😋 Boston’s foodie Super Bowl is BACK

Happy Friday, Boston!

🙋‍♀️ And Happy International Women’s Day! You don’t need an excuse to celebrate the ladies in your life (or yourself!), but by all means, use this one. Plus: Check out the Globe’s list of events around the city celebrating Women’s History Month.

👀 What’s on tap today:

• Emergency shelter limits

• Green Line, in. Orange Line, out.

• Massholes on reality TV

Up first…

RESTAURANTS

The best of Dine Out Boston

Boston’s foodie Super Bowl is BACK! Dine Out Boston kicks off this Sunday through March 23, where over 150 Boston area restaurants will be offering multi-course, prix-fixe lunch and dinner deals ranging from $22 to $55. 

We scoured all 170+ participating restaurants and their Dine Out menus. Here’s what deals we think are worth your money: 

🍖 For a deal that could feed a village … You will be rolling out The Smoke Shop BBQ. Voted the best barbeque by Boston Magazine, Smoke Shop’s $36/person three-course dinner deal includes heaping portions of a starter, a meat plate with two sides (go for the burnt ends), a sandwich, basket, or bowl, and a slice of their gooey butter cake. For context: Without Dine Out’s deal, you’d spend around $60 for a similar meal. Check out the Dine Out menu here.

Other stops where you’ll leave with leftovers: 

• Sumiao Hunan Kitchen, a Chinese restaurant in Cambridge, has a $46/person four-course meal with a choice of soup, app, entree, and dessert. 

• Shanti, an Indian restaurant in Dorchester, has a $46/person five-course meal, featuring faves like chicken momos, tikka masala, and tandoori veggie soup. 

🍝 For a date night for two under $100 … Bar Cino, an Italian spot in Watertown, has a $36/person three-course dinner deal, including menu staples like their grilled pizza (that you cut with scissors!), braised pork shoulder, and meatballs. Bonus: The dinner is available on Saturdays, which isn’t always the case for Dine Out. See the Dine Out menu here.

Other cheap date night stops: 

• Estragon, a beloved Spanish tapas joint in the South End, offers an app, two tapas style-entrees (think: Sautéed garlic shrimp or spiced chicken skewers) and a dessert for just $41/person.

• Aqua Pazza, a seafood spot in the North End, is offering three courses for $41/person, including their tuna and salmon crudo, their catch of the day specials, and key lime pie.

🍮 For those looking to be bougie on a budget … Bistro du Midi Downtown will have your date thinking you spent half your paycheck on this $55 dinner. That price gets an appetizer, entree, and dessert course with options like American Wagyu beef tartare, tomato-ricotta tortellini, and vanilla bean crème brûlée. 

Other budget-friendly bougie bites:

• MIDA, a South End fave, is offering its fancy Italian bites for a $46/person dinner menu including Saturday nights. 

• Harvest, a Cambridge institution serving contemporary American food, has a $55/person dinner and $36/person lunch menu with three courses including poached chicken meatballs and a chocolate mandarin torte.

👀 Want more? Here's the full list of participating restaurants.

QUICK QUESTION

😋 What are you willing to pay (per person) for a solid three-course meal?

CITY

Quick & dirty headlines

🏠 Mass. may put a limit on emergency shelter stays. The State House voted to approve new limits on how long homeless families are allowed to stay in emergency shelters (nine consecutive months, to be exact), with extensions for those who are pregnant, employed, or in a job training program. This is the latest news in the emergency shelter crisis saga that has been racking up quite a bill and straining state resources, both of which this motion aims to slow down. Next up, the bill will move to the Senate.

