By Charlene Arsenault

• Lucky to have dinner back: For a variety of reasons, Lucky's Café on Grove Street stopped serving dinners about eight months ago, but continued with its breakfast and lunch schedule. The demand was strong enough to bring dinners back, so owners Peter Armer and Patti Hallinan listened. Friday, Feb. 1, Hallinen, who is also the head chef, returns with her patented home-cooked dinners, which include those incredible soups, salads, steamed Asian mussels, Portuguese fish stew, the Mayor's Chop ("an awesome pork chop") and baked fish Aegean. "As usual," says Armer, "our entrees cover seafood, beef, chicken and pasta. She's going to keep the standard favorites that were on the menu, but tweak it. I still get multiple calls every week from people who didn't know we closed for dinner, or demanding that we open [for it]."

Lucky's Café, at 1021/2 Grove St., is continuing with breakfast and lunch on Monday through Friday, as well as Sunday brunch. Dinner hours are Friday and Saturday evenings from 5-9 p.m., and it is BYOB. Call 508-756-5014 for reservations.

• Last diner standing: Blanchard Foods Corporation, owned by Chris and Matt Blanchard, bought the classic deluxe model 101 Diner at 322 Cambridge St. in 2005, finishing the restoration in November, 2008. Now serving up fresh, wholesome diner food like you can only find in Worcester, the menu includes such items as "The Worcester Deluxe Special" (two eggs, bacon, sausage or ham and choice of French toast or pancakes), "DJ's Memphis Plate" (two eggs with slow-roasted spare ribs, home fries and toast), "Italian Breakfast" and "Jaws." The lunch menu includes a pastrami melt, burgers, Panini sandwiches, French dip, pasta, chicken tenders, salads, meatballs and plenty of side orders. Call 508-798-4070 for more information.

• You know what they say ... dinner before theatre ...: The U.S. premiere of Marc Smith's A Journey to Kreisau will have a three-performance run at The Hibernian Cultural Centre on Temple Street from Feb. 18-20. This time around, the Fiddler's Green (in the Centre) will offer theater-goers the option of making it a package deal, providing a pre-show menu ranging from sandwiches and burgers to salads and entrees, which include Irish beef stew with bread boule. Seating in the intimate pub is limited. Call 508-792-3700.

Wine tastings? New chef? New menu items? Wish you didn't have to walk through a puddle to get to the front door of your favorite restaurant? Opening a new place? Expanding? Eat something good? Eat something bad? Did you win the national chili cook-offs? If it's directly or indirectly related to food and drink, we want to hear about it. Direct any and all of your juicy foodish news and tidbits to Charlene at This e-mail address is being protected from spam bots, you need JavaScript enabled to view it , or call 508-749-3166, ext. 245.