Worcester Public Market
Photos by Little Outdoor Giants
After years as a collective vision kept alive by a group of dedicated residents, Worcester’s Canal District is finally the thriving community hub they knew it could be. On a recent weekday, the area teemed with visitors. Couples shopped for vintage finds at Crompton Collective, friends gathered for lunch at BirchTree Bread Company, students picked out plants and crystals at Seed to Stem and the curious and hungry roamed the stalls at the neighborhood’s latest gem, the Worcester Public Market.
The Worcester Public Market is the brainchild of local developer Allen Fletcher and a cohort of Worcester influencers who built out a plan for the Canal District over the last two decades. Beyond offering visitors fresh, international food made locally, the Worcester Public Market (WPM) seeks to “contribute to the urban vitality of Worcester and the Canal District; support the growth of small, diverse, locally owned businesses and enhance the viability of regional agriculture and food production…”
My daughter, a junior at Holy Cross, travels from campus to the WPM as often as possible. She insisted I try the soup dumplings from Momo Palace, but on my first visit I was torn in all directions, tempted by global offerings made by local entrepreneurs from Peru, Nepal, Brazil, Italy, India and, of course, hometown America.
Amy Lynn Chase, founder of Crompton Collective antiques, The White Room events, Haberdash boutique and the Canal District Farmers Market is a champion of the area. She believes the WPM is a great addition to the district. “I love that they have a diverse group of food vendors so you can try foods from all different cultures in one visit. The market is a great way for entrepreneurs to get their feet wet before growing into a brick-and-mortar location. I've seen many of their vendors grow into larger spaces in Worcester, which is great for the city!”
Here’s what you will find when you visit the Worcester Public Market:
RESTAURANTS
PASTA MANI
If you don’t speak Italian, don’t worry. The meaning of Jay Midwood’s restaurant name, Pasta Mani, becomes clear the minute you approach the space, cozily tucked into a corner of the market, for everything about the vibe and the menu indicates homemade, or made by hand. Midwood never stops moving when I meet him. In between dropping pasta into a pot of boiling water and neatening containers in the immaculate streetfront kitchen, he makes a sweeping motion around the space. “I’m so grateful for this opportunity,” he says, meaning Worcester, meaning the Market, meaning the community of local entrepreneurs. His energy is as contagious as his good mood. The daily rotating menu is inspired by seasonal produce. Recent selections include BirchTree bread with truffled Arethusa Farms cultured butter and smoked salmon roe; hand made calamaretti [pasta] with baby chokes, roasted walnuts, olives and Parmigiano Reggiano; and fresh tuna with hen of the wood mushrooms and red sauce, each under $20. In addition to sit-down meals, Pasta Mani offers take-home pastas, workshops and cooking classes.
ATLANTIS OYSTER BAR
Jay Midwood, the chef behind Pasta Mani, knows that the key to his success is getting out of the way and letting the food speak. That is the philosophy he brings to his second Worcester Public Market venture, Atlantis Oyster & Raw Bar. A modern contemporary oyster bar in the tradition of Portland’s Eventide, HamaHama of Washington, Duxbury’s Island Creek and his former employer, Citizen Oyster House in Boston, Atlantis will keep the quality exceptionally high while keeping the service laid back and friendly. With about 40 seats and a full liquor license, Atlantis will bring a new level of sophistication to the market and a new draw for those looking for a foodie night out in Central MA. The menu will feature a small raw bar section: jumbo shrimp, crab salad, tuna tartare, cold lobster roll and on-trend dishes featuring canned seafood. Grilled fish, octopus and mussels will round out the main-course menu. Along with others involved in the project, Midwood is working to change the public’s perception of what fine dining is and what it can be. “Amazing meals can happen anywhere,” he says. “It’s the staff and their reverence for their craft that makes those meals happen. I think we do justice to that.”
Coming soon.
