Next Draft

THE NEXT DRAFT

Charlton father-daughter baker y offers Father’s Day craft beer cakes

Matthew Tota

Special to Worcester Magazine USA TODAY NETWORK

The idea to bake cupcakes with beer initially mystified Frank Manzi.

Forget about Manzi’s decades of baking experience – from working at the long-defunct John J. Nissen Backing Co. plant in Worcester to founding Francesco’s Italian Bakery, a Charlton institution now in its 30th year.

He simply would never have thought to mix beer into a cupcake batter.

“I told him to trust me,” said his daughter, Gianna Manzi, the executive pastry chef and manager of Francesco’s. You see, the beer cupcakes were her idea.

Manzi felt as though she should clarify, too, that she would use local beer from one of the world’s most popular breweries, Charlton’s own Tree House Brewing Co., for her cupcakes, not Budweiser, her father’s go-to.

Brushing off any skepticism, Frank did what he usually does these days with matters concerning his namesake business. “He said, ‘That’s what I do: I trust you, and you figure it out. It ends up working out,’” Gianna Manzi recalled.

Francesco’s released its first batch of beer cupcakes for Father’s Day 2019. And, of course, they were a hit. Since then, the demand for beer cupcakes from the father-daughter bakery has only grown, the annual Father’s Day releases becoming something of a new family tradition.

Each year Gianna Manzi has tried to incorporate more breweries into the mix.

“I love going to the breweries and talking to the different brewers,” she said, adding, “It has been an awesome way to meet people in the community. All the brewers have thought it was a cool idea.”

This year, Manzi’s menu features four different breweries: Altruist Brewing Co. in Sturbridge, Oakholm Brewing Co. in Brookfield, Timberyard Brewing Co. in East Brookfield and Tree House. And she will bake her first hard cider cupcake, using bottles from West Brookfield’s Ragged Hill Cider Company, another father-daughter business.

Manzi, 25, who has worked at Francesco’s virtually all her life (she was featured in a Meet the Chef column in 2013), said her beer cupcakes draw inspiration from an old family recipe for beer bread.

“You just take a can of beer and four other ingredients, then put them together. It’s the perfect little thing,” she said. “That’s what led me to use beer in other recipes.”

The recipe for her89 beer cupcakes is as easy as swapping out the milk or water in the batter for beer, using anywhere from 16 to 20 cans per batch. More challenging is planning out how to take advantage of the flavors from the brews and enhance them with different cakes, frostings and curds – or vice versa.

When I think of dessert, my mind always goes to decadent stouts. But Manzi embraces all styles for her cupcakes.

Sunday’s six-pack of cupcakes, for example, has a blueberry cake baked with Altruist’s sour Berliner Weisse, “Pucker Face: Blueberry Hibiscus.” A filling of hibiscus lime curd plays off the beer’s tartness, and a topping of Italian cream both mellows the cupcake’s sharpness and adds sweetness. Manzi prefers margaritas to beer, but she loved the Altruist sour even before transforming it into a cupcake.

For the Oakholm cupcake, she found an unlikely pairing in chocolate cake and the noble hopped ale “Tractor Bier.” With the ale so light, Manzi could make the cupcake richer through a cookiedough base and a chocolate and buttercream frosting.

Much like putting out beer-infused cupcakes, these collaborations would have been unheard of when Francesco’s opened in 1999. Small businesses were more insular then, and social media didn’t exist.

“We are in this cool era of small business, where there is so much support,” Gianna said. “Now, after COVID, we saw what happened, we all felt it, and people want to support each other. It’s a beautiful thing. Running a small business is tough. We feel that across all industries.”

The Tree House cupcake typifies the small business community today. In true call-and-response fashion, Tree House brewed “Hello Again Central Mass,” an American IPA, and highlighted Francesco’s – along with several other local business – on a batch of the cans, then Manzi used the beer in a cupcake.

“How can I not use that?” she said of the IPA. “It was a little bit of a challenge. But I figured out something after a lot of taste testing.”

She went with a brown sugar-roasted pineapple cake, dipped in a strawberry glaze and topped with coconut butter cream, which paired perfectly with the tropical fruit flavors of Hello Again Central Mass.

