SUPPLEMENT TO THE BOSTON PHOENIX APRIL 16, 2010
2010
arts & entertainment city life food & drink
shopping & recreation
Readers’ pic ks
SUPPLEMENT TO THE BOSTON PHOENIX | THE BEST | APRIL 16, 2010 3
The Boston Phoenix presents
t s e B e h T 2010
Readers’ Picks Arts & Entertainment City Life Food & Drink Shopping & Recreation
p. 4 p. 12 p. 15 p. 25
ON THE COVER F ILLUSTR ATION BY K BONAMI ON THIS PAGE F PAINT PENS IN PURSES PHOTO BY KELLY DAVIDSON; “M AKE WAY FOR DUCKLINGS” STATUE PHOTO BY ANNE WERMIEL; L AUR A PRESHO NG JEWELRY PHOTO BY MELISSA OSTROW; CLUB C AFÉ PHOTO BY DEREK KOUYOUMJIAN
CRAZY GOOD We get it: this past year was tough. Hedge-funders turned us into hobos; right-wing extremists lapped up revolutionary Kool-Aid with their tea; our blue bastion of a state even elected a red-hot senator to strip the nation of health care. All the more reason to make the best of a bad situation by engaging in a bit of feel-good electioneering. We like to think we’ve put the polity back into politics, asking you to vote in The Best not for the lesser of evils, but for the invaluable assets of Greater Boston: the people, places, and things that make it a great city in which to live — even as the rest of the nation sidesteps toward insanity. All of our candidates deserve accolades. Alas, there were no hanging chads in these races, so only one victor in each category can be crowned. To them go the sweet spoils of democracy; to our fine friends who closed shop this past year, our regrets; and to all who participated, our appreciation. Special thanks go to those who formed these laurels: Julia Rappaport (Shopping & Recreation), Nina MacLaughlin (Arts & Entertainment and City Life), and MC Slim JB (Food & Drink), as well as our photographers, Editorial Designer Christine Atturio, Design Director Kristen Goodfriend, Web Editor Carly Carioli, and Assistant Managing Editor Sean Kerrigan. You truly are the best. _Vanessa Czarnecki, The Best editor
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The Best in Arts & Entertainment KEEPING UP WITH THE BEST OF ’EM
BEST ART GALLERY The word “gallery” triggers images of wide white walls and fakers gazing at a photograph, a piece of conceptual video art, or a dentist-office landscape, peering over their statement glasses, clutching a plastic cup of chardonnay, and eyeing the cheese cubes on the table by the door. Not at Cambridge’s MEME GALLERY. No ma’am. Their m.o. is to play temporary home to the sort of art — broadly defined — that might not slot so easily into the typical gallery realm. Exhibits, residencies, screenings, and workshops bring together local, national, and international artists, and pull the curious Cantibrigian in off the street.
Paint Pens in Purses
MEME GALLERY | 55 Norfolk Street, Cambridge | memegallery.com
KELLY DAVIDSON
BEST ARTIST, GRAFFITI/ PERFORMANCE STREET
B
oston has a bit of an inferiority complex — it’s not as big as New York, not as flashy as LA, certainly not as dirty as sinful Las Vegas. But in the realm of the arts, we can claim to have no equal. It’s the birthplace of the public library, the university, the newspaper, and the first school of music, as well as home to some of the finest artists and authors and musicians in the land. Do we have a zillion all-night rave caves or a whole host of beat-poet-interpretive-dance troupes? Er, no — but any number of big cities could probably best us in the A&E numbers game. What we’ve got going for us is quality, from our tried-and-true favorites to our frequently thriving upstarts. In the end, we don’t really need anything more — still, we invite all to come join us, to enlighten us and entertain us. The more the merrier, as they say.
Founded by Shayna Yashuara (a/k/a Shayna Shenanigans), PAINT PENS IN PURSES is an all-female urban art series, which notably raised an impromptu art gallery in the guts of the shuttered Marty’s Liquors in Allston last year. With members including Nineta (whose inky street-art images of long-haired girls you’ve seen all over the city), Silver Oris, tofusquirrel, Kim Harris, Mykim Dang, and others, PPiP brings serious, strange, menacing, manic, and always-compelling art to the city.
PAINT PENS IN PURSES | myspace.com/ paintpensinpurses
BEST ARTIST, VISUAL
There’s a cartoony exuberance to RAUL GONZALEZ’s work, particularly the work featuring his illustrated cartoon alterego, Cerebot. A member of art collective Miracle 5, a native Texan, and now a Continued on p 6
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A+E Continued from p 4 teacher and artist in Somerville, Gonzalez’s rock posters — for Mates of State and Via Audio, Heloise and the Savoir Faire, Tigersaw, and Cathy Cathodi — combine a loose and light comic-book style with something much more sinister.
RAUL GONZALEZ | iheartcerebot.com
BEST AUTHOR Beyond being an MIT professor and the Boston Review fiction editor, JUNOT DÍAZ is that rare writer who is utterly charming, funny, humble, self-deprecating, generous, and sincere. The Brief and Wondrous Life of Oscar Wao, the tender and energetic tale of a chubby teenage ghetto nerd, won him the Pulitzer Prize. Like the acclaimed short-story collection Drown, it moves between the Dominican Republic (where Díaz grew up) and New Jersey. To meet Díaz in person, or see him read, is to be instantly seduced.
JUNOT DÍAZ | junotdiaz.com
MEHRAN KHAGHANI | myspace.com/ comedyofmehran
BEST COMEDY CLUB
For a quarter-century, IMPROVBOSTON has been propelling the art of improvisation, putting on thousands of shows and providing classes on the craft. Beyond weekly programs like the Open Comedy Jam, the Friday Night Face Off (“teams battle to the comedic death”), and the ever-popular Mainstage show, it also plays host to the Women in Comedy Festival and the Naked Comedy
The Pill at Great Scott
Showcase (stand-up in the nude). No wonder it slayed the competition, winning with write-in votes.
IMPROVBOSTON | 40 Prospect Street, Cambridge | 617.576.1253 | improvboston.com
BEST DANCE NIGHT Of all the ways and means to shake your stuff in the city, THE PILL is easiest to swallow. Every Friday night in Allston, DJs Ken and Michael V stir up a dance party that draws a scene-spanning crowd, week after week, month after month. Britpop is the flavor of choice,
THE PILL | Great Scott, 1222 Comm Ave, Allston | 617.566.9014 | thepillboston.com
what you’ll find, in all its leg-warmed, side-pony-tailed glory on Saturday nights at T.T. the Bear’s Place, when DJ Chris Ewen hosts HEROES, your pick for best place to party in the spirit and style two decades back.
BEST DANCE NIGHT, RETRO
HEROES | T.T. the Bear’s Place, 10 Brookline Street, Cambridge | 617.492.2327 | myspace. com/heroes80s
and now and then bands (Dear Leader, Passion Pit, Hooray for Earth, the Daily Pravda, many others) take the stage so the turntablists can catch their breath.
It’s hard to resist the ’80s: Ferris Bueller and Pretty in Pink, the Buzzcocks and Billy Idol, the Clash, the Cure, the Smiths and Cindy Lauper, Duran Duran, Bananarama, Echo and the Bunnymen. And that’s just
BEST DANCE TROUPE Founded a decade ago by Karen Krolak, MONKEYHOUSE, a write-in winner in our poll, works to bring choreography to the community. With wit and charm, tongues-in-cheeks, the group puts on performances that are absurd and serious, suggestive and seductive, zany, pointed, and political, with wild (and award-winning) costumes and an evident sense of humor.
The Middle East
MONKEYHOUSE | 41 Foster Street, Arlington | 617.535.1942 | monkeyhouselovesme.com
BEST DANCE TROUPE, SEXY
CH RIS DEMPSE Y
Picture a room. An average room, maybe a little bigger than average. Put comedian MEHRAN KHAGHANI in there and you’ll see his personality fill the room, then overflow out the door into the hallway. Gay, Iranian, edgy, observant, broad-of-shoulder, booming-of-laugh, sharp-of-wit, he’s your perfect pick for this year’s finest funnyman.
D E R E K KOU YO U M J I A N
BEST COMEDIAN
There’s something so titillating when just a little something is left up to the imagination. BOSTON BABY DOLLS are Boston’s brightest lights when it comes to burlesque, and the best way to stoke our readers’ coals. Focusing on classic burlesque, from the ’20s and ’50s, the group isn’t all about panties and pasties (though that’s a crucial part); in any performance, you may see jugglers, stilt-walkers, fire-eaters, or baton-twirlers. Plus, they offer classes and workshops for those looking to explore the art.
BOSTON BABY DOLLS | bostonbabydolls.net
BEST DJ DJs Amphibious and Bogart comprise Continued on p 8
a style for every taste
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A&E Continued from p 6
the DJ duo FLAVORHEARD, who you’ll find at ZuZu, the Enormous Room, Middlesex Lounge, and the Good Life spinning a praise-worthy and dancehappy blend of funk, Latin, soul, reggae, classic hip-hop, afro-beat, and rock. (What you won’t hear: tunes from the Top 40.) In their own words, it’s “heated party music for booties and souls”; in your words, it’s the hottest turntable team in town.
Jukebox at Charlies Kitchen
RAZZY’S | 585 Somerville Avenue, Somerville | 617.623.9784 | myspace.com/razzys
FLAVORHEARD | flavorheard.com
BEST LGBT NIGHT
BEST FOLK VENUE
The number of gay people in Boston is wildly out of proportion with the number of gay venues and nights. Instead of mourning that lack, GUERRILLA QUEER BAR turns “unsuspecting straight bars” gay on the first Friday of every month. Bastions of heterosexuality (or at least places not typically known as gay hotspots) like the Burren, the Bell in Hand, the People’s Republik, and Tequila Rain get, for one evening, gay-bombed. It started with about 70 people descending. Now? It’s up toward 1000. On the day of, members of the listserv and Facebook group (topping 2500) get alerted to where the night’s venue will be. Word spreads — and spreads. It’s integration, celebration, and a righteous party.
Famed folk grotto CLUB PASSIM celebrated half a century two years ago, and last year, for the first time since its opening in 1958, started serving beer and wine. The comfy, cozy landmark folk club — Bob Dylan, Joan Baez, Joni Mitchell, Tom Rush, and Taj Mahal, among others, are all alums — continues to be a proving ground for up-andcomers and a venerable stage for the already-established. With a capacity of 125, it’s the definition of intimate.
CLUB PASSIM | 47 Palmer Street, Cambridge | 617.492.7679 | clubpassim.org
BEST HIP-HOP VENUE
THE MIDDLE EAST isn’t just known for being an indie-rock haven (though it is your winner for this year’s best rock venue). Phoenix readers continually vote the Central Square club — which plays host to the likes of Wiz Khalifa, Bone Thugz N Harmony, Yela Wolf, and Sean Price, to name a few — as the best place to catch indie and underground hip-hop, too.
GUERRILLA QUEER BAR | bostonguerrilla.com
BEST MOVIE THEATER, ART HOUSE For the alternative, underground, and independent in film culture, THE COOLIDGE CORNER THEATRE is the go-to cinema. Highlighting emerging directors, local filmmakers, and the stuff you won’t ever find at the big-name blockbuster spots, the Coolidge is a moviegoing institution. Programs like “After Midnites” (camp, cool, avantgarde), “Box Office Babies” (for parents and their infants), the prestigious Coolidge Awards, plus collaborations with Brookline Booksmith, all work to accomplish the Coolidge’s mission:“To entertain, enlighten, and engage.”
