🥩✨ We have the meats

It’s Thursday, Boston.

🥯 There’s a viral new bagel shop coming to town. Hint: It’s a chain with a cult following in NY, and it only serves its bagels hot and unsliced, with schmear on the side for ripping and dipping. Stumped? You can check it out here.

👀 What’s on tap today:

• The MBTA Communities Act saga 

• Why everyone you know is puking

• Downtown Crossing’s new resident

Up first…

RESTAURANTS

Your foodie new year’s resolution

If your New Year’s resolution is to expand your restaurant repertoire, you’re in luck. Boston.com’s monthly list of new restaurants to try is the perfect place to start. 

Here’s what’s worth a bite:

🥩 Medium Rare, Watertown. Close your eyes and imagine: A bread basket, mixed green salad, and a plate of sizzling steak frites with secret sauce for $34.95 a pop — and then another complimentary round of steak frites. Now open your eyes, because it’s not a dream, it’s Medium Rare, a French-style steakhouse chain now open in Watertown. Check out a video of the experience here.

Things to try:

• The steak frites — obv!

• For brunch, the ultimate American breakfast sandwich with steak, eggs, and chorizo on baguette

• House specialty hot fudge sundae

🍝 Standard Italian, The Fenway. If you love Eastern Standard, odds are you’ll also love its new sibling, Standard Italian, by the same restaurant group — it’s conveniently located just steps away. As for the menu, think trendy Italian fare with a focus on pasta and martinis (yes, including espresso) plus a smattering of antipasto, larger entrees, a cocktail and aperitivo list, and, of course, $5 bread.

Things to try:

• Parm-onion dip with potato chips and trout roe

• Rigatoni Amatriciana with parmesan and guanciale 

• Standard Oil martini, with “olive oil washed” gin, vermouth, basil tincture, and orange bitters

🍷 Tilde, North Cambridge. If, like us, the description “cafe slash wine bar” is all it takes to get you out the door, you’re gonna love Tilde in North Cambridge. There’s coffee, tea, hot cocoa, and pastries in the morning; drinks, popcorn, sweets, and charcuterie in the evening; and board games, cozy seating, and an emphasis on community all the time. Most bites and sips are local and small-batch. You can check them out here.

Things to try:

• Sparkling and orange wines made in Acton

• Meat and cheese plate, fig jam, and potato chips or crackers

• Affogato made with Gracie’s Ice Cream

🥐 CSCA Cafe, Porter Square. The Cambridge School of Culinary Arts (CSCA) has been kicking in Porter Square since 1974. But this month, it's sharing the wealth (a.k.a the students’ delicious treats) with the community at the new, aptly named CSCA Cafe. You can expect a variety of fresh pastries, cookies, and other treats made by CSCA pastry chefs, plus George Howell Coffee, tea, hot cocoa, and other espresso drinks. The menu is TBD, but based on these IG sneak peeks, we’re in.

😋 Want even more foodie recs? The Globe put together a list of 10 new local restaurants to try this year (spoiler: we’re about to try one of them!).

QUICK QUESTION!

✅ Which of these spots do you want us to review for B-Side Certified?

TOGETHER WITH THE BOSTON OUTDOOR EXPO AND THE BOSTON RUN SHOW

Ready for summer yet? 

All we have is 😭 162 😭 days 😭 to go — but who’s counting? On the plus side, there’s plenty of time to stock up on all the outdoor gear you need at The Boston Outdoor Expo and The Boston Run Show! Browse over 200 top brands, hear from inspirational speakers (like Boston Marathoner Des Linden), and participate in free activities at the Boston Convention & Exhibition Center. With a climbing wall to flex on, yoga sessions to find your zen, and even a paddleboard simulator (because why not?), it’s the perfect precursor to an unforgettable summer. Grab your tickets to the Outdoor Expo and Run Show today. 

CITY

Quick & dirty headlines

🏘️ A new chapter in the MBTA Communities Act saga just dropped. We’ll jog your memory: The 2021 act mandates MBTA-served communities to zone for multifamily housing. Last year, a few towns rejected the mandate, spurring AG Andrea Campbell to sue. Well, on Wednesday, the state’s Supreme Judicial Court ruled that the act is not optional, and Campbell has the power to take legal action to *compel* cities and towns that resist. However, the court also ruled the state needs to rewrite the guidelines that shape each town’s zoning — which might slow down its implementation. 

🔑 Gov. Maura Healey is officially team “no broker fees.” The anti-broker’s fee movement is having a moment in Mass., and Gov. Healey recently joined the club, saying “I think they should go away” in a recent appearance on Boston Public Radio. These fees are partially to thank for Boston’s infamously absurd moving costs — we’re one of the last major U.S. markets where the fee is paid by the renter, not the landlord — though there’s some hope that 2025 will bring a statewide ban. Sigh. 

🤢 Is everyone you know coming down with the stomach bug? The culprit is likely the norovirus, which has been surging in Mass. this year — up 66% over last year, according to data from the Mass. Department of Public Health. The good news is the virus usually comes and goes quickly, and can be prevented with handwashing and disinfecting. The bad news (as any victim knows): Once you have it, there’s not much you can do. According to the DPH, the uptick could partially be thanks to more modern testing methods.

🛫 This is your sign to book a winter getaway. Enter: Southwest’s new year sale, which runs through Jan. 9 (today) and applies to travel between Jan. 28 and May 7 for Tuesday and Wednesday travel. Deals from Logan include $74 flights to Charleston and $79 flights to Chicago and Orlando. Also enter: JetBlue’s big winter sale. It runs through Jan. 14 for flights between Jan. 11 and April 9 (minus Fridays and Sundays) on one-way, nonstop tickets. There are $49 flights to Presque Isle, Maine, and $59 to Atlanta, Charleston, and Fort Lauderdale. Bon voyage!

ONE LAST THING

There’s a WHAT in Downtown Crossing?

When a giant, inflatable, slightly weird piece of art randomly pops up Downtown … it’s probably Winteractive, a.k.a. the quirky art program responsible for last year’s viral clown heads. 

So when four giant, naked pink guys wedged between buildings, climbing trees, and sitting on rooftops appeared Downtown this week, we (correctly) assumed they were back with another set of outdoor winter art installations meant to get folks outside in Boston’s most depressing months. 

The whole exhibit of over 15 art installations officially opens Jan. 15, but look out for more wacky art until then. You can find more deets here.

— Written by Gia Orsino and Emily Schario

🩷 Thanks for reading! Don’t come for us, but those naked guys are kind of cute.

💜 Special shoutout to today’s sponsor, The Boston Outdoor Expo and The Boston Run Show, for supporting local journalism and helping us gear up for epic outdoor experiences. 

📲 The results are in: 47% of readers say that they’d like to see exclusive things to do recs and itineraries in an extra B-Side newsletter. Noted. One reader said: “Close second choice was “idk I’ll read whatever you write” because, well, obvi I will.” <3!!!

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