🫎🤠 This bar gives ... New Hampshire

It’s Wednesday, Boston.

🍗 Fried chicken, caviar, AND champagne? It’s allllll gonna be at Shy Bird’s Birds and Bubbles night on Aug. 21. Think: Caviar bumps on chicken dunks, sparkling wine, and fried chicken buckets. Interested? Make a res here.

🎂 And happy birthday to reader Desiree Patten! We’re not telling you how to celebrate … but a chicken bucket and champagne sounds pretty darn good. Have an amazing day!

👀 What’s on tap today:

• Trump v. Wu round two

• Boston’s fire Asian foodie scene

• Jarren Duran’s doppelgänger 

Up first…

B-SIDE CERTIFIED

Summer camp in Southie

It’s giving … New Hampshire (respectfully). For this month’s edition of B-Side Certified, we popped by Park City, a new 30,000-square-foot outdoor venue in the heart of Southie, slinging jazzed-up bar food, specialty drinks, and live music. 

Here’s what we thought:

FIRST IMPRESSION

🫎 TL;DR: It’s The Lawn On D’s country cousin. Maybe it was the taxidermied elk head on the bar … or the gigundo American flag on the stage … or the country music covers blaring from said stage … but stepping into Park City felt like stepping into an adult summer camp (note: it’s *technically* kid-friendly). Imagine: cabin-like bars, a wooden pavilion, cornhole, and string lights illuminating the sky. 

🤔 The turn-up-on-a-Tuesday crowd was alive and well. Our weekday visit was ripe for young professionals grabbing a post-work drink — most of whom looked like they’d don a Patagonia vest come fall (IYKYK).

FOOD

💅 Classic crowd-pleasers get a modern glow-up. Menu highlights include French fries cooked in beef tallow, fish tacos battered in crushed Takis Fuego chips, and the “adult lunchable,” i.e., a charcuterie spread. We settled on the neon orange fish tacos, a miso Caesar salad (for health!), and the chicken tenders with tallow fries that seemingly everyone was ordering. 

🍟 Their fried food game is 10/10. We never met a chicken tender we didn’t like, but Park City’s were next level: Crispy, juicy, flavorful. You could skip a dipping sauce entirely. But the black garlic ranch offered an unexpected tang and smokiness. And while the tortilla on the fish tacos was a little thick for our liking, the Takis-coated haddock topped with slaw and crema tasted fresh and zingy.

🥗 Lesson learned: You’re not coming here for a salad. And that’s OK! Perhaps it was just our order, but we kept wondering if the miso in our Caesar was in the room with us. Its one redeeming quality? The *fried* pecorino crispy bits … 

DRINK

🍹 If you order anything, let it be the “Dragon Glow.” Remember these barrel drinks you had as a kid? Imagine one of those … with Barcardi Dragonberry. This perfectly pink, dragonfruit-forward juice was sweet without being sickening. Maybe we can blame the heat, but the “firestarter” — their blood orange take on a spicy marg — quickly lost its heat as the ice melted. And while the raspberry lime rickey was refreshing, we thought it was watered down.

🤑 Good news for your wallet: They don’t skimp on the drink portions!

VALUE

💰 It’s New Hampshire vibes with Boston prices. Two cocktails, one mocktail, a salad, two mains, and we spent ~$102, including tip — pretty standard for a night out on the town these days. But pair that with a perfect summer sunset, live music, and the energy of buzzing 20-somethings, and suddenly, it feels worth it. 

✅ Final verdict: B-Side Certified. The more outdoor venues, the merrier. If you're a 20-something in Southie, prepare for a new playground. 

QUICK QUESTION!

🕺 If you’re going out on the town, do you prefer …

CITY

Quick & dirty headlines

🥊 Mayor Wu is clapping back at the Trump administration … again. This time, she blasted Trump and his AG Pam Bondi over a letter demanding Boston (among 34 other cities) roll back its "sanctuary" policies for undocumented immigrants. “Stop attacking our cities to hide your administration’s failures,” she said, doubling down on Boston’s opposition to federal deportation efforts and touting it as the country’s safest major city. It’s unclear what the consequences might be for defying the Trump admin, but per the letter, federal funding cuts and prosecution are on the table. Yeesh.

💅 The Museum of Science is getting a walkable glow-up. MassDOT is planning a new pedestrian footbridge near the museum that would connect Boston and Cambridge: Here’s a visual. The new bridge would offer a safer, car-free way for pedestrians and cyclists to cross the river without contending with busy roads, and per a conceptual rendering would run from Leverett Circle to Land Boulevard through several plant-covered “islands.” The project is still in its early stages, and will need more discussion (not to mention … funding) before we see an official timeline.

🥦 Mass.’ weed laws could be going up in smoke. Two proposed 2026 ballot question initiatives want to end recreational marijuana sales in Mass.(!) Without getting too in the weeds (sorry!), the proposals would repeal the two chapters of the General Laws that regulate the possession, use, sales, growth, and taxation of recreational weed, and set the state’s 10.75% tax on weed’s retail sales. But don’t worry, stoners: Before they arrive on the ballot, these proposals have a long road, including approval from the AG and gathering at least 74,000 signatures. 

🥟 Boston’s Asian foodie scene is popping off. Once upon a time, Boston’s Asian food scene was mostly relegated to small pockets of the city and catered to the American palate. But as Boston.com said, new chefs are bringing authentic, unapologetic Asian cuisine to every corner of the city — and producing some of the city’s most exciting bites. Thanks to diners’ changing attitudes and a reclamation of chefs’ creative agency, spots like Rubato, Mahaniyom, Somaek, and Lê Madeline have become staples of Boston’s “best of” lists.

MEDIA SPONSORSHIP

A speakeasy night with the ladies? Yes, please.

B-Side is a proud media sponsor of the brand-new Back Bay speakeasy D16, a charming vintage bar carved into a historic police station. Tomorrow night at 9 p.m., D16 is throwing a classy end-of-week hangout for the girls — it’s Ladies Night, where you’ll choose from a selection of $7 specialty martinis and dance (or unwind) to a lineup of live female DJs. The event is free, but you can RSVP here! 

ONE LAST THING

Jarren Duran’s doppelgänger 

If you thought our lookalike contest era was over, think again. Over the weekend, Fenway held an *official* Jarren Duran lookalike contest, and it actually ended up being pretty heartwarming.

Out of five entrants, it came down to 12-year-old Jayson Eisenberg, who was clearly coasting on cuteness (which, FWIW, was working), and the more age-appropriate Joshua Hollingworth, who shared Duran’s tattoos, muscles, and facial hair. Unsurprisingly, Hollingworth took the W.

But as it turns out, the win meant more to him than Duran could’ve known. Hollingworth told Boston.com that he’s leaned on Duran, who’s been open about his mental health struggles, as a source of hope and inspiration through his own struggles. Awwwww.

— Written by Gia Orsino and Emily Schario

⚾ Thanks for reading! Personally, we’re still waiting for that Ben Affleck lookalike contest. Just sayin’. 

🍂 The results are in: 46% of B-Siders were most excited about fall-themed events. One reader said: “All of them. Please and thank you.” Well, if you INSIST.

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