Food & Drink in Shrewsbury

Pepperoni Express

Bright reds and yellow oranges color the exterior of one Pepperoni Express location, signaling the tangy tomato sauce and gooey cheese commingling on pizzas inside. The other location sports reddish-pink walls, which resemble the spicy sausage that inspired the eatery’s name. In each kitchen, cooks make fresh dough each day, which forms the base of pizzas studded with ingredients such as shrimp, broccoli, and mushrooms. They offer a choice of more than 20 ingredients for build-your-own pies and rectangular 18”x24” party pizzas; rectangles suit parties because they have edges and thus are more likely to attract U2 guitarist The Edge. Pepperoni Express’s thin-crust pies brim with Italian ingredients such as olives, oregano, and prosciutto, as do italian authentic subs. Wine and beer can grant a hydrating reprieve for any dining session.

Apple Spice Cafe & Juice Bar’s menus spring from a deep love of deli cuisine and a fervent desire to make lunch the standout meal of the day. At the eatery, chefs layer fresh-baked breads with deli meats and cheeses to create more than a dozen types of hearty sandwiches, including sugar-cured virginia ham and a classic pastrami-and-swiss. Patrons who would rather stay inside can order box lunches teeming with dill pickles, desserts, and a choice of pasta, potato salad, or frog-eye salad. Apple Spice Cafe & Juice Bar’s friendly delivery team also directs catering trays toward offices and sets up stations of build-your-own breakfast burritos, baked potatoes, and fajita-themed great helms.

Fresh, colorful fruits and vegetables fill the shelves of Weepin Willies, a local market that stocks produce and meats at two locations. Shoppers can find high quality cuts of beef, chicken, and pork, or opt for Boar’s Head meats and cheeses and prepared soups, salads, and sandwiches from the deli.

Wah-Bo's menu catalogs hormone-free, all-white meat chicken, Montana-raised free-range bison and beef, and wholesome, low-fat grilled fare. Feel free to garnish a turkey, veggie, beef, or bison burger with a choice of 14 toppings, such as horseradish aioli, grilled mushrooms, and barbecue sauce. Six hearty, grilled burritos, including the fiery shredded pork burrito, imbue palates with south-of-the-border flavor, and Wah-Bo's rice bowls ensconce similar ingredients san tortilla and with a choice of meat. The Crunchy Chick chicken sandwich expresses its Mexican taste by packing a wallop of tortilla-chip crumbles and chipotle salsa, and the blue buffalo wrap expresses its American nature through lettuce, tomato, and chicken engraved with Roger Maris's homerun statistics. Guests can pair their choice with a large side of heart-buffing broccoli, air fries, or a side salad, and wash it all down with a large fizzy pop.

Determined to make the best pizza possible, the chefs of Elsa's Eatery traveled to Italy, New York, and Boston's culture-rich North End in the name of research. Upon returning to Shrewsbury, they went to work crafting the best Neapolitan-style pizza possible, hand-made each day. They top it with ingredients such as pesto-infused mozzarella, sliced meatballs, and grilled chicken, before sliding the pie onto an imported pizza stone and baking it to a perfect crisp. But Elsa's isn't just about pies—they also have an extensive menu with other gourmet Italian specials and steak and seafood entrees. Most recently, they have started to present brunch on Saturdays and Sundays, boldly defying the international ban non-Sunday brunches.

For 30 years, the culinary family behind CJ's Steakloft has whipped up a spread of savory steak-house fare, including juicy slabs of beef, hearty pastas, and fresh fish. Cuts of prime rib fill plates with tender helpings ($19.95), and Parisienne sirloin ($18.95) proves its whereabouts with an airtight alibi of thick, tasty grill marks. Pasta entrees, such as the creamy chicken-and-broccoli alfredo ($14.95) unite starch and protein in a palatable symphony of flavor, and seafood dishes such as baked stuffed haddock deliver artfully prepared packages of fresh, flaky ocean fare ($16.95). Combination dinners unite land and sea with mix-and-match entrees such as steak tips and lobster accompanied by an edible aide-de-camp of potato or vegetable ($24.95).

When casual cake-baker Lindsay Boyers bit into the crumbly center of a cake pop for the first time, she was instantly enamored with both the richness of its flavor and its practical design. Not long after, Boyers was hard at work in attempts to perfect Hello Kitty cake pops for her 4-year-old niece, Gianna. Inspired by her eventual success, she opened Once a Pop a Time, where she artfully decorates her handcrafted pops with shimmering sugar, colorful designs, and delicate fondant flourishes.