What to Eat (and Drink) This Weekend
Spring delicacies!
Whether it feels like spring or not, early signs of the season have started hitting restaurant menus and specials all around the state. Look out for fiddleheads, like those brightening Townsman chef Matthew Jennings’s avocado panna cotta (pictured), and those that made a cameo during a wine dinner at Doretta this week. Asparagus and rhubarb, shad roe, and more will start appearing, so keep an eye out. Plus: Juliet’s Persian New Year menu, a celebration of spring, continues through next weekend.
Photo provided by Boston Bonbon
Hello Kitty macarons
Because you can! Boston Bonbon is teaming up with Chicken & Rice Guys again this weekend to celebrate the Guys’ relatively new Allston location. (The food truck favorites just opened their fourth brick-and-mortar in Downtown Crossing this week.) In addition to the impossibly cute cookies, Rita Ng is making baklava macarons, popular flavors like Funfetti, Nutella, salted caramel, Vietnamese iced coffee, Thai iced tea, and more. Pre-order through Eventbrite to ensure you get your Hello Kitty treat.
Boston Bonbon pop-up, Saturday, March 25, 11:30 a.m.-2:30 p.m., Chicken & Rice Guys, 81 Harvard Ave., Allston, Eventbrite.
Italian craft beers at Pastoral. / Photo provided
Italian Beer at Pastoral
Chef and owner Todd Winer has long had a broad selection of Italian wines and amari to complement his certified authentic Neapolitan pizzas and other rustic Italian fare. Now he has a reserve beer list to match: Ten rare imports from the likes of Birrificio Le Baladin, Birrificio Montegioco, and Birrificio del Ducato make up the Fort Point restaurant’s new all-Italian reserve list. The curated selection is priced from $12-$55, and it joins the usual lineup of 18 craft beers on draft, too.
345 Congress St., Fort Point, Boston, 617-345-0005, pastoralfortpoint.com.
Cereal Ice Cream Sandwiches at Gracie’s
Now that it’s spring, Gracie’s Ice Cream has reopened seven days a week. Head to Union Square this weekend when the shop hosts a pop-up with Strange Ways, a pin and patch-maker that partners with local artists. And of course, eat ice cream! This year, Gracie’s upped production so that more novelties, like Cocoa Puffs and sweet cream ice cream sandwiches (pictured), are available all the time. Fruity Pebbles, chocolate peanut butter, and more ice cream sandwich flavors are in the mix, as well as toasted Fluff Choco Tacos. Gracie’s opens at 1 p.m. both days this weekend.
22 Union Square, Somerville, 617-764-5294, graciesicecre.am.
Sour beers at Cambridge Brewing Company. / Photo via Facebook used with permission
Fourth Annual Sour Beer Fest at CBC
Cambridge Brewing Company brewmaster Will Meyers is a local pioneer in sour and barrel-aging, and his team is showing that off. More than 16 funky, tart, and otherwise mouthwatering sour and wild ales will be on hand during this non-ticketed, all-day tap takeover. Try Benevolence, a 13 percent dark ale aged in bourbon casks with wild secondary fermentation; the 100 percent Brettanomyces sour ale, Jack Straw; and Imaginary Day, a wild-fermented saison with foraged herbs and Chardonnay grapes. Find the full list on Facebook. Plus, executive chef David Drew is getting in on the fermented fun: His specials include kimchi jiggae (soup), charred octopus with green garlic and sherry vinaigrette, root beer brisket nachos, and more.
Saturday, March 25, begins at 11 a.m., One Kendall Square, Cambridge, 617-494-1994, cambridgebrewingcompany.com, Facebook.
Bisq. / Photo provided
Tropical Brunch at Bisq
Who cares if it’s not actually warm yet? At Bisq, it’s sunny and the vibes are chill. Chef Alex Saenz hosts a themed brunch every last Sunday of the month, and this week, it’s island time. A la carte specials include conch salad, lechón (roasted suckling pig), goat curry, sancocho (a Latin American soup), pancakes with rum bananas and smoked maple, and more. The bar staff is shaking up signature cocktails, and there will be a live reggae band in the house. Reservations are encouraged.
Sunday, March 26, 10:30 a.m.-3 p.m., 1071 Cambridge St., Inman Square, Cambridge, 617-714-3693, bisqcambridge.com.
CJ HUSK AT THE NICHOLS TENNEY FARM IN HOLLIS, NEW HAMPSHIRE / PHOTO BY NATASHA MOUSTACHE / Husk Cider photo provided
Husk Cider at Row 34
This year’s batch of Far From the Tree’s Husk Cider—named for the family of Island Creek Oysters “oyster dude” CJ Husk—hits Row 34 this Sunday. CJ Husk raises heritage pigs on his family property, Nichols Tenney Farm in Hollis, New Hampshire, where his grandfather planted dozens of apples trees a generation ago. For the second year in a row, Husk, Row 34 beverage director Jackson Cannon, and Far From the Tree teamed up to make a signature cider with apples from the property. This year’s batch, available in 16-ounce cans, is made with 50 percent Roxbury Russets, as well as Baldwin, Northern Spy, and Esopus Spitzenburg apples, plus a hint of maple syrup.
$7, available Sunday, March 26, beginning at 10:30 a.m., Row 34, 383 Congress St., Fort Point, Boston, 617-553-5900, row34.com.
