Looking for something? Look here!
Want more unvarnished truth?
What you're saying...
What I'm saying now
I think tag clouds are pretty, and not to be taken overly seriously
##MoveWithGary #Home Inspection #MoveWithGary 111 Chop House 75 on Liberty Wharf 9/11 A Broth of a Boy ABCs Abiouness accountability activities alcohol Allora Ristorante Analysis Angry Hams ANSI/TIA 942 Anthony's Pier 4 Apple Application Armsby Abbey Arsenal Arturo's Ristorante Ashland AT&T Audio Automation baby Baby Monitor babysitting Back To School Bad News Bangkok Thai banks lending movewithgary Bar Bay State Common baystateparent BBQ BCP Bees BeeZers Before I die I want to... behavior Big Bang Bike Bill of Rights Bistro Black Box BlackBerry Boston Boston Marathon boundaries Boyston BPO brand Breakfast Bridge Bring Your Own Technology Budget Building permit Burlington Burn Burrito buyer BYOD Cabling Cambridge Camp Campaign career Casey's Diner Castle casual cCabling Cell Phone Central Square Change Management Cheers Chef Sun ChengDu Chet's Diner Children Chinese Christmas Christmas Families Holiday CIO Cloud coddle collage College College Acceptance co-lo Co-Location Co-Location Tier Power Cooling Comfort Food Condo Control Country Country Kettle Crisis customer dad Dad Phrases damage daredevil Data Center Data Center Design Davios Day Care Dead Death declaration Del Frisco's Design Desktop Video dinner Disaster Recovery Divorce Do Epic Shit dodgeball downsizing Downtown Crossing DR driving Droid Easter Economic Kids Edaville Education Elbow Night Elevator Employee Engagement Erin Estate Planning Etiquette Evaluation events Exchange Expiration Dates Facebook Failing family Family Law Fatherhood Favorite things first time buyer Flash Flemings Fogo de Chão Food Hits and Misses Format Foundry on Elm Foxborough Frameworks fraternity Fraud French Fried Clams friends fun Fusion Generations germs Girl Scouts girls Global Go/No Go GPS Grafton Grandchild Grandpa Harry's hazing Healthcare Healthy Choices while Dining Out Help Desk Hisa Japanese Cuisine Historic holiday Home Home Inspection home renovation hope Horizons hose Hot Dog Hurricane IIT Assessment incident Indecision Indian Infrastructure Inn Innovation Insurance Internet Inventory Management iPhone IT IT Assessment IT Satisfaction Italian Jack Daniels Jakes Restaurant Janet Japanese Jazz Joey's Bar and Grill JP's Khatta Mitha kickball kids Laid off Lakes Region Lala Java Leadership Learning legacy Legal Legal Harborside Les Zygomates L'Espalier Liberty Wharf life transition lights out Linguine's loss Love Lucky's Cafe luxury luxury home M&M Macys Thanksgiving Day Parade mai tai Managed Application Services Managed Services managers Mandarin Manners Mark Fidrych marlborough marriage Mary Chung mass save Maxwell-Silverman Mediterranean meetings Memorial Day memory Mendon Mergers Mexican MiFi Migration Ming III miss MIT MIT CIO Symposium mmortgage Mobility Moes Hot Dog Truck MOM money mortgage Mother MoveWithGary Moving on Name nature neanderthal neighborhood Network new listing New York Marathon newborn newtomarket Northborough Not Your Average Joe's Nuovo Nursing On-Call Operations Operators Oregon Club Organization Pancakes Pandemic Parental Control Parenting Patch Peeves People Perserverance UMASS growth Photography Play Plug and Run Predictable Pride Problem Process Production program Project Management propane PTA. PTO PUE QR Quick Response Rant re/max Real Estate Realtor Recognition Red Rock Resiliency Respect restaurant Restaurant Guy RFP ribs Ritual Root Cause Analysis rReal Estate Sam Adams Sandy Sapporo savings School Sea Dog Brewing Company Sea Dog Steak and Ale Seafood Seaport Security Sel de la Terra Service Service Desk Service Indicator Light sharing ShearTransformation SHIRO Shit Pump Shriners SHTF Simplification Skunk Works Skype Sleep sleepovers Sloan Smith & Wollensky soccer Son SOP sorority spanking Squarespace staffing staging Starbucks Status Reporting Steak Steve Jobs Storage Strategy stress Summer Sushi swimming Tacos Acalpulco teacher Technology Teen Telephony Temperature Strip Tenka terrorist Testing Texas BBQ Company Text Thai Thanksgiving in IT The Mooring Thomas Thought Leader Three Gorges III TIA 942 Timesheets Toby Keith Toddlers traditions Transition treehouse turnover TV Twitter unspoken moments Valentine's Day Value Vendor Venezuelan Verizon Vermont Video Vietnamese voice VoIP Watertown Wedding Westborough Korean Restaurant Westborough MA. StormCam WiFI Wi-Fi Wilbraham Wine Worcester work work life balance working Yama Zakura Zem Han Zitis

