A New Flour Opens, Belly of the Beast Crowdfunds, and More Updates to Start the Week

Openings

Today’s the day for the opening of the seventh Flour Bakery + Cafe: Joanne Chang’s bakery debuts at 30 Dalton St. in Back Bay. It’s open from 6:30 a.m. to 8 p.m. weekdays, 8 a.m. to 6 p.m. Saturday, and 8 a.m. to 5 p.m. Sunday. This marks the end of a fast-paced, three-location expansion that was announced in August 2016.

In other restaurant opening news, last week was packed full of them, so let’s recap: ReelHouse opened in East Boston, courtesy of the restaurant group behind Pier 6 in Charlestown and Mija Cantina & Tequila Bar at Faneuil Hall; Marc Orfaly (Pigalle, The Beehive) is executive chef. Freepoint Kitchen & Cocktails opened at the Freepoint Hotel in Cambridge’s Fresh Pond area, a partnership with Matthew Gaudet (West Bridge, Superfine); look inside. Bully Boy Distillers’ snazzy new cocktail bar and tasting room is now open in Roxbury. Mike’s Pastry expanded from the North End and Harvard Square to Somerville’s Assembly Row with plenty of cannoli and lobster tails. Les Sablons opened to much fanfare in an extraordinarily skinny building in Harvard Square (look inside); it’s the newest addition to the Island Creek Oyster Bar/Row 34 family. And Legal Sea Foods opened a fast-casual concept focused on customizable seafood bowls inside its Kendall Square location; it’s called Legal Fish Bowl.

Crowdfunding

Belly of the Beast is opening in Northampton this summer, as previously reported, focusing on seasonal ingredients and whole animal butchery. (Owners Jesse Hassinger and Aimee Francaes are familiar Boston faces; Hassinger has worked at Coppa, Hungry Mother, State Park, and M.F. Dulock, while Francaes was previously human resources director for Flour and Myers + Chang.) Via an Indiegogo campaign, Hassinger and Francaes are seeking to raise $30,000 to help with a variety of the buildout costs, such as installing a six-tap draft line (to feature local beers), doing a floor-to-ceiling makeover of the dining area, installing a smoker to cure and smoke meats in-house, and more. The campaign will remain open for a month, and backers will receive rewards such as loaves of house-made scrapple, Belly of the Beast aprons and bandanas, a sandwich or salad named after them, and more.

In other crowdfunding news, a mobile food cart called Waffleholics may take to the Boston streets to serve up customizable waffles — but first, a Kickstarter campaign. Owners Carmen Reddick and Max Taylor need to raise a little under $10,000 more in the next two weeks to get off the ground. Backers will receive rewards such as Waffleholics tote bags, waffle sandwiches, and a waffle party.

One Thing You Should Eat Today

Welcome to a new piece of the Morning Briefing, where we’ll be highlighting one great thing that you should eat (or drink) ASAP. It may be at a brand new restaurant or a classic spot, it may be high-end or low-end, but it’ll always be something that the Eater Boston team has recently enjoyed and thinks that you might enjoy too.

We kick off the inaugural edition of One Thing You Should Eat Today with the crispy scallion pancake wrap with beef, cilantro, and plum sauce ($8) at Bess’s Cafe, a new addition to Brookline (224 Cypress St., under a 10-minute walk from the Brookline Hills T); see the photo above. It’s a no-brainer for lovers of scallion pancakes — and things wrapped in scallion pancakes. (If this describes you, you should also try Mei Mei’s classic Double Awesome if you have not yet done so.)

At Bess’s, the flaky, doughy pancake is stuffed full of a generous portion of beef in just the right amount of sweet plum sauce (as in, there’s plenty of it to add flavor, but it won’t drip all over you). There’s also a wrap with crispy chicken instead of beef; try it and let us know how it is. Depending on your hunger level, one of these wraps may be enough on its own for a light lunch, but the menu has lots of small items to mix and match, including various types of buns ($3-$8); cold dishes, such as cucumber salad ($4) and edamame ($4); and desserts, smoothies, and shakes ($5-$7).

Bonus: The adorable Rifrullo Cafe is right down the street and worth a visit for a snack or full meal and some wifi. Try the mint matcha latte.

Visit the One Thing You Should Eat Today archive >>>

Got a news tip for the Eater Boston team? Email boston@eater.com.