COUP BOSTON FEBRUARY 2013

february 2013

the first annual

LIFESTYLE VISIONARY AWARDS 25 BOSTONIANS WHO CHANGED THE GAME LAST YEAR IN FASHION, FOOD, BEAUTY, TRAVEL, AND HOME DESIGN

CONTENTS & DEPARTMENTS

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LETTER FROM THE EDITOR

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CURATED // in the red

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COUP DE GRÂCE // kind of a big deal Why would one of Boston’s top commercial real estate brokers value Jane Austen more than sales? If you’re Christina Tiemann, the key to closing the deal is opening your mind.

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SOCIETY // THE FRONT ROW Who wore what, when, and why. And more importantly, how they made the party better for it.

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TABLE // EATING YOUR HEART OUT Valentine’s Day is back. (Again.) Get lucky with the town’s most romance-ready restaurants.

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THE LIFESTYLE VISIONARY AWARDS This is how a city evolves: By celebrating the people who take risks big and small, and change how we live our everyday lives here. These are the 25 Bostonians who, last year, did just that.

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COUP D’ÉTAT // the road less traveled Take a traditional restaurant, reimagine it as an artists’ community, and what do you get? Tavern Road, the new spot brothers Louis and Michael DiBiccari are on the verge of opening in Fort Point.

ON THE COVER photograph by JOEL BENJAMIN art direction by JOSEPH GORDON CLEVELAND hair by JILL COLWELL, STUDIO 28 makeup by STACEY FRASCA, STUDIO 28 Special thanks to JORDAN HALL at the NEW ENGLAND CONSERVATORY

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Between fine and fashion jewelry, you'll find...

180 Linden Street, Wellesley, MA 02482 | 781.416.1800 | www.trustyourimpulse.com

Alexandra Hall Editor-in-Chief Joseph Gordon Cleveland Creative Director Austyn Ellese Mayfield Managing Editor Michael Blanding Editor-at-Large MICHAEL TrOTMAN Copy Editor CONTRIBUTING WRITERS Katherine Bowers Amanda Hark Robin Hauck Jolyon Helterman Bernard Leed Erin Byers Murray Lisa Pierpont STAFF PHOTOGRAPHER Marie Wu CONTRIBUTING PHOTOGRAPHERS Joel Benjamin Conor Doherty Tristan Govignon Sabin Gratz Christopher Huang Eric Levin Russ Mezikofsky Bob Packert Cory Stierley Dan Watkins Jessica Weiser ART & DESIGN INTERNS Caitlin Coyne Alexa Robertiello EDITORIAL INTERNS Diana Burmistrovich Basia Gordon Valeria Navarro Kelsey Prisby Heidi Rose CHERYL KAUFMAN Senior Client Manager TO ADVERTISE, CONTACT salut@coupboston.com COUPBOSTON.COM 20 Park Plaza, Suite 1105 Boston, MA 02116

PORSCHE OF WESTWOOD 420 PROVIDENCE HIGHWAY, ROUTE 1

PRIMEPORSCHE.COM

LETTER FROM THE EDITOR / COUP BOSTON / FEBRUARY 2013

RISKY

BUSINESSES Boston has never been a town of risk takers, right?

That’s New York. Or L.A. No, we may applaud folks for advancing in our established spheres of academia, finance, and sociopolitics, but in the realm of lifestyle—that is, of how we live our everyday lives—we’re stuck to the status quo. I hear endless kvetching from fellow Bostonians arguing that their city’s built neither industries nor a support system for the dreamers who flout tradition, dress the way their soul directs them to, crave post-immersiontheater karaoke sessions at 3 a.m., long to order something besides yet another plate of tuna tartare, or want to wake up in a house that doesn’t look like it was furnished by the Federalists themselves. Eccentricities, goes the complaint, simply aren’t tolerated.

To all of which, I say: That’s excrement. It’s simply not true anymore. More and more every day, Bostonians are going out on a limb, risking everything they have, and pushing new ideas into our sphere. Do we still take our sweet time before accepting them? Sure. But that’s also evolving, and by the moment.

This is a magazine all about how we live in Boston.

But it’s also one about new ideas. We launched almost one year ago for a single reason: to push the city’s lifestyle boundaries, and to celebrate others who do the same. And this issue, we come full circle to that mission.

The COUP Boston Lifestyle Visionary Awards (page 36) honor 25 locals who last year took a chance with a risky idea, and raised some eyebrows at first. Our criteria for the award were strict: Their accomplishment had to come in the last year, and it had to introduce not just a new business or behavior, but also a very new concept.

Something that pushed the envelope and changed the conversation in their lifestyle industry, and then ultimately made the city a better place to live.

There are scads of people we wish we could have included who are doing amazing things right now but are too new to have had a measurable impact yet. Consider

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>>> The editor, feeling baffled by all the worthy candidates for the magazine’s 1st annual Lifestyle Visionary Awards.

Higher Ground, the Boston company that will, this spring, create a 55,000-square-foot, open-air farm on the rooftop of the Boston Design Center. Its produce will be sold through CSA shares, at farm stands, and to local restaurants. Or think of hybrid operations like Tavern Road (page 62), the soon-to-open restaurantcum-artist-studio aiming to feed guests with creative inspiration as much as with food. Keep an eye on brave new concepts like theirs over the next year. Because looking toward next year’s Lifestyle Visionary Awards, we already are.

Alexandra Hall Editor-in-Chief alex@coupboston.com

94 Central Street Wellesley, MA 02482 (781) 237-7010 grettaluxe.com

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Yigal Azrouël Resort 2013 printed moto jacket with leather sleeves.

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FEBRUARY 2013 / COUP BOSTON / CURATED

curated

What the finicky editorial COUP crew is donning, devouring, hoarding, imbibing, inhaling, and generally lusting after right now.

by JOSEPH GOrDON CLEVELAND, ALEXANDrA hall and Austyn ellese mayfield

1. Mountain Suite at The Pitcher Inn “I don’t ski, but I enjoy pretending I do.

That fantasy comes to life in this outrageously decked-out chamber—entirely surrounded by a mural of Vermont’s Green Mountains, centering on a gigantic stone fireplace and views to the snowy woods.”

From $525 at pitcherinn.com —Alexandra Hall, Editor-in-Chief 2. Neuro Passion “Red wine may go straight to your head, but the 525 calories per bottle tend to add up in less desirable places. Using a blend of vitamins and a touch of caffeine, the folks at DrinkNeuro increase vigor and set the mood with the help of only 35 calories (and a mildly suggestive bottle).” $2.69 at CVS Pharmacy —Austyn Ellese Mayfield, Managing Editor 3. CLASS ROBERTO Cavalli Tweed Jacket “Give me a tradition tweaked as seamlessly as this bell-sleeved, slim-cut number, and I’m happy any day.” $700 at www.crossingmain.com —AH 4. Walter Steiger Peep-Toe Platform “Like love, a great pair of shoes isn’t always sensible. And sometimes that’s what makes it all the more desirable. The union of red patent leather and canvas in a 6-inch oxford pump is a little insane. And altogether lovely.” $1,290 at barneys.com —AEM 5. MENU Double Candleholder “As if candles themselves weren’t romantic enough, this lanky, intertwined pair of steel holders is designer Mikaela Dorfel’s homage to a dance-like embrace.” $90 at lekkerhome.com —AH

6. Krest Goldilocks Comb “Why go for the boldest red comb on the block? Because what’s the point in preening if nobody notices?” $.99 at capellibeauty.com —Joseph Gordon Cleveland,

Creative Director 7. Valextra Passport Cover “A sleek-textured leather case in Ribes Red = traveling better before you ever even leave the runway.” $520 at barneys.com —JGC 8. Rimowa Special Edition Salsa Luggage in Pearl Rose “The limited release of Rimowa’s Salsa collection adds a blush of style to packing, and provides enough room to tote along a bevy of equally stylish accessories.”