Sitting unassuming at the corner of Mass Ave and Columbus, WALLY’S CAFE, famed hole-in-the-wall jazz spot, around since 1947, adheres to a trio of principles: every night of the year, jazz will be heard; a cover charge, it won’t be charged; the beer, it will be served cold. It ain’t glamorous, but it is awesome. Its low-key cool comes from the musicians and the clientele — it’s the rare Boston spot where black and white mix. Jazz giants (Branford Marsalis, Danilo Perez, Greg Osby, and Roy Hargrove) got their start here, and new musicians regularly cut their teeth.
ERIN BALDASSARI
THE MIDDLE EAST | 472 Mass Ave, Cambridge | 617.864.3278 | mideastclub.com
BEST JAZZ CLUB
The Coolidge Corner Theatre
BEST KARAOKE SPOT It’s a tough trifecta to beat: free popcorn, cheap booze, and three nights
M A RC U S G U T T E N P L A N
BEST JUKEBOX
CHARLIES KITCHEN | 10 Eliot Street, Cambridge | 617.492.9646 | myspace.com/charlieskitchen
THE COOLIDGE CORNER THEATRE | 290 Harvard Street, Brookline | 617.734.2501 | coolidge.org
BEST MOVIE THEATER, WIDE RELEASE The lights glow across the Common, a red beacon, calling you to exit your life for two hours and be swept up in movie magic. Inside, the unmistakable scent of popcorn, buttered. The sweeping banks of concession stands — enormous bags and boxes of Junior Mints, Goobers, Sour Patch Kids. And up on the second floor of AMC LOEWS BOSTON COMMON, behemoth versions of the same, standing sentinel over the snacks. It all feels larger than life, exactly the way Hollywood intends it. In the theaters, cushy seats, loud sound, great views. An ideal way to experience the blockbuster.
WALLY’S CAFE | 427 Mass Ave, Boston | 617.424.1408 | wallyscafe.com
The one drawback to the new patio at CHARLIES KITCHEN is its lack of access to the superlative jukebox, which rivals the double cheeseburger as the trademark draw. The place has a lot going for it: outside, well, you can drink outside, and that rules. The first floor has booths and a tank of lobsters. And the second floor has the meanest jukebox in the city, and the type of boozers and barroom enthusiasts that know how to use their quarters.
each week when people — aided by shots, pitchers of beer, and the good cheer of the regulars — sing their faces off for the best in Boston’s karaoke. Be you pro at the mic, with your Bon Jovi routine practiced and perfected, or nervous tone-deaf novice, RAZZY’S, also your pick for the best dive bar, welcomes all sorts of singers to the stage on Wednesdays, Fridays, and Saturdays.
AMC LOEWS BOSTON COMMON | 175 Tremont Street, Boston | 617.423.5801 | amcentertainment.com/bostoncommon
BEST MUSEUM
What? Really? The MUSEUM OF FINE ARTS won? You don’t say. Well, of course Continued on p 10
NEW EXHIBIT!
OPENS APRIL 6 2010
Mary Baker Eddy: A Life of Service New, multimedia exhibit showcases Eddy’s service and philanthropy and spotlights individuals and organizations that are similarly working to help others today. 200 Massachusetts Avenue t Boston t t XXX NCFMJCSBSZ PSH
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A&E Continued from p 8 you say — that’s exactly what you say every year, and for good reason. For one thing, it’s big and getting bigger. Massive renovations over the past few years will culminate in a new Art of the Americas wing to open in November of this year. The museum also houses worldrenowned collections, from ancient Egypt, Greece, and Rome to modern masters. But art’s not the only thing: its film series, lectures, and programs like mfafirstfridays make it the obvious choice for Boston’s best museum.
MUSEUM OF FINE ARTS | 465 Huntington Avenue, Boston | 617.267.9300 | mfa.org
BEST NON-GALLERY ART SPACE A labor of love by Joseph and Nabil Sater, owners of the Middle East, ARTS AT THE ARMORY is an imposing structure in the netherland between Davis and Union Squares. Not only does it offer rotating exhibitions in each of its four gallery spaces, it also provides studio space for artists, two live/work units, and a number of art-education classes for kids and grown-ups.
After five years of intensive renovations, ARTS AT THE ARMORY proves to be the coolest non-club to see live music in town. The spacious and purpleceilinged room brings a cross-section of both performers and audiences. Upcoming shows include vintage cabaret with Le Serpent Rouge, the folky Forest Fires Residency, Jesse Gallagher, and ecstatic chant with Jai Uttal. Like the non-gallery art space, the Brothers Sater are getting it right when it comes to music, too.
ARTS AT THE ARMORY | 191 Highland Avenue, Somerville | 617.718.2191 | artsatthearmory.org
BEST PLACE TO PLAY POOL Seasoned and skilled bring-your-ownstick players shoot pool next to novices at FLAT TOP JOHNNY’S, perennial winner for the best in Boston billiards. With a dozen tournament-size tables — plus pinball, darts, those Greek-myth pool-
Arts at the Armory
playing murals along the high brick walls, and a great beer list (including a couple on-tap brews from next-door neighbor Cambridge Brewing Company) — Flat Top’s is a pool-hall paradise.
the magazine Handsome, a part-time undertaker, and a poet. Brave Men Press (a very cool, local publishing house) recently put out his chapbook, Your Name Is the Only Freedom. He likes “his whiskey neat and his music dirty,” and his poems are lovely — pre-mortem glances at mortality and connection.
FLAT TOP JOHNNY’S | One Kendall Square, Cambridge | 617.494.9565 | flattopjohnnys.com
BEST POET
JANAKA STUCKY | blackocean.org
In stature and talent, imposing. JANAKA STUCKY, who triumphed this category in write-in votes, has lived with junkies, been killed onstage as his Black Cat Burlesque alter-ego J. Cannibal, is a zombie fanatic, founder and managing editor of Black Ocean press, the head of
BEST ROCK VENUE
The mural outside THE MIDDLE EAST is all color, beaming faces, punks and little kids, an old woman and a bull (is it a bull?) on top. It’s part of what makes Central Square what it is. The Middle East, a no-surprise win in this category, as well as your pick for best hip-hop venue, plays host to local, up-and-coming, and underground rock. Three stages for live music, top-notch hummus and other Middle Eastern delights at the restaurant, a couple bars, and a schedule that’s varied and adventurous make it the top spot for live rock.
THE MIDDLE EAST | 472 Mass Ave, Cambridge | 617.864.3278 | mideastclub.com
BEST THEATER COMPANY
Pool at Flat Top Johnny’s
BEN RITTER
BEST NON-TRADITIONAL MUSIC VENUE
KELLY DAVIDSON
ARTS AT THE ARMORY | 191 Highland Avenue, Somerville | 617.718.2191 | artsatthearmory.org
THE ACTORS’ SHAKESPEARE PROJECT stages productions in places you wouldn’t necessarily expect the Bard to be performed: warehouses, churches, galleries, meeting halls. The aim is to draw audiences in — and they’re succeeding. They’re doing something beyond making Shakespeare accessible; they’re making it essential. Because ASP knows that the power of these plays is how they “reveal something about what it
means to be human here and now.”
ACTORS’ SHAKESPEARE PROJECT | 191 Highland Avenue, Suite 2E, Somerville | 617.776.2200 | actorsshakespeareproject.org
BEST THEATER VENUE On the fringe of Harvard Square, OBERON — the American Repertory Theater’s “theatrical club space” — is also on the fringe of theater. Part dance club, part bar, part theater-in-the-round, Oberon is an artsy, urban outpost of the generally excellent ART. The Donkey Show, a discoized version of A Midsummer Night’s Dream, was extended by popular demand. Evelyn Evelyn, launched by Amanda Palmer, is “the world’s only conjoined-twin singersongwriter duo.” And Oberon is also playing host to dance contests, cabaret nights, live-action trivia, and something described as “electro-bloody-death-pop.” Shakespeare is pumping his fists in his grave.
OBERON | 2 Arrow Street, Cambridge | 617.496.8004 | cluboberon.com
BEST TRIVIA NIGHT What California city did the last Pony Express ride end in? What was the first living creature ever ejected from a supersonic aircraft? Who was Clark Kent’s high-school sweetheart? Have you one of those brains that somehow slots away all manner of facts and miscellany? Who can recall historical events, popculture moments, scientific this-andthats? Can you do it slamming pints of beer? Then head to COMMON GROUND for the area’s best in trivial competition.
COMMON GROUND | 83 Harvard Avenue, Allston | 617.783.2071 | commongroundallston.com
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The Best of City Life THE BEST STUFF IN LIFE IS FREE
W
hat is it that makes our city so great? The restaurants? The shops? Those are part of it, sure, but all major metropolises have them in spades. No, it’s something more intangible, something less taxable — something not only cheap but free. Boston is a municipality rich in open spaces, landmarks, and larger-than-life personalities — the Esplanade, the ducklings statute, the mysterious guy who’s always riding his flag-adorned trike down the busiest streets. The Hub’s particular quirks and character are the reasons we embrace living here, rats (and potholes and frigid weather) and all. They’re priceless. (Except, of course, for a visit with your pick of best bartender, whose infinite wisdom is complimentary only with the price of a beer.)
BEST BARTENDER
BEST BIKE ROUTE
A great pleasure exists in surrendering yourself to a bartender, to toss a few guidelines (love hops, love Scotch, love anything with bitters), and get presented with a drink that becomes your new favorite. It’s gotta be a bartender you trust, one who can sense your mood and taste, one who’s enthusiastic about turning people on to cocktails and microbrews as yet undiscovered. MAX TOSTE, co-owner of Deep Ellum, is exactly that type of bartender. His attitude about finding the right drink is one of exploration and discovery; he’s passionate about his craft; and best of all, he’s highly knowledgeable without being condescending.
It’s one thing to bomb down Mass Ave on your bicycle, that two-wheeled city dance. Swerves and dips, humanconsuming potholes, roaring buses, entitled drivers distracted and owning the road. There’s a pleasure to it, sure, an on-your-toes and wits-about-you thrill. But there’s an argument to be made for a tree-lined trail, where traffic consists of cyclists, bladers, people in sneaks on two feet. The MINUTEMAN BIKEWAY, running 11 miles through Cambridge, Arlington, Lexington, and Bedford, rambles through back yards and history — the route roughly follows the path Paul Revere rode marking the beginning of the American Revolution in 1775. It’s a lovely, verdant stretch of New Englandary.
MAX TOSTE | Deep Ellum, 477 Cambridge Street, Allston | 617.787.2337 | deepellumboston.com
Max Toste and his staff at Deep Ellum
KELLY DAVIDSON
BEST BEACH The coastland to our north offers an experience of extremes: grand schooners moored next to humble old row boats, sweeping estates edged against storm-beaten cottages, and some of the best beaches in New England. A striking strand indeed, CRANE BEACH up in Ipswich runs a four-mile stretch of sand on 1200 acres of conservation land, which means it’s got both humans and wildlife in mind. (It’s a noted home for spindly threatened shorebird the piping plover.) The North Shore is the Maine of Massachusetts, except with way warmer waters.
CRANE BEACH | 290 Argilla Road, Ipswich | 978.356.4354 | thetrustees.org/ places-to-visit/northeast-ma/cranebeach-on-the-crane.html
MINUTEMAN BIKEWAY | minutemanbikeway.org
BEST BLOG Any enthusiastic Beantown imbiber has doubtless stumbled on DRINKBOSTON, this year’s well-deserved pick for the city’s best blog. Written and run by journalist Lauren Clark, an experienced taproom denizen, both behind the bar and in front of it, DrinkBoston is as comprehensive an examination of the art of drinking as you’ll find. Our favorite feature is the long list of locally linked cocktail recipes — some from history (like the Boston Flip — whiskey, Madeira, simple syrup, half an egg yolk — from the 1934 edition of Boothby’s World Drinks), and some concocted in the best bars around town. The posts range from historical miscellany, to events notices, to short tidbits (nips, as they have it) on all
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matters alcohol. Time to raise a glass.
to appreciate the greenery, the paths, the way it feels when you’re there as though you’ve exited the city altogether.