WACHUSETT BREW YARD
Opening onto the colorful activity of the market on one side and the comings and goings of Kelley Square on the other, Wachusett Brew Yard anchors the WPM like an inventive lock in a rushing canal, sourcing and drawing power from the flow of happy market goers. Revolving around a bar craftily retrofitted in an Airstream trailer, the Brew Yard draws aficionados of Wachusett’s 24 beers on draught as well as those curious about their Country Hard Seltzers, Fifty Trees hard ciders and scratch margaritas. With rambunctious names like Wally and Quinn, the beers take center stage. They make a wide variety of styles from ales to IPAs as well as seasonal favorites. A schedule of live music draws a festive local crowd and while they don’t have their own kitchen, people are encouraged to bring in food from neighboring market shops.
CREATIVE CAKES CAFÉ
What started as a stall selling homemade baked goods quickly grew into a full-service café with seating inside and out. Launched by Dan and Colleen Nadeau, Creative Cakes’ success stems from their industriousness, friendly service and expertise from Colleen’s years selling her baked goods wholesale. The Nadeau children work there too, making Creative Cakes a family success story. Coffee is a draw for area residents on their way to work. In addition to sourcing beans from local roaster Good as Gold, they have the only espresso machine in the market and residents of the 48 residential units upstairs are regular customers. Homemade favorites include breakfast sandwiches, specialty coffees, flatbread pizzas, tater tot bowls, salads, sandwiches and of course the bakery treats that started it all: cupcakes, edible cookie dough, dipped Oreos and cake pops.
FOOD STALLS
AKRA EATERY AND JUICE BAR
Each time I’ve been at the WPM, Akra has a line. With so many choices in the market, what is it that makes Akra so hot? Is it the signature bowls, like the Jollof, featuring tomato-infused rice, plantains, cole slaw, hard boiled egg and chicken? Or the Waakye, with black eyed peas, spaghetti, gari, lettuce and braised beef? Maybe it’s the build-your-own options? The fresh shishito peppers? Or maybe, just maybe, it’s the wide, infectious smile of chef-owner Emmanuel Larbi, an Assumption College alum and native of Ghana who serves up everything with extra cheer. When he’s not running his restaurant, Larbi is hard at work studying business analytics at Harvard Business School, so he obviously has a formula figured out. The West African approach to homemade food in Worcester? Modern, fresh, happy.
BUBBLEBEE TEA
In his travels around the world, WPM founder Allen Fletcher found that “a marketplace is where you find the culture.” It only makes sense then, that a bubble tea shop would set up in Worcester Public Market because for the under-20 set, bubble tea is a cultural staple. Originally created in Taiwan, bubble tea is now a global phenomenon, with a reported 3,400 bubble tea shops in the United States alone. Bubble tea is something between a fancy drink and a snack, made from vigorously blending a tea base with a choice of milk or fruit juice and adding chewy tapioca pearls—or boba—which sink to the bottom of the cup waiting to be sucked up by a super fat straw. BubbleBee Tea sells a creative selection of flavors including coffee varieties, mango and passion fruit.
CANAL DISTRICT WINES
Though Worcester has its share of liquor stores, it’s been missing a carefully curated, community-focused wine store. Canal District residents Olivia D'Ambrosio (Livy) and Rachel Scanlon (Rae) found themselves trekking to nearby Shrewsbury to buy wine. “We thought, ‘I wish we had a local place to buy wine.’ Ultimately, we decided to be the change we wanted to see in the world—or at least in our neighborhood!” Enter Canal District Wines, one of the most recent additions to the market, conceived as a site of wine appreciation, selection and education. The couple lives in the Canal District and works in Worcester, Rae as principal of a regional elementary school and Livy as managing director of BrickBox Theater, artistic director of The Hanover Theatre Repertory and a lecturer at WPI. Canal District Wines works with another small, Worcester County–based women-owned business, Gilbert Distributors of Shrewsbury, to offer a rotating selection of reasonably priced wines.
