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July can often feel a bit quiet in Boston — the students are gone, and the city is hot and humid — but July 2018 did see a fair amount of restaurant openings, including a highly anticipated spot from No. 9 alums in the Seaport District, a funky wine bar in Fenway, a whiskey-filled barbecue joint in Somerville, and more.
But there were also some closures, too, including the acclaimed Townsman in Downtown Boston and neighborhood favorite Redd’s in Rozzie.
Read on for a summary of July 2018, including the most-read news stories and maps, the openings, and the closings.
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- Downtown Boston Gets a Massive Food Hall Next Spring: High Street Place will span more than 18,000 square feet with 22 vendors.
- Boston’s Newest Brewery Serves Pizza Bagels With a Side of Democracy: The worker-owned Democracy Brewing opened on July 4.
- Dining News From Boston’s Suburbs and Beyond: This round-up is updated weekly with restaurant openings, closings, and more from the Greater Boston region.
- Back Bay’s New Steakhouse Has More Than 12,500 Bottles of Wine: Del Frisco’s Double Eagle Steakhouse opens Wednesday at the Pru.
- New England Dining Updates Beyond Massachusetts: This round-up is updated weekly with restaurant openings, closings, and more throughout New England.
- Go to Provincetown This Summer and Drink at These Bars: A little bit of the East End, a little bit of the West End, and, sure, the Old Colony, too.
- Change Is Afoot in Boston’s College Bar Scene: Tavern in the Square in Allston is getting a facelift, while Joshua Tree in Davis Square has shuttered.
- Louis DiBiccari Is Opening a Cocktail Lounge and Gallery at Bow Market: It’ll be a permanent brick-and-mortar version of his popular collaborative Create event series.
- Chickadee Flies Into the Seaport This Week With Pasta, Pita, and More: Here’s a look at the menu for the new restaurant at the Innovation and Design Building, courtesy of a couple of No. 9 Park alums.
- A Great Patio Is Reborn in Lower Mills: The Bowery Bar has opened in the space left vacant by Ester, giving Bostonians another patio to sit on this summer.
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- The 38 Essential Restaurants in Boston, Summer 2018: Boston’s greatest restaurants for any occasion, updated quarterly.
- The Hottest Restaurants in Boston Right Now, July 2018: Updated monthly, the Eater Boston Heatmap tracks a dozen hot new spots to check out.
- The Hottest New Brunches in Boston Right Now, Summer 2018: Tired of your usual brunching routine?
- Where to Eat Italian Food in Boston: It’s not all about the North End (but okay, sure, there’s a lot of good Italian food in the North End).
- The Food Events Guide: All the local food and drink events you’ll actually want to attend, updated weekly.
- Where to Eat Hot Pot in and Around Boston: Semi-DIY dining at its very best.
- Where to Eat Korean Food in Boston: Allston is a good place to start.
- Where to Eat Middle Eastern Food in and Around Boston: Shawarma, falafel, kibbeh — and everything in between.
- Where to Eat Fried Fish Sandwiches on Massachusetts’ North and South Shores: It’s like fish and chips, only on a bun (which is to say, better).
- 30 Essential Boston-Area Burgers: A meaty to-do list.
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- 5 Spices (95 Middlesex St., Malden): Hot pot, sushi, and cocktails in the former Ibasaw Seafood Buffet space.
- Blue Bottle (Prudential Center, 800 Boylston St., Back Bay, Boston): This is the third local outpost of the California-based coffee chain — there’s also one in Harvard Square and one in Downtown Boston.
- Bon Appetit Crêperie (Boston Public Market, 100 Hanover St., Downtown Boston): The newest BPM vendor serves a variety of sweet and savory crepes — as well as crepe waffles.
- Boston SnoMobile (Mobile): From the team behind the Cookie Monstah food truck and bakery, this truck specializes in various styles of shave ice. While it’s currently making appearances at events, it hasn’t announced a regular vending schedule yet.
- Bowery Bar (2261 Dorchester Ave., Dorchester, Boston): In Dorchester’s Lower Mills area, this bar — which shares an owner with Lucy’s American Tavern, the Punk & Poet, and more — is located in the former Ester space and features a sizable patio.
