Too Many Old Restaurants Are Closing

It was a week of ups and downs in the Boston food scene. Sadly several longtime restaurants closed or announced an upcoming closure, but on the plus side, a couple of Harvard undergrads are opening a cafe that will employ and train homeless young adults, a new restaurant opens today with boozy shakes and fun cookout food, and a popular Cambridge brewery is still going strong. Here’s a look back at the most-read stories of the week:

1. Strip-T’s Will Close, Leaving a Sad Hole in the Restaurant Scene: The decades-old Watertown restaurant is both a classic staple and a food nerd destination.
2. Drink Boozy Rainbow Sherbet Shakes and Eat Cookout Cuisine at Southie’s Newest Restaurant: Take a look inside Backyard Betty’s, opening on Friday, May 18.
3. Downtown Crossing Loses a Longtime French Restaurant: Central Bistro, previously Petit Robert, closes down this week.
4. 30 Essential Boston Coffee Shops: Start your caffeine adventure here.
5. Back Bay Loses a Thai Restaurant Due to ‘Tremendously High Rent’: Chilli Duck said it would be unable to generate revenue to accommodate increased costs.
6. Lamplighter Is Bigger Than Ever While Keeping That Neighborhood Brewery Spirit: Founders Cayla Marvil and AC Jones reflect on their year-and-a-half-old brewery.
7. These Harvard Undergrads Plan to Open a Cafe to Help Homeless Young Adults Find Job Security: Breaktime seeks to provide vocational training and stable employment to the neighborhood’s economically insecure.
8. Feast on Pastelitos While Drinking Beer (and More Spring Food Events): All the local food and drink events you’ll actually want to attend.
9. There Will Soon Be a Superfine North Shore Trio: And more dining news from Boston’s suburbs and beyond.
10. Seaport Welcomes a Gelato Shop, Just in Time for Nice Weather: Gelato & Chill opened this week at the Innovation and Design Building.

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