One does simply walk into Earnest Drinks

Earnest Drinks is now open for you to simply come inside. Seriously, traipse in like you're going to Mordor. If you're vaxxed! (We all are.) Inside you'll see the different design details we had planned to show you last March and you can enjoy a wonderfully climactically controlled environment if it's too hot or too cold or too wet. Come have dinner at our bar! Take pictures of the art. And also, Gracie's is currently losing this internet poll by 130 votes. If everyone who read this clicked the link and voted we'd win. Please go to the poll and vote for Gracie's. As always, you can pre-order and pay for Gracie's in Union or Earnest Drinks in Kendall Square. You can order delivery from both locations just by clicking the links. Do you know how many blimps there are in the world? Wrong. There are way fewer.

Do socials!

This is a somewhat regular request to ask you to 1) Follow Gracie's and Earnest Drinks on Instagram 2) Follow Gracie's on Twitter 3) If you like this newsletter, post about it on social media and/or tell you friends you think they'd enjoy subscribing. This building must feel so good now. This guy is rich with bowling balls now.

Do shirts!

Did you see our new shirts last week? You can see them in the picture up above. There's the Flamingo Out of Step T-Shirt: Union Square or Kendall Square or Online and the Ice Cream Weather Tank Top: Union Square or Kendall Square or Online. I think you should get one. When a gingerbread man is inside a gingerbread house, is the house made of flesh or is the gingerbread man made of house? Unrelated, you ever think about how all your bones are always wet and have never been dry? Of all the videos linked in the newsletter this week, this is definitely one of them! I promise you'll like it if you watch it.

Do wines!

It was amazingly rainy last week, including on Friday when Chris was trying to tell you about wine. So the wine part of this paragraph is being recycled. Rosé three-way! Come by Friday from 5-7 for a guided tasting of three very different rosés from Italy, California, and Long Island. Three pours for $10 from co-owner Chris. There will also be special bottles available by the glass. If it's raining, we'll do it inside as long as you're vaxxed. You can make this three-way a six-way by pairing it with our a bbq pork three way or vegan three way. If you order ahead of time, we'll know you're coming! If you read this, you can find out what happens if someone releases a goldfish in Minnesota. They removed up to fifty thousand IN ONE DAY. Further on the fish beat, I can't stop thinking about how this video is Point Break for fish.

Do dinner!

You should come by and try something off our dinner menu. You can come inside with your friends and have fun. Duck confit and tagliatelle bolognese are my favorites, but the pulled pork ravioli and spaghetti and meatballs are also good. On the lunch front, did you know our mushroom steak and cheese won Best of Boston from Boston Magazine? Click the link and scroll down to read the blurb.

Do ice cream!

Here's a list of the pints we have in Union Square right this second. If I were you, I'd order a pint of black raspberry chip and a pint of chocolate marshmallow. Those are good flavors. Chocolate marshmallow we started making last year in place of chocolate fluff which is also a good flavor, but it's very difficult to get the fluff spread evenly and then put into pints. Since we're sharing press, Thrillist recently said very nice things about us. Here's a cat where a cat shouldn't be and a dog where a dog shouldn't be. Delivery is an option when you order off our website.

Do visit!

Our hours:
Gracie's in Union 2-9pm every day.
Earnest Drinks in Kendall 11-9 Monday-Friday, 12-8 on Saturday, 12-7 on Sunday.
Unrelated: Your favorite ice cream shop will write you a poem or haiku if you want. If you don't want to tell me what the poem should be about, here's a link to a picture book I wrote a couple years ago.

Do click!

Hey look, the charcuterie board is back. Unrelated: Here's a wild optical illusion. Unrelated: Here's a wild Kentucky sky! Unrelated: Food related vehicles. Unrelated: This bird is so mean. Unrelated: This avocado is ridiculous. Unrelated: We'll all be Amish by 2037.

Do give!

We have plastic gift cards at both shops that have to be purchased in person ($15 minimum) and digital gift cards you can purchase online for Earnest Drinks in Kendall Square and Gracie's in Union Square. Consider a made to order ice cream pie? We're testing out flamingo ice cream cakes. I don't know if you'll see this. Still need a gift? Get someone one of our new T-Shirts and new Tank Tops.

Do tell! 

This is the same paragraph every week about needing a cook. Like every other restaurant in the area, we're still hoping to hire a cook. That link may be dead, but we still need a cook. Send a note if you're interested. We're going to try to pay you right, give you a good lifestyle outside of work, and give you schedule flexibility in case you have other stuff going on. Our next cook will be guaranteed at least $18 an hour, room to grow, and we demand you maintain a life outside of the shop because there are more important things than work. We're not open late, so you won't be working late. Additionally, our shop has a brand new HVAC so you won't be sweating your ass off on a poorly ventilated hot line with someone screaming at you.

Do HVAC!

OK, so I found out last week that the freezer I ordered on April 29th was "expecting to receive the supplies they need in two weeks" and "things should move pretty fast after that." Which sounds pretty good, but then an electrician was by who wasn't the electrician I hired to install the outlet and he didn't think I was going to be able to plug it in, so there's that. You can see what ice cream we have in Union by clicking here.

Do you want to buy Gracie's Ice Cream somewhere else?

