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Flour’s new Boston Common treats are here. Are they worth the buzz?
We tried the Embrace bun, soft-serve ice cream, and the Flour dog.
One of Boston’s most exciting spring restaurant openings comes just in time for warmer weather. The beloved Flour Bakery has taken over the concession stand in Boston Common, bringing to the small outdoor space its classics and some new items.
Bakeries
Joanne Chang’s 10th location officially opened its doors last month, taking over the space that housed Earl of Sandwich for more than a decade.
Visiting this Flour would be different from the rest in that all seating is outside. It’s in the Common, where on a decent day in Boston, welcomes visitors who are either cutting through the park on their way to somewhere else or are touring the park’s many attractions.
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So their team added some menu items only to this Flour location that felt just right for a stroll through America’s first public park.
Boston.com Community team’s staff Kelly Chan, Annie Jonas, and Katelyn Umholtz visited the new Flour Bakery specifically to try the new items. Here’s what we thought.
The Embrace bun
The story behind Flour’s newest pastry is that it’s designed to look like the Embrace memorial, which honors the legacy and Boston presence of Martin Luther King, Jr. and Coretta Scott King. The result is a braided babka, covered in cinnamon sugar, that becomes the pastry version of the park monument. As for taste, Boston.com writers used the sticky bun — the pastry that Flour is most famous for — for comparison.
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The consensus is that it’s hard to beat an OG like Chang’s sticky buns, and possibly it’s even unfair to compare the two. Of the three staffers, I enjoyed the Embrace bun the most. It’s just easier to eat at the park, and seats outside the Flour Bakery Boston Common location were taken up pretty quickly, so there’s a chance you may need to walk and eat your pastry. The Embrace bun wins here. It also does its job: it’s a morning bun, and I prefer starting my day with something simple and not as rich. Jonas, a big fan of the decadent sticky bun, found the Embrace bun dry, but Chan said it’s much better when heated up — an option available at this location.
Soft-serve ice cream
The idea to serve ice cream at a park concession stand feels like a home run. It’s easy to eat on the go, and it’s the perfect treat for a hot day at the park. Guests can choose between vanilla, strawberry, or a vanilla-strawberry mix, and top it with a dark chocolate dip, raspberry dip, sprinkles, and/or caramel sauce.
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There are two chocolate die-hards in the group — Jonas and me — who were saddened to see the absence of chocolate soft-serve, but the vanilla-strawberry mix was still tasty. We added sprinkles for aesthetics, but next time we’ll satisfy our chocolate craving with the dark chocolate dip. Chan, a fan of strawberry ice cream, was more supportive of Flour’s decision to bring a soft serve flavor that’s hard to find at restaurants.
Flour dog
We’ve entered hot dog season — basically when the Red Sox are back — with another hot dog option. Flour serves up an all-beef wiener in a house-made milk bread roll. Guests can either get a plain dog or their specialty hot dog, the Flour dog, topped with baked bean sauce, sweet and sour relish, chopped onion, and celery salt.
For Chan, Jonas, and me, the setting was just right for a hot dog. And it was the toppings that made the hot dog, according to Chan, who probably wouldn’t opt for the plain version. She was also a fan of the milk bread roll, slightly sweet — as was I. As for the toppings, all of it felt like it belonged on the hot dog, and it all held together pretty well in case you need it to be portable.
What's your favorite new treat at Flour Boston Common?
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