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The latest restaurant openings you should know

The Dish

New Englanders are flocking to the Flour Bakery + Cafe in the Boston Common and the Ground Round in Shrewsbury.

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Are you ready for an annoying first-world complaint from a local food reporter? There is not enough room in my stomach or enough time in my week to try all of the new restaurants opening around Greater Boston. 

But I try to go to the places that matter the most to our readers, whether it’s retro chains back from the dead, or local bakeries expanding their footprint. 

It’s time to catch up on Boston’s newest restaurant openings. Here’s where I’ve been and where I still want to go: 

Flour has a new Boston Common spot — and new items

You’ve probably been to one of Joanne Chang’s nine other locations of Flour Bakery + Cafe, but there was still plenty of excitement around the 10th opening in the Boston Common. (Maybe it was the location, which takes over the concession stand that previously housed Earl of Sandwich for many years.) 

Flour announced it would introduce new items specific to this location: a new pastry, soft-serve ice cream, and a hot dog. I brought along some co-workers and tried all the new items on a very beautiful day at the park. We were split on the signature morning bun, but you be the judge.

The Ground Round returns

If you’re from New England, the phrase “Ground Round” likely evokes memories of birthday parties, cheeseburgers, peanuts covering the floor, or the mostly loathed Bingo the Clown. Now, decades later, the Ground Round has made a comeback in Shrewsbury, where it all started. When I went to the new location last week, I was surprised to find more adults than kids — adults who were clearly seeking out childhood nostalgia from a place that defined a part of their New England childhood. 

Warning: the penny-a-pound scale is back.

Other new restaurant openings to know

Did you know I run a continuously updated guide on Greater Boston restaurant openings? What I’m excited about right now is the news that Boston isn’t getting just one, but two Daily Provisions this year. The all-day café is brought to you by the New York-based restaurant group behind iconic names like Gramercy Tavern. Soon, Jadu is also adding a wine bar to its cafe, and you’ll definitely find me getting weekly pastries from Nine Winters Bakery when it eventually opens its Cambridge brick-and-mortar. But there are plenty of other restaurant openings to keep tabs on.

For your reading

For your calendar

My favorite meal recently: Fried Clams at Clam Box

Has anyone else tried to make a Real ID appointment recently? My appointment put me out in Danvers one Friday morning, and despite the fact that I had made an appointment, I still waited for over an hour while babies cried, people grew restless, and the TV hanging above me glitched. I felt I deserved a lunch that was fried and a nice, crisp beer after coming out of the RMV still sane, so I wound up at the Clam Box in Ipswich (a reader favorite). Even though it was still chilly outside, eating these golden fried clams outside transported me to warmer days. 

— Katelyn Umholtz

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