Here is a list of stores you can get Gracie's Ice Cream pints besides either of our locations. Here's a helpful map if you're a visual person.
Pemberton Market, Cambridge
Dave's Fresh Pasta, Davis Square
Formaggio, Huron Village AND Kendall Square
Broadway Marketplace, Harvard Square
Concord Market, Concord
Punch Bowl / Hilton Garden Inn, Brookline
Dovetail, Charlestown
Buckalew's, Melrose
Vidalia's Market, Beverly
Picnic and Pantry, Somerville, Bow Market

If you shop at a local specialty grocery store that's not on this list, it's very helpful to us if you mention Gracie's to them the next time you're there.

Do you know how to say goodbye?

Thank you for reading, forward this to your friends so they can read it, too, and thank you for all your previous support. There are LOTS! of exclamation points in the newsletter this week. Would you like a book recommendation? How about While Justice Sleeps by Stacey Abrams. This isn't a great work of literary fiction which will become part of the canon, but it is an incredibly competent and compelling thriller, which is hard to put down and it's kind of unfair that Stacey Abrams is so good at everything. You should read it. Buy it at Porter Square Books or Amazon.
Gracie's + Earnest Drinks team

Visit ordergracies.com or orderearnest.com and select delivery before check out. Getting stuff delivered to your house is fun.

There's a link in this email you should click

How long is too long for a cat to look at you?

Sometimes I do these newsletters all by myself and sometimes Ducky the black cat just watches me and it's unnerving. You can understand, I'm sure. I have a request. This is an internet poll of the best ice cream shop in Somerville / Cambridge. The request is you please go to the poll and vote for Gracie's. And look, nothing happens if we win or don't win, but this is the poll I want to win. Almost every neighborhood in the area has an excellent homemade ice cream shop. This makes things less competitive somehow, and it's an excellent and collaborative community to be a part of. It's common for shops to reach out to each other for help or to offer help if they hear of an issue. That said, this is the internet and I want to crush them. Click here to help me crush them. As always, you can pre-order and pay for Gracie's in Union or Earnest Drinks in Kendall Square. You can order delivery from both locations just by clicking the links. The state vegetable of Oklahoma is... the watermelon. And it has been since 2007. Also, if it's raining, you can eat inside Earnest Drinks. Bear with us as we figure out how to do that, but if you're vaccinated you can come in if the weather's bad.

Do you wear clothes?

For the first time in a while, we've got new merch, which you can see up above and purchase at both shops and online for an order with shipping. Tank top: Union Square or Kendall Square or Online. Flamingo Out of Step T-Shirt: Union Square or Kendall Squareo r Online. I really want you to buy one of these shirts. If not for you, for someone else. Good job, everyone, we loosed hell upon the ocean to make a watery conflagration. This cat really doesn't need people.

Do you know anyone?

We're really hoping to hire some people for our team. Want to work at Gracie's or Earnest Drinks? Apply here, tell your friends who are looking for flexible hours and a decent environment. This pot goes way higher in the air than I would expect! Simone Biles is amazing and I am nothing like her except in this regard at least.

Do you want to try some wine?

Rosé three-way! Come by Friday from 5-7 for a guided tasting ofthree very different rosésfrom Italy, California, and Long Island. Three pours for $10 from co-owner Chris. There will also be special bottles available by the glass. If it's raining, we'll do it inside as long as you're vaxxed. You can make this three-way a six-way by pairing it with our a bbq pork three way or vegan three way. If you order ahead of time, we'll know you're coming! Melting mannequins are exactly as creepy as you expect them to be.Radioactive hybrid terror pigs are exactly as terrifying as you expect them to be.

Do you eat dinner?

We're slowly but surely coming out of our pandemic cocoon (covidcoon?) like a GD Covid butterfly restaurant blossoming into the place we had thought we'd be prior to March 2020. Wow that was atortured simile. Anyway, we sell dinner now. Duck confit and and a tagliatelle bolognese. Boston.com said really nice stuff about our dinner menu, which you can read here. This video of Seinfeld remixed with a hit song from every year the show was on is really kind of great If you care about music from the 90s. Really worth more than a throw away link in a newsletter, I hope you watch this.

Do you eat ice cream?

Here's a list of the pints we have in Union Square right this second. I can't think of any exciting or interesting ice cream stories to make you more interested in checking out what we've got. Did I already tell you where Salty Two Cookie came from? I had the idea to make an ice cream with four cookies in it, and I went to Market Basket and got four kinds of cookies and then I was walking to the shop and thought, "Well, maybe I should try it with two cookies first because if I make it with four cookies and I can't ever go back, but I can make it with two cookies and always go up if I need to. Sometimes on the menu the staff calls this flavor Salty 2 Cookie and it drives me crazy. Here's a cat where a cat shouldn't be and a dog where a dog shouldn't be. Delivery is an option when you order off our website.

Do you have a watch?

Our hours:
Gracie's in Union 2-9pm every day.
Earnest Drinks in Kendall 11-9 Monday-Friday, 12-8 on Saturday, 12-7 on Sunday.

Do you like miscellany?

Hey look, the charcuterie board is back. Hey look, the movements of sheep herds are relaxing. Hey look, this golden retriever is very calm. Hey look,someone had a bad opinion on Twitter. Your favorite ice cream shop will write you a poem or haiku if you want. If you don't want to tell me what the poem should be about, here's a link to a picture book I wrote a couple years ago.