DRINKBOSTON | drinkboston.com
BEST FREE WI-FI
TRIDENT BOOKSELLERS & CAFÉ | 338 Newbury Street, Boston | 617.267.8688 | tridentbookscafe.com
BEST LOCAL CAUSE
THE ARNOLD ARBORETUM | 125 Arborway, Boston | 617.524.1718 | arboretum.harvard.edu
BEST PLACE TO LIVE
ERIN BALDASSARI
It seems a simple concept: a bookstore — one with an independent spirit, with a selection of books and magazines and journals that edges toward the uncommon; a place where you can pick up a periodical and perch yourself in the adjoining café, and read or write or watch. Or make use of free and fast Wi-Fi. Or some combination of all of the above. A simple concept, but rare and getting rarer. Countless purveyors offer free Wi-Fi these days, but few best the homey atmosphere of TRIDENT BOOKSELLERS & CAFÉ, where one can linger, tip-tapping away on a laptop, watching out the window as bustling Newbury Street rushes by.
We’ve always wanted to light a joint on the lawn of Cambridge City Hall, sitting on the hill in the sun. Now, as you well know, that mission has become much more possible: as long as you’ve got less than an ounce on your person, all you’re faced with is a slap on the wrist and a $100 fine. (Though we should warn you: smoking in public can still land you in trouble.) MassCann: THE MASSACHUSETTS CHAPTER OF NORML, presenter of the annual Freedom Rally on the Boston Common, has a levelheaded mission: it works to build “consensus for a more moral and rational public policy regarding all uses of the cannabis plant,” and believes that regulation should take place outside the courts. We’ll toast to that.
Free Wi-Fi at Trident Booksellers
ers’ poll. Openly gay (and the first congressional representative to come out under his own volition while in office), Frank has a 100 percent rating with NARAL, is a vocal LGBT advocate, and is a proponent of medical marijuana and the decriminalization of small amounts of the drug. In regards to the weed, he’s quoted, “leave it to people to make their own choices,” which applies, we think, to much more than drugs. A consummate Massachusetts Democrat, and a worthy winner in our poll.
BARNEY FRANK | house.gov/frank
MassCann/NORML | PO Box 266, Georgetown | 781.944.2266 | masscann.org
JAMAICA PLAIN dwellers possess a certain fervor, a pride of place that you don’t often find for other squares in Cambridge and Boston. What is it that inspires such love and loyalty? Great food and drink, for one — Ten Tables, James’s Gate, Alchemist Lounge, the Midway, Bela Luna, Brendan Behan, and City Feed, to name a few — plus a smattering of indie shops and organizations, like Boomerangs, Bikes Not Bombs, Salmagundi, and Fat Ram’s Pumpkin Tattoo. Combine that with the sense of community, the racial mix, the creative leanings of the residents, and the huge amounts of green space, and you end up with a deserving pick for the best ’hood in Boston.
BEST OPEN SPACE
Back in 1873, THE ARNOLD ARBORETUM’s first director, Charles Sprague Sargent, had this in mind for his green space: “A visitor driving through the Arboretum will be able to obtain a general idea of the arborescent vegetation of the north temperate zone without even leaving his carriage.” Today, getting out of the carriage is the point, and as for observation of arborescence, the plant life over the 265 acres in JP (and all the research that accompanies it through Harvard) staggers. You need not be a horticulturalist
BEST PLACE TO PEOPLE-WATCH To while away an hour, an afternoon, gazing lazy at the currents and tides of the human flow. To daydream back stories — the old suspendered man with the smoke-yellowed beard lost his job a year ago; the woman with the eyelashes, the young man in ankle-stranglers, on his way to meet a girl who isn’t his girlfriend. To hear crumbs of conversation, phones or friends. To scope for mondo babes. People-watching is one of the great pleasures of living in an urban setting. And for the biggest bustle, Continued on p 14
Davis Square
BEST LOCAL NONPROFIT We have a tie! By the numbers alone, PINE STREET INN impresses. Each day, the Inn serves 1300 homeless people, prepares more than 3000 meals, helps more than 150 homeless men and women (thanks to street outreach workers), and offers 700 beds for emergency and transitional shelter. In doing so, it’s becoming a national leader in the fight to end homelessness. The GREATER BOSTON FOOD BANK is the largest hunger-relief organization in New England, and one of the biggest food banks in the country. Working to end hunger in Eastern Massachusetts, the Food Bank serves nearly 400,000 people and distributes more than 31 million pounds of food each year to almost 600 hunger-relief agencies. Hats off to both organizations for making the commonwealth a better place to live.
BEST LOCAL POLITICIAN Outspoken, quick of wit, and an ardent supporter of crucial causes, BARNEY FRANK is a returning champ in our read-
MELISSA OSTROW
PINE STREET INN | 444 Harrison Avenue, Boston | 617.892.9100 | pinestreetinn.org GREATER BOSTON FOOD BANK | 70 South Bay Avenue, Boston | 617.427.5200 | gbfb.org
Davis Square
14 APRIL 16, 2010 | THE BEST | SUPPLEMENT TO THE BOSTON PHOENIX
We’re open seven days a week!
ANNE WE RMI E L
Monday thru Friday 7am– 9pm; Saturday 8am-9pm; and Sunday 9am-7pm
“Make Way For Ducklings” Statue
CITY LIFE Continued from p 13 the most multiplicity of form and story, our readers head to THE FOUNTAIN NEAR THE PARK STREET T, where vocal vendors, tourists bewildered, Biblethumpers, buttoned-up politicos, and the city writ large jostles and passes and moves through the city.
BEST PLACE TO RUN Running means different things to different people — muscle-maker, fitnessbringer, head-clearer, lung-capacityexpander, sanity-maintainer. To tie up your running shoes and pound the pavement can be excruciating, a chore with every step. But striding along one of the prettiest riverside stretches in Boston can help make your run more pleasure than pain. Stretching near three miles along the Charles River, from the Museum of Science to the BU Bridge, THE ESPLANADE offers primo running real estate, sailboats, sunlight glittering off the water, Cambridge on the other shore, the mighty Mass Ave Bridge astretch across it all. The miles just drift away.
THE ESPLANADE | esplanade-association.org
BEST PUBLIC WORK OF ART Mrs. Mallard and her eight ducklings are honored in bronze mid-waddle in the heart of the Public Gardens. Installed in 1987, the “MAKE WAY FOR DUCKLINGS” STATUE honors Robert McCloskey’s famed children’s book, in which a family of ducks tries to make a home in Boston, negotiating reckless cyclists and unforgiving Massachusetts drivers. Artist Nancy Schön captures the feistiness of all the little quacklings and the dignity of mother duck at the head of the pack. It’s playful, iconic, and quintessentially Boston.
“MAKE WAY FOR DUCKLINGS” STATUE | schon.com
BEST SQUARE Penultimate stop on the Red Line. Home to a superior cinema (and concert venue), as wide a range of bars as you could hope to stumble out of (the Sligo, the Burren, Diva, the Joshua
Tree), an intimate rootsy music spot (Johnny D’s), serious caffeine at Diesel, and your choice in food — sandwiches, schwarma, calzone, pakoras — highend and low (J.P. Licks has lines in January). DAVIS SQUARE has a humility and a variety that rivals its Cambridge neighbors. Low-key and cultural at the same time, its “Paris of New England” dubbing still, it seems, holds true.
BEST STREET There are a few streets you can fall in love with. The ones you get to know so well, which bring you to all the best places, to your bars and parks and special spots; the ones you stumble down, drunk and happy; the ones you blur down in the rain, sad, alone. MASS AVE, great vein through Boston, a 15-mile stretch, give or take, from Lexington to Dorchester, from the birthplace of American freedom, through hallowed Harvard, by Central Square, the Plough, the Middle East, the ne’er-dowells, past pillared MIT and, ah!, the Mass Ave Bridge, Smoot-measured, through Back Bay, Berklee, Christian Science, the South End, beyond, beyond, New Market Square and warehouses. It is the heart of the city, keeps the pulse of the city. No street rivals Mass Ave — not by a long shot.
BEST STREET PERSONALITY You hear him from blocks away — “Moooove, mooooove,” if that is what he’s saying, no one can really tell. His is a resounding, rhythmic hoot, a holler that carries up and down the avenues as he peddles his way through the busiest of streets and sidewalks, threatening to run over those in front of him who don’t heed his call. LOUIE EVANS rides his tricycle, cart in the back, flags waving, all around the city. Rides and rides and yawps and yawps. The kids at the bike store he goes to when his ride is busted guess he pedals 20 to 30 miles each day, not trying to get anywhere, just moving through the city.
LOUIE EVANS, THE TRICYCLE GUY | vimeo.com/2480274
SUPPLEMENT TO THE BOSTON PHOENIX | THE BEST | APRIL 16, 2010 15
The Best of Food & Drink THE BEST THINGS SINCE SLICED SODA BREAD BEST BAGELS
BEST BAKERY
Part of a beloved daily ritual for hundreds of BU students, the independent cafe and deli BAGEL RISING gets raves for offering a dauntingly large array of bagel options that can be topped with a dizzying array of spreads or made into one of scores of sandwiches. The indecisive and the stoned may end up spending a while staring at the menu. Good coffee drinks, attractive prices, and the aforementioned endless variety make for long lines, a fact that should surprise no one reading a readers’-choice list of Boston’s most popular places.
With specialty retail outlets in Davis Square and Coolidge Corner, York, Maine–based WHEN PIGS FLY BAKERY produces a couple dozen varieties of slow-baked artisanal breads, mostly in boules with a dense crumb and chewy crust. Varieties range from everyday sandwich breads to dinner rolls and savory breads with complicated admixtures of seeds, vegetables, berries, fruits, and nuts. Sweet breads like chocolate and apple cinnamon are beloved as breakfast toast and desserts. Its products are also widely carried — bagged and pre-sliced — in supermarkets throughout Greater Boston.
BAGEL RISING | 1243 Comm Ave, Boston | 617.789.4000
WHEN PIGS FLY BAKERY | Various locations | sendbread.com
BEST BAR
DEEP ELLUM’s core audience of hardcore beer geeks loves it for its two-dozenplus drafts, 80-deep selection of abstruse small-producer bottles, and regularly changing cask beers. Unusual for a beer-snob paradise, it also fires the ardor of craft-cocktail aficionados with its devotion to pre-Prohibition cocktails and original creations in their spirit. Reasonably priced gastro-pubby updates of classic American bar food complete a trifecta of thoughtful, wellmade food and drink. In a neighborhood full of interchangeable, forgettable undergraduate-oriented bars, Deep Ellum is a place for grownups who take their fun seriously.
Bagel Rising
DEEP ELLUM | 477 Cambridge Street, Allston | 617.787.2337 | deepellum-boston.com
BEST BAR, BEER SELECTION
ANN E W ER MIEL
W
e’ve come a long way since the days when our Irish forefathers ruled these streets with boiled potatoes and shepherd’s pie. Pakoras, crêpes, and tapas — they’ve all entered the fold. Korean barbecue? No problem. Taquerias? We’ve got some great ones. And an all-night diner? Why, yes, New York: we’ve got that, too. These days, if you can dream it, you can probably eat it at one of the area’s many excellent dining establishments. That should leave a good taste in your mouth. Of course, when it comes time to wash down your grub, remember to tip your hat to Boston’s first and finest. They may not have directly inspired our posh craft-cocktail bars and microbrew bastions, but they certainly taught us to appreciate a good pint.
