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Food

Delicious Yogurt, rightfully named, is indeed delicious. With their varied flavor options — from the classic vanilla and chocolate to the ever-popular cake batter and sweet coconut — you are sure to find the perfect flavor for you. Don’t worry if you have dietary restrictions. Delicious Yogurt offers flavorful vegan, vegetarian and dairy-free selections.

Wondering what to do if you can’t decide which flavor to choose? Fortunately, Delicious Yogurt offers a cup divider that will ensure that you get the best of both worlds without them weirdly mixing together in a large cup. Adding in their countless options for toppings including multiple flavors of bursting boba, cookies, jellies, fruits and all different types of sweets, you get the perfect cup of heaven made just for you.

In addition to frozen yogurt, they also offer boba teas, iced teas, smoothies, coffee and hot tea. You can add their toppings into any drink only for a small extra price.

I am amazed at their various types of iced tea with flavors like mango, apple, passion fruit and more. Personally, mixing their pina-colada yogurt smoothie with pineapple chunks is one of my favorite combinations and I highly recommend it.

Uniquely, this is not a frozen yogurt chain, like Pinkberry or Sweet Frog. Delicious Yogurt is privately owned by Kenny Tran. Since opening in August 2014, it has become a staple of Roslindale Square. It’s affordable for both teens and adults, with discounts for veterans and the ability to pay with Apple Pay, Google Pay, Cryptocurrency, cash or cards.

So if you are ever in the area of Roslindale Village Square, Delicious Yogurt is a great place to stop by. It is street, bike and wheelchair accessible. Located right in the Square right next to the DMV/ community center building, you can treat yourself and enjoy it at Adams Park across the street. Every time I go, I feel immersed in the scenery of the park and its wonderful sense of nature even though it is in the middle of an urban neighborhood square. It also helps to be enjoying some wonderful frozen yogurt or a delectable drink while supporting a local business. Or, if you prefer to stay inside, they offer free wifi with every purchase. If you want to just stay home, they also deliver through Grubhub, Doordash, Seamless and UberEats.

Find Delicious Yogurt at 4206 Washington St, Roslindale, close to the 40 and 35 bus lines. Open every day from 12:00 p.m. to 10:00 p.m. $5+ for a large yogurt cup. Available for delivery.

Food

Time Out market houses boston's best eats

Maxwell Hughes

Courtesy Time Out Market

The brand new Time Out Market Boston is a collection of the best food that Boston has to offer, all under one roof. Spanning 25,200 square feet in the Landmark Center in Fenway, the destination is a quintessential example of Boston’s food-culture fusion.

Boasting 15 eateries, two bars, a test kitchen and a video-installation wall that displays some of the food and drinks on sale, it should certainly be on every Bostonian’s radar.

What used to be a Best Buy has been completely renovated, and the new space feels very warm and welcoming. Housing bare concrete pillars, coupled with rustic wood tables and walls along with green tiles lining food vendors’ kitchens, the market has a very modern, chic vibe, and the comfortable wooden bar stools which line the tables even have backs, which adds an additional level of comfort.

However, the issue with seating is that there doesn’t seem to be enough of it. Don’t get me wrong, tables line the middle of the vast room. But due to the nature of the food-court like setting, there is a constant intake of people, and a slightly slower flow out, as people sit to eat their food. It doesn’t feel overcrowded, but the lack of seating becomes noticeable during the busier times of the day. If the weather is nice, however, there is outside seating with a beautiful new front lawn.

All the employees at Time Out Market Boston who I came across were extremely warm, friendly and helpful. Everyone had a smile on their face when I placed my order. The place can be disorienting, as it lacks some important signs (or at least evident ones) and the large number of people milling about along with the accompanying noise is enough to leave anyone feeling slightly dazed.

When I went over to the bar and asked for sparkling water, the bartender pointed the soda gun into a glass and said “no worries, you’re fine.” Whether he was being nice, or they just don’t normally charge for fizzy water, it nevertheless made me smile.

At Time Out Market Boston, there are many genres of food, be it the Jewish deli Mamaleh’s, or the Roman-style pizza place Monti, or the famous Union Square Donuts. That being said, many of the restaurants don’t have many options within their genre, leaving you with many choices on first glance, but upon diving deeper, it’s less than expected.