Do you need a gift for yourself or someone else?

We have plastic gift cards at both shops that have to be purchased in person ($15 minimum) and digital gift cards you can purchase online for Earnest Drinks in Kendall Square and Gracie's in Union Square. Consider a made to order ice cream pie? We're testing out flamingo ice cream cakes. I don't know if you'll see this. Still need a gift? Get someone one of our new T-Shirts and new Tank Tops.

Do you know a cook? 

This is the same paragraph every week about needing a cook. Like every other restaurant in the area, we're still hoping to hire a cook. That link may be dead, but we still need a cook. Send a note if you're interested. We're going to try to pay you right, give you a good lifestyle outside of work, and give you schedule flexibility in case you have other stuff going on. Our next cook will be guaranteed at least $18 an hour, room to grow, and we demand you maintain a life outside of the shop because there are more important things than work. We're not open late, so you won't be working late. Additionally, our shop has a brand new HVAC so you won't be sweating your ass off on a poorly ventilated hot line with someone screaming at you.

Do you like hearing about freezer troubles?

Freezer Mike was by today, but not because of the freezer he was working on the ice cream machine. On Tuesday and Wednesday when it was super hot, I shut off the freezer that's had so much trouble this year, and that was good. Not really any updates here. You can see what ice cream we have in Union by clicking here.

Do you know how to say goodbye?

Thank you for reading, forward this to your friends so they can read it, too, and thank you for all your previous support. I don't think there's any exclamations in the newsletter this week. Would you like a book recommendation? How about Ariadne by Jennifer Saint. You'll like it if you liked Circe and A Thousand Ships. It's the same kind of book. You should read it. Buy it at Porter Square Books or Amazon.
Gracie's + Earnest Drinks team

We never sold bees, but imagine.

You read it in the subject line first, we are not selling bees, we’re selling dinner. Bee sales is kind of just a non-sequitur subject line attention grabber to increase email open rates which increases email read rates, which if I’m doing my job increases sales (but not of bees), which I apologize for (the non-sequitur), because it was never our intention to sell bees. I’m not sure how successful it would be to sell bees here. “Hey, you. Want some bees?” Probably really bad, actually. Especially during the pandemic? I can’t imagine many business sectors more impacted than restaurants over than last year except for a theoretical bee seller in Metro Boston. (No offense to any real bee sellers based in Boston reading this.) So frankly, it’s lucky we’re selling dinners instead. As always, you can pre-order and pay for Gracie's in Union or Earnest Drinks in Kendall Square. You can order delivery from both locations just by clicking the links. Please do that some of the rainy days this week or else we'll be vv lonely. Here's the only good gender reveal if you feel the need to do a gender reveal? Want to work at Gracie's or Earnest Drinks? Apply here. Please. This is a mean illusion.

I'm in Cape Cod with reprehensibly poor internet service at the moment, so I really hope I can keep this newsletter shirt, I mean short, but I would be reprehensibly remiss if I didn't at least tell you again about the new dinner menu at Earnest Drinks which starts at 5pm every night of the week and features lots of delectable options and something for everyone I think. There is a duck confit you will love if you like duck confit and and a tagliatelle bolognese you will love if you like bolognese and also this bolognese is not made with meat so you can eat it if you don't eat meat. And there is a three way, no two three ways: a bbq pork three way, and a vegan three way. If you were thinking it was the other kind of three way, that's OK, because other people were probably thinking it was that kind of three way, too. Up above when I was talking about reprehensibly poor internet service, we're talking driving-to-the-library-parking-lot-at-10pm-to-process-payroll poor. Thank you for your thoughts and prayers. Additionally, when I say the duck confit is good, I say that as someone who has never once ordered duck at a restaurant in my life because I'm not the kind of person who orders duck from a restaurant. Never thought about myself as a duck guy, but maybe James is turning me into one. Did you know that we don't get the name bathroom from the room the bath is in, but from a serial killer who was rumored to bathe in blood whose last name happened to be Bathery? Me neither.

There is no wine tasting this week because Chris will be in Vermont and if I ran the wine tasting all the wines would taste like whiskey because they'd be whiskey. This is the worst treadmill of all time.

What can we say about ice cream that hasn't already been said. Well, fucking plenty I bet, I'm verbose as hell. In any case, we made some pints of some new and old flavors this week. We made Smurf, which is blueberry marshmallow, which we made for Fluff Fest one year, but that may be only available for scoops and cookie dough, which we've made rarely, which may only be available by scoop, too, and Carrot Cake, which is not my preferred cake, and I can't remember the other one, oh yeah strawberry, which we make sometimes, but it feels special every time because of how nice the shop smells when we make it (very). Here's a list of the pints we have in Union Square right this second. Here's a cat (two of them) where a cat shouldn't be. Delivery is an option when you order off our website.

Our hours:
Gracie's in Union 2-9pm every day.
Earnest Drinks in Kendall 11-9 Monday-Friday, 12-8 on Saturday, 12-7 on Sunday.

Your favorite ice cream shop will write you a poem or haiku if you want. If you don't want to tell me what the poem should be about, here's a link to a picture book I wrote a couple years ago.

Hey look, the charcuterie board is back. Hey look at what it's like to cut a tree from ? 50 feet up. Hey look at this dolphin doing cartwheels. More like dolfun imo. This dog can't bear it.

