The WEEKENDER

Eat, Shop, Go

The Fairy Shop has dream catchers, fairies, gnomes, unicorns, dragons, and mermaids—and Harry Potter merchandise. Photo courtesy of the Fairy Shop

Midterms are around the corner. So this weekend may be a good time to relax with friends and explore the city. Looking for some ideas for what to do? Check out our guide “The Weekender.” If you have suggestions for events or places we should feature, leave them in the Comment section below.

Ganko Ittetsu Ramen

College students are often stereotyped as eating nothing but Top Ramen or Cup Noodles, the cheap packs of noodles that you can find at many convenience stores. But for the real deal, head over to Ganko Ittetsu Ramen, hidden away in the Arcade Building in Coolidge Corner. The restaurant is renowned for its Sapporo-style ramen, where the sauce is caramelized with vegetables before the base broth is added. The custom-made noodles are imported from a factory in Sapporo, Japan. While there are only has six bowls of ramen on the menu, each is delicious. We recommend the Tan Tan bowl, a creamy concoction of sesame sauce, seasoned ground pork, spicy garlic oil, pickled vegetables, wakame, cilantro, scallions, corn, and sesame seeds. Try it and you may never eat Top Ramen again.

Ganko Ittetsu Ramen, inside the Arcade Building, 318 Harvard St., Brookline, is open Monday through Saturday, 11:30 am to 10 pm, and Sunday, 11:30 am to 9 pm. Take an MBTA Green Line C trolley to Coolidge Corner.

This cozy little ramen shop is hidden away inside the Arcade Building in Coolidge Corner. Photo courtesy of Ganko Ittetsu

The Fairy Shop

Calling all Harry Potter fans: have we got a store for you. This enchanting Newbury Street gem welcomes wizards and Muggles alike and sells books, trinkets, and jewelry inspired by the wizarding world of J. K. Rowling’s Harry Potter books. (It even sells chocolate frogs.) You’ll also find an assortment of dream catchers, fairies, gnomes, unicorns, dragons, and mermaids—great for a whimsical gift or to add a little magic to your decor.

The Fairy Shop, 272 Newbury St., Boston, is open daily from noon to 6 pm. Take an MBTA Green Line trolley to Hynes Convention Center.

School of Rock: The Musical at the Boston Opera House

Based on the hit 2003 Jack Black film about a poser substitute teacher who shakes things up at a private school when he introduces rock and roll to his elementary school students, School of Rock: The Musical opened on Broadway in 2015 and is running through Sunday at the Boston Opera House. The Andrew Lloyd Webber rock musical is the story of Dewey Finn, who turns his fifth-grade class into a full-fledged rock band. Grab a ticket to this feel-good musical before it leaves town and find out why the Boston Globe calls this production “amped up and infectious.”

School of Rock: The Musical runs through Sunday, February 24, at the Boston Opera House, 539 Washington St., Boston. Tickets start at $20. Purchase tickets here, at the theater box office, or by calling 800-982-2787.

2019 Oscar-Nominated Short Films at the Institute of Contemporary Art/Boston (ICA)

This Sunday, the Academy of Motion Picture Arts & Sciences will hand out the most coveted awards in cinema—the Oscars. You can still catch the nominated short films in time to fill out your Oscar ballot before the televised broadcast starts. For the 13th consecutive year, the ICA will be showing all the nominated live-action, animated, and documentary shorts. Find a full list of this year’s screenings and purchase tickets here. The animated shorts screening is rated PG; the live-action and documentary shorts are rated R.

The 2019 Oscar-nominated short films screenings are at the Institute of Contemporary Art/Boston, 25 Harbor Shore Drive, Boston, at 7 pm on Friday, February 22, and at 1 and 3 pm on Sunday, February 24. Admission is $5 for students and ICA members and $10 for the general public; purchase tickets here. Take an MBTA Red Line train to South Station and transfer to the Silver Line Waterfront bus. The ICA is a short walk from the World Trade Center or the Courthouse station.

You can catch Disney/Pixar’s animated short Bao on the big screen one more time before Oscar night at the ICA this weekend. Photo courtesy of Disney/Pixar

8-Bit Funday Sunday at GrandTen Distilling

South Boston’s GrandTen Distilling (best known for its Wire Works American Gin) is dusting off the old Nintendo and mixing up cocktails for your gaming pleasure during a special event on Sunday: 8-Bit Funday Sunday. Chill out in the GrandTen Bar, offering a relaxed vibe that makes you feel like you’re in your personal basement game room, but with a bartender on hand to serve libations. There will be a great selection of classic board games, retro video games, and bar games like shuffleboard and foosball. The Sunday cocktail menu will feature $6 “session” cocktails for those long games of Monopoly that never end. And if you’re hungry, there will be some small bar snacks available for purchase. Guests can also bring a pizza or takeout. The event is 21+ only.

The 8-Bit Funday Sunday is at GrandTen Distilling’s GrandTen Bar, 383 Dorchester Ave., South Boston, on Sunday, from 1 to 8 pm. Take an MBTA Red Line train to either Broadway or Andrew Square.

Senior Alex Pena (COM) can be reached at alexgp97@gmail.com.