Chinatown’s Excellent Eldo Cake Shop Is Closed

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One of Boston’s best Chinatown bakeries has closed. Eldo Cake House, known for perfect sponge cake slices loaded with cream and fresh fruit as well as treats like pork buns and coconut tarts, appears to have quietly shuttered this summer, with one commenter on a fan-run Facebook page suggesting the bakery may have succumbed to an all-too-common problem for small businesses: rising rents. While no one else in the neighborhood specializes in exactly what Eldo did best, you can find fantastic cakes of other kinds at many great bakeries nearby.

Big Changes Afoot for Storied Cambridge Music Venue

The Sater family, who owns 6 Brookline Street in Central Square, Cambridge — as well as its various businesses, including venerable music venue and restaurant Middle East, newer entertainment space Sonia, and restaurant Zuzu — have submitted plans to demolish the building and replace it with a six-story hotel featuring around 100 rooms, two stages for music, three retail spaces, and a restaurant and bar. You can check out the proposed floor plans here.

The Gray Lady Declares Her Love for Two Boston Restaurants

Yesterday, the New York Times released a list of 50 American restaurants it’s most excited about this year, including two in Greater Boston: iconic North End restaurant Neptune Oyster and relative newcomer Dear Annie, a Cambridge wine bar that has made itself an essential part of the city’s dining scene since it opened in 2021. Can’t argue with that.