What’s hot and what’s happening now in the restaurant scene.

Taste of Shrewsbury Street redoux. The wildly successful Taste of Shrewsbury Street is launching a fall Taste on Columbus Day weekend. The Taste will take place 2-6 p.m. Sunday, Oct. 7. Same food, same fun. Buttons can be purchased for $25 at participating restaurants or online at TasteShrewsburyStreet.com. Sponsors include Atlas Distributors, Pepsi, Maines and Infinity Valet.

Chili & Chowder winners. The fourth annual Worcester Chili & Chowder Fest was held in September. Fourteen restaurants competed for the title of Best Chili or Best Chowder. Restaurants in Worcester’s Canal District swept the field. Chef Chris O’Hara, of Maddie’s on Water Street, picked up four of the six prizes. He won second place for Best Chili, People’s Choice for Chili, second place in the Best Chowder category and the People’s Choice for Best Chowder. The Dogfather, a perennial favorite, won Best Chili, while another Water Street eatery, Lock 50, garnered the Best Chowder award.

Blue Plate sold. The iconic Blue Plate in Holden has been sold by the family of Tiny Stacy. The new owner is Tim Quinn, of Quinn’s Irish Pub in Worcester’s Greendale section. No word yet on what they plan to do with the place. If it is anything like the Worcester Quinn’s, it will be a home run.

Redemption comes in many ways. Redemption Rock Brewery will open soon at 333 Shrewsbury St. in Worcester, which is the old Coca-Cola building. The brewery is named after Redemption Rock in Princeton. This is the place in Princeton where Mary Rowlandson, who was captured by Native Americans during the King Philip War, was released in 1676. It will be owned by Dani Babineau and Greg Carlson. This is brewery number five for Worcester.

And speaking of beer. The Worcester Beer Garden opened the third week of September at 64 Franklin St. in the city’s Grid District opposite the Worcester Common. The long-awaited beer garden will have more than three dozen beers on tap.

And more suds. HarvestFest, the fall edition of Brew Woo, will be held at The DCU Center on Nov. 3. Tickets are priced at $38 and can be purchased online. There will be two sessions, the first from 1-4 p.m. and the second from 6-9 p.m.

It’s just across the parking lot. Meze Greek Tapas on Shrewsbury Street is moving a few doors down Shrewsbury Street. Rumor has it that they have bought the building that once housed Chameleon and prior to that, The Fix Burger Bar. Nice to keep them on the street. So, I guess a new restaurant may move into the space Meze now occupies. We will keep you posted.

The Murphy Triplets. First there was Funky, then along came Jose. Now, we have Scruffy Murphys, the newest restaurant owned by the boys who own Shrewsbury Street’s Funky Murphys. Scruffy’s will be located on Worcester’s Chandler Street in the space that most recently housed the Tatnuck Grill and Friendly’s before that.

Paul Giorgio