STURBRIDGETIMESMAGAZINE

APRIL, 2014THE

THE CHRONICLE OF STURBRIDGE COUNTRY LIVING

SPECIALTABLE 3EDITION

2 THE CHRONICLE OF STURBRIDGE COUNTRY LIVINGTHE STURBRIDGE TIMES MAGAZINE

By Stephanie Richards

Table 3 Restaurant Group is ready to expand Stur-bridge appetites in a big way. Having tasted success

with their restaurant revitalizations of the former CedarStreet Restaurant (nowCedar Street Grille) and TheWhistling Swan (now Avel-lino’s and The Duck), theirmost ambitious project isnow on the menu and it willkeep their roots plantedfirmly in Sturbridge.This group came together

in April, 2010, and includesformer West Brookfield na-tive Michael Lyons (Presi-dent and CEO), andSturbridge residents DanielGonya (General Manager,Business Development), En-rico Giovanello (Executive Chef), and Patrick Farrelly(Head Chef, Pastry Arts). The business was formedaround the motto, “A restaurant meal should be amonglife’s most memorable experiences.” Table 3 followsthree principles to fulfill this motto including: demand-ing the highest quality ingredients, focusing on excep-tional service and flawless operations as thenorm, and consistently working to earnguest loyalty.Table 3’s first venture (Cedar Street)

bloomed in July of 2010, with the purchaseand rehab of the former Cedar StreetRestaurant. Five months of major renova-tions transformed the building into CedarStreet Grille, an American Bistro-typeeatery with full bar and small plates, slid-ers, seasonal entrees and desserts.Just a few months later, the group pur-

chased the former Whistling Swan andUgly Duckling Loft, renovated the build-ing, revamped the menus and re-definedthe Swan space into Avellino’s ItalianRestaurant with a custom bar, openkitchen concept, and menu featuring traditional, home-made cuisine. The Duck maintained its casual atmos-phere but with a mix of customer favorites and newFarmhouse Entrees focusing on all-natural, organic, andsustainable foods. “There was a stigma tied to The Swanas a fine dining or special occasion restaurant. Wewanted to create a more casual atmosphere with Italian

cuisine and include an open kitchen where guestscould see and interact with the chefs,” Gonya said.A front porch project was completed on Avellino

last month, which added French-style doors swinging

outwards to allow retractable screens to be drawn inwarmer weather. It also adds additional space for par-ties. “The front room lacked the cozy feeling wewanted to create,” Gonya said. “It was the portion ofthe restaurant that had the most staid feeling of theold Swan. The front porch allows us to connect the

restaurant with Main Street. In addition, it providesmore light from the inside out (the doors are black andless reflective), so a passerby can see activity,” Gonyasaid. “We now have space for approximately 55 in onelarger room for special events or 25 to 30 people intwo separate ones using a divider. We were getting alot of requests for rehearsal dinners and anniversary

parties of those sizes.”Perhaps the biggest transformation will come

with the group’s latest venture, the creation ofTable 3 Chefs & Catering on about six acres of

property at 420 MainStreet, Sturbridge.Porchlight InvestmentsIII, LLC purchased theproperty for Table 3 onFebruary 27 for $1.65million dollars from1817 Shoppe, Inc. Theproperty, owned by Alexand Mike Pifer, is hometo The Seraph, whichspecializes in 17th and18th Century reproduc-tion furniture and acces-sories. It also previouslyincluded several restau-

rants and retail establishments, most recently Ver-itas Restaurant.Gonya said three acres of the property are zoned

“commercial tourist” and the other three “subur-ban/residential.” The site includes 125 parkingspaces and four buildings, totaling 18,000 square

feet. The Seraph and Domas(unique home furnishings) are cur-rently operating in two of the build-ings. A third building included theformer restaurant space, and thefinal one has been empty, thoughwas undergoing renovation work byVeritas owners for use as a futurefunction/catering space. “We didask the owners of Veritas to stay on,but they declined citing an interestto return to Vieques where they hadpast and future commercial inter-ests,” Gonya said. “The Seraph willremain at its current location onthe property. We developed a goodrelationship with Alex and Mike

when we bought the Cedar Street Grille propertyacross the street. They have been great to work within purchasing this property.”Located at the corner of Cedar Street and

Route 20, the property was ideal for its aesthetics.“Buildings two and three have beautiful post andbeam construction that give a country feel. The

Sturbridge’s most dynamic restaurant group, Table 3, announcesexpansion in town to include banquet, catering, teaching

Best Getting BetterThis rendering shows the new en-closed front porch on Avellino Ital-ian Restaurant. With French styledoors that swing outwards, the ad-dition has retractable screens thatcan be drawn to provide an alfrescodining experience. The expansion al-lows accommodation of 55 peoplefor special events or two groups of25 each with a divider. The restau-rant was voted BEST ITALIANRESTAURANT in the GreaterSturbridge Area in the 2014 Stur-bridge Times Readers’ ChoiceAwards.