If you're on the clock for a gift we have plastic gift cards at both shops that have to be purchased in person ($15 minimum) and digital gift cards you canpurchase online for Earnest Drinks in Kendall Square and Gracie's in Union Square. DO IT. Sorry. Or I don't know, maybe a made to order ice cream pie? An update: our new T-Shirts and new Tank Tops are supposed to be arriving this weekend and ought to be for sale in the stores on... let's say Monday?

This is the same paragraph every week about needing a cook. Like every other restaurant in the area, we're still hoping to hire a cook. That link may be dead, but we still need a cook. Send a note if you're interested. We're going to try to pay you right, give you a good lifestyle outside of work, and give you schedule flexibility in case you have other stuff going on. Our next cook will be guaranteed at least $18 an hour, room to grow, and we demand you maintain a life outside of the shop because there are more important things than work. We're not open late, so you won't be working late. Additionally, our shop has a brand new HVAC so you won't be sweating your ass off on a poorly ventilated hot line with someone screaming at you. My favorite part of this flamingo sneaking into a movie theater is the man who holds the door.

This is the part of the newsletter where we talk about freezer troubles, and oh boy. We closed Wednesday afternoon because it was just too hot inside the shop. The hardening cabinet which has been so much trouble was at 115 degrees on Tuesday morning, but Freezer Mike came and said it was fine, it just can't run if the room it's in is over 90 degrees, which it was. Freezer Mike was mad at me because it's unfair to make freezers this finicky run when it's that hot. The good news is the dealer for the new freezer told me we'll get a shipping date next week for the new freezer. He's not saying it'll ship next week or even soon, just that we'll know next week when it's shipping. The bad news is that freezer will also give off a lot of heat so unless the HVAC improves running the shop during heatwaves will become increasingly untenable. You can see what ice cream we have in Union by clicking here.



Thank you for reading, forward this to your friends so they can read it, too, and thank you for all your previous support. I don't think there's any exclamations in the newsletter this week. Would you like a book recommendation? How about Homeland Elegies by Ayad Akhtar. It's a book about a the American born son of immigrants and about being American and Muslim at the same time and being Muslim in America, possibly roughly biographical? You should read it. Buy it at Porter Square Books or Amazon.
Gracie's + Earnest Drinks team

Visit ordergracies.com or orderearnest.com and select delivery before check out. Getting stuff delivered to your house is fun.

Let's talk about some things like dinner, OK.

Read everything there's so much news. In my heart, I know Ellen Barkin and Ellen Burstyn are different people, and in my heart I know Helen Hunt and Holly Hunter are different people, but in my head I'm only about 93% certain. They don't even look anything alike, but their names SOUND alike, so I suppose my head is 100% certain too, it's my ears what need convincing perhaps. As always, you can pre-order and pay for Gracie's in Union or Earnest Drinks in Kendall Square. You can orderdeliveryfrom both locations just by clicking the links. If you really listen to the bees, and I mean really listen, you find they've got something to say.Do you have an answer to this question? Fauci said we could do what we wanted on 4th of July as long as it's black raspberry chip.

This is a paragraph about Earnest Drinks starting to serve dinner. The last year and a half has been a lot of things for a lot of people and for restaurants it has also been a lot of things. We had some different ideas for Earnest Drinks we're finally able to start implementing. For example, did you know our chef James is classically trained and until we asked him to make fun hot dogs and dinosaur shaped gnocchi his experience was mostly in fine dining?

On Friday evening, we're excited to start serving proper entrees at dinner time for the first time, and the pictures aren't online yet, but they will be soon, so if you'd like a peek, our dinner menu is here. Think duck confit with roasted carrots. Think housemade spaghetti with housemade meatballs with housemade sauce. Think braised octopus in a grilled brioche bun. Think a vegetarian bolognese you won't believe is meat-free. The triumphant return of the BBQ pork three-way including a vegan version. And yes, koolickles. Cat can't even say gesundheit is a video you'll watch at least 10 times.

Last week's wine tasting was cool as hell, thank you to all of you who came. Chris told me some of the people said nice things about this newsletter, which I was happy to hear because you know how I feel about positive affirmation of my efforts in any case, this paragraph was supposed to be about wine tastings and how we're going to do another one this Friday from 4:30-7, but at this point, the information is probably lost in the miasma of need emanating off of my words, so let's do another wine tasting paragraph below.

Lots of people think riesling is too sweet, but come by on Friday at 4:30 if you want to have your mind changed by Chris, the other owner of Earnest Drinks who isn't me, but who is a tall sommelier. Two rieslings and a pour of cava because we can all agree everyone likes bubbles. Three pours for $10, and bottles of everything we all for sale. Tell Chris what you like and he'll help you pick something.

Strawberry ice cream is back in Union and every time we make it, I wonder why we don't always make it because it makes the shop smell like magic. Here's a list of the pints we have in Union Square right this second. There will be pints of some new for us flavors over the next couple weeks. Carrot cake, cookie dough, etc. Here's another cat in a place a cat shouldn't be. Delivery is an option when you order off our website.

Our hours:
Gracie'sin Union 2-9pm every day.
Earnest Drinksin Kendall 11-9 Monday-Friday, 12-8 on Saturday, 12-7 on Sunday.
Monday and Tuesday are new for us since December 2019, so this is fun.