Starting at $495 at neimanmarcus.com —AEM 9. McQ Alexander McQueen WOVEN LEATHER Slippers “An impeccably streamlined silhouette, in rich bordeaux. Check your bit at the door, fellas.” $605 at ssense.com —JGC 10. Dolce & Gabbana Lipgloss IN #120 Passion “The name alone gives this gloss Valentine’s Day cred. Its gold-laced, strawberry-tinted formula delivers a pout that combines playful curiosity and flat-out seduction.” $29 at sephora.com —AEM

11. Iittala Kivi Votive CANDLE Holder “I usually don’t approve of pale pink home decor items for anyone over the age of 12, but the elegance of Iittala’s modern glass pieces makes their classic Kivi design appropriate in any color.” $48 at Iittala.com —AEM 12. Jonathan Adler Lacquer Serving Tray “Best suited for a full beverage service.

The most attractive statement of all?

The drinks have arrived.” $175 at jonathanadler.com —JGC Kombu Kitchen Vegan Food Delivery “A week’s worth of plant-based dinners is an act of asceticism, right? Not when they’re as delicious as these meals, which arrive at your doorstep fully prepared.

(Is it still healthy if you scarf all of them down in one sitting?)”

Starting at $249 at kombukitchen.com —AH Ultrasonic Facial “Midwinter does as much damage to our faces as to our cars. In both cases, we’re smart to crave high-tech fixes, like this sonic-wave-driven treatment that rehabs dry skin and lips via antioxidant infusions and microcurrent magic.” $125 at ardanspa.com —AH Stella's Marinated Beet Salad “An assemblage of beautifully multicolored beets, thinly sliced and dressed in champagne vinaigrette.” $11 at bostonstella.com —JGC

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84 LEONARD STREET Belmont, MA 02478 (617) 484-4777 leonandco.com

I DON'T THINK OF IT AS A JOB. I THINK OF IT AS A PUZZLE TO BE SOLVED.

Hot Property Christina Tiemann, broker of some of the city's biggest commercial buildings.

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FEBRUARY 2013 / COUP BOSTON / COUP DE GRÂCE

kind of a big deal Why would one of Boston’s top commercial real estate brokers value Jane Austen more than sales?

If you’re Christina Tiemann, the key to closing the deal is opening your mind.

by ALEXANDRA HALL photographed by ERIC LEVIN

“BOSTON FEELS LIKE one big neighborhood to me,” says Christina Tiemann, sitting in L’Aroma Café, raising her cup like a makeshift pointer toward Back Bay’s streets outside. The way she’s looking at them, they almost seem like they belong to her. And in fact, given how she determines their occupants, they almost do.

One of Coldwell Banker's top commercial real estate brokers in New England for three years running, Tiemann regularly moves some of the heftiest sales of unlisted properties in town.

“I don’t think of it as a job,” she says. “It’s a matter of really listening to people. It’s a puzzle to be solved.”

Puzzling things out is a habit she comes by naturally. The California native (Laguna Beach was, for all intents and purposes, her backyard) spent her fledgling career years doing analysis for major car companies before moving to Boston in 2001. “I love California, but I so wanted to experience seasons,” she says. Once she landed here, she jumped straight into real estate—by selling cranberry bogs on the South Shore. Fastforward to today, and she’s graced the cover of

New England Real Estate Journal no less than twice, and just closed on the sale of 274 Franklin, an office building—one of the city’s biggest commercial deals to date. Apparently, coming up as an analyst has its rewards.

But all numbers and dry data it’s not. “I love the back and forth with clients,” she says. “Of having that face-to-face interaction that’s become a lost art, what with how much texting we all do these days.” That might help explain why she’s such a collector of old books—particularly classic literature. (Shaw, Wilde, and Austen are her go-to scribes.) “It helps remind me of certain courtesies that we’ve lost,” she says. “The care they take with their conversations, and the courtesies and the respect.”

Another form her cravings for thoughtful interaction take: decadent dinner parties at her Beacon Hill home. But not the kind attended by just close friends. “What’s exciting is bringing new people together from different areas,” insists Tiemann, who for such occasions usually finds herself pulling on a Nanette Lepore frock—the definitive feminine icebreaker. “Unique conversations spring from an eclectic mix of people, and you leave with new ideas, or a new slant on something you previously believed,” she says. “If we leave ourselves open to understanding what moves other people, it’s amazing what the takeaway is from that.” hair by jill colwell, studio 28 makeup by stacey frasca, studio 28

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SOCIETY / COUP BOSTON / FEBRUARY 2013

THE FRONT ROW

Every year, Boldfacers brings together a collection of Boston’s most ardent fashion lovers to sell pieces from their own closets to the public (at some incredible prices, we might add). As a general rule, the evening starts out as a serious buying event and winds up more of a giddy party. As it’s organized by our Front Row writer Lisa Pierpont, we put it to her to pick the standout attendees this year—and to find out what drives their personal slants on drop-dead style.

the venue

BOSTON STYLEMAKERS THE W HOTEL JANUARY 24, 2013

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Traci Bingham (bottom right) If any other woman threw on a crew-neck Tahari dress, it would come off as conservative. Prissy, even. But when the woman is Traci Bingham, no such thing happens. “Thanks to God and my mother, my body turns most outfits into wild and rock star,” she says. Which is why, of course, Bingham rocketed to fame wearing a simple red bathing suit as one of the stars of Baywatch. At the Stylemakers event, red once again dominated Traci’s ensemble—giving her embellished gold Christian Louboutin heels a run for their money.

The statement piece? A bejeweled flower hair accessory, handmade

by Bingham and her two sisters (she is one of seven kids). “We’ve been designing for fun for years, and we are talking with various designers about partnerships,” says the Cambridge native. (She attended Cambridge Rindge & Latin with Ben Affleck, Matt Damon, and Ben Carr from The Mighty Mighty Bosstones.) After high school, she launched a modeling career with Maggie Inc. before heading to Hollywood. “I went from being the quiet, shy person in the back of the class to being in the spotlight in a huge way, both physically and mentally,” she recalls. Now back home in the Hub, Bingham has set her sights on acting in an Oscar-caliber film and launching an eponymous collection of beauty care, home goods, and, of course, fashion. “I like colors and fun clothing, things that make a statement and stand out … that’s often weird and conversational. As long as people are talking about my creative, showstopping outfits, it’s all good to me. I love pushing the edge.”

Jeff Lahens (bottom left) All you need to know about Jeff Lahens is five words: unpretentious, classic-inspired, trendproof, transitional, and personal. As the men’s fashion director of DressCode Boston, a full-service styling and retailing consulting agency, Lahens considers it his job to look spectacular every day. When we caught up with him, he was sporting his own custom-designed blazer, Reiss belt, Anthony Corey tie, Allen Edmonds boots, vintage trousers, and a Scott James cardigan and pocket square. Perfection, no? Born and raised in Portau-Prince, Haiti, Lahens moved to the States to pursue math, but found fashion way more fun. “Menswear is more passion than it is work,” he says. “I’m committed to elevating the menswear market in Boston to a level that earns us national and international recognition.” A lofty goal, grounded by a humble admission: “I may be addicted to knockoff Oreos. They taste so much better with milk than the original.”

Shea Rose (top right) For all you agnostics out there, meet Shea Rose, rocker goddess.