Entries in Armsby Abbey (1)

Friday
Aug262011

Armsby Abbey

Armsby Abbey

 144 North Main Street
Worcester, MA

 508.795.1012

Something fun, something funky, and something different was the mood on a recent Monday when my financial adviA large selection of Craft Beers on the easily updated Blackboardsor and I got together to review recent market activities.  With the DJIA tumbling, something on a first floor seemed appropriate.  Armsby Abbey filled the bill and more.

Armsby Abbey is one of those places easily regularly frequented.  It’s comfortable, with an emphasis on local and fresh…slow food.  The first thing noticed upon entering is the extensive list of craft beer on a large black board.  Beating my companion to the nice wood bar, “Jack and Ginger” rolled off my tongue easily.  “Sorry, sir, we don’t have large commercial brands.  I do have a great single barrel to offer you.”

“Add a Barcardi and Coke to that,” announced my friend, grabbing another seat at the bar.  “Sorry, sir, we don’t carry large mass produced brands.  I do have an excellent alternative (showing us a bottle) and we do like to keep it local, so we serve (Worcester-based) Polar rather than Coke.”

Thus was our introduction to Armsby Abbey.  Eschew your bad habits and big corporate America, and You won’t find the “King of Beers” hereopen your tastes and enjoy what to local smaller guy has to offer.  And if you like craft beer, even the wine people have recognized this as the place to go.

Just for a moment, I considered whether this was a commentary on the economy….but I digress.

We arrived around 5:30PM, and the small patio was filled and the restaurant largely unoccupied.  This wasn’t a huge surprise; it’s a Monday night towards the end of summer.

The menu brought us back to the local theme quickly:

The Berberian Farm Stand is now open & overflowing with fresh veggies in Northboro daily from 9am-7pm! Blueberries, Raspberries, Blackberries, Peaches & Nectarines at Tougas Farm in Northboro are here & pick-your-own is now available!

I had the Charcuterie: a (rotating) assortment of meats prepared in house served with Dr. Gonzo’s Blackfly Mustard (from Worcester, MA and delicious), a huge pile of housemade Crostini and House Pickles.  While my Midwestern upbringing had me expecting huge slabs of meat, Armsby Abbey provides smaller portions leaving me quite happy.

My friend had pizza.  From the menu “Tomato & Mozzarella- Hand Stretched Artisan Mozzarella from Maplebrook Farm (Bennington, VT), Organic House Crushed Tomatoes and torn fresh Basil finished with a drizzle of fresh pressed California Arbequina EVOO & Sea Salt.”  They make it sound so good you almost wonder which of the seven seas produced the sea salt.

The food wasThe Outside Patio was packed - at 8:00PM on a Monday night! uniformly excellent.  The passion for freshness and fresh flavors came through in every bite, making me wonder what flavors are being diminished forever through processing.

As we talked finances, politics, restaurant experiences and life in general, we noted the Armsby Abbey was slowly filling up.  By 7:30PM the place was nearing capacity, with a crowd I’d characterize as young professional/graduate student. 

The bartender overheard us talking about a suggestion another friend made…to do a review of places catering to children, and those not.  Armsby Abbey does not cater to children.  “Young adults under the age of 21 and children over 3 years of age are welcome any day before 6PM with their parents, however after 6 o’clock, we are strictly a 21 plus establishment.” 

Armsby Abbey just turned three as a restaurant, and boasts 70 seats.

The Armsby Abbey is located in downtown Worcester, MA, across from the former Crowne Plaza Hotel (labeled simply MCPHS) and Elwood Adams Hardware.  We had no trouble with parking on the street.  The meters are needed until 8PM, although we were informed Worcester Meter Maids do not work past 5:00PM.

Armsby Abbey gets a:

       Green Light – Go and enjoy

About the RAG scale:

       Green Light – Go and enjoy

       Amber Light – Use caution

       Red Light – Save your time and money