🍝 If the North End and Sweetgreen had a baby

It’s Wednesday, Boston.

💆 You don’t normally hear “massage” and “deal” in the same sentence. Until today. The Massage School in the South End is offering 60-minute, full-body Swedish massages for just $40 as a way for their students to get real life experience. Check it out here. 

👀 What’s on tap today:

• Super Tuesday results

• Spring clean your neighborhood

• A Dunkin’ sight test

Up first…

RESTAURANTS

New restaurants on the block

The newbies to Boston’s restaurant scene are taking us all over the world this month. See: Sushi, homemade pasta, momos, and Flamin’ Hot Cheetos street corn. 

Boston.com just released its list of March restaurant openings they're excited about. Here’s what worth a reservation: 

🍝 BE Pasta Bar, Brookline. If you love the convenience of Sweetgreen and the soul-nourishing experience of a North End dinner, you’re gonna be spending loads of time in Brookline this month. A husband and wife team are opening Boston’s first fast-casual homemade pasta shop near BU, serving up build-your-own pasta cups with homemade sauces and toppings, along with sammies and salads.

🍽️ Things to try:

• Build-your-own pasta cups

• Homemade meatballs

• Speciality crafted sandwiches 

🌮 Citrus & Salt, Seaport. This beloved Mexican spot waved goodbye to its Back Bay digs and plans to reopen in a bigger venue in Fort Point. Space wise, expect a larger dining room, expansive patio, and the same OG vibes and sugar skulls motifs. Menu wise, expect tried-and-true faves like their Flamin’ Hot Cheetos street corn, along with new additions like their “Tacos After Dark” late-night dining program. Take a peek at the full menu here.

🍽️ Things to try:

• Frozen chili mango mojito

• Tortilla-crusted Baja fish tacos

• Grilled street corn

🍲 Lê Madeline, Quincy. After a decade in business, Pho Linh, a casual Vietnamese joint has transformed into Lê Madeline, serving up modern twists on Vietnamese classics, with dishes like hanger steak au poivre in a creamy Bo Kho spiced peppercorn foam. But if you miss Pho Linh, don’t fret, Lê Madeline’s menu has plenty of noodle dishes, with its lunch lineup dedicated to pho and vermicelli bowls. You can scope out the menu here. 

🍽️ Things to try:

• Coffee lemongrass marinated hanger steak

• Vietnamese Noodle Soup

• Việt Cajun Crawfish Noodle

🥟 Momo Masala, Jamaica Plain. If you’re obsessed with dumplings, may we present: the momo. A staple in Nepali and Tibetan cuisine, these steamed dumplings are at the heart of this new spot in JP, stuffed with everything from veggies, to chicken and tandoori varieties. The menu also features regional specialties from India, including curries, Korma, and Vindaloo prepared with your favorite protein. Check out the full menu here. 

🍽️ Things to try:

• Chicken momo masala

• Bhanta ko tarkari

• Gobi Machurian 

🍣 XOXO Sushi Bar, Chestnut Hill. You’ll soon be able to cap off an afternoon of browsing the The Shops at Chestnut Hill with hand rolls, sushi, and sashimi at XOXO. This modern Japanese restaurant will be serving all the sushi classics starting this weekend, including an omakase tasting menu, and other dishes using robatayaki cooking. Fair warning, the menu is pricey.  

🍽️ Things to try:

• Rotating chef’s omakase menu

• Tuna and truffle sashimi

• Wagyu tartare

👀 In other new restaurant news: Baleia, a new Portuguese-inspired restaurant in the South End from the folks behind The Salty Pig, is slated to open today!

QUICK QUESTION

😋 Which of these spots would you most like our two cents on?

CITY

Quick & dirty headlines

🗳️ Another Super Tuesday has come and gone. And, as we suspected, we’re headed in the direction of some 2020 déjà vu. Incumbent President Joe Biden bagged an easy W in Mass.’ Democratic primary, with a small chunk of voters simply choosing “no preference.” On the GOP side, former President Donald Trump walked away with the win, defeating former South Carolina Governor Nikki Haley (but it technically wasn’t a complete blow out!). And that pattern repeated itself in other states, with Biden and Trump piling up early wins in the night across the country.

🧪 Gov. Maura Healey is making Mass. a science hub. Last week, Gov. Healey filed an economic development bond bill plan that would invest $3.5 billion to strengthen the state’s leadership in life sciences, climate tech, and AI. $1 billion of that would keep funding the long-running (and quite successful) Life Sciences Initiative over the next ten years, another $1 billion will go toward climate tech to create jobs, plus start and scale companies, and there’s some cash in there to bolster applied AI, too. Next up, State House lawmakers will have the chance to put forth their own versions of the bill, with legislation likely not being approved until the summer.

🚃 The MBTA has hit a slow zone slow zone. The MBTA was initially on a roll with its goal of removing all slow zones by the end of 2024 (52 were removed in December and January!). But things took a turn in February, when the MBTA actually added slow zones as a result of uncovering additional track problems during routine scans and inspections. And while this news might not sound great in the midst of our most shutdown-laden month yet, the silver lining is that GM Philip Eng doesn’t suspect this slow zone will affect the MBTA’s larger goals or timeline.

🧹 If you love your block, it’ll love you right back. Mayor Michelle Wu just announced this year’s “Love Your Block” spring cleanups schedule, where on April weekends, Boston residents can host or volunteer to join neighborhood cleanups like trash pickups, flower planting, and park revitalization. If you want to find your neighborhood’s date, sign up to volunteer or host a site, or find pretty much any other info you’ll need, you can do that here.

GIVEAWAY

Enter to win two tickets to Harpoon’s St. Patrick’s Festival!

We’re giving away 3 pairs of tickets to Harpoon’s St. Patrick’s Day Festival this Friday, March 8. To be eligible, refer a friend in the and have them accept your invite by end of day on 3/6. If you have already referred a friend to B-Side (and they’ve accepted), you're eligible! Full details below**

^{_{21+. NO PURCHASE NECESSARY. Limit one entry per person. See Official Rules & an additional entry option here.}}

ONE LAST THING

A Dunkin’ sight test

Something of a Dunkin’ doughnut deception has taken place. A baker in Long Island has been accused by a client of trying to pass off Dunkin’s doughnuts as — get this — vegan and gluten free homemade doughnuts. 

Now, that’s a big accusation, but the evidence is pretty strong. One of the allegedly handmade doughnuts arrived with Dunkin’-branded sprinkles (tiny “D” shapes in Dunkin’ colors). The discovery led the customer to confront the “baker” and test the doughnuts for gluten (which, of course, there was). 

So in the spirit of the doughnut deception, Boston.com created a test asking readers to identify a Dunkin’ doughnut on sight. You can throw your hat in the ring here, and we’ll give you an update when the results come out next week. 

— Written by Gia Orsino and Emily Schario

🍩 Thanks for reading! Only the truest of Massholes will get 100%.

💰The results are in: Perhaps unsurprisingly, 56% of B-Siders are currently paying off student loans, with another 17% having already paid them off. One reader said: “Join me in my payoff party, year 2056.”

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