Her spiritual mission: “Soak up the world, write songs, and perform the hell out of them.” The Boston native and Berklee College of Music graduate wowed the crowds at last year’s Boston Music Awards, scooping up best R&B honors. But every time we spot her, we’re blown away by the way she consistently pulls together runway looks anchored by street chic. To wit: her slouchy gray bustier jumpsuit, animal-print sash, and ecru multistrapped wedges. “My style reflects my uniqueness, strength, and down-toearth personality,” Rose says. And given that her style icons range from Audrey Hepburn to Grace Jones, we weren’t surprised to hear she lives and dies by one motto: “To ask approval is to seek denial.” This goddess lives to her own beat. Believe in her.

top left LAURA BALDINI, LISA DONOVAN top center CIARA HUNT FRANCIS top right SHEA ROSE bottom right DEVIN HILL, TRACI BINGHAM bottom left JEFF LAHENS

photographs by marie wu

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Eating Your Heart Out

Just as a one-night stand isn’t the same thing as a keeper, a sexy restaurant isn’t necessarily the same thing as a romantic one.

Nor does just a bunch of candles, decadent dishes, and violin soundtracks a truly romantic meal make. So when seduction’s on the line (for Valentine’s Day or any other meal), here are the suitors that consistently have couples spooning everything up at dinner— and then spooning later on at home.

by ALEXANDRA HALL

FEBRUARY 2013 / COUP BOSTON / TABLE

Bondir

♥ ♥ ♥ [heart rating: 3 out of 5] Romantic profile: Loves variety (the menu changes daily). However, is actually incredibly loyal—to pure flavors coaxed straight from ingredients.

Irresistible opening line: “You’re freezing. Don’t worry about ordering yet.

Just sit for a few minutes and thaw out.”

The Big Move: Bitter cocoa rigatoni, Vermont-raised goat mocetta, and spiced butternut squash with fresh spruce ricotta.

Nurturing qualities: No soul leaves without feeling they’ve made six new best friends. (Bonus points for prizing enduring relationships.)

Extra points for: Having a name that includes both the word “bond” and the word “dear.”

Deauxave

♥ ♥ ♥ ♥ [heart rating: 3½ out of 5] Romantic profile: Brainy but lighthearted (witness chef Chris Coombs’s cleverly tweaked Francophile menu, a la duck confit with blood orange gastrique).

Loves mixing the high life (those gigantic chandeliers) with coziness.

Irresistible opening line: “Does a table right next to the fireplace sound OK?” The Big Move: Trio of pork: roasted loin, braised cheek, and crispy belly with black-eyed peas, kale, butternut squash, and apple purée.

Nurturing qualities: Pours a slew of Champagnes, cavas, proseccos, and other sparklers by the glass, with labels elsewhere sold only by the bottle.

Extra points for: Offering semiprivate tables, for lovebirds who actually want to focus on each other.

Erbaluce

♥ ♥ ♥ ♥ [heart rating: 4 out of 5] Romantic profile: Nature lover, and admitted obsessive (about freshness, and flavors veering from subtle to direct).

Endearingly intellectual (chef Chuck Draghi cooks like a professor eager to share his latest project with the class).

Irresistible opening line: “Do you know how amazing this place is? Or did ya just wander in?” (From a fellow diner, waiting for a table.)

The Big Move: Lemon panna cotta with green walnuts and raspberry sauce.

Nurturing qualities: Ask a server (any one) about the most esoteric ingredient in front of you, and Draghi

will often soon appear tableside with a personal story about it.

Extra points for: Bringing back Italian—Northern, that is. And all the sensorial dedication that implies.

L’Espalier

♥ ♥ ♥ ♥ [heart rating: 4 out of 5] Romantic profile: Enjoys long walks through degustation menus and gardening (as in, chef Frank McClelland’s private farm in Essex, from which he grabs many ingredients). Admittedly prone to perfectionism.

Irresistible opening line: “How about a glass of our private label bubbly, a 1996 Westport Rivers’ Cuvée L’Espalier?”

The Big Move: The roasted duck for two with chestnut soufflé, celery root coffee purée, glazed root vegetable, and spiced jus.

Nurturing qualities: To-the-second timing of course delivery and table clearance, from amuse-bouche to petits fours.

Extra points for: Customized plates from Louis Risoli’s impeccably curated cheese cart.

FEBRUARY 2013 / COUP BOSTON / TABLE

Irresistible opening line: “Tonight we’re serving foie with pomelo and ginger.”

The Big Move: Lamb with harissa, saffron, and an unforgettable wallop of preserved lemon.

Nurturing qualities: A chef’s tasting menu, wherein diners choose their favorite ingredients from a list of what’s freshest available that night, and a team directed by executive chef Colin Lynch gets to work creating a rollout of dishes.

Patrizia’s

love bites Clockwise from top left: Yet another irresistible special at L'Espalier; the Parisian vibe at Pigalle; sweet treats at Patrizia's; Deauxave's flowerflecked artistry; a pretty peek into the Menton dining room.

Lumiere

♥ ♥ ♥ ♥ [heart rating: 3½ out of 5] Romantic profile: A softie disguised as a slickster. (Don’t let the confident, smooth service fool you; these guys care about making people happy.)

Irresistible opening line: “Were you in here last week?”

(Read: the restaurant version of “Come here often?”)

The Big Move: Gloucester skate, bean ragout, and smoked paprika sauce with saffron aioli.

Nurturing qualities: The Pear Sidecar gets made with homemade sour mix.

Extra points for: One of the simplest, prettiest dining rooms around. (Hey, looks do count, right?)

Menton

♥ ♥ ♥ ♥ ♥ [heart rating: 4½ out of 5] Romantic profile: The Harlequin Romance (or Fifty Shades of Grey—take your pick) of Boston dining. Prone to indulgence, obsession, and rapturous hedonism.

♥ ♥ ♥ [heart rating: 3 out of 5] Romantic profile: Die-hard cuddler with a New World jump on Old World ideas (and recipes).

Irresistible opening line: “Ask Patrizia what secondo la stagione means [in Italian].” (An earful—and many mouthfuls—will ensue.)

The Big Move: Filet mignon with pâté de foie gras and shaved black truffle in Marsala reduction.

Nurturing qualities: The background noise—a mini symphony of harborside boat traffic, clinking wine glasses, and a regular conference of couples’ tête-à-têtes.

Extra points for: A chocolate soufflé with crème anglaise and strawberry-tarragon sauce that tastes like l’amore itself.

Pigalle

♥ ♥ ♥ [heart rating: 3 out of 5] Romantic profile: Admits to having a past, yet boasts a winsome affinity for flair (and fare).

Irresistible opening line: “Have you tried the Rosemary’s Baby?”

(It’s made with a home-distilled bourbon infused with rosemary.)

The Big Move: Seared diver scallops, glazed salsify, parsnip mousse, blacktrumpet mushrooms, tangerine, and port sauce.

Nurturing qualities: While it’s earned more recognition for pie of late, chef Marc Orfaly’s team also turns out profiteroles (with Nutella semifreddo and marshmallow) that deserve nothing but raves.

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partner spotlight >>>

ARTIST IN RESIDENCES For years, selling homes in Boston was about location and square footage. Then along

came Ricardo Rodriguez, to breathe

some life into where we live.

PHOTOGRAPHED BY JOEL BENJAMIN

FEBRUARY 2013 / COUP BOSTON / SPONSORED FEATURE

HOME ADVANTAGE Real estate is a pragmatic business, says Rodriguez, but it's also a very emotional one.

“

I didn’t have the luxury of putting a sign up and having people just buy something.

I had to create my business in a new way.

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“BUILD IT AND THEY WILL COME” may be the nowfamed adage. But if you’re Ricardo Rodriguez, it ought to be more like “Strategically design it and they will buy.”