DOUGHNUT HOMIES
The WPM is home to many impressive startup stories, but Doughnut Homies’ story might be one of the best. Twenty-three-year old owner and CEO Hayleigh Noèl was inspired by the variety of specialty doughnut shops in Los Angeles, where she lived before COVID forced her home to Worcester. A lifelong foodie and traveler, she dreamed up her homemade doughnut concept with inspiration from childhood nostalgia and grown-up taste, while the pandemic made travel impossible. In the land of Dunkin’, Doughnut Homies stands out. Noèl uses a patented flour mix (a softer, higher-quality, high-protein flour creating a softer, fluffier doughnut that melts in your mouth) and special ingredients like honey, vanilla, cinnamon “and of course lots of butter!” to give her donuts their dreamy signature flavor. Childhood memories inspire many of her unique toppings, like Fruity Pebbles, Oreo Dream and Cinnamon Toast Crunch. Decadence is encouraged. The French Toast Stick is filled with a maple frosting so delicious I ate the entire thing. Doughnut Homies has a growing following and is proud to be opening a second location soon.
FROZE ZONE
The second location of Italian gelato aficionado Anthony Surabian’s Froze Zone at the WPM sells authentic Italian gelato and sorbetto, made in house daily as well as 12 flavors of frozen yogurt. A strangely mesmerizing video loop of the fresh gelato being made in their West Boylston location may captivate for longer than it takes to choose a flavor. They also provide homemade gelato for parties and business events and cater with Iovanni’s Gelato pushcart, named after Anthony’s mother.
GEORGE’S BAKERY
In China it’s the fishball, in Romania and Moldova the pârjoale, in Denmark and Germany the frikadeller, in Sweden the köttbullar, in South Africa the skilpadjies. Almost every regional cuisine features some version of meatball, mixing regionally available meat with local grains, spices or vegetables. In Levantine or Eastern Mediterranean cuisine, the kibbee (or kibbeh) holds that place of honor, combining bulgur, onions and spices with finely ground beef, lamb or goat. Locals flock to George’s Lebanese and Syrian Bakery for their signature kibbee as well as their long list of traditional Eastern Mediterranean specialities. George’s is as busy with their online orders and catering as they are with their market stall. Try their meat, cheese and vegetable pies, salads, falafel, shawarma sandwiches, tabouli and hummus. You’ve most likely seen their best-selling pita bread in stores; just look for the telltale George’s red starburst.
HILLCREST APIARY
The importance of protecting our planet’s bee population cannot be overstated. Hillcrest Apiary, run by beekeeper Jim Dawber, keeps their bees in Southbridge and Sturbridge Village. Hillcrest sells honey products of all kinds and does honey extracting demos at the market which are popular with young and old visitors alike.
JENNIFER LEE BAKERY
With locations in both the Boston Public Market and Worcester Public Market, Jennifer Lee expands her reach to even more devoted fans of her baked goods for special diets. Allergen-free and vegan, Jennifer’s cookies, donuts, cupcakes, brownies, pretzels and chipwiches are free of gluten, eggs, dairy, peanuts, tree nuts, fish, shellfish, soy and sesame. She even makes a coconut based “Mac’n Cheeze” with rice flour noodles!
MA MAEBELLE’S ONE LOVE CAFÉ
If you missed reading Tara Taft’s Edible Food Find featuring Ma Maebelle’s One Love Café in the Fall/Holiday 2020 issue of Edible Worcester, you’re in for a delicious discovery. Owner Venice Fouchard’s inspired Jamaican cooking brings the fresh, exotic flavors of the Caribbean to the WPM. With a menu full enough to serve a restaurant, Fouchard delights every diner—vegetarian, vegan, adventurous, cautious or carnivorous. Using recipes she learned from her grandmother, Maebelle, and practiced on her siblings, Fouchard serves jerk chicken, goat and tofu; homemade meat and veggie patties; callaloo and ackee; oxtail; Red Stripe stew (upon request) and the Rastafarian staple Ital Stew filled with vegetables from Stillman’s Farm. She also serves authentic Jamaican desserts like sweet potato pudding and Gizzada, a homemade crisp filled with spiced coconut. My favorites are the blood-purifying island refreshments: Watermelon Water, Sorrel hibiscus tea and Mauby, a spicy infused drink made from mauby bark.