That said, there is certainly something for even the pickiest eater among us. The pizza from Monti is cooked beautifully, with a light and fluffy crust and delicious tomato sauce. The chicken from Ms. Clucks Deluxe is delicious, with dishes such as Chicken and Waffles, where the “waffles” are waffle fries, along with crispy golden-brown fried chicken pieces covered in a sweet, but slightly spicy maple syrup. The pasta at Michael Schlow’s is delicious, be it a traditional pasta sauce with meatballs, a light and delicious primavera or the hearty bolognese with a hint of spice from red pepper flakes.

One of the most glaring issues with Time Out Market Boston is one’s inability to pay with cash. This was especially alarming to me when I initially found out — I had already ordered, mind you—as the only thing I had on me was cash. Lack of apparent signage about this crucial detail clearly is a huge flaw. There are a few, small signs by the numerous entrances, but those are easily lost upon people as they walk through a door into a new environment.

Luckily, they have come up with a solution: you have to load money onto a prepaid card that you can obtain from the two bars or a person by the main entrance. You often have to load more money onto the card than you would otherwise spend, so that you don’t run out while ordering food. It results in wasted money stuck on a card that you may or may not return to use. Otherwise, they take debit or credit, so come prepared with your cards. Despite this, the food is certainly delicious and worth going to get. There is something for everyone, and the novelty alone is worth going to experience.

Time Out Market Boston can be found at 401 Park Dr, right in the middle of the bustling Fenway area. You can get there on the train by getting off at the Fenway stop on the green line. Its doors remain open until 11:00 p.m. on Sundays through Thursdays, and until midnight on Fridays and Saturdays. If you’d like to explore their website, it can be found at https://www.timeoutmarket.com/boston/

Food

Shaking Crab gets classic summer cookout food right

Royal Harrison

Flavorful, scorching hot, like a pepper from Mexico, and extremely delicious. I visited Shaking Crab near Porter Square in Cambridge for dinner with my best friend. My experience definitely could’ve been better, but it was great overall.

The decorations of the restaurant are boat themed with anchors and seashells scattered upon the wall. They play hip hop and R&B music, have dim lighting with a huge wall decorated with white crystal lights that spell Shaking Crab next to a bookshelf.

The customer service was excellent. We were greeted as soon as we stepped inside and brought right to our table. Even though it is a seafood restaurant and things tend to get a little messy while eating, there wasn’t a crab shell, food scraps or anything else around or on the tables.

Unfortunately, they were short-staffed due to a few call-outs, so I tried to take that into consideration and be patient.

We ordered virgin Carribean Coladas, which took a while for them to make but were perfect. The coladas tasted like sugary almond milk mixed with a vanilla smoothie, topped with a small lime and an umbrella on the side for decoration. We ordered a pound of shaking hot snow crabs, barbeque wings and cajun fries.

The snow crabs were full and not skinny or skimp. The crabs had full pieces of meat when you broke them open instead of breaking in small parts. The wings came in six pieces and were drenched with barbeque sauce with steam coming from them while being brought out. The cajun fries were lightly salted which I enjoyed because certain restaurants are very heavy on the seasonings.

The food took 20 to 30 minutes to bring out, but once again, they were short staffed and food takes a while to cook so we were very understanding.

The staff was very nice, apologized every chance they had for being short-staffed, checked on us multiple times and were on top of refilling drinks. Overall I enjoyed my time at Shaking Crab. I would recommend it to a friend and most likely go again.

Shaking Crab is located at 1815 Massachusetts Avenue in Cambridge, a short walk from Porter station on the red line. They are open from 12 p.m. to 11 p.m. Monday through Sunday

A&E

'Kill Six Billion Demons' masterfully combines action and religious lore

Caleb Bove

Courtesy Image Comics

In the world of comics and graphic novels, it can be sad to think of all the amazing books that will never receive the massive audience they deserve because so many different stories are published and released yearly. “Kill Six Billion Demons” by Abbadon is one of those stories. It’s a recent addition to the growing genre known as “webcomics,” comics that are read page by page online. Webcomics are often drawn and written by the same creator, an impressive and difficult task. This means that they come out at a much slower pace than comics from DC or Marvel, often one or two pages weekly.

This page-a-week release rate can be a serious turnoff for new readers, but the amazingly detailed art of a girl’s journey through a butchered heaven will keep many including myself turning new additional pages every week.

The story itself — in which Allison escapes heaven but then returns to save her ex-boyfriend — can sometimes be overshadowed by the bombastic action scenes that erupt throughout. While this speaks more to the expertise of the artist than the weakness of the plot, one cannot help but feel that the storyline, while decently executed, is only present because of a need to tie the more awe-inspiring moments together.