The numbers don’t lie: SUNSET GRILL & TAP boasts more than 100 drafts and nearly 400 selections in cans and bottles. There literally is a beer (and an ale, and a cider, and a mead) for every taste, served in a boggling variety of formats, from two-ounce tasting flights, to the mighty individualserving yard (basically a 40 in fancy dress), to the giant-bong-like 116-ounce tabletop tapper. For some reason, a few customers also guzzle Jäger shots and Continued on p 16
16 APRIL 16, 2010 | THE BEST | SUPPLEMENT TO THE BOSTON PHOENIX
FOOD & DRINK Continued from p 15 margaritas, but Sunset is really about keeping beer-lovers who think they’ve drunk it all from getting bored and complacent. SUNSET GRILL & TAP | 130 Brighton Avenue, Allston | 617.254.1331 | allstonsfinest.com
BEST BAR, COCKTAILS Boston doesn’t rate among America’s top destinations in many food and drink categories, but it has long flirted with the leading edge of the craftcocktail revival, and DRINK is plainly our best exponent of the trend. Manager John Gertsen has assembled a supergroup of the city’s most scholarly, talented, and inventive bartenders, given them a minimalist stage set,and equipped them with the highestquality cocktail tools and ingredients available. You could order your usual, but that would be like asking for a tuna sandwich at O Ya. Opt instead for one of Drink’s Golden-Age classics or original creations, and take a step down the path toward cocktail enlightenment.
BEST BAR, DIVE
RAZZY’S no longer attracts the kind of colorful scumbags on which it built its reputation as the quintessential slightly scary townie dump. Now it’s safe enough for young hipsters to congregate with few worries of getting into a scrape with some shattered old barfly way past his 10th Jack and Coke. But true to dive-bar form, the décor is still quaintly tacky, the drinks still cheap, and the popcorn always free — there’s even a hilariously awful karaoke night (our winner for the best in the city!). There’s also still a chance of getting your skull cracked with a Molson bottle if you use your iPhone to cheat at pub trivia nights, but that’s not a bad thing.
D E R E K KO U YO U M J I A N
DRINK | 348 Congress Street, South Boston | 617.695.1806 | drinkfortpoint.com
room restaurant/bar/nightclub. Strong drinks, dance-friendly pop-minded DJs, and a $10 Sunday brunch buffet are a few of the features that have kept Club Café going strong: a South End veteran, a survivor, a classic.
CLUB CAFÉ | 209 Columbus Avenue, Boston | 617.536.0966 | clubcafe.com
RAZZY’S | 585 Somerville Avenue, Somerville | 617.623.9784 | myspace.com/razzys
BEST BAR, HOTEL This sleek hideaway is easy to overlook alongside more assiduously hyped neighbors like OM, Rialto, and UpStairs on the Square — a lonely merchant of chiaroscuro glamour amidst the increasingly
BEST BAR, FANCY Easily the most versatile upscale bar in the city, EASTERN STANDARD KITCHEN & DRINKS is a raucous, handsome, alwayslively brasserie that somehow manages to serve Hotel Commonwealth guests, well-dressed couples and groups of friends out for a toot, and team-regaliabedecked Sox fans — and make them all feel loved. A menu spanning French, Italian, and American fare, including great nose-to-tail charcuterie and offal selections, makes it a worthy dining destination in its own right. ESK’s notso-hidden ace is the amazing cocktailmaking skills of Jackson Cannon and his team, one of the top bartending staffs in Boston. “Something for everyone” is, in this instance, no cliché.
Club Café
D E R E K KO U YO U M J I A N
The South End has been so relentlessly gentrified and hetero-colonized that there hardly seems to be any places left for the boys who put the neighborhood on the map to have for themselves. CLUB CAFÉ is a rare exception, still proudly flying the rainbow flag as a chic multi-
shopping-mall-like environs of Harvard Square. But NOIR AT THE CHARLES HOTEL serves its audience well — folks looking for a few well-made shaker cocktails that lurch toward craft territory without getting too self-serious, and maybe some upmarket bar bites, including an attractively priced weeknight happy-hour menu with terrific flatbread pizzas. A combination of deep, high-backed booths and very dim lighting combine to make Noir a very swank kind of make-out bar.
NOIR AT THE CHARLES HOTEL | One Bennett Street, Cambridge | 617.661.8010 | noir-bar.com
BEST BAR, SPORTS There’s something about the roaring scale of the CASK’N FLAGON that’s a little dizzying, especially when it teems with throngs of Red Sox fans pouring down beers before they head across the street to Fenway. It’s a sports bar on Human Growth Hormone, a kaleidoscope of TV screens, old-time sports photos, intoxicated banter, and the crush of human souls giddy with anticipation of a big day or night out at the ballpark, both inside the Cask and streaming by outside. It’s at once touristy and a classic part of the Olde Towne experience, sitting at the jam-packed, hella-noisy intersection of mania for beer-swilling and the Local Nine.
CASK’N FLAGON | 62 Brookline Avenue, Boston | 617.536.4840 | casknflagon.com
BEST BARBECUE
EASTERN STANDARD KITCHEN & DRINKS | 528 Comm Ave, Boston | 617.532.9100 | easternstandardboston.com
BEST BAR, GAY
Razzy’s
Barbecue, beer, and bonhomie: it’s an old formula that has garnered REDBONES BARBECUE its long-time loyal following. It doesn’t hurt that its ’cue is the real deal, long-smoked low and slow — a concept it helped popularize in a town that had long equated barbecue with simple grilling. The staff is by turns sassy and accommodating, working a first-floor space that is bright and loud, and a funkier, darker, cool-art-lined downstairs. Great ribs and gentle prices add up to long lines and waits, but the Davis Square hangout has hit a leisurely sweet spot that keeps the carnivores coming back.
REDBONES BARBECUE | 55 Chester Street, Somerville | 617.628.2200 | redbones.com Continued on p 18
18 APRIL 16, 2010 | THE BEST | SUPPLEMENT TO THE BOSTON PHOENIX
FOOD & DRINK Continued from p 16
BEST COFFEE SHOP, LOCAL
BEST BRUNCH
The Friendly Toast
It’s hard to believe a relative upstart in the usually desolate-on-weekends One Kendall complex could wrest the brunch crown from the tonier, restaurant-dense South End. But THE FRIENDLY TOAST’s Cambridge outpost has quickly built the same devoted following as its Portsmouth, New Hampshire, parent. Its secret? A terrific diner breakfast and lunch menu, strong drinks both caffeinated and alcoholic, and eclectic décor built on cheeky mid-century kitsch. (The all-day appeal of that same menu helped make the Toast the Phoenix readers’ choice for the best new restaurant, too.)
DIESEL CAFE | 257 Elm Street, Somerville | 617.629.8717 | diesel-cafe.com
THE FRIENDLY TOAST | One Kendall Square, Cambridge | 617.621.1200 | thefriendlytoast.net
BEST COFFEE SHOP, NATIONAL
BEST BUFFALO WINGS
So ubiquitous are the pink-and-orange signs of the locally headquartered global mega-chain that you could navigate the length and breadth of Greater Boston using them as landmarks. Somewhat faded as a purveyor of actual donuts, DUNKIN’ DONUTS nowadays is all about the lightroast, fresh-ground, light-bodied filter coffee. A tall cup of hot or iced Dunkies glued to the hands of its legion of local fanatics is as emblematic of the local Zeitgeist as are cigarettes to Parisians and sour scowls to New Yorkers.
MELISSA OSTROW
Demand for Buffalo wings has gotten so frenzied that chicken wings are now pricier per pound than boneless breast meat. Among purveyors of this great greasy bar food, there are wings, and there are canonical wings — i.e., Buffalo-as-they-make-them-inBuffalo–New York wings. BUFF’S PUB is a proud and lonely exponent of the latter, serving up a version that puts to shame such horrors as breaded wings (staring at you, Hooters). Charmingly, it serves them in an equally according-to-Hoyle, homey, ultra-casual neighborhood pub setting. Buff’s also does honey-hot wings, a style which might raise eyebrows on the shores of Lake Erie, but are frightfully good and very popular, too.
DUNKIN’ DONUTS | Various locations | dunkindonuts.com
BEST DESSERTS
BUFF’S PUB | 317 Washington Street, Newton | 617.332.9134 | buffspubofnewton.com
ANN E WERMIEL
BEST BURGERS In the past year, the local burger wars have turned into a crazy upscale and downmarket arms race in Greater Boston, with everyone from the ultra-posh Radius, to mid-market Spanish restaurant Toro, to gourmet fast-food chain Five Guys vying for burger-lovers’ attention. Yet for all the foofaraw, MR. BARTLEY’S GOURMET BURGERS — a half-centuryold Harvard Square institution where you still have to pay cash, and head elsewhere to find a bathroom — continues to beguile diners with its array of big, localcelebrity-themed, griddled beef burgers and fresh-made rickeys. Clearly, in the eyes of many Bostonians, certain classics don’t need no improvin’ on.
Anna’s Taqueria
BEST FAST FOOD Boston’s fast-food landscape is littered with terrible cheeseburgers, fried chicken, and sub sandwiches: food that makes you feel disgusting after you eat it, and is in fact bad for you. And yet at most of them, business is booming — apparently lots of folks still haven’t gotten that Michael Pollan memo. So it’s gratifying to see Phoenix readers turning instead to one of Boston’s few purveyors of healthy, delicious quickservice meals, an indelibly popular local haven for made-to-order burritos, quesadillas, and tacos. ANNA’S TAQUERIA is proof that you don’t have to eat bad to eat cheap and fast.
SAR AH BETH YODER
BEST BURRITOS
ANNA’S TAQUERIA | Various locations | annastaqueria.com
The crowds never abate at each of FLOUR BAKERY & CAFE’s two locations, with a Central Square location soon to make it three. Could it be the hypnotic appeal of chef/owner Joannne Chang’s tarts, cookies, and pastries? Yes, though she also sells a lot of muffins, scones, and fancy coffee. Beyond the house-baked sweets that built Flour’s fan base (like shockingly good donuts and Boston cream pie), savory sandwiches also deliver big flavors with simple ingredients on terrific breads. In just a few short years, Flour has become an institution, drawing repeat customers willingly paying a premium for some loving quality.
FLOUR BAKERY & CAFE | Various locations | flourbakery.com
MR. BARTLEY’S GOURMET BURGERS | 1246 Mass Ave, Cambridge | 617.354.6559 | bartleysburgers.com
The number of places you can get a wrap or a burrito in Boston continues to swell, but hasn’t put a dent in the hordes queueing out the door at all hours of the day and night for the made-while-you-watch burritos at ANNA’S TAQUERIA. Don’t let the long lines put you off: they move fast, so you’ll be out the door quickly with a delicious, portable meal. Value is doubtless a huge factor, too, as the everpopular under–$5 super burrito is bigger than most customers’ heads.
If Starbucks is the North Pole of the café continuum, DIESEL CAFE is the South: one of a kind, singular, quirky, unique. (Happy, Roget?) It hits all the baseline fine-café requisites: excellent fairtrade espresso drinks, filter coffees, hot chocolates, and teas. Plus, there are fine pastries, salads, and sandwiches, as well as lots of outlets for would-be writers to juice up their laptops. And if you’re not clacking away at the next Great American Blog Post, you can always entertain yourself with the fascinating hipster/bohemian-watching or a game of billiards.