After rushing between meetings all day, he finally sits down for a moment to talk about having just met with an old client—one whose South End house he’d sold years ago for a record sum, and then later helped him when he was looking to buy. “I knew I had the perfect place for him, but it was still in the beginning stages of construction,” he says. “He and his boyfriend saw it and decided to keep looking. We did that, but I knew the new construction project was it. It’s even half a block from their favorite restaurant.”

Their search went on for a few months until, one day, the couple announced they’d landed on Rodriguez’s original recommendation. “Today it was almost finished,” says Rodriguez. “I met them at it and they couldn’t be more excited, or happier.” Which was precisely Rodriguez’s aim all along; he sold four units in that building the very first day he listed them—all to buyers with a general profile he knew would want it. So it was hardly a coincidence. “It’s about creating the right home with the right finishes,” he says, “that’s priced properly, and marketed not only to the general buyer population, but more strategically to a targeted demographic. In essence, it’s social marketing.”

THE TERM “LIFESTYLE REAL ESTATE” has been abused. It’s been bandied about like a sagging volleyball lately.

But the man who originated the concept years ago and has been spreading its gospel ever since did so not only because the market demanded a new way of selling, but also simply as an extension of his own personality.

Seven years ago, when Rodriguez jumped into selling homes in the Back Bay, Newbury Street office of Coldwell Banker Residential Brokerage, he says, “It was love at first sight.”

He’d entered a market that was fluid, in which homes were

moving rapid-fire. But then The Boston Globe ran a story warning that the bubble was about to burst. “Great timing, right?” laughs the Colombia-born Rodriguez. Suddenly things had shifted. “I didn’t have the luxury of putting a sign up and having people just buy something,” he adds. “I had to create my business in a new way.”

But it was more than that, too; Rodriguez, who comes from a family of musicians and spent time in acting school, has had an extroverted streak since he was little. He’s also always had an interest in home design. Selling homes, he found, was a perfect way to harness both.

“I decided that new construction was going to be my primary niche,” he says. “I love designing environments, and so I went after that angle.” He switched up his focus to become more of a home marketer than a salesperson, finding out every last thing he could about a home and then strategically targeting the most likely demographic of its buyer. Based on such factors as price, location, proximity to restaurants, and amenities in the building, he would then restage the home’s interior—from repainting walls to taking the owner to buy new furniture and changing countertops—to appeal to the intended market. “If I went into a place that would clearly be great for people who like to entertain, I would tell a client to replace a dining table that only had space for two people. I’m not guessing or giving an opinion; I’m targeting.”

Likewise, he pinpoints homes for buyers in a similar fashion, diving into the process of their lifestyle to determine what would make them most happy. “I listen to every detail about how they live,” he says. “Let’s say someone tells me they love to go to the corner restaurant every night for a glass of wine. That helps me narrow in on specific blocks of specific neighborhoods. Then I take them to that neighborhood and spend time with them there.”

USING THAT APPROACH, Rodriguez finds he can turn most properties around in the first weeks. And for this, he’s been wooed as a consultant for the past couple of years with New York–based developers, working on projects there and in L.A. Moreover, he’s received a smattering of awards, firstly from Coldwell Banker for being one of the company’s 'International President’s Elite' (2% of agents worldwide), while he's also become something of a local media darling.

The Boston Globe has called him one of our “most prominent” agents, and he's been regularly referred to as a local tastemaker, a dapper real estate maven, one of the Top 50 Massachusetts agents, and go-to guy by everyone from The Boston Herald, and Stuff and Boston magazines. About all of which, he is demure: “It’s gratifying to see people appreciating that my point of view is different than most brokers.”

Actually, his point of view is different from many people’s, period. “Everything in my world gets touched by design,” he enthuses. “That’s the common thread in everything I do.” That consistent strain of thinking includes both work on multiple home TV shows over the years, contributions to publications on home and lifestyle, plus an ongoing gig as creative director for local fashion designer Daniela Corte. “It’s all the same sensibility; things have to work aesthetically for your primary targeted clients,” he adds.

And yet, all that work operates on a fulcrum that’s unequivocally personal in nature. “I’m an emotional person.

I believe in enjoying everything you do,” he says. “Real estate is a very pragmatic business, but at the end of the day, it’s actually very emotional. After all, if someone loves a space, they’ll buy it.

And be happy there.”

FEBRUARY 2013 / COUP BOSTON / SPONSORED FEATURE

feeling right at home Clockwise from top: The Jonathan Adler– designed floor of Urban Showhouse, the project Rodriguez organized to benefit Pine Street Inn; Rodriguez shows off his own relaxed style; the luxe bathroom of one of Ricardo’s listings; the floor Terrat Elms created for Urban Showhouse.

Listing photographs courtesy of Coldwell Banker Residential Brokerage.

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The First Annual

25 Lifestyle Visionary Awards by the COUP Boston staff photographed by JOEL BENJAMIN

FEBRUARY 2013 / COUP BOSTON / LIFESTYLE VISIONARY AWARDS

“The only people for me are the mad ones, the ones who are mad to live, mad to talk, mad to be saved, desirous of everything at the same time....”

—Jack Kerouac “Here's To The Crazy Ones. The misfits. The rebels.

The troublemakers ....They push the human race forward.

And while some may see them as the crazy ones, we see genius. Because the people who are crazy enough to think they can change the world are the ones who do.”

—Steve Jobs

The following 25 Bostonians may or may not be just a little bit crazy. They all had, at some point, a brand-new idea that gave their peers pause. Maybe it was a long-respected chef’s new and unorthodox dining room service, or a car company’s gutsy overturning of how we get around town. It could have been a fashion designer’s against-the-tide dive into demicouture, or just as easily, one group’s unrelenting push for sophisticated local nightlife, when almost all the rest of us had given up hope.

Welcome to our first annual Lifestyle Visionary Awards.

This is where we take a look at the last year, and celebrate those who changed the way we go about our everyday lives in this town. Each one of our winners has in some way, big or small, pushed us to revise how we think about what we eat, how we dress, travel, look, decorate, and create our homes.

We honor these winners not simply because they opened a new business (sometimes they did, sometimes they didn’t), but rather because they offered a new concept, and revised the previously accepted rules of their local industries. In all cases, they weren’t afraid to offer imaginative twists on tradition that could be considered risky, if not a tad nuts.

Then again, anyone who knows anything at all (other than how to follow rules) understands that everyone exceptional is at least a little bit crazy. And hey, sometimes it takes a little revolution in order to have evolution. By pushing the boundaries of daily life in our city, these winners made it a better place to live. That’s what this magazine was created to do, and that pursuit's what we raise a glass to now.

And the winners are...

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JODY ADAMS Trade For: Upending How Dinner Gets Served

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Superlative food has a life span: devour it at the pinnacle of its glory, or it simply won’t taste as good. Chef Jody Adams is, right now, one of the only people around acknowledging and addressing this fact—with a modus operandi that she and co-owners Sean Griffing and Eric Papachristos have implemented at the posh and always-packed Trade restaurant. (The program has no official name, but for our purposes here, we’ll call it simply “Serve Immediately.”) And it truly is that simple, yet arguably subversive because of that simplicity. After all, conventional wisdom holds that a key mark of highend restaurant service is the ability to serve all the dishes in each course simultaneously to a table. Adams and her team beg to differ. They prioritize the food itself above pomp and circumstance, and thus don’t let one single dish linger in the kitchen under heat lamps (if it’s a hot dish) or get lukewarm (if it’s, say, raw fish), all the while becoming less delicious. Of course, if more traditional diners request their orders served together instead, they’ll accommodate. But where’s the fun in that?

