By Rod Lee

During the course of his long career as an owner and manager of Chuck’s Steak House & Margarita Grill in Auburn, Steve Londregan has witnessed more than his share of humorous moments.

  Chuck’s, by the way, celebrated a 44th anniversary on Mother’s Day.

  Mr. Londregan, a recent president of the Auburn Chamber of Commerce, was happy to share “my funniest story ever” with The Feisty Fork.

  “This happened around 1982 or 1984,” he said. “I was behind the bar on a Sunday afternoon. A lovely older couple from Prospect St. who came in regularly always had martinis before they sat down to dinner. They did this that day, too, before walking into the dining room.

  “About fifteen minutes later, one of our waitresses came running up to me and said ‘Steve, you have to come, now.’

  “I hurried into the dining room.

  “Mrs. – had just come from our all-you-can-eat soup and salad bar. She said to me, ‘Steve, this minestrone soup is ice cold.’ She was very adamant about it.”

  Mr. Londregan recognized the problem right away.

  “I said to her ‘Mrs. – you have a bowl of Italian salad dressing in front of you!

  “That’s all I got,” Mr. Londregan added, on the telephone, in referring to the invitation The Feisty Fork has issued to restaurateurs for interesting items to be included in this column.

  William “Billy” Therecka may have run into some bad luck, opening Grille 122 on Providence Road in Whitinsville in July of 2019, just before Covid-19 hit, but he held his ground and the restaurant is attracting a steady stream of customers.

  “It was a bad time for everyone,” he said on April 28th. “My sister has a restaurant in Coventry, Connecticut with water frontage and she faced the same issue. Now it’s getting better. My only struggle is finding help (especially in the kitchen). I’m reaching out to everyone I know. I’m trying my best.”

  An ambitious and energetic man, Mr. Therecka was not about to be deterred by the pandemic, in his plans for Grille 122. The restaurant serves lunch and dinner. It also hosts functions, including business meetings, bridal showers and mercy dinners.

  “I’m stubborn. I’m a workaholic, seven days a week,” he said.

  Mr. Therecka now owns the building in which Grille 122 is situated. He has also purchased two apartment buildings next door.

  Although he didn’t get much of a chance to incorporate outdoor dining into the mix last year, despite having set up an area with picnic tables for it to one side of the restaurant, he is looking to add an outdoor patio “with masonry and flowers”—possibly in time for patrons to enjoy by the summer of 2023.

  “If I do it, I want to do it right,” he says. “When I’m done I don’t want to have to worry about anything at all.”

  Mr. Therecka came into the town of Northbridge as an unknown but he has won over the local populace.

  “My customers are my friends now,” he said.

Elaine Cowan, owner/chef of UXLocale on Hartford Ave. West in Uxbridge, shared with The Feisty Fork these reflections about her restaurant’s years, past to present.

The UXLocale, now, then, and everything in between. When asked to look back over the last few years and how they have changed the way we are doing business, a quick response could never suffice, and I still feel my shoulders move up to my ears as I type. In the beginning, after the initial shock wore off, there was a scramble to figure out how to make this whole thing work.

Then

Sleepless nights began on Monday, March 11. They lasted two weeks until I figured out converting my menu to 98% web-based business. Then, I converted the old ice cream windows to curbside pickup while losing over one-third of business, the ability to sell beer and wine with food helped a little, but overall, it was bleak.

Now

We still service the takeout window. Although it is steadily decreasing, while indoor dining is increasing, we still have a population of people who get curbside takeout every week. These people have been with us through the darkest hours, and I will do this as long as they need me. One silver lining is that I got to know so many regulars by their orders: some would even write little notes of encouragement on their slips. These little notes got us through the worst of it.

Then

Like the UXLocale, many other businesses were doing the same thing: going online, which caused servers to crash, slips not printing to the kitchen, or pizza oven. A little background. On an average day, we begin prep at 10:00 a.m. Service begins at 5:00. After cleanup and sanitation, it’s usually a decent twelve-hour day. I had no time for a learning curve. I worked with the POS people to move al my content to another server.

Now

Every Wednesday-Saturday, I manually check inventory, take photos of everything I make, write descriptions, and get them up online before 10:00 a.m. That has not changed. Then a quick post to Instagram and Facebook, and I’m on my way to doing the thing I love. COOK!

Then

Because I converted my pantry into a takeout expedition center, I moved my pantry to the dining room. With that, I obtained a retail license and sold Italian imports and local cheeses.

Then Part II

When we were able to seat folks inside again, I kept small pyramids of pantry items for two reasons: transparency—people got to see the ingredients they were eating; and social distancing. Fortunately, the pyramids created a barrier between tables, and plexiglass went up…everywhere.

Now

The dining room has been relieved of all the (Covid) extras. I built some new narrow tables that allow space and symmetry. We host Wise Guys Trivia on Wednesday nights. Live music is back most Fridays. We added a proper DJ booth, and on Saturdays, DJ Proud Larry spins records. He may be the only DJ who spins records—no antics, just outstanding music.

Now Part II

Inventory is a struggle, the same products that I rely on aren’t always available. If the pricing increases are too night, I’m fearful not to pass that on to the diner, but I still want a family to be able to come and dine without breaking the bank. We have gone up on some things because I will not substitute quality ingredients.

Now

The menu! Because everyone’s schedule is still so topsy-turvy, I run “weekend” specials every night. Some things I can’t in good conscience put in a box to go, but if it travels without ruining texture and presentation, I’ll let it ride. So lots of my specials are going back to my roots. Keeping it fresh, flavorful, and unfussy.

Throughout-Today

My staff. There is no scenario where we successfully came out of this without the fantastic people behind the scenes, the ones you barely see. Still, they are grinding day in and day out, 99% of whom have been with me since the beginning and all the people in the front that you see. I’ve made some great hires. They want to be there, and they are about what happens next. I feel so incredibly fortunate to have the staff I have. Something remarkable that I notice daily is how kind they are to one another. That’s a gift.

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