- Cafe Landwer (383 Chestnut Hill Ave., Cleveland Circle, Boston): The second Boston location for the Israeli chain, featuring sandwiches, salads, shakshuka, and more.
- Caffe Maddie (895 Quincy Shore Dr., Quincy): Coffee, ice cream, breakfast sandwiches, pizzas, and more.
- Cardullo’s Gourmet Shoppe (99 Seaport Blvd., Seaport District, Boston): The iconic Harvard Square deli and specialty food shop expanded across the river to Boston’s Seaport District.
- The Casual Cup Cafe (911 Washington St., Braintree): A cafe in a former Jimmy John’s space in South Braintree Square.
- CBS Sporting Club (200 Patriot Pl., Foxborough): Now under the management of Big Night Entertainment Group (Red Lantern, Empire, etc.), the restaurant formerly known as CBS Scene has reopened after a months-long revamp.
- Chickadee (21 Drydock Ave., Seaport District, Boston): The Mediterranean meets New England at this collaboration between No. 9 Park alums John DaSilva and Ted Kilpatrick. It’s located inside the Innovation and Design Building.
- Del Frisco’s Double Eagle Steakhouse (Prudential Center, 800 Boylston St., Back Bay, Boston): This is the second Boston location for the upscale steakhouse chain, which has an older spot in the Seaport District. The new location boasts over 12,500 bottles of wine.
- Democracy Brewing (35 Temple Pl., Downtown Crossing, Boston): A worker-owned brewery (with pizza bagels and more food) in the longtime Windsor Button space.
- Energize Cafe (265 Massachusetts Ave., Symphony, Boston): This juice shop has an older sibling in Brighton. Both serve a variety of juices, acai bowls, smoothies, and more.
- Evergreen Eatery (154 Green St., Jamaica Plain, Boston): From the team behind JP Seafood Cafe, this diner and cafe took over the former La Rana Rossa space.
- The Hangover Pub (102 Green St., Worcester): This bacon-focused pub has reopened after a lengthy hiatus.
- Hulun Beir (5 Holland St., Davis Square, Somerville): Mongolian hot pot and barbecue. There’s an older location on Cambridge Street in Boston’s Beacon Hill.
- I-CE-NY (217 Newbury St., Back Bay, Boston): With roots in Thailand and a bunch of locations in New York and beyond, this is the latest entry into Boston’s growing rolled ice cream scene.
- Little Dipper (669 Centre St., Jamaica Plain, Boston): The team behind Centre Street Cafe closed it and opened Little Dipper in the space instead — a space-themed diner with lots of model rockets hanging from the ceiling.
- Mario’s Pizzeria (197 Humboldt Ave., Roxbury, Boston): New York-style pizzas and Portuguese food, including bifana sandwiches, shrimp and cod cakes, and more.
- Nathálie (186 Brookline Ave., Fenway, Boston): A wine bar featuring female wine producers. There are also small plates. It’s the younger (but larger) sibling to Haley.Henry in Downtown Crossing.
- Orá Trattorizza (653 Boylston St., Back Bay, Boston): This two-story Piattini Wine Cafe sibling serves Neapolitan-style pizza, pasta, seafood, and more.
- Pho Vietnam (906 Washington St., Braintree): A Vietnamese restaurant in the former Sintra space.
- Picante Taqueria (352 Boston Ave., Medford): Tacos, tortas, burritos, and more from the team behind East Somerville’s popular Taco Loco.
- The Raw Bar (401 Washington St., Duxbury): Located at the Island Creek Oysters farm, this outdoor raw bar serves oysters, tinned fish, caviar, canned cocktails, and more. Plus, there are lawn games.
- The Roasted Granola Café (1346 Massachusetts Ave., Arlington): Granola, coffee, tea, pastries, and more.
- Sheger Cafe (2376 Massachusetts Ave., North Cambridge): An Ethiopian restaurant from the owner of a hair salon nearby.
- Smoke Shop (325 Assembly Row, Somerville): The third location of Andy Husbands’ ode to barbecue, featuring loads of brisket, whiskey, and more. The older locations are in Cambridge’s Kendall Square and Boston’s Fort Point.
