Editor’s Note: This is an excerpt from WBUR’s daily morning newsletter, WBUR Today. If you like what you read and want it in your inbox, sign up here.
We officially have a Michelin star. Last night, the French tire company with a fine dining side hustle unveiled its 2025 Northeast Cities guide, which is the first to include recs for Boston. Here are the local spots shining bright:
One star: Boston’s first-ever and only Michelin star of the night went to 311 Omakase. The two-year-old South End sushi restaurant serves 18-course omakase dinners starting at $250 a person. Michelin’s critics awarded the coveted star to the “intimate chef’s counter” by Chef Wei Fa Chen for its “thoughtfully crafted” and “impressive” nigiri. The restaurant offers only two seatings a night, and is often booked out weeks in advance. (Psst: New reservations at 311 Omakase open on the 15th of each month.)
- Who else won awards? In Boston, Chef Karen Akunowicz took home two of Michelin’s Bib Gourmand awards (which recognize quality at a reasonable price) for her Italian restaurants in Southie: Bar Volpe and Fox & The Knife. Brookline’s Thai small plates restaurant Mahaniyom also got a Bib Gourmand, plus the award for the best cocktails in all of the Northeast. Meanwhile, Cambridge’s noodle scene got some shine, with both the relatively new Uyghur spot Jahunger and the Japanese-Spanish fusion mainstay Pagu winning Bib Gourmands. And Kendall Square’s Sumiao Hunan Kitchen won a Bib for its Hunanese cuisine.
- In total, 26 restaurants in Boston, Brookline, Cambridge, Newton and Lynn were included in the new edition of Michelin Guide. Scroll the full list here.
- Why do we care? Representatives for Meet Boston — the local tourism board that paid big bucks to get Michelin to include Boston this year — say the international guide helps the region attract and retain talented chefs. But perhaps more importantly (at least to the tourism board), it also helps bring in tourists who tend to spend more, according to Meet Boston president and CEO Martha Sheridan. “Travelers, particularly international visitors, really do want to seek out restaurants that Michelin recognizes,” Sheridan told WBUR’s Amy Sokolow. “So we felt like it could bring a different level of culinary visitor.”
On Beacon Hill: Today is the last day of formal sessions for the Massachusetts Legislature before lawmakers take a big break for the holidays. But before they take off, the Senate is expected to take up its version of cannabis reform today. As WBUR’s Chris Van Buskirk reports, the bill would make some changes to who-appoints-whom and who-reports-to-whom at the ever-tumultuous Cannabis Control Commission. A similar bill passed the House this summer. However, it also includes more public-facing reforms that lawmakers say is in response to the maturing industry.
- Possession limits: Both bills would increase the legal amount of recreational marijuana an individual can have on them in public from 1 ounce to 2 ounces. (The at-home possession limit would remain at 10 ounces.)
- License limits: The Senate’s bill would increase the max number of dispensary licenses a single company can own from three to four. The House version would up it to six — an unpopular proposal among small business advocates.
- Medical marijuana: Similar to the House bill, the Senate bill would get rid of vertical integration rules for medical marijuana dispensaries, which require them to grow and produce what they sell. The Senate bill would also loosen rules so that local dispensaries can accept out-of-state medical marijuana cards.
Heads up: A major 15-day closure is coming to the Green Line next month. The MBTA officially announced yesterday that it’s shutting down the Green Line between Kenmore and North Station, along with the entire E branch down to Heath Street and the B branch out to Babcock Street, from Dec. 8 to Dec. 22.
Out west: Jacob’s Pillow announced its plans for 2026 yesterday, after this year’s dance festival was cut short by a fatal workplace accident. The programming includes a celebration of “groundbreaking women” in dance and a Boston Symphony Orchestra collaboration featuring a never-before-performed piece by Leonard Bernstein.
P.S.— Before the much-anticipated sequel “Wicked: For Good” hits theaters tomorrow, you’ll want to read WBUR film critic Sean Burns’ entertaining review of the movie. To steal his kicker: “There’s a reason Broadway intermissions aren’t a year long.”