Even her father, the traditionalist that he is, approved of that beer-cake combo.

“He’s mainly a classic man and drinks his Bud Heavy, but he’ll try anything when I put it in front of him,” she said.

Orders for Francesco’s Father’s Day Flight of cupcakes – five enhanced with craft beer and one with cider – were only accepted until Thursday. Call the bakery at (508) 248-9900 if you want to check if there are any left, or if there are plans to make more. Each six-pack is $19.99.

For the full menu of cupcakes, visit www.facebook.com/FrancescosItalianBakery.

Gianna Manzi, 25, shows off craft beer cupcakes, baked with brews from some of Central Massachusetts’ best breweries. Manzi, half of the father- daughter bakery, Francesco’s Italian Bakery in Charlton, has been baking the cupcakes as

special Father’s Day releases. MATTHEW TOTA/SPECIAL TO WORCESTER MAGAZINE

Hoppin’

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seasonal farm stand sells fresh fruit and vegetables. Visit Facebook for updates on all farm events. More about the farm at https://houldenfarm.com.

Flatbread Company Brighton opened in the Boston Landing neighborhood in 2019 and features nine bowling lanes and two “primitive clay ovens dishing out hearthcooked pizzas.”

Keane said he and Churchill James partners Paul and Harry DiLeo plan to “”re-introduce” candlepin bowling to Worcester and open a flatbread pizza restaurant on Green Street in Worcester, referring to the development as “The Cove.” FYI: Keane’s take on candlepin bowling is “a ton of fun and exciting.”

The DiLeo brothers grew up in Millbury, he said, and DiLeo Gas in Worcester is a family property.

Keane estimates that the Canal District development he’s involved in is “about three years out, maybe two and a half if we’re lucky.” He’s excited and looking forward to being part of the Worcester business community, he said. “We love the city.”

Steven H. Foskett Jr. in a story published in the Telegram & Gazette on April 26 reported on Churchill James future plans in the Canal District.

Keane, who grew up in southern New Hampshire, “spends a lot of time in the Worcester area” and was on site for the debut of Sunflower Shanty. “Tyler and Trever (Houlden) are so passionate about the farm and their community,” said Keane. They’ve worked hard and done an amazing job.”

The brothers have lived on the farm their entire lives and took over the operation of the multi-generational familyowned business seven years ago. Keane met the owners through his business partners.

Besides summer and fall activities, the farm is a place where you can “sit back and watch the sunset,” according to Keane. “With food and maybe a beer or wine, it’s pretty cool.”

Keane may team up with the farm’s owners in other projects, throwing out the idea of a seated dinner around Thanksgiving partnered with a local brewery or winery.

For now, enjoy what Houlden Farm offers, especially the showy sunflower fields.

Farmers Market season underway

The Regional Environmental Council’s Summer Farmers Market season opened June 14.

Ashley Carter, farmers market program coordinator, said markets will run six days a week (except Sundays) through November.

The REC Standing Farmers Markets operate at Beaver Brook (326 Chandler St., Worcester) from 9 a.m. to noon Monday and Friday; and at University (Crystal) Park, 965 Main St., Worcester, 9 a.m. to 1 p.m. Saturday.

The REC Mobile Markets will bring fresh and local produce to city neighborhoods Tuesday through Thursday.

The schedule: Tuesdays: Seabury Heights, 240 Belmont St., 8:30 to 9:30 a.m.; Green Hill Towers, 27 Mt. Vernon St., 10:30 to 11:30 a.m.; Webster Square Towers, 1050 and 1060 Main St., 1 to 2 p.m.; Coes Pond Village, 39 First St., 3 to 4 p.m.

Wednesdays: Family Health Center, 26 Queen St., 10 to 11 a.m.; Elm Park Towers, 425 Pleasant St., 12:30 to 1:30 p.m.; Plumley Village, 34 Laurel St., 2:30 to 3:30 p.m.