ANNA’S TAQUERIA | Various locations | annastaqueria.com
Diesel Café
BEST GLUTEN-FREE MENU Celiac sufferers have a terrible time in restaurants, most of which won’t take Continued on p 21
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5 S. Union Street 40 Life Street 1- 877-NBF-STOR ( 623-7867 ) Shoes are factory seconds or discontinued styles. Discounts are valid at factory outlet locations only. Cannot apply to prior sales, sales prices or other offers. For first quality merchandise, visit New Balance Burlington at the Wayside Commons 781-270-1420 or New Balance Mashpee at Mashpee Commons 508-539-1177.
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SUPPLEMENT TO THE BOSTON PHOENIX | THE BEST | APRIL 16, 2010 21
BEST JEWISH DELI
the costly trouble to prepare glutenfree meals. (Mere traces of contamination can make gluten-averse diners quite ill.) ELEPHANT WALK offers French bistro fare on one half of its menu, and the gorgeous, bright Southeast Asian flavors of Cambodian cuisine on the other half, serving both up with relaxed fine-dining flair. But unlike many restaurants touting GF menus (often with only a token dish or two), Elephant Walk serves close to 20 GF choices at lunch, dinner, and brunch. It’s a tasty godsend for the gluten-averse.
You don’t have to be all about chopped liver, brisket, knishes, or bagels heaped with smoked salmon to love ZAFTIGS DELICATESSEN, though they’ll happily serve you canonical versions of those Jewish deli standbys. Some come for the giant plates of pancakes, French toast, and blintzes; others for hefty Reubens, meatloaf sandwiches, and burgers; still others for overflowing mac ’n’ cheese, stuffed cabbage, or a Thanksgiving-style roast turkey plate. Zaftigs serves all day every day — even on Shabbat. What’s not to love?
ELEPHANT WALK | Various locations | elephantwalk.com
ZAFTIGS DELICATESSEN | 335 Harvard Street, Brookline | 617.975.0075 | zaftigs.com
BEST GREASY SPOON
BEST LOBSTER ROLLS
SOUTH STREET DINER | 178 Kneeland Street, Boston | 617.350.0028 | southstreetdiner.com
BEST ICE CREAM New Englanders are famous for eating more ice cream per capita than denizens of any other part of the country. Even winter doesn’t slow down the
Jasper White’s place in Boston restaurant history would be assured even had he retired after closing Jasper’s, his ’80s-vintage upscale New American restaurant that helped put Boston on the national fine-dining map. But he returned to open JASPER WHITE’S SUMMER SHACK, where, at its multiple locations, he transplants New England shore foods to urban and inland settings. His lobster roll is typical of his approach: generous (using the meat of a whole chicken lobster), impeccably fresh, canonically prepared (stuffed into a top-sliced, buttered, and griddled hotdog bun), traditionally served (in a cardboard sleeve), and fairly priced at 20 bucks.
South Street Diner pace at which we fill our pie, er, our ice-cream holes. That’s at least partly attributable to our abundance of fabulous gourmet ice-cream purveyors, local operators who dazzle with exotic flavors and crazy butterfat ratios. Amidst the fierce competition, J.P. LICKS stands out with its battery of great locations, family-friendly atmosphere, and a broader-than-average array of hard and soft ice cream and frozen yogurt, differentiated by clear, intense flavors.
J.P. LICKS | Various locations | jplicks.com
BEST IRISH PUB How does an Irish bar distinguish itself in
a town with an Irish bar at every intersection? A good start might be to book live music most nights, emphasizing acoustic acts but offering something loud and danceable on weekends. Offering gently priced American pub-fare standards (fried stuff, nachos, burgers, sandwiches) and Irish standbys (shepherd’s pie, fish and chips) couldn’t hurt. Keeping 18 draft lines stocked with a rotating lineup of popular beers might win some fans, too. Do those, and the masses might love you the way they love THE BURREN. Not so hard, when you think about it.
JASPER WHITE’S SUMMER SHACK | Various locations | summershackrestaurant.com
BEST ORGANICPRODUCE MARKET
THE BURREN | 247 Elm Street, Somerville | 617.776.6896 | burren.com
For all the wisecracks about its prices, there are few grocery experiences in Boston to compare to walking into the produce section of a WHOLE FOODS MARKET. The freshness, variety, quality, and globetrotting breadth of the offerings from both conventional and organic farms is thrilling. If you’ve just come from another big supermarket chain, you might imagine the sound of a heavenly choir at the sight of gorgeously arrayed, neatly stacked piles of fruits, berries, greens, fresh herbs, and vegetables. Where seasonally feasible, Whole Foods lets shoppers source from local farms, too — a welcome if pricey step in the direction of improved sustainability.
Zaftigs Delicatessen
WHOLE FOODS MARKET | Various locations | wholefoodsmarket.com
BEST PIZZA
JOEL VE AK
For a city as rich in history as Boston, we’re a bit thin on long-lived restaurants. And true to our Puritan roots, we’re not much of an all-night town, mostly rolling up our sidewalks before 2 am. These facts make SOUTH STREET DINER a rara avis: it dates to the 1940s and is open 24/7, serving classic greasyspoon fare at appropriately modest prices. Mercifully, it recently staved off efforts by newly arrived neighbors to curb its hours. Thus it remains one of Boston’s tiny handful of dining destinations for graveyard-shift workers, the stumbling post-nightclub crowd, and hungry insomniacs.
D E R E K KO U YO U M J I A N
FOOD & DRINK Continued from p 18
Much of the North End is bunk: overpriced, Americanized red-sauce joints flogging stale Sopranos shtick. REGINA PIZZERIA is blocks off the beaten paths of Hanover and Salem Streets, and figuratively miles away from them: it’s the real deal, an ancient purveyor of bona fide Neapolitan-heritage brick-oven pizzas. Its suburban chain outlets may be pale imitations, but the original is worthy of its reputation, a straw of authenticity in a haystack of wannabes. Those beautiful pies are among the few good reasons to endure the crowds and parking hassles of the North End.
REGINA PIZZERIA | 11 1/2 Thatcher Street, Boston | 617.227.0765 | reginapizzeria.com Continued on p 22
22 APRIL 16, 2010 | THE BEST | SUPPLEMENT TO THE BOSTON PHOENIX
FOOD & DRINK Continued from p 21
BEST RESTAURANT, CHINESE
Petit Robert Bistro
MARY CHUNG RESTAURANT is a place you can take your globetrotting food-snob friend who knows his pig’s feet in soup noodles, or your mother-in-law who prefers crab rangoon. But most folks come here for a few famed dishes — suan la chow show (the signature dumpling appetizer that mysteriously appears on the soup menu), grandma’s pie, fiery dan-dan noodles, and yu shiang pork — that are as familiar and comforting as a favorite old fleece pullover. Don’t overlook the value-priced banquet-style dinners and weekend cartless dim sum, and don’t make the rookie mistake of showing up on Tuesdays (when it’s closed).
MARY CHUNG RESTAURANT | 464 Mass Ave, Cambridge | 617.864.1991 | marychung.com
Boston overflows with French restaurants, from the expensively elaborate, to the esoterically wine-centric, to the Americanized and debased. The three PETIT ROBERT BISTRO locations manage to push through the scrum by delivering what a true Parisian bistro is supposed to: modestly prepared dishes of quality ingredients served without too much pomp. It unabashedly plates escargot, frog legs, calf’s brains, and foie gras, as well as less-scary dishes like coq au vin, beef bourguignon, and steak frites, plus killer desserts like soufflé au chocolat and ile flottante. But its good bistro bones show best in the weeknight-friendly prices: no entrée cracks the $20 barrier.
JOEL V E AK
BEST RESTAURANT, FRENCH
worthy of a luxury steak house. It’s two fine-dining restaurants in one, really, and as such makes a very versatile destination for business entertaining, occasion dining, and big date nights.
DAVIO’S | 75 Arlington Street, Boston | 617.357.4810 | davios.com
BEST RESTAURANT, JAPANESE
PETIT ROBERT BISTRO | Various locations | petitrobertbistro.com
FUGAKYU JAPANESE CUISINE packs a lot of concepts into one big Coolidge Corner
BEST RESTAURANT, INDIAN There’s an off-kilter charm to this tiny Inman Square dhaba (“truckstop”), the kind of counter-service joint that serves its food on institutional stainless-steel compartmented trays and blasts Bollywood videos from aging TVs with tinny speakers. PUNJABI DHABA’s customers don’t come for the ambiance, but the heaping plates (well, trays) of fresh, piercingly seasoned Northern Indian fare at ridiculously affordable prices. You can gorge yourself on a two-curry platter (chicken and vegetable) with two fulkas (pieces of flatbread), a crisp samosa, chutneys, raita, and a mound of rice for $8. If only more American roadside restaurants were so good, cheap, and tasty.
ing storefronts in the neighborhood.
FUGAKYU JAPANESE CUISINE | 1280 Beacon Street, Brookline | 617.734.1268 | fugakyu.net
BEST RESTAURANT, KOREAN Boston’s Korean restaurants tend to run to the small and modestly home-style. KOREANA offers a different take: bigger and posher than most, boasting a full bar with a giant TV. The dining room features many tables inset with gas grills at which diners can enjoy Korean barbecue, Koreana’s most popular dish, grilling plates of marinated meats and seafood and garnishing them with a variety of banchan (small, piquant side dishes). It’s fun, interactive, and delicious. BBQ may also be the best way for Westerners to receive a gentle introduction to the joys of the country’s incredible but occasionally daunting cuisine.
KOREANA | 154–158 Prospect Street, Cambridge | 617.576.8661 | koreanaboston.com
BEST RESTAURANT, LATE-NIGHT
PUNJABI DHABA | 225 Hampshire Street, Cambridge | 617.547.8272 | royalbharatinc.com
KELLY DAVIDSON
BEST RESTAURANT, ITALIAN This refined Back Bay restaurant features a gorgeous, high-ceilinged room, an open kitchen, a first-rate bar, pampering service, and lovely private dining rooms. But what really sets DAVIO’S apart from the city’s welter of upmarket Italian joints is its chophouse menu, a slate of top-notch prime-grade slabs of boutique beef and other grilled meats
space: a proper sushi bar, a large conventional dining room with Westernstyle seating and private screened-in booths, traditional tatami rooms upstairs, and a Hong Kong–style bar with space-age décor, disco lights, and karaoke. That diversity also extends to the menu, which offers a broad range of cooked dishes to complement its very broad sushi and makimono offerings. It’s an elegant, occasion-worthy alternative to the many casual sushi-sling-
Ten Tables
The FRANKLIN CAFE’s late hours have always made it a popular industry hangout. But even without the cooks-andservers crowd, it still would draw rafts of civilians as a paragon of that most useful of casual urban dining destinations: the neighborhood bar with nice-priced, excellent food. Long waits for booths at the South End original have abated slightly with the opening of the equally excellent, larger Southie location less than a mile away, which also boasts a fine brunch. Both Boston locations have benefited from the hiring of LUPEC lady Joy Richards as bar manager, upping their cocktail game considerably.
FRANKLIN CAFE | Various locations | franklincafe.com
SUPPLEMENT TO THE BOSTON PHOENIX | THE BEST | APRIL 16, 2010 23
BORDER CAFE | Various locations | bordercafe.com
BEST RESTAURANT, MIDDLE EASTERN In an era of disappearing local stages, the Middle East is a mecca for Boston-area lovers of live indie music. Its four performance venues — Upstairs, ZuZu’s, The Corner, and Downstairs — are central to Boston’s rock and hip-hop scenes. (No surprise it’s your pick for the city’s best hip-hop and rock venue.) But its pleasures don’t end there. THE MIDDLE EAST restaurant adjacent to Upstairs serves solid, traditional Middle Eastern meze, salads, and sandwiches at prices a struggling musician can afford. The cool, well-worn atmosphere boasts all the local color that you would expect such an indispensable resource of a nightclub to attract: musicians, DJs, artists, and the students and older fans who love them.
