The WEEKENDER

Eat, Shop, Go

This weekend’s New England Chocolate Festival will feature classroom lectures, a chocolate café, and even a chocolate escape room. Photo courtesy of Fine Cacao and Chocolate Institute Facebook

Looking for fun things to do this weekend? Check out our new Thursday guide, “The Weekender.” If you have suggestions for events or places we should feature, leave them in the Comment section below.

The Friendly Toast

This popular eatery is known for its breakfast menu, burgers, soups, salads, sandwiches, and entrées like seared flank steak and tomato bacon mac and cheese. Friendly Toast bills its cuisine as “homemade innovative food, served in a hip and cool environment with eclectic decor.” The description is right on the money. Try the breakfast burrito with scrambled eggs, black beans, salsa, avocado lime sauce, and cheddar, or if you’re craving something sweet, the coco cakes: two mini pancakes with shredded coconut and chocolate chips and coconut-lime cheesecake filling. And you can’t go wrong with the French toast, like all the breakfast options, available all day. The Friendly Toast is on both sides of the Charles River: there’s one in Cambridge and one in the Back Bay. Put your name on the waitlist through Yelp or NoWait—the lines tend to be long on weekends. Download the Friendly Toast Reward app and earn a free meal with every 10 bought.

For the Friendly Toast at One Kendall Square, Cambridge, take an MBTA Red Line train to Kendall/MIT. For the Back Bay Friendly Toast, 35 Stanhope St., take an MBTA Green Line trolley to Auditorium. Hours: 8 am to 9 pm Sunday through Thursday, 8 am to 10 pm on Friday and Saturday.

The Garment District and Boston Costume

Love to shop, but don’t want to spend a lot? Then a visit to the Garment District in Cambridge’s Kendall Square is a must. This “alternative department store” stocks a wide array of men’s, women’s, and kids’ new and gently used clothes, shoes, and accessories, most just one or two years old. But you’ll also find outfits dating back to the 1950s. Each morning, the store offers “By the Pound” shopping; 850 pounds of clothes are placed on the floor for dedicated shoppers to search through, with the purchase price based on the weight of your pile. At just $2 per pound ($1 per pound on Fridays), it’s a steal.

Check out Boston Costume, at the same address. It’s an excellent place to rent a Halloween costume. You’ll find pop culture figures, superheroes, pirates, and uniforms of every stripe, along with masks, wigs, makeup, and more.

The Garment District stocks more than 40,000 rare and interesting items at any given time, ranging from business apparel to party clothes and costumes.

The Garment District, 200 Broadway, Cambridge, is open Sunday through Friday, 11 am to 8 pm, Saturday, 9 am to 8 pm. “By the Pound” shopping is available Sunday through Thursday, 11 am to 8 pm, Friday, 11 am to 6 pm, and Sunday, 9 am to 8 pm.

Boston Costume is open Sunday to Friday, 11 am to 9 pm, Saturday, 9 am to 9 pm. Take an MBTA Red Line train to Kendall/MIT and walk about a half mile.

GlobeDocs Film Festival

Film buffs will want to see one or more screenings at the fourth annual GlobeDocs Film Festival, organized by the Boston Globe and running through October 14. This year’s festival will screen 16 exciting documentary films at three venues in and around Boston: the JFK Presidential Library and Museum at Columbia Point, the Coolidge Corner Theatre in Brookline, and the Brattle Theatre in Harvard Square. Among the films being screened are bias, an exploration of our hidden and unconscious biases, and Charm City, a “candid portrait of citizens, police, community advocates, and government officials on the frontlines during three years of unparalleled, escalating violence in Baltimore.” As an added bonus, GlobeDocs includes postfilm conversations with Boston Globe journalists.

Find a complete schedule for this year’s GlobeDocs Film Festival here. The John F. Kennedy Presidential Library and Museum is at Columbia Point, Boston. For GPS, use the address 220 Morrissey Boulevard, Boston, MA 02125. The Coolidge Corner Theatre is at 290 Harvard St., Brookline. Take an MBTA Green Line C trolley to Coolidge Corner. The Brattle Theatre is at 40 Brattle St., Cambridge. Take an MBTA Red Line train to Harvard Square.

New England Chocolate Festival

Calling all chocolate lovers: on Saturday, the Fine Cacao and Chocolate Institute hosts the New England Chocolate Festival, an all-day chocolate extravaganza, featuring 16 New England chocolate companies, along with classroom lectures, tastings, workshops, and a café serving coffee, chocolate drinks, and desserts. The website boasts a “chocolate escape room.” General admission tickets are $25 ($75 for workshops) and include access to the chocolate pavilion, café, and first-come, first-served access to other special exhibits. Find out more here.

The New England Chocolate Festival is Saturday, October 13, at the Boston Center for Adult Education, 122 Arlington St., Boston. Purchase tickets in advance online. Tickets are sold for entry every hour from 10 am to 4 pm, and allow access to the festival for two hours. For more than two hours at the festival, please purchase more than one ticket, as space is limited. Take an MBTA Green Line trolley to Arlington.

Celebrate Boston’s unique art scene this weekend at the second annual Boston Art Book Fair, courtesy of Bodega and the Boston Center for the Arts.

Boston Art Book Fair

The second annual Boston Art Book Fair is this weekend at the Boston Center for the Arts (BCA) in the city’s South End. Sponsored by the BCA and Bodega, the event celebrates the Hub’s thriving arts scene and features more than 100 exhibitors, including artists, publishers, bookmakers, zines, and more. Visitors can participate in panel discussions, book signings, and workshops with artists and writers. On Saturday night there’ll be a premiere Boston screening of Art21 “Johannesburg.” The fair closes on Sunday with a live radio broadcast from Demo Radio on democracy and social change.

The Boston Art Book Fair is Saturday, October 13, from noon to 8 pm, and Sunday, October 14, from noon to 5 pm, at the Boston Center for the Arts, 539 Tremont St., Boston. The fair is free and open to the public. Take an MBTA Green Line trolley to Copley and walk about 15 minutes.

Sara Frazier can be reached at smfrazie@bu.edu.