Thursdays: Worcester Senior Center, 128 Providence St., 8:30 to 10 a.m.; Unitarian Universalist Church of Worcester, 90 Holden St., 11 a.m. to noon; Lincoln Village Apartments, Victoria Center, 116 Country Club Blvd., 1:30 to 2:30 p.m.; Edward M. Kennedy Commu-

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CONNELL SANDERS

Young Worcester muralists unveil first of many Main South works to come

Sarah Connell Sanders

Special to Worcester Magazine USA TODAY NETWORK

On Tuesday, the girls showed up in record breaking temperatures to finish what they had started — just like they had the previous Tuesday and the one before that. Armaro, Sarai, Lillian and Nya clutched spray cans in their fists, wearing matching aprons, much too heavy for the heat. A crack of thunder sounded in the distance, threatening to slow the final days of painting to complete their hundred-foot mural in Main South.

The girls looked to professional muralists Jennessa Burks and Eamon Gillen for guidance throughout the project. Burks and Gillen met last July while working on the Black Lives Matter mural at the intersection of Major Taylor Blvd. and MLK Jr. Blvd. in downtown Worcester. For that project, Gillen had been assigned a letter and named one of the leads; Burks worked as his assistant. On Tuesday, he recalled the manner in which she had encouraged local youth to contribute to the mural in the summer of 2020.

“The kids were so excited by her invitation to help us paint,” Gillen remembered. “They worked so hard that we finished ahead of schedule, so I asked them all to sign their names to our letter.”

For Gillen, a father of two, the experience was eye opening. For Burks, a former Worcester Public School teacher, amplifying youth voice has long been an integral part of her identity as an artist.

When Main IDEA Worcester and Boys & Girls Club of Worcester put out a call for a social justice mural this spring, they received an outpouring of original designs from 11- to 18year-olds across the community. Main IDEA Executive Director Joy Rachelle Murrieta immediately thought of Burks for the project. This time, Burks called on Gillen to work as her assistant.

In the end, Burks opted to combine the designs of Sarai and Nya for a celestial portrait of two young people raising up a megaphone, accompanied by the words of Martin Luther King Jr., “Injustice anywhere is a threat to justice everywhere.”

“The outline was our biggest challenge,” Armaro said, “because the texture of the wall was very bumpy.” The more detailed the work, the more time they found to dig deep into the message behind their mural. The girls all cited inspirational conversations with the artists and each other as the best part of the project.

The mural was supported in part by a grant from the Greater Worcester Community Foundation and by the Worcester Arts Council, a local agency, which is supported by the Mass Cultural Council, a state agency. In many ways, it is only the beginning. This summer, the POW! WOW! Worcester festival aims to channel youth voices in the Main South neighborhood from Aug. 13 to 22. The festival will result in at least five works of public art including murals at Jacob Hiatt Magnet School and the Regional Environmental Council’s YouthGrow farm.

When I asked Sarai if it was hard to share the limelight, she shook her head, "no." “It’s interesting because Nya and I didn’t even know one another, but our designs both included chains and the planet Earth,” she said smiling.

The girls assembled in front of their wall to pose for a television reporter who had arrived in a hurry, ahead of the storm. Another thunderclap sounded in the distance, obscured by their peals of laughter. Armaro beckoned Burks and Gillen to get in the frame and a little sliver of sunshine peeked out from the clouds. From behind their masks, the whole group beamed for the camera.

Main IDEA Executive Director Joy Rachelle Murrieta; youth collaborators: Armaro, Sarai, Lillian and Nya; and artists: Eamon Gillen and Jennessa Burks unveil their social justice mural at the Boys & Girls

Club. PHOTO COURTESY SARAH CONNELL SANDERS

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nity Health Center, 19 Tacoma St., 3:30 to 4:30 p.m.

The markets accept cash, SNAP, HIP, Senior Coupons, WIC, credit and debit cards. Visit www.recworcester.org for more information.

Rise Baking

On the Rise Baking, 1120 Pleasant St., Worcester, has extended summer hours.

The bakery is open from 7:30 a.m. to 3 p.m. Thursday and Friday; 8 a.m. to 2 p.m. Saturday; 8 a.m. to 1 p.m. Sunday. Closed Monday through Wednesday. Telephone: (508) 752-3809.

