When it comes to his destination restaurant Viron Rondo Osteria, Viron Rondos always goes big.
The Cheshire parking lot and building are enormous, a striking contemporary mid-Century style chandelier weighing 1,500 pounds hangs in one of his dining rooms, he employs about 170 to 190 people, depending on the season and customers say the food portions are huge too. Even the complimentary olives are gigantic, customers say.
So in true Rondos form — he says he does everything but sleep at the restaurant — the landsced patio for outdoor dining is about to get super-sized too.
He is planning a 20,000-square-foot garden patio expansion and, added to the 6,000-square-feet already there, that will make the space 26,000-square-feet of landsced lushness. There will be evergreen and colorful traditional and not so traditional annuals and perennials.
It’s made with a lot of love and authenticity, he said of the business, acclaimed for its Mediterranean cuisine. It’s a labor of love. For me it’s not just another business.
A spokeswoman for the restaurateur suggested it will be the largest in Cheshire or maybe even in the state. Neither could be verified.
The current patio is surrounded by plants and trees too. The addition will more than triple his outdoor eating space.
There’s nothing like this around. It’s going to be a unique feeling. They will feel like they’re dining in a garden, he said, noting, It is a very expensive project.
Expensive because it’s not like Rondos to bring in a local landscer to throw in a few plants and evergreen trees.
He’s going big.
He has a design team led by a landsce architect in France with whom he has worked before. He’ll add a bar, a couple of service stations for staff, six bathrooms and a reflecting pool with a fountain, fieldstone walls, and he’ll employ a landsce team to keep it perfect.
It will all have an organic feel, he said.
The new section will be known as, The Secret Garden and Rondos said, This concept from the beginning was to take it to the next level. All the plants and trees will create a noise buffer to Route 10, he said.
Outdoor dining got popular during the COVID-19 pandemic and remained that way, he said.
We are booked all the time. We just keep growing, Rondos said, of his critically acclaimed restaurant.
The restaurant that serves Italian fare with Greek influence is so good one online reviewer once said they would return to Connecticut from Canada just to dine there again.
He said they hope to start construction on the new space mid-August and be finished by the end of this year.
The zone has already been changed from light industrial to hospitality for the project.
Rondos, who is Greek, said that, where he grew up in Albania, the outdoor season was about nine months of the year and he brought the outdoor dining gardens here because of that.
With outdoors there’s always areas to be discovered, he said. He grew up in Himara, a coastal town on the Albanian Riviera.
This is on a different scale you see in the Mediterranean, Rondos said. I have never seen anything like it here.

For Angela Val, experiencing the charms of Philadelphia is far more than just a personal pastime. It’s part of her job.
President and CEO of Visit Philadelphia, the nonprofit that serves as the city’s official leisure-tourism marketing agency, it falls to Val to sell the city’s many allures to the wider world. Especially this year, as Philadelphia prepares to ascend the global stage for America’s 250th anniversary.
It’s exciting for it to be here, said Val, who has led Visit Philadelphia since 2022, after a prior 17-year stint at the agency, when she worked her way from a receptionist to vice president. I have been preparing for this year with lots of different people, and to see it come to fruition — to be in the implementation stage — is really thrilling.
A native of Rockville, MD, Val fell in love with Philly’s rising potential after earning a degree in hospitality management from Drexel University in 1994.
Starting out working hotel front desk and catering jobs, Val first joined Visit Philadelphia in 1998, amid Center City’s long awaited renaissance.
I just felt like I was going to be part of a city that’s going to have a great deal of growth over the next 10 years, she said.
Now, Val helps spearhead that growth.
For the 250th, Visit Philadelphia has rolled out a series of marketing campaigns and events, including TED Democracy, a daylong symposium of broadcast TED talks exploring modern day democracy scheduled for June 13 at the Kimmel Center.
Val, who lives in Point Breeze with her husband, and her dogs, Dash and Bailey, who are Mi-Kis, said her Perfect Philly Day would include a rooftop sunset, a killer workout, sweets before dinner, lots of great Philly food, and some late-night hanging with neighbors.
