😋 New season = new restaurants

It's Monday, Boston

👋 Katie here! I’ll be in the newsletter-writing chair this week. And I have some important news to share: It’s Free Cone Day at Ben and Jerry’s, so treat yourself to a scoop this afternoon.

👀 What’s on tap today:

• More King memorials

• Big Papi’s new gig

• It’s turkey mating season

Up first...

RESTAURANTS

Boston restaurants in bloom

The buds are blooming and so is Boston’s restaurant scene. There are a ton of new and expanding restaurants coming down the pike, so here are seven spots to add to your spring eats list:

COMING IN APRIL

🍪 The 2023 Greenway Food Truck Program starts today. This year’s roster features 18 local vendors including favorites like Cookie Monstah, Jamaica Mi Hungry, and Moyzilla, as well as six newcomers, including Nothing Bundt Cakes, Tacos Calleteco, and Wanderlust. You can see the full truck schedule here. And be sure to mark your calendar for the Food Truck Festival on May 6.

🏀 Scores sports bar is opening by TD Garden. They’ll be taking over the former home of The Four’s Restaurant and Sports Bar. Scores has 33 big screen TVs and Boston sports-themed pub grub, like the Tatum Tot Poutine (think classic poutine, but with tater tots) and flatbreads named for hometown legends like the Big Z and Bam Bam Cam.

🍝 Joia Restaurant at the Harborside Inn will open downtown. The restaurant is inspired by Gatsby gilded age glamor and will serve all three meals with a special focus on traditional Italian recipes, like eggplant involtini and spaghetti carbonara.

🎹 Hobgoblin, a new Asian fusion gastro pub and piano bar, will open in Downtown Crossing. They’ll be setting up shop in the former Stoddard’s Fine Food & Ale spot, and their upcoming menu features smoked bacon pad thai and black cod croquettes. Yum.

🌮 Loco Taqueria & Oyster Bar will open a new Fenway location. The Southie favorite known for its $1 Oyster Mondays and Taco Tuesday is bringing its second location to Brookline Avenue. Their menu will mostly remain the same between the two locales, so prep for specialty tacos and tequila flights.

COMING IN MAY

🥖 Break bread with Michette, a french bakery opening in East Somerville. If you can’t wait for their baked goods, you can order their treats for pick up from their weekly drops. Their Focaccia with roasted pears, gorgonzola, and hot honey sounds heavenly.

🎶 The highly-anticipated Grace by Nia is opening in the Seaport. Nia Grace, the restaurateur behind southern comfort food and jazz music hotspot Darryl’s Corner Bar & Kitchen, is bringing her third concept to life on Seaport Boulevard. The new supper club will feature live music with a stage and a speakeasy lounge.

CITY

Quick & dirty headlines

🫂 Boston to see more King memorials. Following the unveiling of “The Embrace” sculpture, plans are underway to bring two more memorials honoring Martin Luther King Jr. and Coretta Scott King to the city. The Embrace Center in Roxbury is set to open in 2027 or 2028 as a space for community, arts, and performance (it’s being built by the same group that commissioned “The Embrace” sculpture on the Common). The center will house a second memorial, though the design is TBD. Plus, a heritage trail marking spots important to the Kings’ life and legacy is also in the works.

🏃‍♂️ Big Papi has a new gig. David Ortiz will be the grand marshal of the 127th Boston Marathon. The World Series champ will ride in a car ahead of the nearly 30,000 runners and reach the finish line a bit ahead of the professional racers. This year marks 10 years since his famous speech at Fenway Park after the marathon bombings, an enduring symbol of strength in the city.

🏀 The last New England team standing. The UConn men’s basketball team will take on San Diego State University tonight in the NCAA tournament championship. The Huskies are the only New England team to make it past the sweet sixteen and are hoping to take home their fifth title in program history. So as a New Englander, you are morally obligated to root for them. The women’s tournament wrapped last night, with the LSU Tigers beating the Iowa Hawkeyes 102-85.

🦃 PSA: It’s turkey mating season. And the city of Cambridge just released a handy guide for keeping turkeys away from your home. There are the obvious tips: Don’t feed them, keep your bird feeder areas clean, and protect your gardens. And some less obvious ones: Cover any reflective surfaces (because turkeys that see their reflection might think it’s another turkey) and don’t let them intimidate you. That means threatening them with loud noises, swatting them with a broom, or spraying them with a hose are fair game.

THINGS TO DO

Weekly checklist

🍿 See Matt Damon and Ben Affleck’s new film “Air.” It tells the origin story of Nike’s iconic “Air Jordan” sneakers and is already getting rave reviews. You can watch the trailer here.

🎶 Get a taste of Boston Calling at High Street Place. Boston Calling 2023 artist, The Q-Tip Bandits, will be playing there on Thursday. And if you go, you can enter to win a pair of 3-Day passes to Boston Calling.

🍻 Listen to a chat on local beer at WBUR’s CitySpace. You’ll learn all about the state of Mass.’ beer industry and get to taste several local brews.

ONE LAST THING

The perfect, blindfolded pour

Think your favorite bartender can pour the perfect pint of IPA blindfolded? Think again.

The bartenders at Harpoon Beer Hall in Boston slipped on some blindfolds last week to give it a go, and the results were … mixed. Bartender Nate flexed his skills with a solid one-handed pour, scoring an eight out of 10. But Bartender Christian, who's only been doing this for a month, managed an impressive blind pour, squeaking out a win with a score of 8.85.

And while some of the pours from the more experienced bartenders were a little sus, all that really matters is that they can pour a perfect 10 sans blindfold. You can see how the whole team did here.

🐾 Thanks for reading! Respectfully, GO HUSKIES!

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