By Paul Giorgio

Canyon Café in Westboro closes. The Canyon Café, a small chain Mexican restaurant located on Route 9 near Boston Interiors, has closed its doors. The café had been open for a few years
and served very good Mexican food. There is no word on what caused the closing. Prior to the
Canyon, this was the home of the former Harry’s Too, another eatery.

Venerable City Landmark shuts its doors. We are sad to report that one of Worcester’s culinary landmarks has shuttered its doors. Scano’s Bakery, which has been in business since the 1940s, recently closed down. The original bakery opened after World War II, when the Scano brothers used a G.I. loan to start the business. It later moved to its current location at 354 Shrewsbury St. in the early 60s. The bakery was owned by Dor & Mary Scano and later by their son Carl before current owners Tom & Betty
Scano took over its operation about 5 years ago. Generations of Italian Americans bought their
pastry and wedding cakes there.

Zia too. Zia, the restaurant which was housed in the same building as Scano’s, also closed its doors in the middle of August. Zia was owned by Paula McCarthy and had been in business about 7 years, starting as a coffee and lunch place before expanding into an evening operation. Paula McCarthy has taken a job as Executive Chef at the Willows Retirement Community in Worcester. McCarthy will operate the on-premise high end restaurant at the condo development.

Postponed. The annual Foxwood Wine & Food Festival which was scheduled for the end of August has been postponed until April 16-18, 2010. This has been a great annual event for foodies from throughout the Northeast with plenty of celebrity chefs, great food, and great wines.

The scent of Jasmine. Jasmine, a new Asian restaurant featuring Chinese and Japanese cuisine, recently opened in the Park & Shop Plaza at 771 Southbridge Street, Auburn. One of the features
is Hibachi cooking. They also have sushi. 508-832-8868

Shrewsbury Street Shuffle. The 3rd annual Shrewsbury St. Shuffle for college students will be held on Sept 12 from noon to 3pm. This is an opportunity for college students in the area to sample some of the great Shrewsbury Street eating establishments. The Shuffle is a joint program
of the Colleges of Worcester Consortium and the Shrewsbury St. Merchants Association.

J.J.’s has new owner. JJ’s sports bar & grill is under new ownership. Peter Sarro recently took over operation of the Route 9 landmark. He will be updating the pub style menu shortly.

Bluebird gets new owner. Bluebird Pizza, a Park Ave. institution since the days it was called T-Bird Pizza, has new owners. Richard & Joanne Cancelmo from Brookfield recently purchased the Pizza House from Michael Taka, who owned it for about 2 years. They intend to keep the same concept but will be applying for a beer and wine license.

Westborough Doubletree gets new eatery. The
Westboro Doubletree Hotel will be opening a new
upscale Italian restaurant soon. It is to be called
Tavolino.

Sleeps with the fishes. The Blue Marlin, sister restaurant to the Monument Grill in Leominster, has closed its doors according to owner Donna Balletta. Both restaurants are located in downtown Leominster. No other information was available.