7 a.m.
We always start off with my dogs. We have two puppies. They’re about a year old. I take them to the deck to run around very early in the morning. We have a skyline view. We took all of our COVID refund and renovated the deck. I do like to sit on the deck with a cup of tea. The Random Tea Room sells a great loose mint tea that I love.
I usually go back to bed. I am not a morning person. I am somebody who likes to hit the snooze button. So I’ll do that — just chill out in bed a little bit longer and catch the news.
9 a.m.
I usually head to the gym. I have a trainer. I belong to the Bellevue Sporting Club. I am all about strength training these days. As you get older, the doctor recommends less cardio, more strength. I had never really lifted weights before. Thus, I got a trainer, and I have to say, I do love it. Emily’s fantastic. I usually try to get that in two or three times a week, if possible. It always makes me feel better.
11 a.m.
I get a good walk there and a good walk back. I’m pretty ravenous afterward. Joe and I will usually meet up at Enswell. It’s just so pretty in there. They have this awesome egg sandwich — it’s so buttery and delicious. If that’s not available, I get the omelet, which is also delicious. Always with a side salad..
1 p.m.
In the afternoon, we just pick an activity to do. I love to walk so we usually walk some place — go see some exhibit or gallery. If this is a day in 2026, I’m going to want to check out The Declaration’s Journey at the Museum of the American Revolution. They have rare copies of the Declaration of Independence but also an advanced copy of Martin Luther King Jr.’s speech I have a dream. And the bench on which he wrote Letter from a Birmingham Jail.
And [I’d go to] Calder Gardens. It’s small, but so different for Philly. It’s so modern and beautiful.
4 p.m.
[Then I’m] headed to The Bread Room — from High Street Hospitality and Ellen Yin — to get a couple sweet treats. And I would love to be able to take one of the baking classes there. They have this scone with orange blossom frosting. It is delicious. They also have a chocolate chip cookie that has a little bit of sea salt on the top, which I also think is delicious. And it’s a big boy, so you can share it, and not have to eat the whole thing, like I do.
6 p.m.
We would honestly come home and take a n and play with the dogs. But we would definitely go back out.
8 p.m.
We do eat out a lot. It’s just the two of us. We would go to Sao. That is one of the places that I would love to try. We’ve been to Mawn many times and it’s delicious. But we heard Sao was really great too. Fresh seafood. I am a seafood lover. I don’t eat meat regularly. For me to find a great seafood place, especially one that’s close by, I’m in.
We go to Alice a lot. I like their artichoke salad there. We like to sit at the bar there at the very end. Also American Sardine Bar, which is right down the street from our house. I eat so often downtown during the week because of work. So I try really hard on the weekends to hit neighborhood spots. I don’t eat sardines. But what I wish they would bring back is their fried bologna sandwich. I will tell you that at two o’clock in the morning, if you’ve had a few drinks, it’s delicious. Always a cocktail. I’m old school. I’m always going to love the Cosmo (very light pink, not too sweet.) But I was also recently introduced to the Per Plane. It seems just like a Cosmopolitan, but it has a whiskey base. It’s not too sweet.
11 p.m.
A perfect end is actually going next door to see our neighbors. We’re very good friends. And they have a beautiful patio with a Pergola up top, so we’d just hang around with them around the fire pit and listen to records. The soundtrack is probably Leon Bridges. That’s a perfect night.

A former McDonald’s manager shown in a viral video allegedly contaminating food peared in court on Friday, where her ex-girlfriend broke down in tears as she explained why she was seeking a restraining order.
“There’s a viral video going around of her spitting on my french fries,” said the woman.
The hearing combined an arraignment for Kaylie Santos, of Southbridge, Massachusetts, and the woman’s restraining order request, which Santos opposed. The judge ultimately denied the request for a restraining order, but did agree to prosecutors’ request that Santos be ordered to stay away from and have no contact with the alleged victim on her release.