Executive pastry chef/owner Betty Casey said customers requested the longer opening times. Indoor and outdoor seating is available at the bakery.

Pioneer Valley Wine Fest a success

The second Pioneer Valley Wine Festival, hosted by Brimfield Winery & Cidery at Brimfield Auction Acres was held last weekend.

I attended Saturday’s event with friends, both of whom love food and wine. They’re also in the food business and owned restaurants. This was a fun day out, no strong critiques.

Among local wineries: Hardwick Vineyard Winery, Common Ground Ciderworks in North Brookfield; Brimfield Winery; and Broken Creek Vineyard in Shrewsbury. Other wineries (12 total) were from Ipswich, Florence, Hawley, Westfield, Richmond and Franklin. If you discovered a new wine you liked, you could buy a bottle to take home. Of course, we did.

Four food trucks, including Off the Hook Roadside Eatery out of Rutland, owned and operated by executive chef Adam Foreman, and “The Fork” in the Road, owned and operated by Table 3 Restaurant Group in Sturbridge. There was adequate seating throughout the grounds to enjoy food and

LISTEN UP

Danson not happy on engaging ‘Ever After’

Victor D. Infante

Worcester Magazine USA TODAY NETWORK

If there’s a thesis to the mononymous Worcester R&B artist Danson’s recent album, “Ever After,” it’s right there in the preamble to the very first song, “Ever After Intro”: “There’s no fairytale come true/There is only Ever After.” The hip-hop-inflected album is a paean to flawed and failed relationships, starting in the full blush of lust and infatuation, then eventually crumbling into disarray.

The “Intro” is something of an ominous note on which to start, which should pretty much tell the listener what to expect. The sung vocals have plaintive quality that resonates against the antiseptic, mechanized electronic feel of the music. Sung lines such as, “I hold tight to the memories/I know I wasn’t the better man/I hope you are the happiest/Cause you are everything” give way to later rapped lyrics such as, “I’m sorry for making you feel like you’re less/Stress your appearance and judge how you dress/ you needed me to not be like the rest/Instead I just added more weight to the bench.”

Danson gives the listener the bare bones of the narrative right up front, implying mistakes on both sides of the relationship but, really, letting the persona take ownership for its failure. This preface frames the rest of the album, casting a shadow on songs such as the otherwise sweet-spirited, “Stairway Kisses.” Even that song is an exercise in nostalgia, the persona looking back at photographs on the precipice of a breakup, but still, there’s a genuine emotion that echoes throughout the song, as well as an almost understated revelation: “I fell in love with another one/I never thought I’d be back here/I just broke up with another one/This was now that was last year.”

This is, for the persona, cyclical behavior. Which is fairly normal: After all, most of us make the same mistakes over and over again until we, if we’re lucky, learn to stop. Certainly, the recognition of the cycle adds a sort of poignancy to the deep loneliness expressed in “Nights Like This,” and a sort of self-awareness to the empathetic “One You Love,” where the persona acknowledges, “Yeah I know you’ve been betrayed by the one you love/ You’ve been put through so much pain by the one you love/ You don’t know how you could stay by the one you love/Because you do not feel okay with the one you love.” Just because one recognizes they’re stuck in a cycle of behavior, doesn’t mean they know how to break that cycle, and while the album only gives so much of the partner’s side of the narrative, there’s a sense that she’s stuck in her own cycles.

What’s interesting is that the rap breaks, such as one by featured artist Drice Napoleon on “One You Love,” don’t so much shake up the perspective or tone like they normally do on R&B songs, but rather drive the point deeper. Likewise, the subsequent track, “Interlude Falling Apart,” brings the album’s flow to a standstill with ambient music and purposefully distant recordings from a breakup argument. It’s the same point that’s been driven home throughout the album, but the interlude adds a layer of emotional resonance. The next track, “Mistakes,” brings us a tempo uptick, but no fundamental change in the situation: The relationship is broken, and the persona wants her back and is owning his mistakes, but by this point, the cycle is evident. Danson sings, “Pardon me if I thought that I could change/But there’s no excuse for mistakes made.” “Pieces” conveys much the same sentiment, but the song’s tone takes a tighter, more controlled tone, inferring a hardening of wall, which might explain the more antagonistic tone taken in “Like This” and the more bitter undertones of “Two Sides,” where Danson sings, “And now I see them two sides to you/And now I see the one lying to me.”

