What to Eat (and Drink) This Weekend

Stoked is the only restaurant carrying the rebooted, original Chipwich—and it’s served on an appropriate plate. / Photo provided

A Real Chipwich

With the ’90s rock soundtrack and the grinning portrait of Squints from The Sandlot on the wall, nostalgia is always part of the dining experience at Stoked Wood Fire Pizza Co. But now the Washington Square pizzeria serves a true taste of my childhood: The original Chipwich is on the menu, beginning today, for a cool $2 (it’ll go up to $3 after this first week). Nestlé killed the iconic, chocolate chip-studded ice cream sandwich in 2011, as Eater Boston notes. But it’s back now in East Coast grocery stores thanks to a company called Crave Better Foods—and Stoked is the only restaurant that’s carrying it. Something tells us the Chipwich, which the New York Times recently dubbed the best packaged frozen treat of all time, would complement a summer feast of Stoked’s beloved seasonal corn and Maine lobster pizza, which returns today as well.

1632 Beacon St., Brookline, 617-982-FIRE, stokedpizzaco.com.

Celebrate “Charc Week” at Post 390 with a special menu of seafood charcuterie for the final weekend of Shark Week. / Photo provided

It’s Charc Week

While Discovery Channel’s Shark Week changed the cable TV game in a big way when it debuted 30 years ago, at this point it’s definitely jumped the shark. Night Shift Brewing isn’t one to pass on the joke: It launched Shark Jumper this week, and the IPA with lemon zest is still on draft and in cans to-go from the Everett taproom. Or, keep your Shark Week celebration cheeky but classy with Post 390‘s Charc Week: executive chef Nick Deutmeyer has a special lineup of seafood charcuterie available through Sunday, July 29, including Cape shark pastrami on house-baked marbled rye; scallop mortadella with pistachios, smoked pork fat, and sweet corn relish; and more. If you want to just kick back at home in front of the TV? ’Gansett has taken the Shark Week opportunity to reissue its classic lager in 1975 duds—the can seen being crushed by Quint in that memorable scene in Jaws. Pick up a 12-pack and dive in.

Banyan French toast is one of the brunch dishes available with a $15 prix-fixe option. / Photo provided

A Sweet Brunch Deal

The former chef at the Gallows, Scott Jensen took over at sister spot Banyan Bar and Refuge early this year, bringing his love for poutine and whimsy to the pan-Asian menu (did somebody say, okonomiyaki fries?). Jensen introduced seasonal, daily lunch service this past spring, and brunch has returned for the warmer months, too. And now there is a fixed-price, $15 option that comes with a doughnut from the Gallows Group’s Blackbird Doughnuts (or fresh fruit), coffee, orange juice, and an entrée, like the Banyan French toast with cocoa-five spice challah bread, blueberries, and a sweet glaze. Brunch is on every Saturday and Sunday from 11 a.m.-3 p.m.

553 Tremont St., South End, Boston, 617-556-4211, banyanboston.com.

Chef Brendan Pelley is culinary director at Mill No. 5 in Lowell. / Photo provided

Brendan Pelley’s New Menu at Coffee and Cotton

Chef Brendan Pelley (Doretta Taverna, Pelekasis) has been back home in the Merrimack Valley holding things down at Lowell’s very cool Mill No. 5 since the springtime. Now is high time to pay him a visit: Coffee and Cotton, a breakfast-and-lunch spot inside the smartly reused former textile factory, just rolled out Pelley’s first full menu. Some original C&C favs remain, like avocado toast, plus the famous spinach pie that Pelley brought there; but new items include Nutella toast with bananas; a pastrami Reuben; an ancient grain bowl with ras el hanout granola; and more. Pelley also oversees the menus at Mill No. 5’s Luna Theatre, and the Red and White Market.

Coffee and Cotton, 250 Jackson St., 4th Floor, Lowell, 978-925-2626, coffeeandcotton.co.

Peach upside-down cake is on the menu at Talulla. / Wayne Earl Chinnock Photography

Peaches!

Contrary to the song I now have stuck in my head, peaches do not come from a can. They come from trees—trees which dot the East Coast, and which are starting to yield plump, sweet fruit right about now. We have spotted some peachy treats around town already, like this beautiful upside-down cake at Talulla; this savory grilled dish with pickled peppers, whipped ricotta salata, and anise hyssop at Alden & Harlow; and this frozen peach mousse with pickled blueberry, hoja santa froth, and burnt honey candy at Uni. If you see peaches on the menu this weekend, indulge while you can, because for me, the arrival of New England peaches always signals that summer is winding down…