta plates.
A big draw for the eatery will be the 40 or so different craft-style beers that are expected to be available on tap.
Peace says Craft Table & Bar is under construction now and will open in the spring.
Revolution Pie & Pint
Next to Craft Table & Bar will be Pie & Pint.
A craft pizza joint, the plan is for Pie & Pint to serve pizzas made ready to order in just a few minutes. The menu will also feature artisan salads, sandwiches and, of course, beer.
Like Craft Table & Bar, there will be about 40 beers on tap.
Guests can have pizza in or order take-out.
Diners can begin ordering pizza in the spring.
110 Grill
With the AC Marriott opening at City Square in downtown Worcester, there will also be a new 110 Grill location.
110 Grill first opened in Chelmsford and now has 12 locations, including a recently-opened Marlborough restaurant at the Apex Center.
The restaurant is set to open in early spring 2018.
PROTEINHOUSE
PROTEINHOUSE, a restaurant with menu designed with the professional athlete and fitness lifestyle, is coming to Worcester this year, according to Mass Foodies.
“One of our most important goals is to be a mecca for healthy eating, healthy foods, and an all around healthy lifestyle. Its a place with a quick serve mentality which can be called fine healthy fast food,” the PROTEINHOUSE website reads.
MassFoodies reported that PROTEINHOUSE will open at City Square downtown. When exactly the restaurant will open is not clear.
PROTEINHOUSE did not immediately respond to a request for comment.