The art and action of the webcomic are hard to outdo, however. The images flow, the backgrounds fully drawn and detailed, with the anatomy of drawn creatures respected. There is real physical weight to the movement of figures, their lines of movement easy to follow even when they are clothed in billowing fabrics.

The delicate construction of the plot is miraculously capable of supporting not only brilliantly original characters but their development as well. We watch our main “hero,” Allison, find personhood in a weird cast of characters on a seemingly endless journey. These side characters start off somewhat milquetoast, with an angel who serves god (not the Christian one), unimpressively fitting into the role of a “Lawful Good” character trope. Thankfully, this character, among others, improves significantly in terms of their originality. Allison herself becomes stronger and more complex through her experiences, having to fight her literal inner demons and passing through many more "Fight Club"-esque trials to reach her goal.

Lastly, I would like to draw some attention to an element of writing that is often ignored in many genres, but webcomics especially: world building. “Kill Six Billion Demons” almost seems like its world was built before its story was written. The setting, a heaven described as “a corpse being picked clean,” is a fun and diverse area for us to watch the characters traverse. Some characters can be a little too overflowing with exposition, but the author is decently self-aware about this, cutting them off before their dialogue becomes exhausting.

Also, for those who complain about the release time, this story is being released in print volumes by Image Comics. In my opinion, they are well worth the cost.

Find “Kill Six Billion Demons” for free online at https:// killsixbilliondemons.com/ or in print at your local comic book retailer for $15.

A&E

'Marvel Ultimate Alliance 3' is an action-packed afterschool couch co-op

Jacob Downey

Courtesy IGDB

After an eight-year hiatus, Marvel’s coveted Ultimate Alliance series is back with “Marvel Ultimate Alliance 3: The Black Order.” The action role playing game features characters from every facet of Marvel’s publication history, allowing you, and up to three friends, to create your own super team in a race against Thanos to gather the infinity stones in a fun romp through the Marvel Universe.

Building off of the previous entry’s four-player arcade style, “Marvel Ultimate Alliance 3” also introduces the synergy system that allows characters to attack together, causing significantly more damage while looking really cool. This mechanic makes “Marvel Ultimate Alliance 3” feel less like a mindless punch-a-thon, and adds a focus on cooperating with friends to build the ultimate team.

During my playthrough, my party and I played as a hodgepodge of characters, usually ending with some combination of Star-Lord, Ghost Rider, Scarlet Witch and Captain America. In the game, roster size is both a blessing and a curse. While there are over 40 playable characters, and more on the way, it often felt like quantity over quality. “Ultimate Alliance 2,” for instance, had a similar roster size, but the characters felt more alive, quipping and commenting on the world around them. In “Marvel Ultimate Alliance 3” all of the characters seem two-dimensional.

Focusing more on gameplay than plot is hardly a bad thing, but I was hoping for a bit more personality in a game that features such iconic characters. Speaking of team competition, while you’re free to mix and match heroes as you see fit, should you decide to play as an established team like the Avengers or the Guardians of the Galaxy you’ll reap a sizable stat boost that will push you through the game’s more difficult sections.

On the bright side, “Marvel Ultimate Alliance 3” is not afraid to challenge players. Going in on the “Mighty” difficulty, the harder of the two available at the start, my party and I got our butts handed to us fairly regularly, but every loss felt deserved and every win felt well-earned. There were multiple occasions where we would have to rethink our plan of attack, often by switching up our team to better counter our foes. Having a difficult game is almost controversial in the industry right now with many studios preferring more casual, pick-up and play game design. “Marvel Ultimate Alliance 3” is no “Dark Souls,” but it isn’t a cakewalk either, providing a very refreshing challenge for those looking for it.

My praise at being virtually punched in the face aside, “Marvel Ultimate Alliance 3” is not a perfect game, but it presents some good old fashioned arcade gameplay with the mechanical integrity you would expect from the Nintendo Switch. “Marvel Ultimate Alliance 3” is at its best when played with friends, making it a great way to spend a laid back summer night with the non-gendered friends of your choosing, especially the ones who need a pick me up after “Avengers: Endgame.”

Find “Marvel Ultimate Alliance 3: The Black Order” exclusively on the Nintendo Switch for $59.99 at your local retailer or https://marvelultimatealliance3.nintendo. com/buy/.

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