🤩🍜 Boston’s *almost* Michelin star

It’s Wednesday, Boston.

😡 Did you notice the Mass. pike looked a little … angry this week? In response to President Trump’s executive order eliminating federal funding for PBS and NPR, GBH, the local public media outlet that produces shows like “Arthur,” displayed the iconic Arthur fist meme on its massive mural over the pike. 

👀 What’s on tap today:

• Trump v. Harvard = bad for biz

• The C’s rocky start

• A flipping world record

Up first…

FOOD AND DRINK

Cutlets, chicken soup, and chopped cheese

Need indoor plans this rainy week? We’ve got four. Boston.com and Boston magazine dropped their roundups for May’s hottest new restaurants.

Here’s what’s worth a bite:

🇮🇹 My Mother’s Cutlets, North End. We can’t scroll our FYPs without bumping into a local influencer hitting this place up. The new fast-casual spot is popping off on IG for its chicken cutlet sandwiches, but the menu isn’t just cutlets. Besides a few pre-set sammys, you can also build your own sandwiches, salads, and wraps with your pick of “cutlet” bases, sauces, and cheeses, starting at $15. 

Items to try:

• “My Mother’s Special” cutlet sammy with vodka sauce and burrata

• “The Hot Paisan” with a cutlet, prosciutto, hot honey, and mozz

• Anything with Ro’s tomato salad base

🍔 Nowon, Seaport. Former “Bachelor” Matt James might not have great taste in how to dump girlfriends, but apparently, he has better taste in burgers, specifically Nowon’s “Legendary Burger.” This is the Korean-American gastropub’s third (and first non-NYC) location, with a short and sweet menu of Korean-American fusion comfort food, like burgers with kimchi, “chopped cheese” rice cakes, and skillet bacon fried rice. And don’t miss the hefty drink list, including soju, a Korean alcohol made from rice. 

Items to try:

• The “Legendary Burger”

• “Chopped cheese” rice cakes

• Black sesame crème brûlée

🍜 Iru, Brookline. Boston may be Michelin Star-less, but Iru’s Michelin-recognized sister restaurants are generating serious buzz for this new Korean restaurant. This is Iru’s first U.S. location, where it’ll serve up a menu full of handmade, authentic Korean bites. Their specialty is samgyetang, or ginseng chicken soup, but banchan, japchae, bulgogi, and seafood pancakes fill out the menu.

Items to try:

• Samgyetang (chicken soup)

• Japchae (stir-fried glass noodles)

• Yannyong scallops 

🍦 Park City Southie, South Boston. This soon-to-open 30,000 square-foot entertainment venue will be home to live music, events, entertainment, but most importantly, good food. The folks behind Broadway Restaurant Group will be spearheading the menu, serving a smorgasbord of eats, from lobster rolls to smashburgers to Asian street noodle bowls, all of which you can wash down with cocktails and lime rickeys. And that’s all before hitting up the ice cream cart. 

😋 Hungry for more? Check out Boston.com’s full guide here, and Boston magazine’s guide here.

QUICK QUESTION!

🤤 Which of these spots would you want us to check out for B-Side Certified? 

TOGETHER WITH THE ISABELLA STEWART GARDNER MUSEUM 

Your portal to another world is closing soon 

🧜‍♀️💫🎨 Mermaids. Minerals. Mythology. Haitian revolution. If you haven’t seen Fabiola Jean-Louis’s Waters of the Abyss at the Isabella Stewart Gardner Museum yet, consider this your official reminder. Through May 25, explore sculptures and altars built from earth, sea, and memory — all honoring Haitian liberation and spirit. Outside, Jean-Louis’s stunning piece Ayiti-Tomè is on view through June 17. Plus, on May 15, the museum is hosting a powerful dance performance, Celebrating Culture, inspired by Jean-Louis in honor of Haitian Heritage Month. Grab your tickets now and experience it all (before it becomes actual art history). 

CITY

Quick & dirty headlines

🎓 An unexpected loser in the Harvard-Trump saga: Local businesses. As President Trump and Harvard continue to battle over his list of demands (the latest: He’s banning federal grants entirely until the school cedes), Harvard Square businesses are bracing for impact. Long story short: Harvard’s community of students, faculty, and staff make up a huge chunk of their clientele. So, Trump’s plans to slash jobs and some policies that could discourage international students and tourists from visiting have long-established businesses worried about their bottom line.

🏘️ Ever been evicted? You can scrub it from the record. A new law went into effect this week allowing renters to ask the state to seal their past eviction records, meaning the public — including future landlords — can no longer access them. The idea is to give folks the opportunity to move on from past mistakes since eviction records can affect your ability to get an apartment, a job, or credit. But not all seal requests will be an immediate yes. Some fault evictions, like missing rent, will have years-long waiting periods before folks can request a seal.

🪪 It’s officially time to get REAL. A REAL ID, that is. Today is the deadline to upgrade your driver’s license to a REAL ID in order to fly domestically. But don’t worry, expert procrastinators: You can still use some other types of ID at the airport, including a passport, in place of a REAL ID. And if you don’t have that, the head of Homeland Security says you can still fly (for now), but be prepared to face extra security. That said, we’d still get a REAL ID ASAP. Here’s where to start.

🏀 The C’s second round is off to a rocky start. And by “rocky,” we mean they blew a 20-point lead to lose in OT to the Knicks in Game 1 (a team they went 4-0 against during the regular season). The diagnosis: A spoonful of cockiness and an embarrassing NBA playoff record of 45 missed three-pointers. This unexpected L means the C’s lose home-court advantage in this series, making Wednesday’s Game 2 a must-win. However, they’re still *technically* favored to beat the Knicks when all is said and done (we hope).

THINGS TO DO

Weekday social calendar

👫 Speed Friending with A.R.T. | Friday, May 23 | Aeronaut Allston | Looking to meet people in the area? Here’s your chance! Free entry for all, and B-Side members get a free beer!

🍺 $1 Wings x B-Side Trivia | Wednesday, May 28 | Sam Adams Boston Brewery | Get $1 wings and play trivia with us, hosted by our team! Tickets are free, and B-Side members get a free beer!

👩‍❤️‍💋‍👩 The Dating Game Live | Friday, June 6 | Aeronaut Somerville | Watch B-Siders and their friends play this match-making game from the 60’s. Tickets are free (registration link coming soon), and B-Side members get a free beer!

ONE LAST THING

A flipping world record

They don’t call him Frederick “Flips” for nothing … On Friday, Frederick Richard, the Stoughton native-slash-Olympic medalist-slash-media darling took on an absolutely absurd goal: Break the world record for the most backflips done in 24 hours, which stood at 1,001. 

Unsurprisingly, he smashed it, completing 1,111 flips on a livestream and raising over $45,000 for gymnastics equipment for underprivileged kids while he was at it (here’s a clip of him hitting 900). 

But somehow, that wasn’t the most exciting thing that happened to him that day: He also became an uncle! During the 24-hour challenge, Richards’ sister gave birth to his new nephew, Amir, who he visited … as soon as he was done flipping. Awwwwww. 

— Written by Gia Orsino and Emily Schario

🤸🏿‍♂️ Thanks for reading! We’re getting vertigo just watching that video.

💜 Special shoutout to today’s sponsor, the Isabella Stewart Gardner Museum, for supporting local journalism and bringing culturally rich experiences to our city. 

🍺 The results are in: 57% of B-Siders are team neighborhood pub versus team cocktail bar. One reader said: “A grimy cash only bar with darts has my heart.” Same.

💃 Keep up with us @BostonBSide on IG, TikTok, and Twitter. Send comments and suggestions to [email protected] or [email protected].