🚃 When one shutdown ends, another begins. Good news for Green Liners: Your 18-day shuttle bus nightmare is expected to be O-V-E-R tomorrow (until July, but we’re not thinking about that now). But unfortunately, that means it’s Orange Liners’ turn. This weekend (March 9 and 10), expect shuttle buses between Forest Hills and Ruggles (as an alternative, the commuter rail will be free to ride in the affected area), and another, bigger shutdown from March 18 through 21. More on that later, but for now, deep breaths … 

🏆 Mass. kinda popped off this Oscars season. The Oscars are this Sunday, and amidst all of the Barbenheimer chaos, we wouldn’t blame you for missing out on all of the nominated films with Mass. connections. Check out the Globe’s list of must-see Oscar nominees with New England ties here. And if you want to brush up on the whole field, Globe film critic Odie Henderson put together his own list of who will win, who should win, and who shouldn’t be there. Tea!

☘️ St. Paddy’s Day celebrations are kicking off. Boston is the country’s best city to celebrate the holiday, according to WalletHub, and even though it’s not ‘till next weekend, the party starts NOW. Harpoon’s St. Patrick’s festival is perhaps this weekend’s biggest celebration, with food, drink, and even pro wrestling (and $5 off with code BSIDE5), and Nash Bar is throwing its own mechanical bull bash on Saturday. As for bites, Noir Bar at The Charles Hotel developed a cocktail and food program inspired by “Derry Girls” that launches Monday. Sláinte!

THINGS TO DO

Weekend plans

🎬 Cocktails, but make them cinematic. Kendall Square hotspot State Park is luring us off the couch for our Oscars viewing this year, and they’re using a lineup of incredible movie-themed cocktails to do it (it’s working).

🤖 Hop in the tech time machine. Head to Southie for PKL’s free Sunday evening of retro video games like Mario Kart, Sonic, Golden Eye, Super Mario, and more. 

🎭 Catch some bite-sized Boston theater. Boston Theater Company presents “Queer Voices,” a series of seven short plays, today through Sunday at BCA Plaza Theatre. 

🧾 Party hard with your favorite book. “Body doubling” is when you work on tasks quietly alongside other people, which can be helpful for neurodiverse folks and those with ADHD. You can try it yourself on Saturday at BPL’s Quiet Reading Party!

♀️ March for Black women’s history. This Saturday, spend the day marching, listening to speakers and local talent, and celebrating the impact of Black women featured on the 212 street banners along Blue Hill Ave. honoring Black women leaders. 

— Written by Claire Nicholas

🎉 Want more things to do recommendations? Refer five friends to unlock two bonus items. For those who already have, enjoy below.

MEDIA PARTNERSHIP

Embrace your authenticity

The B-Side is thrilled to be a sponsor of the 2024 WISE Summit. WISE, or Women’s Interdisciplinary Society of Entrepreneurship, is a student-led group at Northeastern University that aims to empower women and under-represented genders on their unique paths to entrepreneurship. This year’s WISE Summit, “Embracing Authenticity,” will be an extravaganza of speakers, workshops, keynotes, lightning talks, and a panel. This year’s summit will take place on March 23 at 8 a.m., and you can get your ticket for just $25 with code BWISE — but hurry, because only the first 25 members will get this discount. See you there!

ONE LAST THING

A big TV week for Massholes

Massholes are taking over reality TV this month. On HGTV, the “Renovation Husbands” — a Dorchester couple with a major social media following — continued their hot streak and took home the W on the network’s “Battle on the Mountain” series.

Meanwhile, Laurence Louie, the chef-owner of Rubato, a hot new Hong Kong café in Quincy, appeared on (and won!) “Chopped” this week on their “Taste of China” episode with other up-and-coming Chinese-American chefs. And local chefs Alexandre Bonnefoi and Robert Gonzalez are competing in the Food Network’s “Spring Baking Championship,” which premiered this week! 

With the Masshole winning streak that’s going on, we wouldn’t be surprised if they came out on top.

— Written by Gia Orsino and Emily Schario

📺 Thanks for reading! There’s little I love more than a good Food Network or HGTV binge.

👷 The results are in: Although most B-Siders’ idea of a DIY is putting together IKEA furniture, renovating an entire house/apartment did not come in far behind. One reader said: “We bought an 1812 house and renovated it. Never again. We almost divorced.”

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