MOMO PALACE
At Momo Palace, owner/chef Tanuj Neupane creates momos (or dumplings) in the traditional Nepalese style. When I brought a sampling of Neupane’s momos to a recent Holy Cross tailgate, hovering parents and siblings polished them off before the intended recipients—the hungry athletes—even got off the field. Chicken, pork or vegetable momos come steamed, fried or in a curry or chicken soup. The delicate swirled shape of the dumpling wrapping makes them perfect for entertaining.
NAMASTE WOO
Namaste, when translated from the Sanskrit or ancient Hindu, means “I bow to the divine in you” or more simply, “greetings to you.” Lovingly prepared authentic Indian cuisine has that same effect of offering a warm greeting, so it’s fitting that Pooja Vishal’s Indian shop is called Namaste Woo. “We felt this was a perfect opportunity for us to introduce Indian food to the Worcester community,” he explains. Vishal has been selling ready-to-cook Indian meal kits in farmers markets and stores for years, prepared in the commercial kitchen at Worcester Food Hub. Originally from India, Vishal grew up watching his mother cook. He learned everything from her, he admits, bowing to her memory. Try the samosas, crispy pakoras and mango lassi at Namaste Woo and meal kits for masala khichdi, biryani and dal tadka, sold at the Market Pantry.
namastewoo.com
urbanspiceworld.com
NEW ENGLAND BURGER BAH
With the wide variety of international cuisine represented in the market, Al Maykel, executive chef of EVO Dining and Bootleggers Prohibition Pub, and Domenic Mercurio, founder of Worcester’s Best Chef competition and WPM’s Executive Director, thought it only made sense to add a burger joint to add a bit of American culinary vernacular. Or, in MA speak, the market needed a burger bah! Sous chef Cathy Young creates fresh, homemade burgers with names like the Kelley Square (lettuce, tomato, onion, fried pickle), Union Hill (pineapple, onion, jalapeño, BBQ sauce), Chandler Hill (hoisin glaze, spicy vegetable kimchee) and Vernon Hill (bean spread, plantains, avocado, salsa) which honor Worcester landmarks while tasting wicked awesome. Choose from Angus beef, Beyond Burger, crispy chicken, beer battered cod or Kobe beef dahgs. Add a side of sweet plantains, fries or house made chips and you’ll be so content you might forget where you pahked ya cah.
PACHA MAMA
Ask anyone who has spent time in Peru and they’ll tell you the food immediately makes you feel like—and makes you want to become—a local. The dizzying variety of indigenous ingredients has created a culinary tradition full of exciting contradictions: bright and earthy; fresh and ancient; spicy, citrusy, sweet. And yet the food is as inviting as a sunset in Cusco. Lucky for visitors to the WPM, recent newcomer Pachamama brings some of Peru’s most beloved dishes to Worcester. To assure authenticity, ingredients like peppers and spices are shipped from Peru, food is made the day of and all ingredients are fresh, never frozen. Favorites include aji de galina, lomo saltado and, of course, ceviche. “Ceviche Sundays” offer a refreshing rejuvenating answer to Saturday nights out.
SABROZA VENEZUELA
Born and raised in Guatire, Venezuela, Isabel Fernandez learned cooking from family: arepas from her mother, cachitos and pan de jamón from her uncle Cheche and cachapas from her aunt Arelis. After fleeing social and political unrest in 2017, Fernandez brought her two daughters to the U.S. and settled in Worcester, where she keeps her connection to Venezuela alive through cooking. Other Venezuelan specialities include hallacas, empanadas, tres leches, milhojas and quesillo.
SMITH’S COUNTRY CHEESE
Smith’s Dairy Farm was founded in Winchendon by David Smith in 1969. Back then he had 20 heifers and sold milk. By 1985 he and his wife had added cheesemaking to their farm operations and in 2016 they sold to the Catlins, who now run the 43-acre farm with 200 Holsteins as a fully fledged farming operation. Smith’s Country Cheese is sold in many locations around the state, from Dracut to Rowley, Cambridge to Hubbardston. Their WPM stand offers a huge selection of hand-crafted cheeses made from their own raw milk, free of antibiotics and hormones. If the gouda, havarti, cheddar, baby swiss and cheese sticks are not enough to convince you, the farm’s commitment to protect the environment might. They use a grid-tied photovoltaic solar system which offsets over 70% of their hot water and 30% of their electrical usage costs and make their own compost from cow manure, known as Otter River Black Gold.