Particularly when the Serve Immediately ethos is less intrusive to the table’s conversation, spotlights dishes designed to be shared by everyone anyway, and ultimately prizes the food itself far above dining protocol.

FEBRUARY 2013 / COUP BOSTON / LIFESTYLE VISIONARY AWARDS

KATE BRIERLEY Isoude For: Countering Throwaway Fashion with Demi-Couture

These days, the word “couture” is used so freely, it’s practically come to be an affected synonym for any and all clothing. But Brierley, the woman behind the Rhode Island–based women’s wear label Isoude, isn’t one to dabble in misnomers. Between her design house and new Back Bay studio space, she’s become a proud advocate for extraordinary attention to detail.

That means hand-sewn, made-to-order apparel, derived directly from haute couture (literally: high dressmaking). Educated at the Rhode Island School of Design and Fashion Institute of Technology, the stylist-turned-designer absorbed the traditions of haute couture while working in the atelier of Chado Ralph Rucci. Armed with an appreciation for those traditions as her foundation, she founded Isoude, which includes seasonal ready-to-wear collections (sharply tailored, timelessly chic separates rendered in luxurious fabrics), a lauded bridal collection, and custom commissions for her ever-growing circle of private clients. In the current age of fast fashion retailers crowding every available corner, Kate Brierley is reviving the time-honored traditions of fine dressmaking, stitching each dress with one eye to the past, and one to the future.

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TATIANA CUEVA Designer For: A Breakout Debut Womenswear Collection

From the very first look of her debut runway show this past fall, it was clear that Cueva was a different sort of Boston designer. Where her peers offered sober studies in the fundamentals of design (cut, color, craftsmanship), the twentysomething Cueva put forth a collection of razor-sharp sartorial statements, each more perfectly honed than the last. It was an ambitious exhibition of technique, too: shaped shoulders, geometric peplums, filigreed cutouts, and, throughout, leather woven into dramatic but shapely silhouettes that hugged every curve.

As a whole, it was an adventurous spin through a motley lot of motifs, taking cues from a design spectrum that included—or must have, anyway— the iconic work of Armani in the ’80s and, as Cueva’s show notes intimated, the time-honored basket-weaving traditions of her native Mexico.

Here was a designer who proved not only what she could do with clothes, but also what she could say with them.

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FEBRUARY 2013 / COUP BOSTON / LIFESTYLE VISIONARY AWARDS

SEAN WILLIAM DONOVAN Social Media Provacateur For: Redefining East Coast Prep, Unabashedly Living the Good Life, and Letting Us in on the Fun By day, the Wentworth Institute of Technology grad spends his time curating cheeky-chic displays as a visual merchandiser for Circle Furniture. And while you may have noticed the artful fruits of his labor, it’s far more likely that you know Donovan by his other name: @BostonMo. With his ever-growing Twitter following, he’s become something of a boldfaced Boston bon vivant, cataloging his every move via the social media site. But what makes him a Lifestyle Visionary is what he’s done with the audience he’s amassed: engaged every last follower in a discourse on living Boston’s good life, and encouraged them to embrace their city, flaws and all. He’s equal parts ruthless critic and loyal champion, self-possessed tour guide and wide-eyed wanderer. His unapologetic honesty is never more apparent than when the conversation turns to fashion (which it often does): one moment he’s lamenting a Bostonian’s crimes against style, the next he’s extolling the virtues of lesser-known labels like cutting-edge menswear designer Thom Browne (stocked locally at Riccardi), and always exposes his audience to new ideas of sartorial self-expression in the process. Add to that his delightfully irreverent personal style—he posts a style #selfie nearly every day—and the BostonMo feed reads less like Twitter ramblings and more like a lighthearted treatise on aesthetic self-improvement, with Donovan leading his followers by example, one Tweet at a time.

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STACEY FRASCA Studio 28 For: Creating a High-Def Makeup Line Made for Every Day

Once upon a time, it was relatively easy to look decent on Good Morning America, Inside Edition, or CNN Headline News. Then along came HDTV, and makeup artists everywhere had to seriously up their game. Stacey Frasca (who’s worked on sets at all of the above shows) emerged not only as one of the survivors of that watershed, but also as one of its champions; she’s beautified everyone from Marcia Cross to cosmetics baroness Trish McEvoy. The Red Sox and New England Patriots call her in regularly, and style icon Gretta Monahan has her on speed dial for TV segments. But then a funny thing happened: Frasca started mulling how the same techniques, products, and tricks that she was using to make celebs look impeccable under the glare of cameras could be applied to us civilians. [Full disclosure: That includes many of the winners in this story for our photo shoot. Further proof that her talents are too good to resist.] Finally, last spring, her answer came: It was the launch of a makeup line, Studio 28, which uses formulations she knows look all-natural up close (HD concealers, powders that blend seamlessly, shadows that refuse to crease) and tailors them to the demand for everyday, comfortable prettiness. The line sells like wildfire nationally on the Web, but our local advantage is having Frasca nearby (she named Studio 28 after her retail space in Wellesley), to not only hand clients the products, but to also dole out personalized tips and trade secrets for applying them.

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FEBRUARY 2013 / COUP BOSTON / LIFESTYLE VISIONARY AWARDS

RANDY GREENSTEIN Big Night Entertainment Group For: Teaching Boston Nightlife to Grow Up

For eons too long, the city’s nightclub scene had languished in the no man’s lands of ersatz Irish pubs, sticky sports bars, and pool halls. You wanted decent food?

Get yourself to a late-night restaurant. Dancing? Better be prepared to wait in line with undergrads—and get treated like one at the door. So give a big round of applause, please, for Randy Greenstein and his partners Ed and Joe Kane at Big Night Entertainment Group. They’ve inspired us to hit the town again, thanks to back-to-back openings of three clubs that are as smart and sophisticated as their guests. It started a year and a half ago with Red Lantern, a convergence of first-rate Asian restaurant and sprawling, opium den–like bar. But things really caught fire when last year they opened the gastro-lounge GEM and, right behind it, the cavernous and drop-dead-gorgeous Empire.

All three holdings have leveraged Greenstein’s expertise in the music industry (bringing in globally sought-after DJs) and sensory immersion know-how (meaning true VIP service that extends throughout the club) and ultimately proven that excellent dining and chilling out into the wee hours aren’t mutually exclusive.

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MARC HALL Objekt For: Planting the Seeds of Inspired Horticultural Design

The world is really just one big garden, as far as mad floral genius Marc Hall is concerned.

If he’s not scouting new arrangement concepts in Amsterdam, he’s tackling the shelves of Paris flea markets for antique vases to bring home. All of it either gets used in the private and exclusive events he designs (How exclusive? Chelsea Clinton’s wedding was one of his gigs last year), or it goes straight to the shelves of Objekt, the fantastical design shop he opened last fall. Crammed with reclaimed tables, meticulously finished candleholders, handmade pedestals, and highly textured pots and vases, the place is like an imaginary world of his own creation. It’s already become a goto resource for home design fanatics—both aficionados and professionals—addicted to the one-of-a-kind pieces only he seems to be able to find.

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Proof of age required. Tickets are available by phone, web and at the Box Office on a first-come, first-served basis on both the orchestra and balcony levels.