Santos, who’s charged with distributing food with a harmful substance, was released without bail after a not guilty plea was entered on her behalf. Her attorney didn’t object to other conditions suggested by prosecutors, that she stay away from the McDonald’s she’d worked at and not work in the food industry while the case is pending.
Police began investigating after a video went viral on Snchat last month showing a worker at a Southbridge McDonald’s stuffing french fries in her mouth and then putting them into a french fry box. A second employee is seen holding the box and laughing in the background.
The video has not been independently verified by NBC10 Boston, but Southbridge police issued a statement after it went viral saying that they were aware of the video and were investigating. The Telegram & Gazette said both employees were suspended and eventually fired.
The Southbridge police investigation led to a summons issued for Santos; the police report said she spit in the french fry carton on the night of ril 9 and placed several french fries in her mouth and then into the french fry carton before serving them to a customer at the drive-thru s franchise owners, said the customer had previously been in a relationship with Santos and was targeted. They said no other customers were impacted.
Both the McDonald’s franchisees, who’ve publicly denounced the actions of the now-former employee, and alleged victim told police they wanted to press charges.
On Friday, the alleged victim told the court during testimony over her restraining order request that Santos had asked her in May, after the video was filmed, not to press charges. Santos’ lawyer and the judge reviewed a text conversation they had.
The defense lawyer, Leonardo Angiulo, said, “while I can empathize with the stress that comes with being the subject of a viral moment in our world,” the request for a restraining order came not after the incident in ril or the video went viral in May, but in June.
A lawyer speaking for the alleged victim pushed back, but the judge ultimately denied the request.
Santos is due back in court on July 31.

Plus, a restaurant serving Haitian-French-Creole cuisine and non-alcoholic drinks has opened in Midtown.
An exterior view of Big Shots, the Western-themed bar at You42 Studios in Roswell. (Courtesy of Heidi Harris)
By Olivia Wakim
19 minutes ago
A popular pink-themed brunch restaurant will relocate to Buckhead this summer, a new Thai restaurant from the team behind 26 Thai debuts Monday at Ponce City Market, a gluten-free bakery will pop up in downtown during the 2026 FIFA World Cup and more of this week’s food and dining hpenings around metro Atlanta.
Chef Katsuji Tanabe’s anchor restaurant inside You42 Studios is High Horse, set to open in the coming weeks. It includes fried chicken on the menu. (Courtesy of Kathryn McCrary)
Pizza, lobster and a mechanical bull find a home in Roswell
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AJ’s Pizzeria in Roswell offers Chicago-style tavern pizza. (Courtesy of You42 Studios)
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The team behind 26 Thai will debut Terminal 26 at Ponce City Market on June 8 with a menu inspired by Thailand’s floating markets. (Courtesy of Terminal 26)
Terminal 26 opens at Ponce City Market
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Other news of interest
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Pop-tarts from Hell Yeah Gluten Free bakery. (Courtesy of Hell Yeah Gluten Free)
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Vinny’s seasonal mushroom lasagna. (Courtesy of Vince Pellegri)
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Restaurant openings
On the menu at new Midtown restaurant Alonetogether is Clara’s Kalalou Soup, an homage to chef Jonny Rhodes’ mother. (Courtesy of Alonetogether)
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Restaurant announcements
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The vegan chorizo hash from High Noon Brunchery.
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Closures
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SOUTH BEND — School is out and it’s time to get summer started.
The South Bend Police Department will host its annual School’s Out Cookout on June 12 at the Martin Luther King Jr. Dream Center, according to a press release. The event will take place from 11 a.m. to 2 p.m. at 1522 Linden Ave.
Free food, drinks, games and prizes will be available, and various partner organizations will participate. Weather permitting, the SBPD bounce house will be set up for attendees.
Community members are encouraged to stop by to share a meal or play a game with local officers.
This story was created by reporter Cheryl Morey, with the assistance of artificial Intelligence (AI). Journalists were involved in every step of the information gathering, review, editing and publishing.