THE MIDDLE EAST | 472 Mass Ave, Cambridge | 617.864.3278 | mideastclub.com
TEN TABLES | Various locations | tentables.net
BEST RESTAURANT, SEAFOOD Given its reputation as a fishing port, Boston should have more and better seafood restaurants. When it gets them, NEPTUNE OYSTER should be the model. Casually elegant (communal tables, lots of bar seating, subway tile), it boasts an impeccable raw bar and a superb list of seafood-friendly wines by the glass and bottle. There’s also a menu of seafood salads and cooked entrées of stunning richness and inventiveness, reflecting some French influence. Further, Neptune serves two of the best lobster rolls in town (one cold, one hot) and, surprisingly, a superb burger topped with a fried oyster.
NEPTUNE OYSTER | 63 Salem Street, Boston | 617.742.3474 | neptuneoyster.com
BEST RESTAURANT, SOUTH AMERICAN The warm hospitality of owner Andres Branger sets a crucial opening tone at these two small neighborhood Venezuelan places. The follow-up is the food, which reflects the alternately rustic and sophisticated flavors of a South American cuisine that was largely unheard of in Boston before ORINOCO’s arrival. The atmosphere is dimly lit, casually romantic, with close-set tables lending a vivid buzz to the room. Affordable South American wines and a superb patio on a quiet side street in the South End location round out the picture of an unexpected success, a labor of love that has justly caught fire with locals.
Koreana
ORINOCO | Various locations | orinocokitchen.com
BEST RESTAURANT, NEW
BEST RESTAURANT, SUSHI/SASHIMI
Our winner for best brunch in Boston, THE FRIENDLY TOAST packs them at lunch and dinner, too, thanks to its combination of retro-’50s décor and carefully made, lightly updated diner classics. With great waffles and griddle cakes, beautiful plates of breakfast eggs, vegetarian-friendly options, and a profusion of creative sandwiches, burgers, and burritos, the new Toast quickly built a large, rabid following. Late-night hours and a solid list of beverages — including beer, wine, cordial-based cocktails, coffee, and frappes — haven’t hurt a bit.
Fugakyu — your pick for the best overall Japanese restaurant — is the kind of big, handsome Japanese eatery with a long, diverse menu and variety of dining rooms to serve a broad range of customer needs. But it built its popularity first on its sushi bar, which pleases with beautiful traditional nigirizushi and makimono and dazzles with inventive, off-beat, occasionally crazy-looking specialty rolls. Served on little boats that float dishes to the customer, FUGAKYU JAPANESE CUISINE stands up fiercely even to its competitors with a tighter focus on sushi and less-versatile menus.
THE FRIENDLY TOAST | One Kendall Square, Cambridge | 617.621.1200 | thefriendlytoast.net
FUGAKYU JAPANESE CUISINE | 1280 Beacon Street, Brookline | 617.734.1268 | fugakyu.net
BEST RESTAURANT, ROMANTIC
BEST RESTAURANT, TAPAS/SPANISH
TEN TABLES has long been one of the best small restaurants in town, an elegant fine-dining New American restaurant in a pocket-size Jamaica Plain setting with bistro prices, plus a menu that treats the neighborhood’s many vegetarians with real respect. Just be sure to make reservations: it really does have only 10 tables, though the recent addition of a small bar has made it a slightly easier “get.” Alternatively, you could head to its newer sibling near Harvard Square, which boasts all of the original’s virtues in an elegant base-
JOEL V E AK
The tremendous appeal of nachos blanketed in cheese, Cajun-inspired fried foods, and sizzling platters of Koreana fajitas is evidenced by the undergraduate mobs that pack BORDER CAFE’s Cambridge location. This is border food as viewed from the American side of the border, featuring Tex-Mex standards such as steaming bowls of chili, chicken quesadillas, and guacamole-topped burgers. Somehow, no conversation about the Border fails to mention their margaritas, which customers seem to pour down with the abandon of folks who recently staggered in from the Sonoran Desert.
ment space with twice the seating.
DALÍ RESTAURANT & TAPAS BAR is a lively, loud Castilian party thrown every night of the week. Its maze of dining rooms roars with the sounds of folks having a ball as they nibble on dozens of traditional tapas, occasionally interrupted by exotica like baby eels. The wine flows: guests throw back liters of cava from porrons, pitchers of the best sangria in town, and Spanish vinos tintos. Beyond tapas, patrons also dig into big paellas or plates of salt-crusted whole fish. The first venue to thrive on the appeal Continued on p 24
MELISSA OSTROW
BEST RESTAURANT, MEXICAN
Neptune Oyster
24 APRIL 16, 2010 | THE BEST | SUPPLEMENT TO THE BOSTON PHOENIX
FOOD & DRINK Continued from p 23
BEST WAGON/ FOOD CART
of Spanish cuisine to Bostonians, Dalí is still drawing crowds — and your accolades — despite sharper competition in recent years.
It’s not the likeliest setting for what’s been called (by the Wall Street Journal, no less) the finest hot dog in the country: a dusty corner of an industrial food warehouse district in Roxbury. But aficionados swear it’s worth the trip to BOSTON SPEED DOG for a half-pound all-beef natural-casing Grote & Weigel dog, smoked and char-grilled, served on a sturdy grilled bun with house-made chili and condiments. The recent addition of a grilled pastrami sub is also noteworthy, but the dog is sui generis, something every self-styled food-lover in Boston must venture to try at least once.
Brown Sugar Cafe
DALÍ RESTAURANT & TAPAS BAR | 415 Washington Street, Somerville | 617.661.3254 | dalirestaurant.com
BEST RESTAURANT, THAI
BROWN SUGAR CAFE | 1033 Comm Ave, Boston | 617.787.4242 | brownsugarcafe.com
BEST RESTAURANT, VEGGIE
BEST WINE LIST
Inner Beauty hot sauce. Its popularity shows how good things can happen when a restaurateur focuses intently on doing one thing really well.
THE OTHERSIDE, a crunchy, arty hangout, is on the other side of Newbury Street in more ways than one: it’s a rare spot in the mostly buttoned-down Back Bay that attracts the inked and the pierced, and repels the bug-eyedsunglasses set. Its sunny patio is a sublime space to enjoy a craft beer, a sandwich or salad, or a well-made espresso, smoothie, or proper pot of leaf tea. It also represents a rare outpost of thoughtful vegetarian and vegan cuisine in the neighborhood, and provides a welcome weekend brunch haven for folks who wouldn’t be caught dead on the squarer side of the street.
ALL-STAR SANDWICH BAR | 1245 Cambridge Street, Cambridge | 617.868.3065 | allstarsandwichbar.com
BEST STEAK HOUSE The jewel in the Back Bay Restaurant Group’s crown, ABE & LOUIE’S bears all the classic beef-palace hallmarks: the trappings of an old-money club, solid bartending, a fat wine list full
Boston Speed Dog
THE OTHERSIDE | 407 Newbury Street, Boston | 617.536.8437 | theothersidecafe.com
BEST RESTAURANT, VIETNAMESE
LÊ’S VIETNAMESE CUISINE would probably be a raging success even if it served nothing but pho, the great Vietnamese noodle soup that depends on exactly the kind of light but flavorful broth the kitchen delivers. But Lê’s does so much more, serving up terrific fresh rolls, salads, stir-fries, wheat noodle and rice vermicelli dishes, rice plates, caramelized fish dishes, and hot pots. Comparatively upscale locations (in Allston, Harvard Square, and Chestnut Hill) and the availability of beer and wine doubtless reinforce its appeal with American customers.
LÊ’S VIETNAMESE CUISINE | Various locations | lesrestaurant.com
ANN E W ER MIEL
BEST SANDWICHES This East Coast Grill offshoot works a simple proposition: serve the greatest sandwiches from around the world, but shun burritos and other flatbreadbased wraps. That makes ALL-STAR SANDWICH BAR the only place in town to get a proper beef on weck, the Buffalonian roast beef au jus sandwich on a salt-and-caraway topped hard roll; a real muffaletta, the great New Orleans cold-cut-and-olive-salad sandwich; and a grilled-meatloaf sandwich fired with
BOSTON SPEED DOG | 42 Newmarket Square, Roxbury | 617.839.0102 | bostonspeeddog.com
D E R E K KO U YO U M J I A N
In its second (and now only) location, BROWN SUGAR CAFE has preserved a loyal following as one of the city’s most consistent Thai restaurants. The chiliefired intricacies of Thai cuisine are well represented in an extensive menu of rice plates, curries, noodle dishes, and stir-fries. You could be perfectly happy with the excellent versions of tom kar gai, pad Thai, and green curry pork served here. But long-time customers may want to delve deeper, perhaps essaying the Thai specialties menu, which features more adventurous dishes like num tok and moo grob pad ped.
of trophy bottles, slabs of skillfully charred prime beef, enormous sides, even bigger desserts, and courtly service. It’s a dream for folks that deem a well-grilled steak the pinnacle of fine dining, and for the businesspeople who entertain them. Some say that all steak houses are largely alike: every Morton’s is exactly like every other Morton’s. But for many Bostonians, Abe & Louie’s is its own thing: our local luxury steak house.
The flagship of Barbara Lynch’s restaurant empire just became No. 2 with the recent opening of even-pricier venue Menton, but NO. 9 PARK remains among the city’s most coveted fine-dining destinations. It still has a critically acclaimed menu of nouvelle-leaning French and Italian cuisine, extraordinary service, and one of the city’s best craft-cocktail bars. Its upper-crust regulars also prize the wine list curated by long-time Lynch lieutenant Cat Silirie. Sure, it’s not hard to drop a small fortune on marquee Burgundies, Bordeaux, brunellos, and Barolos, plus a few select American producers, but its target audience probably isn’t squeezing its nickels.
ABE & LOUIE’S | 793 Boylston Street, Boston | 617.536.6300 | abeandlouies.com
NO. 9 PARK | 9 Park Street, Boston | 617.742.9991 | no9park.com
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The Best of Shopping & Recreation WE HAVE YOUR BEST INTERESTS AT HEART
A
person needs to shop — maybe not always for shoes and jewelry and the finer things in life, but pinch your pennies long enough and they won’t turn to gold; they’ll catch fire and burn a hole in your pants. You’ll end up having to buy a new pair of threads anyway. Lucky for us, we live in a city that makes it easy to spend the cash we might not have intended to burn. Boston’s brimming with terrific new and used duds, vinyls, and wares, just begging to be bought. Go on, take some products off their hands. It’s good for the soul and the economy. Should you absolutely refuse, might we suggest one of our city’s many exercise classes or spa treatments? They’re a perfect way to soothe that itch you refuse to scratch.
BEST ART-SUPPLIES STORE BEST BIKE SHOP This winter, a crap economy forced Central Square’s much-celebrated PEARL FINE ART SUPPLIES to close its doors. Art students, hipster kids, and crafty parents all mourned the loss. Where else to get pens of all colors, leadless pencils, canvasses, and those indispensable Moleskine journals? Here’s hoping that this year’s second top vote-getter, BLICK ART MATERIALS in Boston, will fill the void.
This JP bike shop leaves us feeling warm and fuzzy inside. The selection and service are of the highest caliber, but what makes BIKES NOT BOMBS the bomb is the fact that it recycles thousands of bikes each year, offers classes on how to fix your ride, and directs its profits to the youth and international programs run by the shop’s sister organization, a nonprofit of the same name. Our environmentally friendly, do-gooder hearts are swooning.
