Downtown Boston Now Has One of Those Weird ‘Modern’ McDonald’s With Table Service

The Times They Are a-Changin’

Welcome to “McDonald’s of the Future,” where you order without interacting with anyone, but then a real person brings your McNuggets right to your table. The McDonald’s at 327 Washington St. in Downtown Boston reopened this week after two months of renovations that included the addition of digital self-order kiosks and table service. While it’s the first downtown Boston location of the ubiquitous fast-food chain to become “modernized,” as the marketing language promises, it’s one of over 3,000 upgraded locations around the United States, around 125 of which are in New England. About 100 more New England stores will get these changes (and facelifts, too) later this year.

Opening Alert

Get hungry for fried chicken: Southern Proper debuts tonight in the South End (600 Harrison Ave., Boston). “It’ll be heavily oriented toward chicken and beer,” chef-owner Jason Cheek (Toro, KO Prime) previously told Eater, and the space looks like “a tobacco barn [his] grandmother invaded.” To start, Southern Proper is open from 5 p.m. to 11 p.m. Tuesday through Saturday, but stay tuned for lunch service and Sunday brunch, which are slated to begin in the spring.

Another Sign of Spring

Sullivan’s opened for the season last weekend, and today it’s time for another institution to make its return: The Ice Creamsmith (2295 Dorchester Ave., Dorchester) opens at noon for its 42nd season. The dessert shop features around 10 core ice cream flavors as well as monthly specials, frozen yogurts, and sorbets, and there are also floats, sundaes, ice cream sandwiches, ice cream cakes, ice cream “pizzas,” and other treats. Everything is made onsite. The special March flavors are Bailey’s Irish cream, Andes mint chip, and oatmeal raisin cookie.

Kickstartin’

Talulla, the forthcoming Cambridge restaurant that will take over the T.W. Food space at 377 Walden St., saw a successful end to its Kickstarter campaign yesterday, earning a total of $32,210 — comfortably over the $27,000 goal — from exactly 100 backers. As previously reported, husband-and-wife duo Conor Dennehy and Danielle Ayer, who both worked at T.W. Food, plan to open a restaurant named for their infant daughter this April, where they’ll serve a seven-course tasting menu (alongside a prix fixe menu and the option to order a la carte) that draws inspiration from France, Italy, Spain, and Japan — “basically a combo of anything that we think is good and elegant and delicious and delicate,” Dennehy previously told Eater.

One Thing You Should Eat Today

Raw fish. More specifically, kaisen don — a sashimi-topped rice bowl. Tora Japanese Restaurant (20B Tyler St., Chinatown, Boston) is an absolute gem of a place, a newish oasis hidden in a Chinatown basement. There are nearly 20 options — and almost as many add-ons — so choose whichever salmon/tuna/urchin/roe/etc. combo makes you happy. Our pick? The Tokyo don: torched salmon belly, scallop, squid, and flying fish roe. Slip away for a quiet lunch break alone. You might find that Tora is habit-forming.

Rachel Leah Blumenthal/Eater Boston

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