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Season Sponsors

NICK MATHEWS Uber For: Transporting Boston Out of the Dark Ages

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When other cities’ cabs started accepting credit cards, Boston taxis idled. Until they were forced by the city to adapt. When cars virtually everywhere brought in GPS technology, our local services were still relying on paper maps—or passengers’ directions. Enter Uber, which in the last year has literally changed how Bostonians get around their city. Suddenly, there’s no more wondering where your taxi is. (Uber’s GPSbased smartphone app updates clients constantly on how far away their rides are.) No more fighting with dispatchers about arrival time. (Said app also lets you call your driver directly, at any point.) No more end-ofride claims from drivers that the credit card machine is broken, and they can only take cash. (Accounts are hooked up to passengers’ credit cards when they register, so rides get paid in plastic automatically.)

And while no scientific study has yet been done, it’s commonly estimated by most devotees that Uber drivers are somewhere around 700 percent more polite and professional than conventional taxi drivers.

This, people, is how a city evolves—Uber is not only a formidable service in its own right, but it’s become an impetus for the city’s competing car services to become equally accommodating. At long last.

FEBRUARY 2013 / COUP BOSTON / LIFESTYLE VISIONARY AWARDS

SAM MONSOUR JM Curley For: Elevating Junk Food to New Heights

We’re willing to bet this: Most people who argue that comfort food doesn’t deserve its own respected culinary genre also caviled when rap got its own category at the Grammys. That said, Monsour, executive chef at JM Curley, consistently pushes the boundaries (and sometimes the buttons) of even the staunchest supporters of classic “lowbrow” fare. He takes fried oyster po’ boys and jacks them up with Louisiana slaw, serrano jelly, and Great Hill Blue cheese. He remakes Easy Cheese in homemade form, flavors them with morels, ramps, and fava beans, and serves them a sleeve of his own version of Ritz crackers. Desserts get off no easier: His “Crunchy Hipster” is an amalgam of white fudge pretzels, bacon, M&M’s, and Butterfingers. The biggest surprise, however, isn’t his flavor combinations.

It’s that their results would have Escoffier himself ordering seconds. In short, by taking the kind of comfort food favorites we all craved as kids and giving them a sophisticated, smart spin, the guy is creating an irresistible kind of symphony of high and low flavors and textures—and arguably a genre all his own.

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118 NEWBURY STREET, 2FL BOSTON, MA 02116 617.262.8118 WWW.SALONEVAMICHELLE.COM

FEBRUARY 2013 / COUP BOSTON / LIFESTYLE VISIONARY AWARDS

MEICHI PENG Meichi Peng Design Studio For: Marrying High Style with Serenity

Designing a home and designing a handbag each necessitate a balance between contemporary individuality and traditional technique. Peng, who just so happens to be a whiz at both, is generally known most for her sleek, finely detailed handbag designs. But this year, she officially killed it in the interior design arena as well. Her biggest and most noteworthy home projects (much like her totes) are understated and full of texture. A stunning Boston penthouse for a certain (press-shy) Hollywood producer, for example, features a modern meditation room equipped with an ancient and gigantic Buddha head. Equally spectacular was her custom-built Zen den in Chestnut Hill that included a home gym to give any Equinox location a run for its money, a media room, and a dizzyingly gorgeous outdoor oasis complete with a custom kitchen, pool, cabanas, and a custom waterfall. Environments like these aren’t merely big-budget play spaces; they’re Peng’s expressions of their owners’ individuality with an eye toward relaxation and feeling truly at home.

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NICK PENNA SalonCapri For: Taking Old-World Service Cutting Edge

The first SalonCapri opened in Hyde Park under Gina Penna in ’67, after she’d moved to Boston from Italy. Since then, the torch has been passed to her son, Nick, who’s picked it and run—fast.

The original mom-and-pop spot has since shuttered, but in its place now are ultramodern, sleek locations in Newton Highlands, Legacy Place, and most recently the flagship Newbury Street address. Nick, who refuses to step away from styling despite the expanded business role he’s taken on, takes inspiration for his team’s cuts from global runways and fashion weeks, then renders them everyday wearable.

Meanwhile, all three SalonCapri locations are some of only a few in the entire country designated as L’Oreal Professionnel’s training centers. And now all of that substance has been done justice in the flat-out stunning Back Bay space—whitewashed, salvaged wood walls against gleaming chairs and ethereal lighting make it one of the most handsome, and original, salons on the street.

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FEBRUARY 2013 / COUP BOSTON / LIFESTYLE VISIONARY AWARDS

STEPHANIE ROSSI Spazio Rosso For: Thoughtfully Irreverent Home Design

“If you keep an open mind,” says Stephanie Rossi, “the design will ‘be.’” What at first may sound like just another bit of polished PR-speak is, in fact, a surprisingly insightful distillation of what makes her work (and her presence in Boston) so notable. She’s not another designer pining for decades past, echoing the upholstered politeness of generations of Brahmin brownstones. (Although her foundation—a BFA from New England School of Art & Design and more than five years working for one of Boston’s reigning Neo-Traditionalist designers, Mark Bombara—certainly left her with both an understanding of and an appreciation for tradition.) Instead, what makes Rossi a visionary is her ability to deftly marry traditional sensibilities with forward-thinking design and incorporate light and sound not as a complement to a welldesigned space, but as paramount to one. The best example yet?

In 2012, Rossi was one of a select group of Boston designers who contributed to the Junior League’s annual Show House event, each design taking over a space in Newton’s historic Potter Estate. But Rossi didn’t just design a space; where there once was a bathroom, she created an impossibly sexy “bathing room” meets relaxation lounge that raised more than a few eyebrows in the normally staid show house. In essence, she reimagined the purpose of a bathroom completely, which is how Rossi approaches each and every one of her projects: with impeccable taste and an always-open imagination.

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VERONICA SAGHERIAN Impulse For: Taking the Overstatement out of Statement Jewelry

Purchasing a necklace is not an existential decision.

Nor is anyone solving world hunger or global warming whenever she purchases a pair of earrings. So with all due respect to the many dealers of fine jewelry out there, buying a bauble—no matter how exquisite or expensive—should be an act of pure joy rather than a high-pressure decision. And just as often, it should be an act of impulsivity. We’re not absolutely certain that’s precisely why Veronica Sagherian named her new venture “Impulse,” but we’d like to think so. After years of putting investment pieces in the hands of women at Adamas Fine Jewelry, she knows more than a thing or two about people’s buying habits. And sometimes they just want to walk in, point at something they’ve fallen in love with instantly, and walk out with it. No hemming or hawing, or consulting with the family accountant.

Maybe they want it because it’s something they won’t find anywhere else in this region (a risqué resin creation of French artist Dominique Denaive). Or it’s a talisman both delicate and streamlined (cocktail rings by Suzanne Kalan). Or maybe, just maybe, they just want it because they want it. And that’s precisely the point.

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FEBRUARY 2013 / COUP BOSTON / LIFESTYLE VISIONARY AWARDS

ADAM SIMHA MKS/Knife For: Carving Out an Appetite for Artisanal Kitchen Knives

Years ago, when MIT alum and design-zealot-cum-artist Adam Simha looked up on the wall of a Williams-Sonoma, he saw scores of beautiful knives made in Japan and Europe, but none from America. So he got down to studying under veteran bladesmith J. D. Smith, mastered the craft, and then created custom-made knives out of his North Cambridge studio, followed by a line for All-Clad now peddled at Bloomingdale’s (and blessed by The New York Times food scribe Florence Fabricant). His guru status thus secured, this year he launched an initiative to bring a line of ready-made knives to the local masses, and he based it on templates he’s created for chefs. So when he designed a knife for Bondir restaurant’s Jason Bond, for example, he noted what Bond reported was best (and worst) about its performance and then riffed on that design for the line. And that’s actually something he does with all of his clients. He knows it’s a fool designer who evaluates his own tools, so when customers visit his studio to take him up on his policy of free lifelong sharpening, he takes their feedback to heart in the next iteration of the knife’s design. This means not only constant innovation on his part, but also that more Bostonians are now making dinner with tools far superior to most, and having an equally superior time cooking.