Structure wise, it’s clear that the “Interlude” in the album’s middle is meant to put the album’s sense of cyclical behavior in focus, and indeed, it’s not too deep into the album that we see themes repeating. “Don’t Stay” finds the persona pushing his partner further away, whereas “Girls” refrains the loneliness from “Nights Like This,” and “Right Now” brings us the sense of self-awareness that we began the album with. Has anything changed? Not really, and that bakes a sense of tragedy into the album.

The album ends with a triptych of songs which both encapsulate the album’s themes and reveal just the slightest glimmer of being able to change. “Not So Simple” starts the cycle all over, and it’s almost ironic that it’s the catchiest, most hook-laden song on the album. “Sometimes” rings with a sense of acceptance, even as the soulful vocals drip with loss and regret, burbling over into the album’s closer, “Firework.” “Firework” ratchets up the album’s sense of steam tonally, even as the persona leans into the sense of selfawareness and acceptance. “Did you find someone to comfort you when you were left alone?” sings Danson. “If I come around I’m only causing problems for you both.”

Does the awareness of causing harm break the cycle? The album leaves it an open question. One hopes for the best, but the album itself makes it clear the persona has been here before, and that sort of change is easier said than done.

Danson’s newest album is “Ever After.” SUBMITTED

Running

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something, right? But mostly chemicals? I fold my paper route directions twice, grip the paper in my right hand, and head to the road.

Tuesday, June 21, 2016: A woman was on a mid-day run through the urban Forest Park in Springfield. A man grabbed her, groped her, and smashed her cell phone. She called out to bystanders to call 911, pulled out of his grip, and ran away.

I have never run in Springfield.

I have heard, Don’t run alone. Never run alone.

I am a runner. I have been catcalled and honked at and told what a man wanted to do with me. I have wondered whether I was being stalked or whether the vehicles were just similar. I have run with my thumb on the pepper spray trigger. I have feigned a look of strength and determination when I was actually lost or fatigued. I have seen beautiful vistas and old downtowns. I have run under trees, over railroad tracks, up hills, down trails, through neighborhoods and shopping districts. I have felt the rush of endorphins and the invigorating fresh air. I have smelled the seasons as mud and leaves and manure and exhaust and cider doughnuts. I have felt the lurking, the uncertainty, and all the numbers. The statistics. I have not stopped running.

Sunday, Aug. 7, 2016: In the scenic small town of Princeton, 27-year-old Vanessa Marcotte went for an early afternoon run from her mother’s house. Police found her body a few hours later, half a mile away on a forestlined road. A man had raped her, murdered her, and burned her body. Police found a man’s DNA under her fingernails.

I have run in Princeton.

Amanda G. Brandt is a writer and editor living in Central Massachusetts.

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drinks. Also, live music at the event and jewelry vendors, etc.

Tastings began at noon and by mid-afternoon people were in line for food and beverages. A lot of people seemed to love the idea of a “to-go” wine slushy in a pouch.

At tastings, you always want to learn more about the wine you’re sipping, and the owner or rep offers the info and answers questions. Throughout my wine tasting years (too many to count), I’ve waited in long lines while people in front sip and chirp with friends about the weather, kids, job or whatever, not the wine they’re sampling. They don’t move an inch and seem clueless about the people behind them who sometimes wait up to 15 minutes before getting to try a wine, or decide to forget it altogether. At the weekend tasting, wine was poured into mini disposable cups, so it was a sip or two and you were done. Wineries showcased more than one wine, most had three or more. Personally, I think a show of wine etiquette would help move lines. Move to the side and continue conversations with friends. Let the rest of us move up. Tastings at a wine dinner are a different experience. You’re not going table to table.

There were great new wines to try at this festival, and the owners and folks working booths were friendly and informative. We look forward to next year’s event, and yes, the wine tasting lines!

If you have a tidbit for the column, call (508) 868-5282. Send email to bhoulefood@gmail.com.