Pub With True Guinness Pour, Beloved Chocolatier Open Doors: MA Cheap Eats

MASSACHUSETTS — Two hyped Boston-area food spots are officially set to open this week, just in time for your weekend trip to the city.

New England chocolatier L.A. Burdick will open at 1330 Beacon St. in the S.S. Pierce Building on Saturday in Brookline's Coolidge Corner.

It will be the third L.A. Burdick Chocolates shop in Massachusetts, alongside locations in Back Bay and Harvard Square, and seventh in the U.S.

To mark the occasion, when doors open at 10 a.m., the first 75 guests will receive a complimentary, limited-edition Brookline Chocolate Assortment, featuring "an array of Massachusetts-inspired chocolates," alongside a complimentary Burdick To-Go Tumbler.

Additionally, every customer who makes a purchase during the celebration will receive a complimentary Burdick Cookie.

Though the chain has opened locations beyond the Massachusetts-New Hampshire border, they still are committed to a local process.

"For close to four decades, L.A. Burdick has been making their chocolates the time-honored way – by hand and never with a mold," officials said in a news release.

"The chocolates are cooked, piped, cut, dipped, garnished, and packed by hand. The L.A. Burdick Signature Chocolate Mice are created individually through 12 handcrafting steps over a three-day period. This dedication to the art and the exceptional quality of the product has never wavered, and the results are artisan chocolate bonbons that are delicate and smooth with thoughtful and creative flavor and presentation."

Each chocolate is handmade in Walpole, New Hampshire by the team led by head chocolatier Michael Klug, who has been with L.A. Burdick Chocolates for 22 years.

Also open this week is the long awaited McGonagle's Pub in Dorchester, which claims to be the first bar on the East Coast, and maybe the first in the U.S., to have installed "proper Guinness draft lines which are used on installs in Ireland."

The line will have its own glycol chiller separate to the beer lines which will allow the team to set the Guinness temperature separately, ownership said.

"After studying beer line installation in Ireland and working with Guinness USA we decided to install our beer lines to match the Irish standards. In Ireland, a Guinness is poured with a ½ inch beer line while in the USA they use ¼ inch beer lines. The thicker lines will help perfect the flow of gas and pressure to the glass. We have also changed our gas mix for our regular beers which will be similar to Irish standards," said Oran McGonagle.

The first floor will consist of a classic neighborhood Irish pub and the lower level will feature a large bar and restaurant with the stage for live music and space for dancing.

As for the food program, expect Irish classics from shepherd's pie to fish and chips, as well as a "traditional" Sunday lunch. For the weekend, McGonagle's will feature a brunch menu featuring a classic Irish breakfast.

The lunch menu will also feature some unique, popular dishes in Ireland such as the “spiced bag”, a dish made famous by local Chinese restaurants, which includes deep-fried salt and chili chips, salt and chili chicken red and green peppers, sliced chili peppers and fried onions with a variety of spices.

McGonagle said he'll also take inspiration from his brother, who owns Mani Pizza in Ireland, by putting a selection of crispy bread flour pizzas made in a wood-burning oven on the menu.