The WEEKENDER

Eat, Shop, Go

The SoWa Art and Design District, with its many galleries, design showrooms, and boutiques, opens its doors to the public on the first Friday of each month.

Looking for some cool suggestions for what to do this weekend? Check out “The Weekender,” our weekly guide to ideas about where to eat, shop, and go. If you have any suggestions, leave them in the Comment section below.

Zambrero

Zambrero, in Harvard Square, serves delicious, healthy Mexican food, but with a humanitarian twist. The restaurant has partnered with Rise Against Hunger to help fight world hunger. How? For each bowl or burrito sold, Zambrero donates a meal to someone in need around the globe. On one wall, an electronic board prominently displays the number of meals donated so far, a figure that currently stands at over 26 million. On the opposite wall, you can see Zambrero’s ultimate goal: donating one billion meals by 2025. While the restaurant specializes in customizable bowls and burritos, you’ll also find nachos, tacos, and quesadillas, all at great prices. So head down to Zambrero this week to help save the world, one burrito at a time.

Zambrero, 71 Mt. Auburn St., Cambridge, is open daily from 11 am to 10 pm. Take an MBTA Red Line train to Harvard Square.

At Zambrero, diners not only get to indulge in some great Mexican cuisine, but also help provide meals for those in need. Photo courtesy of Zambrero’s

32nd Annual Boston Christmas Festival 

It’s never too early to start your Christmas shopping. You can get a head start on the season at this weekend’s annual Boston Christmas Festival. Featuring more than 350 pop-up boutiques and farmers market stalls, the festival, now in its 32nd year, offers a wonderful selection of handcrafted Christmas gifts: candles, jewelry, scarves and other accessories, festive decor, and much more. The festival consistently draws large crowds. Be sure to check out the gingerbread house competition. The houses, made by master pastry chefs from throughout the area, will be judged by a celebrity panel, with top prizes awarded in several categories. Sales of the gingerbread houses will support Housing Families, a nonprofit that provides aid to homeless families. Find a full list of festival vendors here.

The 32nd annual Boston Christmas Festival is at the Seaport World Trade Center, 200 Seaport Blvd., Boston, from Friday, November 2, to Sunday, November 4. Hours: Friday, noon to 7 pm, Saturday, 10 am to 6 pm, and Sunday, 10 am to 5 pm. Take an MBTA Red Line train to South Station and walk. Admission is $14; purchase tickets here.

Pitch & Pizza: Round 1 of Innovate@BU’s New Venture Competition

Do you fancy yourself a budding entrepreneur with an idea that could have a social impact? Or are you the type that gets inspired by other people’s ideas? Either way, get down to the first round of Pitch & Pizza, Innovate@BU’s new venture competition, on Thursday at the BUild Lab. Students looking to make a positive social difference get 60 seconds to pitch their idea to an audience and a panel of judges. Three winning teams will be selected to advance to the semifinal round on December 6. The eventual winner will get up to $15,000 to help turn their idea into a reality. Oh, and if the event’s title didn’t make it clear, both audience members and those pitching can indulge in plenty of free pizza.

Pitch & Pizza is at the BUild Lab IDG Capital Student Innovation Center, 730 Commonwealth Ave., on Thursday, November 1, from 5 to 7 pm. Admission is free, but RSVP is required. If you are interested in pitching, apply here.

SoWa First Friday

Want to see what Boston’s top local designers and artists are up to? Head over to the SoWa Art and Design District on Friday night for SoWa First Friday. The district’s galleries, design showrooms, and boutiques will open their doors to the public, providing a chance to view cutting-edge art exhibitions, meet artists in person, shop local, and dine at one of the many popular SoWa restaurants. The event is held on the first Friday of each month and is free to the public. The district’s name—SoWa—refers to its location in the South End, south of Washington Street. In 2015, it was ranked second in USA Today’s list of the 10 best art districts in America.

SoWa First Friday, at 450 Harrison Ave. and other nearby locations, is Friday, November 2, from 5 to 9 pm. Take an MBTA Green Line trolley to Copley and walk, or a number 1 bus to Massachusetts Avenue at Harrison Avenue. Admission is free.

Peter Sagal’s book draws on his experience running 13 marathons. He ran as a guide for legally blind runners during his last two Boston Marathons.

NPR’s Peter Sagal at First Parish Church

Peter Sagal, the popular and long-serving host of NPR’s award-winning weekly radio show Wait, Wait…Don’t Tell Me! will be at Cambridge’s First Parish Church on Saturday to discuss his new book, The Incomplete Book of Running. Since graduating from Harvard, Sagal has had a varied career, including stints as a journalist (he’s a columnist for Runner’s World), a playwright, and a screenwriter. During the event, sponsored by the Harvard Book Store, Sagal will recount some of his experiences as a veteran marathon runner: he’s completed 13 marathons, 4 here in Boston. His anecdotes will most likely include his memories about the 2013 Boston Marathon. That year, he was serving as the guide for a legally blind runner and was just 100 yards past the finish line when the bombs went off.

Peter Sagal will discuss his new book, The Incomplete Book of Running, at First Parish Church, 1446 Massachusetts Ave., Cambridge, on Saturday, November 3, at 4 pm. Take an MBTA Red Line train to Harvard Square. Tickets are $8 for general admission, $28.75 for admission and a copy of Sagal’s book. Purchase tickets, available online only, here.

Harry Jones can be reached at joneshj@bu.edu.