Your favorite ice cream shop will write you a poem or haiku if you want. In the last week I've written 2 different poems about how much someone loves bread, and I don't want to get typecast, but they worked. There are no pictures in this newsletter, but here's a link to a picture book I wrote a couple years ago.

Hey look, the charcuterie board is back. Hey look,an optical occurrence called the Brocken Spectre. Hey look, the real picture of capybaras underwater. Hey look, a spaghetti table. Hey look, this man became the latest to spend 24 hours in a Waffle House, aka the best restaurant.

If you're on the clock for a gift we have plastic gift cards at both shops that have to be purchased in person ($15 minimum) and digital gift cards you can purchase online for Earnest Drinks in Kendall Square and Gracie's in Union Square. DO IT. Sorry. Or I don't know, maybe a made to order ice cream pie? Or, I don't know, maybe grab them one of our new T-Shirts and a new Tank Tops which ought to be available next week or the week after or the week after because our printer is backed up.

This is the same paragraph every week about needing a cook. Like every other restaurant in the area, we're still hoping to hire a cook. We're going to try to pay you right, give you a good lifestyle outside of work, and give you schedule flexibility in case you have other stuff going on. Our next cookwill be guaranteed at least $18 an hour, room to grow, and we demand you maintain a life outside of the shop because there are more important things than work. We're not open late, so you won't be working late. Additionally, our shop has a brand new HVAC so you won't be sweating your ass off on a poorly ventilated hot line with someone screaming at you.

This is the part of the newsletter where we talk about freezer troubles, which luckily have been absent for two weeks. I know they're out there lurking, though, and I still need Freezer Mike to look at our ice cream machine, which is working, at the moment. You can see what ice cream we have in Union by clicking here.


Your previous support is very important to us. I don't think there's any exclamations in the newsletter this week. Would you like a book recommendation? How about The Undocumented Americans by Karla Cornejo Villavicencio. It's a book about undocumented Americans by an undocumented American. The writing style makes the book impossible to put down. You should read it. Buy it at Porter Square Books or Amazon.
Gracie's + Earnest Drinks team

Visit ordergracies.com or orderearnest.com and select delivery before check out. Getting stuff delivered to your house is fun.

It's a lot in here today, but short. (Lies?)

Since Gracie's and Earnest Drinks are open every day now, we were open on Monday and Tuesday for the first time since March 2020 and I think if we're open this coming Monday and Tuesday, which we will be, it'll be twice as many Mondays and Tuesdays as last year. Seems like progress. Last week, I mentioned a Shakespeare quote about bathing in blood and this week I'm going to tell you the reason European starlings are in America is because of 100 starlings released in Central Park by a murmuration of literary types who wanted to have every bird mentioned in a Shakespeare also living in the United States. Thanks weird group from 1890. A group of starlings is a murmuration. Check out this Brid. As always, you can pre-order and pay for Gracie's in Union or Earnest Drinks in Kendall Square. You can orderdeliveryfrom both locations just by clicking the links. A desert island is called a desert island because it's deserted, not because it's a desert. Dinner at Earnest Drinks is coming. This is a tease.

Chris, the other owner of Earnest Drinks who isn't me, is a sommelier which means he knows a lot about wine, more than me, anyway. And he wants you to know some about wine, too, or at least to taste some good ones in a fun way. To that end, we're offering a taste of three European wines, a natural white from Greece, an undersung rosé from France, and a chilled red from Italy. Chris will be there 4:30-7on Friday 6/18 to talk you though the wines. He knows a lot about wine and you should come by to taste and learn. Three pours for $10.

We're doing a couple fundraisers this week. First up is the Pride Frappe with vodka, sweet cream, rainbow sprinkles, whipped cream and a fruity pebble ice cream sandwich bar garnish. $20 from every sale ($5 from Earnest, $5 from Gracie's and $10 from Earnest co-owner Chris) will go to BAGLY towards their mission of supporting and advocating for LGBTQ+ youth. Chris is found out about his donation match in an Instagram post this morning. Thanks, Chris, surprise.

Since Earnest Drinks opened, we've been selling White Lion Brewing beers, one of the only black owned breweries in MA. Saturday is Juneteenth, a celebration recognizing the end of the enslavement of black people in America. For the next week, $20 from the sale of each White Lion beer will go to Black Voters Matter, an organization dedicated to expanding black voter engagement. Same donation breakdown as above, thanks, Chris. If you make a personal donation of $25 to each organization and send me a receipt, I'll give you two yard flamingos.

We support both organizations because people and systems in this country continue to oppress and deny the humanity of individuals simply for who they are and how they were born.

Your favorite ice cream shop will write you a poem or haiku if you want. Last week someone ordered a poem about how much their friend likes eggs and I wrote the shit out of it.

Here's a list of the pints we have in Union Square right this second. (Black raspberry chip, chocolate, chocolate marshmallow, chocolate salty snax, pandan, ube, etc. Here's another cat in a place a cat shouldn't be. What if you want to order something, but don't want to leave your house? Get it delivered. Here's a video of a rarely seen megamouth shark the smallest of the big sharks that swim around with their mouth open eating krill and stuff.

