Celebrities, Sid Wainer and ALDI opening: Top stories in the New Bedford area this week – SouthCoastToday.com

NEW BEDFORD — Summer seems but a memory this week, as we began enjoying the high school football season in earnest, and even found some places to go apple picking.

This week, readers had lighter fare, like local celebrities and high-end real estate on the brain.

But overall, business was the number one topic, as these five stories were the most popular on southcoasttoday.com this week.

Remember when so-and-so visited our restaurants?

Providence’s Figidini restaurant scored some famous diners last week when Sarah Jessica Parker and Matthew Broderick dropped off their son James at Brown University.

But the SouthCoast eateries have seen its share of celebrity diners. From Martha Stewart, Billy Murray to Justin Timberlake, we reminisced — and readers loved it..

Serving the stars: Six celebrity sightings at SouthCoast area restaurants

Did you know so-and-so was from New Bedford?

Sometimes it seems the most notable New Bedford name is Herman Melville … and he wasn’t even born anywhere near the SouthCoast. But Melville isn’t the only celeb to claim the New Bedford area as their early stomping grounds.

From Tony- and Oscar- Award winners, to an NFL player, to an America’s Got Talent contestant, to the richest woman in America — we found 10 New Bedford area names that have reached celebrity status throughout history, and better yet, interest was so high that we are making it an occasional series.

From the NFL to the White House: 10 famous people from the New Bedford area

Have you tried Butternut Bistro?

Butternut Bistro’s mission is to offer a special and relaxing place in the community that offers a good cup of coffee and a hearty meal.

“We’re pretty casual, just trying to feed our community breakfast and lunch,” said owner Deborah DeSouza.

The most popular menu items at the bistro located at 4437 Acushnet Ave. include the fish & chips, egg sandwich, the grilled cheese and the assortment of omelets. Included on the breakfast menu are crepes, eggs Benedict, quiche and Nutella banana croissants, to name a few.

But they offer much more, like chicken piccata, grilled shrimp dinner, wild haddock sandwich and pan-seared scallops. And the community has embraced this new spot.

‘Just trying to feed our community’: Laid-back New Bedford bistro offers hearty meals

ALDI opens this week at Dartmouth Mall

The grocery store chain ALDI, will be officially opening in the Dartmouth Mall located next to Burlington on Sept. 23.

ALDI says it will offer Dartmouth residents “another option for smart, fast and easy grocery shopping” when it opens its store at 200 North Dartmouth Mall on Thursday. The store will be open daily from 9 a.m. to 8 p.m.

But the ALDI experience is a little different than other supermarket chains.

What to expect: ALDI prepares to open new store in Dartmouth Mall

Sid Wainer retail store reopens

After a fire on March 23, 2020, and many months of COVID uncertainty, the specialty food distribution company Sid Wainer & Son reopened its retail store, Jansal Valley Provisions.

“There was just so much uncertainty around the safety,” Wainer said. “We just wanted to make sure we’re keeping our employees safe, focusing on the core business and making sure that our customers were getting what they needed.”

The gourmet outlet, which softly re-opened Aug. 10, is back and better than it was before, offering a larger variety of products, Wainer said. “We used to have a lot of just our specialty items, we now have a lot more to offer,” he added.

Reopening post-COVID: Sid Wainer & Son finally reopens Jansal Valley gourmet retail store 16 months after fire

2021-09-19T08:13:06Z