Table 3 Restaurant rendering

The 420 Main Street campus will be a place for celebrating and learning to cook©2014 Sturbridge Times Magazine photo by Stephanie Richards

3THE CHRONICLE OF STURBRIDGE COUNTRY LIVING THE STURBRIDGE TIMES MAGAZINE

grounds provide a green, spacious area for outdoorevents (possibly weddings, corporate gatherings),”Gonya said. “Right now, I don’t know what thevariables will be within the Commercial TouristDistrict with regard to things like tents. However,I like the idea of a semi-permanent space similarto the Publick House. There are a lot of great op-portunities at this location.”It took about a year for Table 3 to find the right

spot for their next venture. “We looked at differ-ent markets, such as Putnam and Wilbraham, andalso at other possibilities such as creating anotherCedar Street Grille in an area like Westboro. Thiswas a more logical direction for us, and it furthermeets the interest we were seeing in catering andthe cooking school (Cooking with Rico classes),”Gonya said. “This property sits right betweenCedar Street Grille and The Whistling Swan prop-erty, so the proximity was great. Keeping things inclose proximity makes it all easier to run becauseyou can keep a handle on everything. In addition,Sturbridge is being established as a dining desti-nation with many new restaurants opening–likeSturbridge Seafood and Teddy G’s. Our reviewsstarted out heavy with local patrons but now weare seeing people travel from outside the area todine here. That’s good for everyone.”Gonya said the Town of Sturbridge has been

very cooperative in doing business. “From our firstproject, we’ve had to work closely with planning,design, zoning and the Board of Selectman. Forexample, at Cedar Street Grille, we needed a vari-ance for our addition. We’ve made sure to haveeverything in order and the town has provided alot of positive feedback to us.”Building 2 (former Bass retail outlet) will be the

first one to undergo renovation for use as a func-tion, event and catering venue with seating for upto 125. It will also allow the expansion of Table3’s popular cooking classes onsite. “There was asignificant amount of work done by Veritas in thisdirection already and the town is quite familiarwith the project and has made several recommen-dations. We can move on them quickly and ad-dress issues like fire and safety, and handicapaccess bathrooms. Our goal is to open by the endof April,” Gonya said. “We don’t want to operatethis venue like an island. There is a lot of roomfor a mid-size function facility in town for wed-dings, corporate dinners, and other special events.

Our hope is to work together with similar busi-nesses and when our space is filled, recommendanother local venue and vice versa. In addition,we would like to open up the space to other cater-ers when available. For example, if a couple wantsa pig roast for their wedding, I could see us coop-erating with Brian Treitman at B.T.’s Smoke-house. We would like to test the concept.”Leading this new Table 3 business will be Ex-

ecutive Chef Enrico Giovanello, who founded En-rico’s Brick Oven Pizzeria and Giovanello’s ItalianMarket, and played a key role in creating thegroup’s Cedar Street Grille and Avellino restau-rants. In addition, Brad Arcoite has been broughton staff to oversee the banquet function becauseof his significant experience with events manage-ment at both Old Sturbridge Village and The Pub-lick House. Table 3 currently employs about 50people and Gonya said staff will have first rightson additional hours, but that there will be a needfor additional employees.Initial plans for the former Veritas building

may be some type of food café for breakfast andlunch. The building will likely need to be gutted,leaving the details of the exterior intact, which willprobably take about a year. Gonya said they arealso open to the idea of mixed retail for other

building space. As for the land zonedsuburban/residential, multi-dwellings may be ex-plored for the future.In a time when many businesses struggle to

maintain, Table 3 Restaurant Group has been ableto thrive with its ventures. “We’ve been fortunateto have solid investment backing and the abilityto plan. We have a great mix of strong business,marketing and financial people and the right culi-nary and front house staff. Our concept from thestart has been restaurant revitalization. What wedo is allow the business side to support the busi-ness and the chefs and front of the house staff toflourish at what they do. We set certain gross salestargets and that has allowed us to pay good salariesand provide resources to pay back the investmenton properties,” Gonya said. “We are really excitedabout this project. It was in our plan to allow usto grow; it just took a little longer than expected.We’re glad it did and know it is going to be theright thing for us. It allows for expansion, flexibil-ity for employees, and ease to run the operation(because it’s all in Sturbridge). It is a key piece ofthe puzzle for Table 3.”For more information about Table 3 Chefs &

Catering, go to www.t3chefs.com.

Table 3 expansion to the Seraph campus at 420 Main Streetwill host cooking classes, banquets, headed by Enrico Giovanello

The Table 3 offerings at 420 Main Street will include banquets in an elegant post-and-beam facility right in the center of town.Erb Photography