Topside Grill & Pub, 50 Rogers Street, Gloucester, MA (978) 281-1399

Topside Grill shut down January through April, but no longer! I asked restauranteur Doug Silva what it means to Topside Grill to have a year round liquor license awarded by the licensing board?

“First of all, we are very excited and feel pretty lucky to have been selected with all the choices.” Other businesses vying for the license included: Captain Carlo’s; Jasmine Garden Restaurant; Dennis Senecal for the former Espresso location; Simon Prudenzi for the former Dog Bar space; and Karma Liquors. You can read more about the process and see a map of all MA licenses on my earlier GMG post. 

“What does it mean to us? It means many things. We can stay open year round. We can hold on to our staff which will really help out with turnover. It’s great for our customers who come on a regular basis and won’t need to shift plans in the winter anymore. A year round schedule will stamp out any lingering seasonal perception that we cater solely to tourists. We’re all about local. We live downtown. We help downtown. We’re here for Gloucester and part of the community.” 

And?

“It’s been super nice to hear congratulations and feedback from everyone, and so so so nice to hear from the professional community, too.”

Anything else?

“We get to play with a year round cocktail menu, too.”

If you hadn’t heard, Doug is a master mixologist. What’s popular now? Topside Grill makes a delicious homemade artisan ginger beer–fresh ginger!— refreshing on its own or shoring up a signature Moscow Mule or Dark & Stormy.

Topside Grill serves a great menu selection of seafood and steak entrees, and creative daily specials. My kids love the appetizers and delicious homemade lasagna and chicken-eggplant Parmesan which are family recipes. They think Doug is so lucky because his mom could cook these, you know, probably after school. Anytime. Just like that.

Homemade delicious gingerbeer

Topside Grill is part of the downtown cultural district and the Chamber. Doug serves on Gloucester’s Tourism Commission

In case you missed this sign in the background.