An update on hours because they recently changed. Gracie's in Union will be 2-9pm Mon-Sun. Earnest Drinks in Kendall will be 11-9 Monday-Friday, 12-8 on Saturday, 12-7 on Sunday. These hours are both subject to change (likely expand), so stay tuned. If you read this, could you tell someone about our new hours and make a plan to visit us on a Monday or Tuesday? Thank you.

Hey look, the charcuterie board is back. Did I already show you this guy and his bird who rock out to classic rock riffs and ad libbed spoken word? You probably heard about this guy getting almost accidentally swallowed by a whale last week, guess it's happened before. I feel kind of like a whale swallowing truther about that guy, though.

Earnest Drinks and Gracie's gift cards and gift certificates are good gifts for everyone for example someone you know might have graduated or taught your kid for a year during which there was a pandemic. If you're wondering if it's appropriate to give your kids' teacher a gift certificate to a bar, it 100% is. We have plastic gift cards at both shops that have to be purchased in person ($15 minimum) and digital gift cards you can purchase online for Earnest Drinks in Kendall Square and Gracie's in Union Square. Or I don't know, maybe a made to order ice cream pie? Or, I don't know, maybe grab them one of our new T-Shirts and a new Tank Tops which ought to be available next week or the week after.

This is funny.

Like every other restaurant in the area, we're still hoping to hire a cook. We're going to try to pay you right, give you a good lifestyle outside of work, and give you schedule flexibility in case you have other stuff going on. Our next cookwill be guaranteed at least $18 an hour, room to grow, and we demand you maintain a life outside of the shop because there are more important things than work. We're not open late, so you won't be working late. Additionally, our shop has a brand new HVAC so you won't be sweating your ass off on a poorly ventilated hot line with someone screaming at you.

You're regularly scheduled freezer troubles are on pause for this week. In Union, Freezer Mike took our hardening cabinet apart last Friday and re-wired it, and it seems to be working right, which is a good thing. Hopefully this is the last we hear about Freezer Mike for a while until he can get on the roof to work on the condenser for our ice cream machine. You can see what ice cream we have in Union by clicking here.

Your previous support is very important to us. I don't think there's any exclamations in the newsletter this week. Would you like a book recommendation? How about The Prophets by Robert Jones Jr. It's probably blasphemy, but the writing reminds me of Toni Morrison. You should read it. Buy it at Porter Square Books or Amazon.
Gracie's + Earnest Drinks team

Visit ordergracies.com or orderearnest.com and select delivery before check out. Getting stuff delivered to your house is fun.

Wow, what weather such lovely.

Our freezer is broken again and as of today we're open every single day and one reason we hadn't opened every day sooner is because of wanting to make sure we'd have enough ice cream, but that's a fallacy because there's never enough ice cream and "the best way out is always through" which is a line from a Robert Frost poem and considered the source of "the only way out is through," though Shakespeare's Macbeth said "I am in blood / Stepped in so far that, should I wade no more / Returning were as tedious as go o'er" which is basically the same. And well, all this to say it's summer time now and we should be open every day even if running ice cream shops with busted freezers is a little (not at all) like wading in blood. As always, you can pre-order and pay for Gracie's in Union or Earnest Drinks in Kendall Square. You can order delivery from both locations just by clicking the links. Fields of watermelon found on Mars.

Want to know our new hours for blood wading? Gracie's in Union will be 2-9pm Mon-Sun. Earnest Drinks in Kendall will be 11-9 Monday-Friday, 12-8 on Saturday, 12-7 on Sunday. These hours are both subject to change (likely expand), so stay tuned. If you read this, could you tell someone about our new hours and make a plan to visit us on Monday or Tuesday? Thank you.

You might think this shows a reckless disregard for trees on the part of woodpeckers, but in fact the woodpeckers, by ridding the tree of bugs, are saving the tree. So that's nice.

Earnest Drinks and Gracie's gift cards and gift certificates make a good gift to the graduate in your life and if you're wondering if it's appropriate to give your kids' teacher a gift certificate to a bar, it 100% is. We have plastic gift cards at both shops that have to be purchased in person ($15 minimum) and digital gift cards you can purchase online forEarnest Drinks in Kendall Square and Gracie's in Union Square. Or I don't know, maybe buy them a poem written just for them by their favorite ice cream shop. Or I don't know, maybe a made to order ice cream pie? Or, I don't know, maybe grab them one of our new T-Shirts and a new Tank Tops which ought to be available next week or the week after.

If you're mischievous you can take someone's phone and change their auto-correct to say something different. This is a good example.

Here's a list of the pints we have in Union Square right this second. Here's another cat in a place a cat shouldn't be. What if you want to order something, but don't want to leave your house? Visit ordergracies.com or orderearnest.com and select delivery before check out. Getting stuff delivered to your house is fun.

Like every other restaurant in the area, we're still hoping to hire a cook. We're going to try to pay you right, give you a good lifestyle outside of work, and give you schedule flexibility in case you have other stuff going on. Our next cook will be guaranteed at least $18 an hour, room to grow, and we demand you maintain a life outside of the shop because there are more important things than work. We're not open late, so you won't be working late. Additionally, our shop has a brand new HVAC so you won't be sweating your ass off on a poorly ventilated hot line with someone screaming at you.

If you're reading this and you want all of our cocktails at Earnest Drinks to have the option of being served as slushies, you should let us know here or on instagram or on Twitter. It is up to you. Not gonna do it if you don't want cocktail slushies, though.