PEARL FINE ART SUPPLIES | pearlpaint.com BLICK ART MATERIALS | 401 Park Drive, Boston | 617.247.3322 | dickblick.com
BIKES NOT BOMBS | 18 Bartlett Square, Jamaica Plain | 617.522.0226 | bikesnotbombs.org
BEST BOOK STORE, NEW
Well, huzzah. You voted in BROOKLINE BOOKSMITH, a topnotch, independent bookstore, as Boston’s cream of the crop and we couldn’t agree more. From an always stellar speaker series — Sarah Silverman stops by this month — to a huge selection of new, used, and discounted books, this Coolidge Corner shop shakes its fist at corporate book behemoths everywhere.
Uniform
BROOKLINE BOOKSMITH | 279 Harvard Street, Brookline | 617.566.6660 | brooklinebooksmith.com
D E R E K KOU YO U M J I A N
BEST BOOK STORE, USED We like our books and the old, book-y smell that comes with them. For the best selection (indoor and outdoor), head to the BRATTLE BOOK SHOP. Tucked curiously into Downtown Crossing’s milieu of generic retail shops and trendy-ish restaurants is this treasure trove of gently used bestsellers, paperback B-list titles, and the beat-up edition of Infinite Jest you’ve always longed for. Kindles be damned.
BRATTLE BOOK SHOP | 9 West Street, Boston | 617.542.0210 | brattlebookshop.com
BEST CD/RECORD STORE You got your chain wallet and Nirvana Continued on p 26
26 APRIL 16, 2010 | THE BEST | SUPPLEMENT TO THE BOSTON PHOENIX
SHOPPING Continued from p 25
With a 50-minute, $90 option, there’s something for everyone.
CDs at NEWBURY COMICS back in 1995. Today, the store is still going strong, stocking the city’s best selection of albums new and old, posters, books, and music memorabilia. The local chain may have expanded far beyond the once-little Newbury Street shop that opened in 1978, but it’s a staple reader favorite. And it still sells Doc Martens, too.
BELLA SANTÉ | 38 Newbury Street, Boston | 617.424.9930 | bellasante.com
BEST HAIR-COLOR SERVICES No attitude, no frills, all fantastic. BIYOSHI SALON — a funky Allston joint that is the largest wig bank for the American Cancer Society — blew away the Newbury Street competition this year. Open since 2000, coloring starts at $45 and only top-of-the-line products from such lines as L’Oreal and Bed Head are used. Color us happy.
NEWBURY COMICS | Various locations | newburycomics.com
BEST CLOTHING STORE, MEN’S One online reviewer said it best: UNIFORM is in “the elite tier of awesomeness.” The South End boutique carries all the sought-after essentials — upscale, casual selection of clothing, skincare, and accessories from brands like Scotch & Soda, Ben Sherman, Tretorn, Diesel, Earnest Sewn, and CPT. Factor in the occasional, swank late-night soirée, and it’s pretty much a one-stop shop for all things fabulous
BEST CLOTHING STORE, WOMEN’S It’s a chain. It’s been around since the ’70s. And it’s still the definition of über cool (you know, if you don’t want to look like you’re trying to be cool). URBAN OUTFITTERS brims with hip and kitsch — and the Harvard Square outpost has a seriously great bargain basement. Come for the sparkly, frilly dresses; stay for the basic T’s, denim selection, and perfect everyday flats.
BEST HAIRCUT, MEN’S
D E R E K KOU YO U M J I A N
UNIFORM | 511 Tremont Street, Boston | 617.247.2360 | uniformboston.com
BIYOSHI SALON | 1349 Comm Ave, Allston | 617.783.1184 | biyoshisalon.com
Good Vibrations
to body oils, this Coolidge Corner shop, tucked discreetly behind an alleyway, has what you want and what you need.
GOOD VIBRATIONS | 308A Harvard Street, Brookline | 617.264.4400 | goodvibes.com
URBAN OUTFITTERS | Various locations | urbanoutfitters.com
BEST FACIAL The accolades come hot and heavy at this Newbury Street day spa. Allure, Lucky, In Style, Vogue, Yankee — raves have
BEST COMIC-BOOKS SHOP
A Cambridge gem, THE MILLION YEAR PICNIC overflows with mostly new comics and a solid representation of indie editions. It’s all about the books — no toys, no gimmicks — and among the pickings, a local artist or two can usually be found. Independently owned, quirky, and tiny, it’s the best bet in town for tried-and-true comic buffs.
THE MILLION YEAR PICNIC | 99 Mt. Auburn Street, Cambridge | 617.492.6763 | themillionyearpicnic.com
BEST DENIM STORE A good denim store is like a good bar. There’s a little something for everyone and, if you’re lucky, you’ll leave with something — or someone — hugging your butt. Enter LUCKY BRAND JEANS — the Friday-night hotspot of denim stores. Whether long and lean or petite, quality and variety are Lucky Brand trademarks. Your ass — and the folks who’ll be ogling it at the bar later — will thank you.
LUCKY BRAND JEANS | Various locations | luckybrand.com
“Gotta keep those lovin’ good vibrations a happenin’ with her.” Now in its 33rd year — and fourth in a row as the best in this poll — GOOD VIBRATIONS is dedicated to making her (and you) “oom-bop-bop” with elations, excitations, and, of course, good vibrations. From vibrators to books, penis pumps
D E R E K KOU YO U M J I A N
BEST EROTIC-GIFTS STORE
Nomad
appeared in a slew of glossy mags. But nothing compares to you. This is the place you adore for facials that’ll make you say “ahhh.” From Blueberry Smoothie Facials to exclusive Lift and Firming Facials, head to BELLA SANTÉ to get toned, tightened, plumped, and brightened — as well as massaged and generally pampered, since you voted it the winner in those categories, too.
Hold up a minute. Flat-screen TVs? A VIP lounge? Pool tables? THE 379 CLUB — a membership-based men’s “grooming” joint (spa) — offers “hand and foot detail” (mani/pedis), “modern barbering” (shave and a haircut), and “hair art” (we don’t get it, either) in a place that feels like your neighborhood shop with the amenities of a frat house. Go baller with a $2200 annual platinum membership: chauffeured pick-up and drop-off, unlimited hair cuts, complimentary coffee, and monthly massages and hot shaves. Hot damn.
THE 379 CLUB | 379 Cambridge Street, Allston | 617.202.4330 | 379club.com
BEST HAIRCUT, WOMEN’S The motto at this Southie salon is “Rock Star Hair.” And rock it they do at SHAG, with a permanent disco ball, club lights, and a DJ setup. MTV (along with TLC, the Discovery Channel, and the Style Network) has featured the shop Continued on p 28
28 APRIL 16, 2010 | THE BEST | SUPPLEMENT TO THE BOSTON PHOENIX
SHOPPING Continued from p 26 and its owner, the heavily tattooed Sandy Poirier. If that’s not a rock-star stamp of approval, than we don’t know what is.
SHAG | 840 Summer Street (third floor), South Boston | 617.268.2500 | shagboston.com
BEST HEALTH CLUB
Your typical gym this isn’t. CROSSFIT FENWAY is a goals-oriented gym that means business. It delivers the goods with scheduled sessions run by trained coaches, a hands-on approach, and an intimate environment. Drop-in classes are offered, and on Saturdays the club hosts “Invasions” in and around Boston to kick your usual sweat session up a notch. It simply doesn’t offer a rut to get stuck in.
CROSSFIT FENWAY | 1345 Boylston Street, Boston | 617.266.7700 | crossfitfenway.com
Laura Preshong
NOMAD | 1741 Mass Ave, Cambridge | 617.497.6677 | nomadcambridge.com
BEST JEWELRY STORE What makes this cozy South End jewelry store and gallery so successful? A simple motto from designer and storeowner LAURA PRESHONG: “I make the jewelry I’d want to wear.” Turns out,
you want to wear it, too. Her diamond necklaces, asymmetrical hoop earrings, and in particular one very special oxidized, hand-hammered sterling silver cuff are fit for your inner queen.
LAURA PRESHONG | 558 Tremont Street, Boston | 617.236.7660 | laurapreshong.com
BEST MANICURE/ PEDICURE
the best of both worlds: a boutique nail salon that specializes in professional, top-quality mani/pedis, with or without appointments. The price is right for treatments like the $18 Basic, $24 Organi, and $50 Minx manicures.
At MINILUXE, you can have your cake and eat it, too. The owners and employees know it’s a crazy, busy world out there chock-full of meetings and dates and deadlines. To cut the stress, they offer
MINILUXE | 296 Newbury Street, Boston | 857.362.7444 | miniluxe.com
BEST MASSAGE
A massage at Newbury Street’s BELLA SANTÉ is a passport to paradise. Feeling Frenchy? Opt for the Bella Provence Massage, a treatment that combines a massage with a hydrating Provencal treatment. Or perhaps it’s Sweden you’d like to visit? Then go for the Bella Santé Spa Massage, which sticks to its Swedish roots. With additional offerings for moms-to-be and those in need of some deep-tissue action, paradise is closer than you thought.
BELLA SANTÉ | 38 Newbury Street, Boston | 617.424.9930 | bellasante.com
BEST MUSICALINSTRUMENTS STORE When it’s time to make a little music, music lovers head to DADDY’S JUNKY MUSIC. Situated perfectly for Berklee kids, this small, regional chain carries a serious selection of new and used guitars, recording gear, and percussion and synths. Definitely not Junky.
Daddy’s Junky Music
D E R E K KOU YO U M J I A N
The key to a good home is good juju, and the key to a good home-décor store is the best juju. NOMAD’s got it in spades. The funky-fly destination for quirky and quality home goods opened its doors on Newbury Street back in 1990, then packed up eight years later and moved across the river into — get this — a space that once housed a witchcraft-supply shop. We like Nomad for its quilts, wall hangings, and shower curtains, but especially for its seven-inch Mexican figurines and hand-painted skulls.
MELISSA OSTROW
BEST HOME-DÉCOR STORE
DADDY’S JUNKY MUSIC | 159–165 Mass Ave, Boston | 617.247.0909 | daddys.com
BEST NERD STORE Dungeon & Dragons Sundays, Magic Mondays, Classic Battletech Tuesdays . . . you get the idea. PANDEMONIUM BOOKS AND GAMES is nerd heaven, complete Continued on p 30
at WESTINGHOUSE
One Westinghouse Plaza, Hyde Park
Down Payment Financing Assistance Now Available Up to 15% of the Purchase Price at 5% APR for qualified buyers
FIRST 20 BUYERS – Pay No Closing Costs FIRST 20 BUYERS – Pay No Condo Fees for the 1st Year
$175,000 to $249,000
Presented by The Hamilton Company www.theloftsatwestinghouse.com Contact Patrick Reardon at 617-750-8998 preardon@thehamiltoncompany.com
3121!¦!3122!!TFBTPO Ifosz!JW!Qbsut!J!'!JJ Uif!Xjoufs!Gftujwbm;!! Dzncfmjof-!Mjwjoh!jo!Fyjmf!cz!Kpo!Mjqtlz! !!!Uif!Ipufm!Ofqfouif!cz!Kpio!Lvou{! Boupoz!'!Dmfpqbusb 617/776.2200 x225 www.actorsshakespeareproject.org
30 APRIL 16, 2010 | THE BEST | SUPPLEMENT TO THE BOSTON PHOENIX
SHOPPING Continued from p 28
worry — you’ll burn the calories off.)
with a souvenirs shop. Fully armed with the latest and greatest in Warhammer 40,000 & Fantasy, Yu-Gi-Oh! and Monsterpocalypse, the store kicks up the thrill factor with special events. Muchappreciated nerdery abounds.