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STEVE SIMON National Jean Company For: Fighting for Better Denim

The decade-old tsunami of designer jeans continues to flood the country, but Boston, at least, has a life raft. It’s National Jean Company that, its name notwithstanding, is based in Newton. It’s where owner Steve Simon tirelessly and nigh-obsessively labors to take us toward gentler waves of denim. This year, he took his two-branch operation to three, opening a spot on Newbury Street (Nicole Richie showed off the latest from her lines House of Harlow and Winter Kate at the launch soiree). In that store, he officially ousted ubiquitous lines like 7 For All Mankind and replaced them with a larger variety of labels that hew more toward fancy than frayed and are as appropriate for work lunch meetings as for date night. He also re-educated his staff on fitting clients, thus helping eradicate muffin tops and plumber’s syndrome throughout the city—a public service if there ever was one. Credit his mad sales (NJC did $5 million last year—and that includes the Newton and Wellesley shops as well as in Back Bay) to all of the above, plus to his general method of tackling the midmarket: Simply give Bostonians a path to jeans that look as good as they feel, and they’ll beat it to your door.

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FEBRUARY 2013 / COUP BOSTON / LIFESTYLE VISIONARY AWARDS

ASHLEY STANLEY Lovin' Spoonfuls For: Cooking Up New Ways to Feed the Hungry

2012 was a very, very good year for local food fairy godmother Ashley Stanley. For starters, less than 24 months after founding Lovin’ Spoonfuls, her nonprofit food rescue program (they collect perishables with no marketable value and instead of letting them get thrown away, deliver them directly to soup kitchens), beat out over 1,500 international start-ups to earn a winning spot in the 2012 MassChallenge competition.

Then her Ultimate Tailgate fundraiser grossed more than $90,000 despite Hurricane Sandy threatening her idyllic waterfront party location.

And finally, Oxfam America honored the hometown hero by adding her to the ranks of its illustrious “Sisters on the Planet” committee for her commitment to social justice through hunger relief. But perhaps the most impressive part of Stanley’s recent breakout success is that instead of letting it go to her head, she continues to take it to the streets—having delivered over 100,000 pounds of fresh, healthy food to the people in our area who need it most, she rode the resulting wave of support and put yet another truck on the road so she can feed even more people.

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LIZ VILARDI Belly Wine Bar For: Bringing Small-Batch, Big-Value Vino to the Fore Simply put, there’s little room for wine snobs in Vilardi’s life. There’s also little room for them in Belly Wine Bar—the tiny-but-pretty enoteca abutting The Blue Room. She coowns and directs wine at both, but it’s the smaller of the two that most acutely shows off her oeuvre. When it opened last fall, she put her years of research (she also co-owns and directs at Central Bottle Wine + Provisions) and proudly quirky palate to work, spotlighting wallet-friendly lesser-knowns on a list ordered according to a stream of descriptive terms that seem non sequiturs at first (“taut, lean, nervy, granite, compact, populated, autumnal,” reads one section), but come to life in the first few sips. Ditto Vilardi’s own mini wine educations, which she doles out tableside when asked, and which often turn quickly into more general rap sessions. It’s the kind of setup that filters all the pretention out of drinking wine and encourages less spending and more quaffing.

Less pomp, more fun. Less intimidation, more experimentation. And more adventure, period.

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FEBRUARY 2013 / COUP BOSTON / LIFESTYLE VISIONARY AWARDS

Megan Graham beauty

For: Solving the Riddle of Bad Hair Days

Who would let someone take a laser to her precious tresses? Just about anyone who’s ever put themselves in the hands of hair extraordinaire Megan Graham, that’s who. The groundbreaker has found a new and bona fide genius way to add dimension to drab locks: laser hair extensions. Employing a special bonding application, Graham and her team fuse meticulously color-matched Hairdreams 7 Star extensions to hair to create long and voluptuous ’dos in literally half the time of traditional methods. The innovative service is painless, virtually noiseless, and almost completely imperceptible (so no one’s left channeling Naomi Campbell’s recent hair “don’t” in Ibiza). And because they last between four and six months, extensions grow out so subtly, clients claim they almost forget they even have them in. The reminder, of course, is how much better they look for having them.

45 Province Street The Abbey Group

For: Building Health into Homes

The living room couch has long been the enemy of wellness. Even dedicated wellness nuts have felt the urge to hang out in the house rather than go chase after self-improvement. But what if the house were, essentially, your temple of wellness? That was a question asked by The Abbey Group when they proposed this shiny new building, tucked between Beacon Hill’s traditional brownstones and the frenetic energy of the FiDi. The 32-story glass and brick high-rise designed by Bruner/Cott & Associates anchors the up-and-coming Midtown neighborhood (yup, Boston has its own Midtown these days) with a vibe that deserves to be dubbed “enlightened urban chic.” The 137 units (with a whopping 85 different floor plans) are equipped with design elements and luxury amenities meant to soothe: The condos themselves flaunt gourmet kitchens, bamboo flooring, walnut cabinets, and seemingly never-ending windows that deliver incredible panoramic skyline views. Most impressively, there’s the state-of-the-art, residents-only Exhale spa and fitness center— complete with on-site treatment rooms, classes, events, and an all-year heated saline pool. It’s basically like having deeded property rights to your favorite spa retreat, but just a few steps from the city.

Benito Maniscalco Benito’s Hot Sauce

For: Going Where No Condiment Has Gone Before

Sweets lovers usually stick to their own kind, as do spice fiends. So who’d ever think to marry the cults of Vermont maple syrup and chilies? Maniscalco did, in his latest brilliant, take-no-prisoners-intense opus: Habanero-Infused Maple Syrup. The ruby liquid has only two Vermont ingredients (both organic)—pure Grade B organic maple syrup (it actually carries the richest maple flavor) from Palmer Lane Maple in Jeffersonville and Organic Habaneros from Foote Brook Farm in Johnson—but opens up new flavor possibilities that are just about endless. It pumps up waffles to a sweet, smoky crescendo. On bacon and ribs, the heat hits the center of the tongue and then moves to the back of the throat. Pour it on oatmeal for a serious wake-up call. Or if you really want to mess with your palate, hit a bowl of ice cream with its heat. Is it any wonder the sauce won award after award last year at food shows across the country?

Whatever you drizzle it over, its maple flavor plays back and forth with the fruity peppers (which are, blessedly, not scorchingly hot), and does so straight through to the aftertaste. Your pancakes—and palate—may never be the same.

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KEN ORINGER + CLIO TEAM For: Spearheading the Evolution of Fine Dining

It isn’t just that pastry chef Monica Glass constructs her desserts a lot like Michelangelo pieced together tableaux. (Her rooibos-peached quince with caramelized white chocolate, chicory, and horchata ice cream belongs in the MFA.) Or that between executive chef Douglas Rodrigues and his sous Zach Watkins, the kitchen consistently redraws the line between daring and decadent, and flirts with perfection without even so much as a glance at preciousness. Or that Todd Maul is one of the few bartenders in town who actually deserves to put the word “craft” next to his cocktails. No, it isn’t just any one of those talents alone that merits this award, but their sum total, as well as the synchronicity of their vision—both philosophically and in their ability to execute it. Meanwhile, ultimate credit has to go to the man who brought them all together, none other than Clio owner/chef Ken Oringer—he of the palate as renowned as it is revered. To all of that effort, go ahead and factor in a design overhaul that recognized the public’s newfound desire for less pomp and more fun at dinnertime. The net result is that in a moment when the cultural consciousness leans more toward comfort food at the neighborhood tavern, Clio has kept fine dining relevant, kept diners reserving its tables, buzzing about the last ambitious dish they savored, and highly anticipating the next one.