- Sons of Boston (19 Union St., Downtown Boston): Located in the former Tap Trailhouse space, this New England-y spot serves up customizable mac and cheese, clam chowder with “dunkable clam doughnuts,” a deep-fried Boston cream doughnut, and more.
- Superfine Food (17 State St., Newburyport): This is the third location for the casual spot from a team of fine-dining industry vets; it’s also in Manchester-by-the-Sea and Marblehead, serving up pizza, ribs, and more.
- Thirty-Nine Court (39 Court St., Plymouth): Small plates, from fried mac and cheese balls to spiced scallops.
- Tonno (175 North Ave., Wakefield): From the owner of Prezza in Boston’s North End, this is the second location of seafood restaurant Tonno — the first is in Gloucester.
- TreMonte (76 Salem St., North End, Boston): The original location of this Italian restaurant is in Woburn. The new Boston location took the place of Limoncello 2.
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July 2018 Closures
- Beacon Street Locale (495 Beacon St., Back Bay, Boston): The Back Bay bar and restaurant closed after a little over a year in business.
- Besito (Burlington Mall, 75 Middlesex Tpke., Burlington): This location of the Mexican chain has closed, leaving one local one in Chestnut Hill.
- Blue Shirt Cafe (424 Highland Ave., Davis Square, Somerville): This Davis cafe had been around for over two decades, serving smoothies, sandwiches, and more.
- Cappy’s Tavern (11 Wolcott Ct., Hyde Park, Boston): This classic dive bar closed after eight decades.
- The Cottage (47 Boylston St., Chestnut Hill): A Wellesley location of the California-meets-New-England restaurant remains open.
- Frannie’s Restaurant (32 Swanton St., Winchester): The restaurant had been open for 25 years.
- Intermission Tavern (228 Tremont St., Downtown Boston): This Theater District pub will be replaced by the Fourth Wall.
- L&K Lounge and Kitchen (30 Dedham Ave., Needham): Late last year, the restaurant transitioned from RFK Kitchen, which had been named for its departed co-founder Rachel Klein. Now, it’s closed.
- La Rotisserie (17 Boylston St., Chestnut Hill): The rotisserie restaurant had been around for about 30 years.
- Owen O’Leary’s (1280 Belmont St., Brockton): This Irish pub shut down after nearly 30 years.
- Peet’s Coffee & Tea (50 Salem St., North End, Boston; 776 Beacon St., Newton Centre; 66 Charles St., Beacon Hill, Boston): Three Peet’s cafes closed down in recent weeks, although the Beacon Hill one has signage up promising to reopen soon.
- Pinkberry (South Station, 700 Atlantic Ave., Downtown Boston): Another outpost of the froyo chain is gone, leaving only three in Massachusetts (BU, Logan Airport, and Braintree’s South Shore Plaza).
- Redd’s in Rozzie (4257 Washington St., Roslindale, Boston): Owner Charlie Redd closed his Roslindale hotspot citing changes in Boston’s liquor licensing system that would devalue his license.
- Townsman (120 Kingston St., Downtown Boston): The upscale New England restaurant from Matt and Kate Jennings had been open for three years and won a fair amount of acclaim — local and otherwise — during its lifetime.
Forthcoming Closures Announced in July 2018 That Haven’t Happened Yet
- Lala Rokh (97 Mt. Vernon St., Beacon Hill, Boston): The Persian restaurant will close on August 11 after nearly a quarter of a century in business.
- Weintraub’s Jewish Delicatessen (126 Water St., Worcester): Open since 1920, this Jewish deli may close at the end of August if the building’s new owner can’t find an operator to take over the restaurant.
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Looking back at July 2017, a handful of restaurants opened that proved to be real winners in the year to come, including Pammy’s and Cafe du Pays, both in Cambridge; Ruckus in Chinatown; and Mooncusser Fish House in Back Bay.
Notable closures that month include sibling/neighbor spots Belly Wine Bar and the Blue Room, which had reopened less than a year earlier following a year-long closure due to a fire.
In other news that month, our international big sister Eater.com ran a bracketed competition to determine the worst restaurant name in the country, and the Boston area had an unfortunately large number of entries in the contest, one of which went on to “win.” Plus, popular Charlton brewery Tree House unveiled its new larger space, and Somerville’s Bow Market announced that it would have a brewery, Remnant (which has since opened).