🥯 Is THIS Boston’s best bagel?

It’s Wednesday, Boston.

🎟️ It’s also time to grab tickets for the Newport Folk Fest! The iconic music festival is July 25 to 27 this year, and per usual, the lineup will be rolling out slooowly until then. Ticket sales start at 1 p.m. Grab ‘em here!

🎂 And it’s B-Sider Celine DeSantis’ (and Emily’s bestie’s) birthday. Like Timothée Chalamet as Bob Dylan at the Newport Folk Festival, we hope your day is *electric*. 

👀 What’s on tap today:

• It’s officially Kraft v. Wu

• Mass. gets a poet laureate

• Founding zaddies

Up first…

RESTAURANTS

Bagels, bar food, and babka

They say the best way to someone’s heart is through their stomach. Lucky for you, whether you’re trying to impress a situationship, looking for a date night spot, or just wanting a little treat, Boston.com’s list of new restaurants to try is your roadmap. 

Here’s what’s worth a bite:

🥯 PopUp Bagels, Seaport. If ripping apart a steaming hot bagel and dunking it into a side of cream cheese is wrong, then we don’t want to be right. And neither does PopUp Bagels, Boston’s new bagel spot out of New York. It earned itself a cult following for its super simple menu and philosophy: Five bagel flavors and a rotating selection of schmears, served hot and unsliced for ripping and dipping only. It's open now, and bagels can be reserved in batches.

Things to try:

• Pesto butter

• Jaz’s spicy scallion cream cheese

• Popup bagels x CheezIt schmear

🍛 Ssaanjh, Brookline. Modern Indian fare is the name of the game at Ssaanjh, a newly opened restaurant and bar in Brookline. The goal: For diners to rethink their perception of what Indian food can be by mixing traditional Indian flavors into global dishes or adding modern touches. The result: Dishes like deconstructed samosas or seafood and saffron risotto, alongside classics like tandoori dishes or tikka masala, and a killer cocktail list to boot. You can peruse the menu here.

Things to try:

• Dahi puri chaat (yogurt mousse with mango, potato, and raspberry) 

• Chapli chicken burger meal (Indian spiced patty with tomato, onion, and Amul cheese)

• Sweet and sour tandoori chicken

🏓 Bosse Sports Lounge, Natick. Another pickleball-oriented eatery in the Natick Mall making this list was not on our 2025 bingo card, but we’re not mad. Bosse is basically pickleball Disneyland, and its three eateries, including the Sports Lounge, are legit (all are helmed by Boston restauranteur and chef Chris Coombs). In addition to the sports theater, golf simulator, and darts lounge, you can expect elevated bar food-style bites, from wings, to mussels, to gourmet pizza, which you can wash down with a pickleball-themed cocktail.

Things to try:

• Fried pickles with chipotle ranch

• Prosciutto and burrata pizza 

• Basil volley cocktail with gin, elderflower, cucumber and basil

🍞 Bakey, Cambridge. If you don’t already know about Bakey, allow us to put you on. The bakery and cafe is coming to Kendall Square later this month in what will be its fourth Greater Boston location. Bakey is most famous for its fresh babka, a traditionally Jewish sweet braided bread, but its menu also features other pastries, sandwiches, salads, coffee drinks, and more. Our two cents: Let your first order be chocolate babka and a cafe au lait. Thank us later.

Things to try:

• Chocolate babka

• Broissant (a babka/croissant combo)

• Cheese bourekas

CITY

Quick & dirty headlines

🗳️ The race for mayor is officially ON. Josh Kraft, nonprofit leader and son of Pats owner-slash-billionaire Robert Kraft, officially announced his mayoral campaign on Tuesday following months of speculation. At the announcement and in an accompanying launch video, Kraft set the stage for a battle: He framed Boston as “heading in the wrong direction” under Mayor Michelle Wu, who “just does not listen.” As far as his platform, we have a few early hints in his references to “more housing and opportunity” and waaay fewer bike lanes.

🚗 Your Uber driver might be taking a major pay cut. Some Uber and Lyft drivers say that Mass.’ new rideshare minimum wage guarantee is actually hurting their pay, according to the Globe. Drivers say the new wage, intended to give riders more stability and boost their earnings, is acting as a sort of wage cap — they’re hitting the minimum, but it’s harder to make much more. The culprit? Fingers are pointing at everything from stingy AI pricing algorithms to more out-of-state drivers, though Uber and Lyft deny the claims. 

📝 Are you a poet and you know it? Now, you can show it. On Monday, Gov. Maura Healey established a poet laureate of Massachusetts. Until now, Mass. was one of just three states without the position, along with New Jersey and Pennsylvania, though some Mass. cities (including Boston) have them. The eventual poet will organize literary events in Mass., write poems for some occasions, and advise on a school outreach program … plus get a sweet stipend. Applications aren’t open yet, but stay tuned!

🎶 Step aside, Porchfest, and allow us to introduce: Stoopfest. This year, Southie will put on its first annual Stoopfest. Think Porchfest vibes, with free pop-up concerts at homes and businesses around the neighborhood, but, since Southie lacks many porches … on stoops. The fest is still in its planning stages, but it’ll be on May 31 and should feature around 10 to 12 spaces where local musicians and artists will perform throughout the day. You can keep up with the fest here, or find details on performing or volunteering here.

QUICK QUESTION!

😋 Which of these spots would you like us to try for next month’s B-Side Certified? 

ONE LAST THING

Founding zaddies

Tired: 18th century re-enactors walking around Boston. Wired: Random friend groups dressed up as slay founding fathers walking around Boston. 

Over the weekend, a group went viral on TikTok for doing exactly that. They came to Boston, dressed up as founding fathers (down to the wigs), and proceeded to galavant around the city in costume, including on a Boston Harbor City Cruise (lol).

All in all, the group posted three TikToks, which all went viral. They even got a comment from The History Channel. 

— Written by Gia Orsino and Emily Schario

⛴️ Thanks for reading! If your friend group is accepting applications … consider us applied. 

❤️‍🔥 The results are in: 37% of readers say that they aren’t into romance, but romance lovers weren’t far behind. One reader said: “I read on my commute on the T, and I just feel like everyone knows when I'm reading a spicy scene.” SAME.

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