Kummerspeck bringing old concept to up-and-coming neighborhood
PHOTO/ERIC GOUDREAU
(From left) Rachel Coit, co-owner of Kummerspeck; Erin Hockey, executive sous chef/butcher; Adam Sheldon, general manager; outside of the restaurant's Water Street location, which they plan to open by the end of the summer.
A breath of fresh air is coming to Water Street, or is that just the smell of delicious German sausage?
Whether it is the line of establishments down Shrewsbury Street or the small bistro at the end of the block, Worcester's food scene is filled with a lot of passion, hard work and delicious choices. But according to Spencer native Matt Mahoney, Worcester lacks dining options with the unique hybrid concept of his restaurant and bar combined with a full-service deli.
Mahoney and his wife/co-owner Rachel Coit plan to bring that concept to their Kummerspeck Restaurant & Delicatessen on Water Street.
“You cannot get a better variety of food than in Worcester,” said Coit, a Harvard native. “There's just an explosion of really good food coming to the city, and we really wanna be a part of that.”
Mahoney and Coit have been eager to open up their doors to the Worcester foodie community. Mahoney worked at Barbara Lynch's The Butcher Shop in Boston, which has a similar concept. To cut down on waste, the meat prepared for but unsold in Kummerspeck's restaurant section is sent to the deli section to be sold at a discount.
“Everyday [at The Butcher Shop] I would look around and just see the profitability of having a zero waste situation,” Mahoney said. "This really allows me to keep my food costs low and my waste at almost nothing.”
The two owners have paired with Erin Hockey, executive sous chef/butcher, and Adam Sheldon, general manager. The foursome have not taken a breath in trying to open their doors, but none of this has halted the initial passion they had when they first announced the opening in February.
“I'm really looking forward to working with this style of cuisine and this amount of care for products and butchering,” said Sheldon.
Rob Fecteau, co-owner of the BirchTree Bread Co. bakery in the Canal District since 2014 and good friends with Mahoney and Coit, is enthusiastic about what the crew at Kummerspeck has to offer.
“Matt and Rachel will be bringing to Worcester an old-world style of hospitality that is missing from Worcester's dining scene,” he said, “There is no place currently in Worcester where you can get mortadella, salami, bratwurst and boudin noir sausages that were all made in house from locally raised beef and pork.”
Delayed opening
The buzz has been building around Kummerspeck, thanks to significant fan fare due to their pop-up appearances at events around Central Massaschusetts. The only thing stopping the team from opening the restaurant's doors now is putting the final polish on the interior.
“I know there has been a little bit of a grey area of when we are gonna be opening, but we are constantly getting contacted like 'Who are you guys? What's going on? When can I eat there?', which is really great!” said Coit.
Mahoney knows opening a restaurant can create a nightmare list of problems, but he maintains a sense of humor when exactly Kummerspeck will open.
“A month and a half ago,” Mahoney said. “We are working on it as hard as we can, and it's hopefully gonna be [opening] in a few weeks, definitely by the end of the summer.”
A Canal District destination
Coit said she and Mahoney chose Water Street as the location because the neighborhood had the feel they wanted associated with Kummerspeck.
“The history of Water Street really brought us here,” Coit said. “We kind of want to bring back the glory of the street as well.”
Facteau, of BirchTree Bread Co., said all these new restaurants in the Canal District can work together to create a very cool neighborhood.
“Of course, we help each other out, and our businesses are good for one another. That's the way it should be and needs to be. If we work together towards a common vision and goal for the neighborhood, we are all more likely to succeed.” said Fecteau.
Kummerspeck will even use the same butchers block used from long-time Canal District mainstay Tom's Deli in the 1960's – located in the building Kummerspeck will occupy – as the restaurant wants to embrace the neighborhood's history of meat cutting.
Coit and Mahoney will look to not just host this neighborhood feel of Water Street's past but also bring a creative spin the area has not seen.
“I see Kummerspeck's German twist to reimagined comfort food combined with offerings of a classic butcher shop, being a great step forward to making sure Worcester restaurants don't get too commercial,” said Luke Vaillancourt, publisher of Mass Foodies, based in Worcester.
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