Restaurants + Shopping — The Daily Boston Brief, August 26, 2026

Union Oyster House, Inc. has petitioned the city’s licensing board to transfer its license to an entity called UOH Manager, LLC, with the restaurant’s name staying as it is. Boston Restaurant Talk, which spotted the hearing notice on Monday, reports that UOH Manager, LLC is a Texas limited-liability company whose registered agent is Steven L. Scheinthal — executive vice president and general counsel at Landry’s, the group that already owns the Chart House on Long Wharf. The hearing is set for later this week.

That is the whole of what is on the record so far — a petition, a hearing date, and a corporate filing. Nobody has announced a sale. What is not in doubt is which room this is: 41 Union Street, open since 1826, just north of Faneuil Hall, and fourth on our own most-booked list at 148 tables.

Booked solid · latest snapshot, Monday Aug 17

1. Saltie Girl · Back Bay · 235 booked

The Dartmouth Street seafood bar, top of the list for a third straight pass.

2. Trattoria Il Panino · North End · 172 booked

The Hanover Street room that led this list for most of the summer, and the highest-booked of the North End’s four entries.

3. Grill 23 & Bar · Back Bay · 170 booked

Two of the top three sit within a few blocks of each other off Berkeley Street.

This week’s shopping walk · Charles Street

Beacon Hill’s gas-lit antiques row: a dozen dealers in a few blocks, built for the slow browse.

It is the day for it — 81 degrees, sunny, and the forecast’s chance of rain at zero. The street runs from the Common down to the river, so it pairs with a walk you were probably going to take anyway. Charles Street → · the Beacon Hill guide →

Markets this week: Greenway Artisan Market Sun, free · SoWa Open Market Sun, free

Kendall Square Series: Mairead Guy · Free · Today noon to 1pm · Kendall Square

Club Passim closes out its free lunchtime series on the Urban Park Roof Garden — up the stairs from Main Street, or the Green Garage elevator if you would rather not climb.

Country Night on the Greenway · Tonight 6pm · East Boston

A two-hour set on the bocce courts of the Mary Ellen Welch Greenway, part of the summer Wednesday-night run that has already done rock and a cappella. Bring a blanket or a chair.

Squeeze with Adam Ant and Haircut 100 · Tonight · MGM Music Hall at Fenway

Three cornerstones of British new wave on one Lansdowne Street bill. The Sox are in Miami, so the block is yours.

Film Screening: Do the Right Thing · Free · Thursday 5 to 7:30pm · Copley Square

The Central Library screens Spike Lee’s 1989 film and runs a group discussion after it. Free, but registration is required.

Politics

Boston began casting ballots for the Sept 1 state primary last weekend, and city election officials counted 2,262 early votes on Saturday and Sunday, the Dorchester Reporter writes. Early voting runs through Friday at 17 locations across the week, City Hall’s Haymarket Room among them, and a resident may vote at any of them regardless of their Election Day precinct. Most incumbents on the ballot have no primary opponent; the exception at the top is the Democratic contest for US Senate, where Ed Markey faces Congressman Seth Moulton. Governor Maura Healey and Lieutenant Governor Kim Driscoll appear unopposed on the Democratic side, while Michael Minogue and Brian Shortsleeve compete for the Republican nomination for governor.

Boston Local

With the school year about to start, the Healey administration has released guidance for schools and childcare programs implementing the Protect Act, WHDH reports. Under the law, civil arrests are generally barred on school grounds and at childcare programs without a judicial warrant or judicial order, and covered programs are required to adopt policies governing how they deal with civil law enforcement. The guidance asks them to name points of contact for pickup and dropoff, to review any judicial order or warrant presented to them, to document interactions with law enforcement, and to notify parents and guardians of anything involving ICE officers.

Culture

Stella Lefty’s viral single “Boston” carries a writing credit for Noah Kahan, and in a Vanity Fair profile timed to her debut album — out Friday — she explains why. She posted the chorus without thinking much of it; listeners immediately heard “Stick Season” in it; Kahan’s representatives got in touch to say the same, and she and her team gave him the credit before the song was formally released rather than risk a fight. “When I was writing the song, I wasn’t thinking about Noah Kahan,” she told the magazine. Boston.com has the details. She plays Royale on Nov 17 and MGM Music Hall at Fenway on Jan 17.

Business

The Sports Bra, the Portland, Oregon bar that has shown women’s sports on its screens since spring 2022, has been linked to Boston since last spring without an address. A city licensing board hearing notice now supplies one: the One India Street Apartments building, where India and Broad Streets meet State Street. Boston Restaurant Talk, which found the notice on Monday, reports it describes a main dining room, a main bar, a private dining room and a seasonal patio. No opening date has been announced, and the company is working on locations in Maine, Indianapolis, Las Vegas and St. Louis as well.