SUB ZERO ICE CREAM
There’s nothing like watching a child’s face react to magic. At Sub Zero Ice Cream, founders Jerry and Naomi Hancock creatively blend science with food to make the most delicious kind of magic. Similar to what Dippin Dots uses to make their colorful frozen pellets, Sub Zero uses the seventh element to turn creamy liquid into a solid dessert. Right before your eyes, a Sub Zero wizard blasts cream with liquid nitrogen to make ice cream. America’s favorite dessert has never been so literal, so nerdy or so fascinating.
SWEET PAN GOURMET
If “brigadeiro” brings to mind images of uniformed soldiers marching in formation, shake that off and get ready for a surprise, because the only things marching at Sweet Pan Gourmet are bite-sized treats straight into your mouth. Brigadeiros are traditional Brazilian sweets made from condensed milk, Belgian chocolate and table cream. At Sweet Pan, the ingredients are slow-cooked to achieve a rich, velvety consistency and hand-formed into bite-sized spheres perfect for rolling in a huge variety of toppings. Some favorites include chocolate sprinkles, pistachios, almonds, crystal sugar, coconut, citrus and acai. Founder/chef Isabella Luiz makes all her brigadeiros by hand, carrying on a tradition she learned from her Brazilian family, with the intent of bringing joy to the people she serves. “Food may be the only universal thing that brings people together,” she says. Her little bites of joy can be purchased individually, in gift boxes, in cake form or made to order.
THE SWEET LIFE
If you have the pleasure of meeting Sweet Life owners Majed and Anisa Sbat you will see how genuinely they believe in their mission: to make life a little sweeter. The Sbat’s candy shop is full of sugary, well deserved delights: handcrafted artisanal truffles made off-site locally, cotton candy spun on-site to the delight of young visitors and bulk candy selections for those of us who like to stock up on selective favorites.
TAQUERIA DEL PUEBLO
An outpost of the popular restaurant on Highland Street known for their tequila, tacos and Día de Muertos murals, Taqueria del Pueblo specializes in tacos made with birria. Birria is a stew originally conceived in Jalisco, Mexico and recently popularized as a filling for tacos or quesabirilla (see TikTok). The stew traditionally features goat, lamb or beef in a consomme broth seasoned with chili pepper, garlic, cumin and thyme. Birria tacos are served with quesillo, cilantro, lime and white onion. At the market, Taqueria del Pueblo sells the consomme separately, as well as birria tortas, nachos and quesadillas. Taqueria del Pueblo at the WPM is currently accepting online orders only.
TERIYAKI JAPAN
Though not a Worcester resident, chef Billy Yin was all in on the Worcester Public Market concept when it first opened in February of 2020, right before the world changed and WPM had to shut its doors due to the pandemic. Now, along with original and new vendors, Teriyaki Japan is back in full swing, serving up its consistent and reliable menu items. Always popular teriyaki chicken, beef, shrimp, noodles and rice served with fresh, locally-sourced vegetables go fast, especially with the college crowds who flock from Holy Cross, Worcester Polytechnic, Assumption and Clark.
MARKET PANTRY
Tina Zlody runs the Market Pantry, WPM’s shop for eclectic pantry staples. As the co-founder of stART on the Street, the largest arts, food and music festival in Central MA, Zloty has connections to an exciting range of local food producers and artisans. Roaming the Pantry feels like engaging in a lively conversation. Small signs indicate women-owned, vegan and sustainable merchandise and sourcing constantly adapts to the requests and suggestions of customers. She works closely with the Worcester Regional Food Hub and travels to the New England Made trade show to discover unusual finds for her customers, including those with special dietary needs.
worcesterpublicmarket.org/the-market-pantry
This story appeared in the Winter 2022 issue.
