🌟 The closest Boston's come to a Michelin star

It’s Thursday, Boston.

🚨 PSA: Ula Cafe in JP is giving away $10,000 worth of free lunch today. Yes, you heard that correctly. All meals will be FREE between 11 a.m. and 3 p.m. Here’s what’s on the menu.

👀 What’s on tap today:

• Mass. and Cass. moves

• It’s feast szn

• A BOGO flight deal

Up first...

RESTAURANTS

New month. New eats.

You know what Taylor Swift said about August: “Salt air, and the restaurants opening their doors. I never needed anything more.” Or something like that.

So before August slips away into a moment in time, here are five new restaurants that the Boston.com team is excited about:

🎨 Fields West in Allston. This laid-back spot is slated to open Saturday, and it’s essentially the love child between an art gallery and restaurant. The menu is loaded with shared plates, including comfort foods like poutine and cauliflower nuggets. Another theme? Local. Most of the art on display is from local artists, and 90% of their beer comes from small New England breweries. Read the full menu here.

Things to try:

• Vegetarian soba noodles

• Cacio e pepe tater tots

• Beef sliders

🧚 Hobgoblin in downtown. This magical new gastropub and piano bar will transport you to another land. The mystical decor features gargoyle street lamps and murals of monsters drawn by medieval monks and recreated by artist Kimberly Squiers. The menu, on the other hand, is Asian-influenced, with dishes featuring lots of lime juice, fish sauce, cilantro, and peanuts. And the bar manager creates his own house-made syrups and liqueurs for the “magic potions.” Read the full menu here.

Things to try:

• Grilled shrimp pad thai

• Bison meatballs

• Duck satay

🍝 Bar ‘Cino in Watertown. It feels like there’s been a new Italian restaurant popping up every five minutes this summer, but this new location of the Rhode Island-helmed restaurant is not one to miss. The menu is all about the simplicity of good Italian ingredients and flavors, with a healthy showing of Rhode Island-style pizza, which traditionally is thin-crust, grilled, and presented with scissors. Italian wines are at the center of the drink menu, along with fun twists on the Aperol spritz and negroni. Read the full menu here.

Things to try:

• Spicy sausage with lemon ricotta pizza

• Rigatoni bolognese

• Bruschetta

🥟 Nan Xiang Express in Chinatown. This new soup dumpling restaurant may be the closest thing Boston has to a Michelin star. It’s an offshoot of NYC’s Michelin-recommended Nan Xiang Xiao Long Bao, which has long been revered for its soup dumplings, pan-fried buns, and Shanghainese dishes. The Boston locale has a much more fast casual vibe (perfect for takeout), but there’s still 23 seats if you’d prefer to eat in. Read the full menu here.

Things to try:

• Soup dumplings (obv)

• Fried udon noodles

• Wontons

🎳 Urban Wild in Charlestown. This restaurant doubles as an entertainment venue with bowling lanes, shuffleboard, ping pong, lawn games, a massive beer garden, and a live music stage. And the menu is just as fun with elevated bar favorites like jumbo soft pretzels, poke nachos, and oversized cocktails like “Down the Rabbit Bowl.” Read the full menu here.

Things to try:

• Tuna poke nachos

• Nashville hot chicken sandwich

• Smash burger

QUICK QUESTION!

😋 Which restaurant above sounds the best to you?

CITY

Quick & dirty headlines

👀 Boston is ramping up efforts to address safety issues at Mass. and Cass. Mayor Wu said the epicenter of the city’s opioid and homelessness crisis has become so dangerous that the city’s partners have started pulling out their people. Most of the dangerous activities — drugs, trafficking, or violence — are taking place in tents and out of sight. So she said the city is planning on taking a major step in addressing the safety concerns of both outreach workers and individuals there. But the details of that “major step” are still TBD.

💃🏽 Beyoncé absolutely slayed at Gillette. But if you were there, this isn’t news. She made her first appearance in Foxborough in five years with a two-and-a-half hour visual and musical spectacle honoring the Black, queer roots of dance music. The reviews were nothing short of exceptional, but there were three moments that fans likely won’t forget: Blue Ivy making her mom her laugh on stage after her dance cameo; Beyoncé unveiling a never-before-seen outfit during “Cuff It;” and Beyoncé omitting her usual Lizzo shoutout amid a lawsuit that she created a hostile work environment.

🎊 Feast szn kicks off in the North End tonight. August is laden with these multi-day festivals celebrating a different Italian saint or martyr that turns the Italian neighborhood into a full-blown block party. The Feast of Saint Agrippina starts at 7 p.m. tonight with the grand procession of the Saint Agrippina statue through the neighborhood’s streets starting at 7:30 p.m. Through Sunday, you can enjoy free concerts, dancing, and plenty of delicious Italian food. Here’s the full schedule of the feast and a look at upcoming feasts this month.

✈️ Southwest just launched its first BOGO sale, but you have to act fast. And there’s a lot of hoops to jump through to get it, so pay attention. If you book a roundtrip or two one-way flights by the end of TODAY for travel by Sept. 30, you’ll get a 50% off code to use on ANOTHER flight that must be BOOKED between Oct. 17 and Nov. 23 for TRAVEL between January and March 6 in 2024. You’ll also have to register online before booking the first flight to get the BOGO code at all. And there are some blackout dates to keep in mind.

ONE LAST THING

Make way for Dunkin’

We’ve seen babies born on the Pike and puppies with Cape Cod markings this week. But this might be the most Massachusetts thing to date.

A Fitchburg road was recently closed for construction, with only one exception: Dunkin’.

In a silly video that only New Englanders will understand, @TBflip on TikTok documented the “closed for thru traffic” construction sign that was brilliantly covered with another “Open to Dunkin’” sign.

It’s called art.

🤌 Thanks for reading! Hang that sign in the Louvre.

🧀 The results are in: Cheese is the accoutrement of choice of our readers’ girl dinners. With one cheese-lover sharing: “If I want to be proud of myself, I'll cut up an apple to go with it.”

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