🥖😍 Our favorite food group: bread

♥️ You can still win this flawless proposal. Lyrik Back Bay’s giveaway of a dream proposal experience under the late Gaetano Pesce’s Double Heart sculpture (plus tons of romantic freebies) ends TODAY! Enter here. 

🥳 And happy birthday to B-Side Member Mary Austin! In honor of the double heart, we’re sending you double b-day wishes. <3

👀 What’s on tap today:

Up first…

This month’s B-Side Certified is looking sweet. You sent us to Wildgrain Bakehouse, a new brick-and-mortar cafe from Wildgrain, a Somerville-based bread, pasta, and pastry delivery service. 

Here’s what we thought:

💡 The cafe gives big millennial minimalist energy. Think: White subway tiles, light wood, and a neon sign, plus a few tables for dining in. Our only complaint? Finding it was a bit of a struggle since the entrance is tucked away from the street. Pro tip: It’s directly across from Aeronaut Brewery.

🥖 Wildgrain’s pastries and bread mostly lived up to the hype. Our fav bite of the day: A crispy, chewy sourdough demi-baguette ($7.88), which came with a tiny tin of jam and a pot of creamy, salty, slow-churned French butter that quickly stole the show. The maple Belgian waffle and chocolate chunk cookie ($3.53 each) were both prime examples of what an elevated sweet treat should be: comforting, complex, and a little caramelized. We just wish they were warm!

🥐 Minus points for a slightly underwhelming croissant ($3.53). But TBH, that had more to do with the surrounding hype than the pastry itself. It was buttery and light, but wouldn’t stand out in a blind taste test with Tatte’s version. 

☕ Warning: The lattes were barely batting .500. Starting with the good, the special tahini-vanilla latte ($5.75) was nice if you like tahini — the primary notes were pleasantly nutty and earthy — but the vanilla was MIA. On the other hand, the $5 matcha latte was giving sweet milk with a whisper of matcha. 3/10, would not order again.

🤑 The prices were reasonable. $31.27 got us two lattes, three pastries, and a loaf of bread — compare that to $37.05 at Tatte for basically the same order. But the deals don’t end there. You can get a 15% discount on the whole menu if you sign up for their loyalty program. AND, if you’re a Wildgrain box subscriber, you get free coffee every day for life, which is one of the better bargains we’ve heard … ever.

🙋‍♀️ FWIW: As a one-time Wildgrain box recipient, Gia can confirm that the pastries are best fresh out of the oven. She’d highly recommend buying the frozen versions (which are for sale at the bakehouse) and making them at home.

✅ The verdict: B-Side Certified. Would we go out of our way to visit? Ehhhh. But if we’re ever in the neighborhood, we’d pick up another loaf of bread and as much butter as they’ll give us.

🌼 P.S. If you have a go-to allergy season hack, we want to hear it! Shoot Gia an email at [email protected].

🌿🖼️ Rainy Saturday? Museum. Impressing an out-of-town friend? Museum. Mid-day “I need to leave the house” walk? Museum. The Isabella Stewart Gardner’s Under 30 membership ($50/year) lets you drop by whenever the mood strikes — with free admission, a one-time-use guest pass, invites to member events, and discounts on programs, shopping, and dining at Café G. Sign up now and stop in on a random weekday, or swing by Thursday nights when the museum stays open until 9 p.m. It’s the perfect place to wander around and pretend this is just your normal European afternoon.

💸 How much would YOU save with a slashed state income tax? Spoiler: Not much (unless you’re a millionaire). Ahead of a potential ballot Q that would knock it from 5% to 4%, a new study from Tufts found that folks making between $25,000 to $75,000 will save $474 per year, compared to $37,421 for folks making over $1 million. That said, neither number holds a candle to the $5.1 billion it would cost the state every year, so the House is already working on a contingency plan that would opt Mass. out of some federal corporate tax changes if the Q gets a “yes.”

🚉 Bad news for commuter rail riders: Remember those planned weekend shutdowns out of North Station? Well, the MBTA just announced they’ll bleed into Fridays on select weekends in March and April (thankfully, not marathon weekend). You can find the deets here. If you decide to drive in instead, we’d recommend skipping the Zakim Bridge/I-93 North, which just ranked as the most stressful commute in Massachusetts, and the seventh most stressful commute in the country in a new poll from Munley Law. The city of champions … at sitting in traffic.

✈️ Balling on a travel budget? Shoulder season is your BFF. If you can’t afford the eye-popping prices of a classic New England summer getaway, traveling in April and May could be the ultimate life hack, according to the Globe. From quaint Maine islands to coastal Connecticut to Martha’s Vineyard and the Cape, prices in the spring are often just a fraction of peak season. See: A hotel on the Vineyard that goes for $325 in May compared to $1,475 in August. Here’s a roundup of shoulder season deals.

🐶 The fluffiest tradition of marathon weekend is back: MA Golden Meetups. Yes, like golden retrievers. Every year, hundreds of goldens gather on the Common for a very happy meet-and-greet with marathon runners and golden lovers — and yes, it’s as incredible as it sounds (see: Emily petting every pup in sight). This year’s meetup is on April 19. If you have a Golden, you can register here. If not, don’t worry, you can just show up for a dopamine hit.

Below are some of the hottest local things to do. This month, B-Side Members can save more than $150 across our events plus monthly freebies like free coffee at Flour Bakery.

🍔 All March: Hojoko Girl Dinner, $29. All March, B-Side Members get a Wagyu burger, fries, and any cocktail for $29 flat. This members-only deal is available all month at Hojoko in the Fenway. Flash your B-Side pass and treat yourself.

🧘 March 21-22: Seaav Home Team Wellness Weekend Experience, $40 GA. Members get $7 off at Seaav’s Home Team Collection launch this weekend at their Fenway wellness event featuring Handlebar sculpt classes, recovery activations, free coffee, a matcha bar, and more.

🍻March and April: $25 off Bites of Boston. Bites of Boston hosts food tours where you can enjoy bites and sips pairings at four restaurants while learning about the neighborhood. Members get $25 off tours through April. 

👀 Want to feature your upcoming event above? Click here.

As any Mass. driver knows, Route 1 is basically a fever dream. The 18-mile stretch from Boston to Topsfield features a truly bizarre series of sights, sounds, and hazards that make it feel closer to Mario Kart than a regular highway.

There’s the Tobin Bridge, with an ominous metal net hanging from the ceiling. The three Formula One-esque turns known as the “Chelsea Curves” (which at one time featured a giant ad from a tombstone company warning you to drive carefully). And, the heart of the insanity is Saugus, with its circus-like assortment of big-box stores and kitschy attractions.  

And we’re not even scratching the surface: After Globe writer Billy Baker wrote an ode to Route 1, hundreds of Mass. residents wrote in to share their experiences — including many who actively avoid the stretch when visitors come to town. 

You can read it here. 

— Written by Gia Orsino and Emily Schario

🚘 Thanks for reading! She’s weird, but she’s OURS.

💜 Special shoutout to today’s sponsor, the Isabella Stewart Gardner Museum, for supporting local journalism and bringing culturally rich experiences to our city.

🧳 The results are in: Let’s just say, B-Siders have some strong opinions about checked bags, as 70% say they prefer to carry on. One reader said: “Secret third option: I don’t pay for a carry-on either and just pack everything in my backpack.” We respect the hustle.

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