It's awild pitch. Post Malone's mustache looks like two Capybaras kissing. Anthony Hopkins was only on screen in Silence of the Lambs for only 16 minutes, but you think of him as the whole movie. Philosophical toilet flapper. Cat in a hammock.

You're regularly scheduled freezer troubles are happening again. In Union, our hardening cabinet has been down since Saturday and might get fixed on Friday or Saturday maybe. But I don't know if I'll ever trust it. I actually went in on Saturday to make ice cream and noticed it was struggling so I had to move all the ice cream that was in it out of it which would have been fine except we were jam packed for a hot summer weekend so pints got stuffed everywhere. Then on Tuesday the hardening cabinet in Kendall had a little bit of trouble, which seems to be solved now. Why don't I buy a new one? I did, but it hasn't come yet and it's not going to come for a long time. You can see what ice cream we have in Union by clicking here.

Thank you so much for your continued support. I don't think there's any exclamations in the newsletter this week. Would you like a book recommendation? How about Yolk by Mary H.K. Choi. A good book about sisters and family. You should read it. Buy it at Porter Square Books or Amazon.
Gracie's + Earnest Drinks team

The first newsletter of June.

I think there will be lots of links today in case you wanted to look at some good internet and also people of a certain age will feel a certain way when they find out Snoop Dog's Doggystyle was released closer to the first Moon Landing than to today and it doesn't make sense. Wu Tang's 36 Chambers, Nirvana's In Utero, Smashing Pumpkins' Siamese Dream, Tribe's Midnight Maruaders, Cypress Hill Black Sunday, Radio Head's Pablo Honey, as well. Really hilarious how time passes. You've seen Jorts, how about Jairs? As always, you can pre-order and pay for Gracie's in Union or Earnest Drinks in Kendall Square. You can order delivery from both locations just by clicking the links. I never knew I needed to see juggling from a birds-eye view of juggling, but I did. Ooooh, here's another longer one.

We're still hoping to hire a cook. Our next cook will be guaranteed at least $18 an hour, room to grow, and we demand you maintain a life outside of the shop because there are more important things than work. We're not open late, so you won't be working late. Additionally, our shop has a brand new HVAC so you won't be sweating your ass off in a poorly ventilated hot line with someone screaming at you. Washing laundry vs folding laundry as evidenced by Willem Dafoe. What happens when you run over a stick of butter?

Just ordered last week and arriving sometime in the next few weeks, we've got a new T-Shirt and a new Tank Top. Online orders will be shipped around the same time these shirts are available in the stores. In both shops and online, you can grab this other t-shirt and Ice Cream Weather zip hoodie. And Lauren, who designed it, asked me today why Morton's Salt had the umbrella girl as their brand imagery. It's because they came up with a salt that wouldn't clump when it was wet, and they wanted to reinforce the easy pour, even in the rain, of their salt.

What color is mint chip? What our new flavor Totally Normal Mint Chippresupposes is maybe it's pink and blue swirls. Last year sometime, I got in a little trouble on Twitter for saying mint chip should be white. Who am I kidding, this has been happening for seven years. In any case, we made pink and blue swirled mint chip and you can buy it now. Some other flavors we have at the moment we don't have all the time are mango, SPICY mango, lemon graham, and Earl Gray. Here's a list of the pints we have in Union Square right this second. Here's a cat in a place a cat shouldn't be.

Last week, I mentioned not having learned about the Tulsa Race Massacre in school and here's the Washington Post with other race massacres we didn't learn about in school in this country's history. There are a lot. The more people who know about these incidents, the harder it will be to deny our country's racist past (and present).

A list of some drinks you can drink at Earnest Drinks:
*If It's Here When We Get Back It's Ours: Dark rum, lime, cherry, and soda.
*Grapefruit slushie made with our grapefruit black pepper sorbet. You can get it as a greyhound (with vodka or gin) or as a Paloma (with tequila). Bright and fresh.
Two beers from White Lion Brewing, a passion fruit and peach sour and an orangey NEIPA.
*Young Sirens Wail: A sneaky and refreshing strawberry whiskey punch.
*The Sloest Drink At The Saddest Bar On The Snowiest Day In The Greatest City a Sloe Gin paper plane variation.

If you don't want to share your cake, get a Lion King themed cake with the scene where Mustafa dies.

Section Sequel

We have glasses of red, white, and rosé at Earnest Drinks and they were picked specifically by Chris to be easy patio sippers. You can drink them while eating and sitting on our fantastic patio that is warm, but has brilliant shade in the afternoon when it's one billion degrees outside like this weekend? Boston Magazine called our Mushroom Cheese "steak" one of the 17 best sandwiches in Boston.

Your friends can sign up here if they want to get this newsletter in their email box, or you can forward it to them, please. Gracie's and Earnest Drinks are on Instagram and Gracie's is on Twitter and we're both on Tik Tok. I got roasted in the unsubscribe form of this newsletter, which you would only know about if you read last week or followed on Instagram.

Why's the internet? It's so you can see Guy Pearce's agent pitching him on Mare of Easttown. It's so you can find this amazing bra store yelp interaction.

We'd appreciate you recommending us to the people in your office who buy lunch for the office. Click here to inquire. And also Earnest Drinks is kind of an art gallery now, hosting prints for sale from Super Precious Art Gallery. You can view and purchase the art here. This Ice Cream Social poster by Lauren May is one of my favorites.

