Nothing Says Springtime Like Yacht Rock and Chocolate Ice Cream

Welcome back to AM Intel, a round-up of mini news bites to kick off the day.

What Happened Last Week?

Catch up on last week’s top stories, from the monthly Heatmap update (hello, bagels and seafood boils) to an exciting dumpling spot coming to Cambridge and a ready-made food and drink crawl among Ken Oringer and Jamie Bissonnette’s Boston (and Cambridge) restaurants.

And from our national big sister, Eater.com: The social mission comes first at some restaurants. There’s a new Japanese Netflix show that is perfect for dessert fanatics. Feministing’s Jessica Valenti explores the politics of food in a series of videos. Hello Kitty is a food superstar. And McDonald’s Szechuan sauce tastes “mainly like corn syrup.”

Get Social With Us

Have you joined our new Facebook group yet? It’s a place to give and get restaurant recommendations and discuss Boston’s food scene. Over the weekend, discussions included plenty of opinions on Boston’s best fried chicken, doughnuts, and lots more.

Chocolate + Yacht Rock = Spring?

It’s not quite spring yet, but Gracie’s Ice Cream (22 Union Sq., Union Square, Somerville) is bidding farewell to its limited winter hours and celebrating the arrival of warmer seasons today, March 5, with an exclusively chocolate lineup of flavors — spicy chocolate chocolate chip, chocolate chocolate chocolate chip cookie dough, brownie batter Oreo, malted mint hot cocoa, MMMmmm (see the photo above), and more — along with “only the smoothest yacht rock tunes” playing in the shop. Wear a sailor cap for a free Fluff cone upgrade. If you miss the boat today, the chocolate lineup will last until it’s all scooped out, so you might have luck catching these flavors over the next couple of days.

Not So Tasty

Chipotle’s alleged Tasty Burger ripoff, Tasty Made, is no more: Its solo location — in a suburb of Columbus, Ohio — has closed after a little over a year. When news of Tasty Made first came out in 2016, Boston’s six-year-old Tasty Burger chain cried foul due to apparent similarities between Tasty Burger and Tasty Made’s names, logos, and color schemes, with Chipotle shooting back that “Tasty Burger is simply using this as a way to build awareness for their brand and has no valid legal basis to challenge our trademark.” In any case, it seems to be a moot point now.

Pizza. Beer. Games.

Dorchester Brewing Company (1250 Massachusetts Ave., Dorchester) is jazzing up Monday nights by bringing out a ping pong table and providing free pizza (while supplies last). Swing by between 5 p.m. and 9 p.m. tonight or any Monday night.

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