ALEXIS GELBURD-KIMLER & MATTHEW GOUDET West Bridge

For: Breaking New Ground on Old Ground

No one sits around yearning to dine in a former hose factory. And if they do happen to find themselves eating in one, odds are they’d rather not be reminded that’s what it used to be. So we’ve got to wonder what kind of mindaltering substances the folks behind West Bridge restaurant were on when they decided to embrace, rather than erase, the space’s history. Turns out it was just good ol’ fashioned creativity—or, rather, ol’ fashioned and new. Coowners Alexis Gelburd-Kimler and Matthew Goudet labored with the genii from the firm Crème Design to knock together an airy, museum-like loft that spotlights honeyed wood architectural details hovering above metal chairs and steel chandeliers, recycled ropes that double as artwork, and original 19thcentury ads for the factory. In the kitchen, Chef Goudet breaks down just as many barriers with his consistently harmonic use of ingredients—he seems to imagine a dish as a whole first, and how every bite would taste combined with all the other ingredients on the plate, and work backward from there. Then there’s how the team went out on a limb in structuring the menu: When West Bridge opened last year, more than a few diners balked at the price points on its largest dishes (in the $40 range). Until, that is, they realized those offerings are actually made for two people, which makes them a pretty sweet deal—one almost as irresistibly clever as the space itself.

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FEBRUARY 2013 / COUP BOSTON / LIFESTYLE VISIONARY AWARDS

Nancy Batista-Caswell Ceia

For: Pushing the North Shore Palate

In an area known more for fried clams than cutting-edge menus, Nancy Batista-Caswell last year packed Newburyport’s Ceia Kitchen + Bar with patrons clamoring to pull up a chair to chef Patrick Soucy’s culinary exploits (like plates of sweetbreads with Madeira and red cabbage, or coddled egg with truffles, duxelles, and foie sauce). The crowds swelled to the point that, in December, she had to move across the street to a bigger (as in, three entire floors) space. At the same time, somehow between juggling expansion plans and preparing to open Brine (the forthcoming nouveau surf ’n’ turf joint, to be in Ceia’s old space)—and, oh yeah, launching a private wine label—BatistaCaswell took Ceia to The James Beard House, where Soucy rolled out a soldout dinner to rave reviews. Batista-Caswell’s run of recent triumphs has been a boon not only for her CV but for the region as well, breathing new life into the North Shore’s culinary tourism scene and attracting chefs and hungry visitors alike.

Dr. Steven Spitz Smileboston

For: Introducing Space-Age Cosmetic Dentistry

Between tax collectors and dentists, it’s a tough call which one is more universally reviled. But Dr. Spitz’s mission is to turn that vilification into something more like appreciation, with a combination of brand-new technologies many dentists have barely even heard of, let alone brought into their practices. This past year, he scoured the country for new equipment and brought in new machines to produce high-definition, three-dimensional scanning before treatments, and another that creates crowns, veneers, and inlays right in the office, so no one needs to wait weeks for them to come back from the lab. (In fact, they can get placed the same day.) Add efficiency tools and techniques like those to his stash of newfangled lasers that significantly reduce discomfort, and processes that are normally arduous and anxietyridden for patients suddenly become a relative snap. For anyone chasing a perfect set of choppers, that’s indeed something to smile about.

The Four Seasons

For: Thinking Outside the Luxury Hotel Box

When you’re as long-revered a brand as the Four Seasons, no one expects you to champion informality, or to entertain unorthodox ideas. But someone forgot to tell the hotel that when it started its internal innovation program that’s fueled entirely by the creative juice of its staff. In regular brainstorming sessions with groups from all levels of each department, staff are encouraged to play music, ditch their shoes, play games, and then start throwing out ideas—no matter how outrageous—for new programs. Then they all vote on the best initiatives and immediately pilot them. The programs that have materialized run from practical to just plain fun: from a Virtual Teen Amenity Program (complete with Quick Response codes that lead to prizes) and an express check-in for business travelers to 15-Minute Room Service to Beantown Benz Trivia (a spin on the game show Cash Cab, wherein passengers riding in the complimentary house car win hotel perks for correct answers).

And the program hasn’t just benefited hotel guests, either; it also continually motivates staff to conjure up more ideas, no matter how eccentric, so the payoff is a virtuous cycle of new thinking.

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True Bromance Brothers Louis and Michael DiBiccari in their restaurant space soon to be known as Tavern Road.

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FEBRUARY 2013 / COUP BOSTON / COUP D'ÉTAT

THE ROAD LESS TRAVELED Take a traditional restaurant, reimagine it as an artists’ community, and what do you get? Tavern Road, the new spot brothers Louis and Michael DiBiccari are on the verge of opening in Fort Point.

by ERIN BYERS MURRAY // photographed by RUSS MEZIKOFSKY FOR MOST CHEFS, working behind the line in a conventional restaurant is a calling card. But Louis DiBiccari isn’t like most chefs. The mastermind behind interactive dining experiences like Chef Louie Night (an Iron Chef–style extreme cooking and dining event) and Create, which last summer paired six chefs with six artists for one night of delicious collaboration, is better known for the community he builds through food than for which kitchens he’s sweated through.

(Although those have been notable, too: The Bostonian, Sage, L’Espalier, Sel de la Terre, and Storyville.)

So what happens when a progressive-minded chef decides it’s time to open a conventional restaurant? He starts with ideas like, “It’s not about the food. There’s great food all over the place. It’s more important that we create a balanced experience.” And he talks about building an artists’ studio, not a dining room. Thus Tavern Road, his spanking new Fort Point hang, will offer fantastic food (his famous porchetta, for example) but also far more. A dining room open all day for communal use; a culture of service inspired by that exemplar of hospitality, Eastern Standard (where his partner and brother, Michael, worked for two years, soaking up its systems like a sponge); and a dedication to support the surrounding artist community as it struggles to maintain its hold on the growing neighborhood.

After two years of searching for a space, Louis and Michael stepped into the room at 343 Congress Street and, as Michael says, “It just clicked, like the feeling you get when you’re buying your first home.” Their uncle Adio had been a sculptor, part of a wild band of artists

from the ’60s and ’70s, who worked in a studio off Tavern Road near Northeastern University.

(His monuments, like the 18-foot-tall Athena atop the Athenaeum Press Building, can still be found around the city.) He’d been floating in and out of the brothers’ subconscious as they considered a concept—securing the space in Fort Point, says Louis, “connected the dots for us to do a modern interpretation of our uncle’s work.”

The most sizable tribute is a massive 30-by-6-foot mural created by the Fort Point collaborative Project Super Friends, which puts images of Uncle Adio at the center of the room.

Less obvious will be those indiscernible nods at collaboration, like a menu that encourages communal eating, a wine list and cocktail program crafted with the help of some friends (Wine Riot and mixologist Ryan Mcgrale, respectively), and an adjacent all-day grab-and-go market called TR Street Foods where you can pick up a calzone, take it into the TR dining room, and hook up to free Wi-Fi. Weaving it all together will be Louis and Michael’s own familial heritage, in which big gatherings always happened around the table.

For the brothers DiBiccari, Tavern Road is an opportunity to open that table to the city—and invite everyone to pull up a chair. Or as Louis puts it, “To try to take the spirit of what goes on in an artist community—the studio feel, the camaraderie, the creativity, the partying—and have a really loud, high-energy space that celebrates that.”

TAVERN ROAD 343 Congress Street // Boston, MA 02210 tavernroad.com 63

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