Brookline’s Beloved Japonaise Bakery Will Emerge From Its Long Hiatus Later This Year

A popular Brookline bakery that’s been temporarily closed for over a year has shared a long-awaited update. Back in May 2021, Japonaise Bakery and Cafe — a favorite for Japanese-meets-French treats for over three decades — closed its doors for extensive renovations. In a GoFundMe campaign by owner Takeo Sakan, which has raised nearly $40,000 so far, Sakan indicated that the store hasn’t been renovated since his mother opened it in 1985, with much of the equipment dating back to the opening and now breaking at increasingly frequent intervals.

A year passed without an update, leaving some fans worrying about the shop’s fate, but Takan took to social media this week with an explanation of some of the challenges he’s been facing — and some good news. There’s one more permitting hurdle to be crossed — hopefully this coming week — and then it should take three months to finish the remaining work. “I know it has been forever since anyone has stuffed an azuki cream in their mouth, and I am truly sorry for how long it has taken,” writes Takan. “I WILL be back butter and tastier than before.”

Chill out this summer with cannabis-infused barbecue sauce

Local chef and restaurateur Andy Husbands, who is behind the growing Smoke Shop BBQ chain, has teamed up with Natick-based cannabis cultivator and medical dispensary Bountiful Farms to create a limited release of a cannabis-infused version of his Sweet Victory barbecue sauce. Husbands recommends brushing on ribs, burgers, brisket, and more after cooking; one tablespoon contains five milligrams of cannabis. It’s on sale now at Bountiful Farms and select local recreational dispensaries, including Bud’s Goods (which has locations in Worcester, Watertown, and Abington) and Rise (which has half a dozen Massachusetts locations).

In other cannabis-infused news...

Boston Beer Company — the company behind Samuel Adams beer and a variety of other brands, including producers of hard tea, hard seltzer, and hard cider — is launching a new iced tea brand, but this one’s infused with cannabis, not alcohol. The brand is called (brace for a dad joke) TeaPot, and it debuts this July...but not here in Boston. To start, it’ll only be available in select Canadian provinces. It’s being sold in 12-ounce cans, which each contain five milligrams of THC. The company is “await[ing] further progress on U.S. regulations,” according to a press release; in the meantime, it’ll build up its product line in Canada.

Please spend the next 49 seconds of your life watching the most Boston thing you’ll see today

On the off chance you haven’t already seen this posted a million times on your social media feed over the past week, here is a very important report, courtesy of WBZ NewsRadio’s TikTok account, on the closing of one of three Market Basket locations in Billerica.

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