15^th annual Taste of Shrewsbury Street. Join Worcester’s unofficial kickoff to summer at the Taste of Shrewsbury Street from 5-9 p.m. Tuesday, June 23. More than 40 of Worcester’s best restaurants and bars put on a 2-mile block party featuring food and music. The event is sponsored by Shock Top Beer, Deep Eddy Vodka, DCU Credit Union, Fidelity Bank, Herb Chambers Fiat, Pepsi and Reliant Medical. Media sponsors include WXLO, Nash 102, The Pike, WCRN-AM830, Pulse and TasteWorcester. Buttons for the event are $25 and can be purchased at Tasteshrewsburystreet.com.

Chickpea opens. Chickpea, a vegan café at 589 Park Ave. in Worcester, opened its doors the last week of May. The restaurant is owned by Katie Dufault and Julia Cohn. Before branching out, the restaurant was located inside Spiritual Haze, a hookah bar.

342 West Boylston St. It looks like the old D’Angelo’s on Worcester’s West Boylston Street may get a new life. The owner of the property is petitioning the city to put in a fast food restaurant with a drive-through. The same person is also petitioning to convert the Dippin’ Donuts on Park Avenue into a drive-through fast food place.

McCabe goes to Hopkinton. Sean McCabe, formerly of Ritual and Zipango in Worcester and numerous other restaurants, has partnered with Ko Lin, of Newton, to open Ko Sushi & Grill in Hopkinton. McCabe and Lin worked together at the former Zipango on Worcester’s Shrewsbury Street.

Pure Juz gets new owners. Highland Street’s Pure Juz has new owners. Dante Camparetto and his partner Martha Assefa took over the juice bar at the beginning of May. Pure Juz has been around for more than a year and has become a focal point for the neighborhood. It is located at 123 Highland St. in Worcester.

Sweet thing. Sweet on Worcester’s Shrewsbury Street was recently picked by Yankee Magazine as having the best cupcakes in New England. The bakery was featured in the magazine’s “Best of New England 2015” issue. Kudos to Alina Eisenhauer and staff.

Basil set to open. Basil n’ Spice, a new Thai restaurant, will open in June at 299 Shrewsbury St. in Worcester. The restaurant is opening in the space that housed Surya, an Indian restaurant, for a decade. Basil n’ Spice has a new look with an updated modern décor. It is warm and welcoming. The restaurant will be open for lunch and dinner seven days a week.

Just across the bridge. We hear that Lakeside Bar & Grille in Shrewsbury has been sold. No details yet on what the new owners will be doing. Lakeside, on Route 9, has become a very popular spot with the locals.

In more Hamilton Street news. La Cucina Italiana was set to open next to Shaker’s, but there have been some setbacks. No news on when this Italian restaurant will open.

By Paul Giorgio