By Paul Giorgio

No Korean. The Korean BBQ Kitchen at 290 West Main Street in Northboro was recently sold. No buzz yet on the concept for the new restaurant, but the word on the street has it that the new owners will change it.

12 Crane Renovated. The Dark Horse Tavern and 12 Crane, a mixed use development in Southbridge, recently had a ribbon-cutting on the project. The old mill building is home to a restaurant, a bar, and performance space.

Retiring. Hermis Garcia, the owner of Rochdale Pizza on Pleasant Street in Leicester, is retiring after 20 years and is looking to sell the pizzeria, which is known for its thin crust pizza. We wish him well.

Auburn gets new Asian restaurant. Work recently began on the Jasmine Asia Restaurant at 711 Southbridge Street in Auburn. The 8,000 square foot eatery, will feature mostly sushi and have Tapanaki grills for table side dining. The owner of the restaurant is Min Zou of Shrewsbury. Jasmine should be open by the beginning of 2009.

Manor opens Pub. West Boylston’s Manor Restaurant has recently been sporting a new look. The owners, the Fotiadis family, have created Pub 42 within the Manor Restaurant space. They held a contest to find a name and chose Pub 42. The restaurant is featuring a new pub menu to go along with their regular menu items. By the way, the address of the Manor is 42 West Boylston St. in West Boylston.

Drink up. Higgins Armory Museum at 100 Barber St in Worcester will host its annual “Festival of Ale” on Saturday November 15th from 6-9pm. Tickets to the event are priced at $25 for members and $35 for non members. Among the breweries taking part are Brooklyn Brewery, Cape Ann Brewery, Dogfish, Honest Town, John Harvard Brew House, Mayflower Brewery and Sherwood Forest.

Peppercorns hires new chef. Peppercorns on Worcester’s Park Ave. recently hired Tommaso Gargiulo ~ who previously worked at Rovezzi’s in Worcester and Arturo’s in Westboro ~ as their new Chef. Gargiulo specializes in Italian fare. You can expect an exciting new upscale menu from the Park Ave eatery, if Gargiulo’s past cooking is any indication.

Happy 75th. It’s not too many places that reach their seventy fifth year in business, and even fewer entertainment venues/restaurants that do, but Holden’s Blue Plate has recently done just that. The Blue Plate was founded in 1933 by Warren Bennett. Today the place is run by Bennett’s grandson, Michael Stacy, whose brother Tiny was the glue that held the place together in the 70s, 80s and 90s. We hope to see them still going strong in another 25years.

Godfrey’s opens. Godfrey’s Grille & Pizzeria recently opened on the Lunenburg/Fitchburg line. They offer a 12 or 18 inch pizza as well as wraps, sandwiches, salads and burgers. Godfrey’s is open seven days a week.

Giving thanks. The folks behind the newly formed Canal District Business Association are hosting the first annual Turkey Crawl. The event, which combines donating a turkey or cash to the Worcester County Food Bank and a pub crawl in Worcester’s Canal District, will take place on Wednesday, Nov. 26th. The Drive starts at 5pm and the pub crawl kicks off at 6. The restaurants and clubs in the Distric will be offering some special holiday cheer.