El Centro Belmont
Belmont is about to get spicier: Mexican restaurant El Centro opens this week (66 Leonard St. at Moore Street). There will be tacos, enchiladas, Sonoran specialties like charcoal-grilled steak, and, perhaps best of all: a full bar. Chef Allan Rodriguez, who hails from Sonora, operates other outposts in the South End and in Brookline.
Loretta’s Last Call
The newest venture from the Lyons Group, the team behind nightspots like Sonsie and Back Bay Social Club, has opened near Fenway Park (1 Lansdowne St. at Ipswich Street). Loretta’s Last Call specializes in moonshine, live bluegrass, and Southern cuisine from chef Zak Lindgren, who used to work not in the Deep South but at various kitchens in Vermont. Brunch begins this weekend from 11 a.m. until 2 p.m. on Saturday and
Sunday; last call is at 2 a.m. daily.
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Blackthorne Public House
For those who miss Fort Point’s Channel Cafe, a field trip to South Easton is in order. Co-owner Joyce Parlapiano says that she celebrated the grand opening of the new Blackthorne Publick House (402 Turnpike St. at Indian Cove Way) last month and just launched Sunday brunch from 10 a.m. until 3 p.m. on Sundays. Also, there’s now live music at dinner six nights a week (the restaurant is closed on Mondays). Find “gourmet bites” like a fried green tomato sandwich topped with chile-lime spread and hot dogs slathered with chowchow; there are also 34 craft beers on draft.
East Boston Kitchen
Grab soups, sandwiches, and baked goods to go or in the cafe at the new East Boston Kitchen (331 Sumner St. at Cottage Street), open Tuesday through Friday from 7 a.m. until 7 p.m. On the early menu: ham and cheese brioche, French bread topped with homemade blueberry nectarine jam, and oatmeal carrot cookies.
Kara Baskin can be reached at kcbaskin@gmail.com. Read her restaurant new at www.bostonglobe.com/food.
Correction: The opening date for El Centro in Belmont was wrong in a previous version of this article because of incorrect information provided to a reporter. The restaurant is scheduled to open this week.