In this list, all of our sandwiches early to mid 80s Red Sox players.
Marty Barrett = The Linden (turkey, pancetta, Swiss)
Bob Stanley = The mushroom "steak" and cheese (a veggie version of a good sub)
Wade Boggs = The Muffuletta (a NOLA classic with meats and olive tapenade)
Spike Owen = Meatball sub (this is my favorite supplanting the Linden and I have it a ton).
Dwight Evans = Egg and Chee (The Classic)
Mike Greenwell = Vegan Sloppy Joe (The New One)

This guy sold an invisible statue for $18K, which is good work if you can get it.

Speaking of pies (just pretend we were talking about pies): ice cream pies. We make ice cream pies to order in a few hours at Earnest Drinks from all the flavors we've got in stock, and we make ice cream pies in advance in Union Square , when we're making them. And our chicken and mushroom pot piesare good for dinner, and you can get them delivered to your house. If you're getting a pot pie, we make roman gnocchi shaped like dinosaurs you're really going to want to eat because it tastes good and is fun.

A thing you shouldn't do #1: Jump out of an airplane at 25K feet without a parachute. A thing you shouldn't do #2: Like 60 summersaults in a trampoline with 8 other dudes on the trampoline. Don't show this to your kids.

This is a paragraph describing our quinoa salad. 100% vegan, 100% gluten free, and 100% delicious. Warm quinoa with sautéed mushrooms, onions, and peppers, avocado, spicy pickled carrots, kale, sunflower seeds, and chipotle avocado ranch. Topped with the best spice ever; Tajin.

The meatball sub from Earnest Drinks is VERY good, but if you don't eat meatballs, you should try the vegan Sloppy Joe instead. It's made with Impossible Beef, Daiya cheese, herbs and spices, and a house-made vegan bun. Look at these cute and tiny animals you can buy in Union Square, there are six of them.

OK, an update on the Freezer Saga. There was trouble this week, but we didn't lose any ice cream, I just had to move lots and lots of the ice cream around because the fan motor died, which isn't ideal. And the week before I said there wasn't a freezer saga, but in fact there was, but with different freezers, when the CGI outlet they were on tripped and wouldn't reset. And then I called the freezer seller for an update on the new freezer I bought at the end of April and he yelled at me and said there was no update. You can see what we have by clicking here.

This paragraph was in last week's newsletter and the week before and the week before and the week before, but I'm pretty sure only a few of you read this far, and if you read this far, you find the repetition very charming, and if you read it already skip it. Koolickles are pickles cured in Kool-Aid and everyone who hears about them is like "ewwwwwww," but everyone who tries them is like, "OMG yum, that's so weird I didn't think I would like that, but I do." They come from Southern gas station culture where they make all different flavors. We've currently got grape and cherry.

We're getting close.

These two beers from White Lion go well with the hot dogs below and other food even in this newsletter. Roarange Juice & Haze NEIPA and Passion & Peach Bellini Sour are cold and ready for you. Want to see what kind of hot dogs we have? Fortune Favors the Hot Dog. The two special dogs are probably reaching the end of their lives.
Sloppy Dog, one of our hot dogs from the fall with a garlic griddled bun, chipotle sloppy joe mix, and crumbled Cool Ranch Doritos.
Hot Dog Parmesan, which is like a chicken parm, but with a hot dog. Garlic griddled bun topped with house-made red sauce, mozzarella, provolone, and garlic bread crumbs.
Ten Dollar Two Dog, which is two hot dogs and garlic griddled buns and you can make them into cheese dogs if you want. It's a good lunch for today. This link may or may not bring you to all our lunch and dinner options.

The Chocolate Frito Pie will confuse you and delight you (probably, no guarantees).
XL lava cake will delight you.
FAFO sundae will also delight you.

Pair Kelcey's vegan dumplings with Kelcey's chili crisp for a perfect meal.

A pandan whiskey frappe is for when you're fence, but the Ube Coconut Frappe? THAT'S FOR WHEN YOU'RE THE POST, NICK.

I will write you a custom haiku about anyone or anything just for you. Today someone ordered one to send to their friend for their birthday.

You can get ordergracies.com or orderearnest.com delivered if you're not ordering alcohol and getting food delivered to your house is fun.

Here is a list of stores you can get Gracie's Ice Cream pints besides either of our locations. Here's a helpful map if you're a visual person. This is brand new. Tell me you saw it.
Pemberton Market, Cambridge
Dave's Fresh Pasta, Davis Square
Formaggio, Huron Village AND Kendall Square
Broadway Marketplace, Harvard Square
Concord Market, Concord
Punch Bowl / Hilton Garden Inn, Brookline
Dovetail, Charlestown
Buckalew's, Melrose
Vidalia's Market, Beverly

If you shop at a local specialty grocery store that's not on this list, it's very helpful to us if you mention Gracie's to them the next time you're there.

Thank you so much for your continued support. I don't think there's any exclamations in the newsletter this week. Would you like a book recommendation? How about Real Life by Brandon Taylor. This is the kind of book where nothing happens over several days, but you feel all kinds of different ways about the writing. You should read it. Buy it at Porter Square Books or Amazon.
Gracie's + Earnest Drinks team