• New restaurant at The Living Earth: The Sano Café has closed down at The Living Earth on Chandler Street, but along comes something even better. Now with a full liquor license, owners Al and Celeste Maykel plan on opening the full-service Evo by the beginning of October. With more food selections, pizzas and a full bar, Evo will be open until 11 p.m. Sundays through Wednesdays and until 2 a.m. Thursdays-Saturdays. “We’ll have a lot of the old favorites [from the Sano] but also a lot of new menu items,” says Celeste, “plus a full-service bar and a lounge. It’ll be a dining and bar area and kitchen that you can see from the store.” The restaurant will be located where the health and beauty section of the store was (that’s moving over to the old Sano spot), so when the store is closed, there will be an entrance people can access for the new restaurant. Al, who also does the cooking, says the menu is “new American cuisine that caters to a variety of dietary needs. You have your vegetarian, vegan, and we’ll focus a lot on gluten-free and some American favorites such as chicken, buffalo and fish. Everything that we use will be natural and organic, when available.” Al adds that even the bar will offer some organic beer, wine and mixers, but there will be some typical faves there, too.
• Looking ahead to The Shuffle: On Saturday, Sept. 6 (the same day as CanalFest), the Shrewsbury Street Merchants Association is putting on its second annual Shrewsbury Street College Shuffle from noon-3 p.m. Similar to the successful Taste of Shrewsbury Street, this event includes music, food and fun along this mile-long business district, with many of the establishments on restaurant row dishing out selections. Visit centralmass.org for more information.
• Life-long food: Ayurveda, the Indian philosophy of healthy living, is one of the oldest practices of holistic medicine, and incorporates foods and herbs said to have special powers that promote longevity of the body. On Thursday, Sept. 4, Charlie Walters, an Ayurveda dietary consultant, leads a fun evening sharing delicious recipes, tips and time-saving techniques to create nourishment for the body. He’ll include soups, desserts, salads, sauces and proper spicing in his lesson. A small donation of $15-$25 is appreciated. The event runs from 6-8 p.m. at the Health and Wholeness Store, 286 Boston Tpke., Shrewsbury. Call 508-635-1569.
New chef? New menu items? New manager? Opening a new place? Benefit at your restaurant? Wine tastings at your shop? Expanding? Did your mom win a pie recipe contest? 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.