SOUTH END ATHLETIC COMPANY | 652 Tremont Street, Boston | 617.391.0897 | southendathleticcompany.com
PANDEMONIUM BOOKS AND GAMES | 4 Pleasant Street, Cambridge | 617.547.3721 | pandemoniumbooks.com
BEST PILATES CLASS/STUDIO Formerly known as Boston BodyWorks Studios, MOVEMENT CENTER OF BOSTON was the very first Pilates studio in all of Boston, so it’s no surprise that it’s also a fan favorite. Those willing to work for that long, lean, rockin’ bod head here for the Gyrokinesis classes, a resistance machine-based Pilates that taps the roots of dance, weight training, and martial arts. Mat classes, privates, and group sessions available, too.
MOVEMENT CENTER OF BOSTON | 38 Newbury Street (fifth floor), Boston | 617.723.8090 | movementcenterofboston.com
BEST SHOE STORE, MEN’S
THE TANNERY is the retail version of the Renaissance Man: stocked with shoes of all kinds — Chuck Taylors, Sebagos, Sperry Top-Siders, and Uggs (?!) — and an option for any occasion: work, play, or mackin’ it. It’s a weathered store with a hell of a lot of appeal, as evidenced by its recurring spot on this list.
THE TANNERY | Various locations | 617.491.4433 | thetannery.com
Redemption Tattoo
MELISSA OSTROW
BEST SHOE STORE, WOMEN’S Whether for galoshes in spring, sandals in summer, snow boots in winter, or heels any time, Boston’s fine-footed ladies know to stop at BERK’S SHOES. Bright pink sneakers and snakeskin flats share shelf space, and you can always find your size — whether it’s a 5 or a 10. The prices are famously great, too.
REDEMPTION TATTOO | 2094 Mass Ave, Cambridge | 617.576.0097 | redemptiontattoo.com
BEST THRIFT/ CONSIGNMENT STORE Come Halloween, all of Cambridge, Somerville, and Boston piles into THE GARMENT DISTRICT, perennial reader favorite for gently used and reused clothes and accessories. The reason? It never disappoints. Nerd glasses, a button-down shirt, and khakis for a Dwight Schrute costume? Check. The perfunctory slutty nurse/cat/vampire duds? Check. Fake blood, afro wigs, and the best gold-toed pimp shoes we could find? Check. Garment District rocks hard the other 364 days of the year, too, thanks to the “Dollar-A-Pound+” room and a selection of clothes you’d actually wear any ol’ time.
THE GARMENT DISTRICT | 200 Broadway, Cambridge | 617.876.5230 | garment-district.com
BEST VINTAGECLOTHING STORE
BERK’S SHOES | 50 JFK Street, Cambridge | 617.492.9511 | berkshoes.com
BEST SPA
POOR LITTLE RICH GIRL | Various locations | shoppoorlittlerichgirl.com
BELLA SANTÉ | 38 Newbury Street, Boston | 617.424.9930 | bellasante.com
BEST SPORTINGGOODS STORE
M AT T T E U T E N
Ink junkies and newbies alike flock to Porter Square’s REDEMPTION TATTOO — and come back again and again. Prices aren’t the lowest around (there’s an $80 minimum), but, as the adage goes, there are two things you don’t skimp on: sushi and tattoos. An expert staff executes flawless art and has been known to calm even the craziest case of pre-tatt jitters. Funky wall art and aesthetic only add to the appeal.
POOR LITTLE RICH GIRL — with its classy selection of pillbox hats, strings of pearls, cocktail dresses that will never go out of style, and jeans, tops, and shoes that are at the cutting edge — truly makes you feel like life’s a bowl of cherries. Prices are cheap, but the goods are rich for girls of all ages.
When Boston’s got you down — potholes, T delays, slushy snow, or too-hot summers — BELLA SANTÉ has the answer. Luxuriate with a Delux Spa Facial, bring in your honey for a couple’s massage, or go for the gold with a Head-to-Toe Body Ritual. The stress begins to fade from the moment you slip into one of the super-soft robes. By the time you step back out, you’ll be walking on cloud nine.
The Garment District
BEST TATTOO ARTIST
Started by two former college track teammates, the brand spankin’ new SOUTH END ATHLETIC COMPANY fuses fitness, fashion, and fun to ensure you’ll look plain hot when your heart starts racing. The wide selection of sneakers (limited-edition green ones for St. Patty’s Day? You betcha!), clothes, and accessories is the real draw. The fun runs, in-store yoga classes, cocktailhour parties, and art receptions are simply icing on this sweet cake. (Don’t
BEST WINE/LIQUOR STORE The Allston location of BLANCHARDS LIQUORS has long battled with its neighbor Marty’s Liquors for the hearts and minds of shared customers. No more. Now that Marty’s has shut its doors, Blanchards is free to reign supreme — and deservedly so. It stocks an impressive selection of wine and spirits, including Absolut Boston — surprisingly hard to find in the city — and is the undisputed king keg provider for Rock City denizens.
BLANCHARDS LIQUORS | Various locations | blanchards.net
BEST YOGA STUDIO An Ashtanga yoga studio with locations in both the South End and Somerville, 02 YOGA is the place to get your Zen on and your heart rate up. Clean and relaxed with a schedule filled with classes for beginners, intermediate, and advanced students, as well as prenatal offerings and sweat sessions for men only — it’s ohm-azing.
02 YOGA | Various locations | 02yoga.com
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SUPPLEMENT TO THE BOSTON PHOENIX | THE BEST | APRIL 16, 2010 33
This year’s winners ARTS & ENTERTAINMENT
ART GALLERY F MEME GALLERY | 55 Norfolk Street, Cambridge | memegallery.com | p. 4 ARTIST, GRAFFITI/PERFORMANCE/STREETF PAINT PENS IN PURSES | myspace.com/paintpensinpurses | p. 4 ARTIST, VISUAL F RAUL GONZALEZ | iheartcerebot.com | p. 4 AUTHOR F JUNOT DÍAZ | junotdiaz.com | p. 6 COMEDIAN F MEHRAN KHAGHANI | myspace. com/comedyofmehran | p. 6 COMEDY CLUB F IMPROVBOSTON | 40 Prospect Street, Cambridge | 617.576.1253 | improvboston. com | p. 6 DANCE NIGHT F THE PILL | Great Scott, 1222 Comm Ave, Allston | 617.566.9014 | thepillboston. com | p. 6. DANCE NIGHT, RETRO F HEROES | T.T. the Bear’s Place, 10 Brookline Street, Cambridge | 617.492.2327 | myspace.com/heroes80s | p. 6 DANCE TROUPE F MONKEYHOUSE | 41 Foster Street, Arlington | 617.535.1942 | monkeyhouselovesme.com | p. 6 DANCE TROUPE, SEXY F BOSTON BABY DOLLS | bostonbabydolls.net | p. 6 DJ F FLAVORHEARD | flavorheard.com | p. 6 FOLK VENUE F CLUB PASSIM | 47 Palmer Street, Cambridge | 617.492.7679 | clubpassim.org | p. 8 HIP-HOP VENUE F THE MIDDLE EAST | 472 Mass Ave, Cambridge | 617.864.3278 | mideastclub.com | p. 8 JAZZ CLUB F WALLY’S CAFE | 427 Mass Ave, Boston | 617.424.1408 | wallyscafe.com | p. 8 JUKEBOX F CHARLIESKITCHEN | 10 Eliot Street, Cambridge | 617.492.9646 | myspace.com/charlieskitchen | p. 8 KARAOKE SPOT F RAZZY’S | 585 Somerville Avenue, Somerville | 617.623.9784 | myspace.com/ razzys | p. 8 LGBT NIGHT F GUERRILLA QUEER BAR | bostonguerrilla.com | p. 8 MOVIE THEATER, ART HOUSE F THE COOLIDGE CORNER THEATRE | 290 Harvard Street, Brookline | 617.734.2501 | coolidge.org | p. 8 MOVIE THEATER, WIDE RELEASE F AMC Loews BOSTON COMMON | 175 Tremont Street, Boston | 617.423.5801 | amcentertainment.com/bostoncommon | p. 8 MUSEUM F MUSEUM OF FINE ARTS | 465 Huntington Avenue, Boston | 617.267.9300 | mfa.org | p. 8 NON-GALLERY ART SPACE F ARTS AT THE ARMORY | 191 Highland Avenue, Somerville | 617.718.2191 | artsatthearmory.org | p. 10 NON-TRADITIONAL MUSIC VENUE F ARTS AT THE ARMORY | 191 Highland Avenue, Somerville | 617.718.2191 | artsatthearmory.org | p. 10 PLACE TO PLAY POOL F FLAT TOP JOHNNY’S | One Kendall Square, Cambridge | 617.494.9565 | flattopjohnnys.com | p. 10 POET F JANAKA STUCKY | blackocean.org | p. 10 ROCK VENUE F THE MIDDLE EAST | 472 Mass Ave, Cambridge | 617.864.3278 | mideastclub.com | p. 10 THEATER COMPANY F ACTORS’ SHAKESPEARE PROJECT | 191 Highland Avenue, Suite 2E, Somerville | 617.776.2200 | actorsshakespeareproject.org | p. 10 THEATER VENUE F OBERON | 2 Arrow Street, Cambridge | 617.496.8004 | cluboberon.com | p. 10 TRIVIA NIGHT F COMMON GROUND | 83 Harvard Avenue, Allston | 617.783.2071 | commongroundallston.com | p. 10
CITY LIFE
BARTENDER F MAX TOSTE | Deep Ellum, 477 Cambridge Street, Allston | 617.787.2337 | deepellumboston.com | p. 12 BEACH F CRANE BEACH | 290 Argilla Road, Ipswich | 978.356.4354 | thetrustees.org/places-to-visit/northeast-ma/crane-beach-on-the-crane.html | p. 12
BIKE ROUTE F MINUTEMAN BIKEWAY | minuteman bikeway.org | p. 12 BLOG F DRINKBOSTON | drinkboston.com | p. 12 FREE WI-FI F TRIDENT BOOKSELLERS & CAFÉ | 338 Newbury Street, Boston | 617.267.8688 | tridentbookscafe.com | p. 13 LOCAL CAUSE F MassCann/NORML | PO Box 266, Georgetown | 781.944.2266 | masscann.org | p. 13 LOCAL NONPROFIT F PINE STREET INN | 444 Harrison Avenue, Boston | 617.892.9100 | pinestreetinn.org | p. 13 F GREATER BOSTON FOOD BANK | 70 South Bay Avenue, Boston | 617.427.5200 | gbfb.org | p. 13 LOCAL POLITICIAN F BARNEY FRANK | house. gov/frank | p. 13 OPEN SPACE F THE ARNOLD ARBORETUM | 125 Arborway, Boston | 617.524.1718 | arboretum.harvard. edu | p. 13 PLACE TO LIVE F JAMAICA PLAIN | p. 13 PLACE TO PEOPLE-WATCH F THE FOUNTAIN NEAR THE PARK STREET T | p. 13 PLACE TO RUN F THE ESPLANADE | esplanadeassociation.org | p. 14 PUBLIC WORK OF ART F “MAKE WAY FOR DUCKLINGS” STATUE | schon.com | p. 14 SQUARE F DAVIS SQUARE | p. 14 STREET F MASS AVE | p. 14 STREET PERSONALITY F LOUIE EVANS, THE TRICYCLE GUY | vimeo.com/2480274 | p. 14
FOOD & DRINK
BAGELS F BAGEL RISING | 1243 Comm Ave, Boston | 617.789.4000 | p. 15 BAKERY F WHEN PIGS FLY BAKERY | Various locations | sendbread.com | p. 15 BAR F DEEP ELLUM | 477 Cambridge Street, Allston | 617.787.2337 | deepellum-boston.com | p. 15 BAR, BEER SELECTION F SUNSET GRILL & TAP | 130 Brighton Avenue, Allston | 617.254.1331 | allstonsfinest.com | p. 15 BAR, COCKTAILS F DRINK | 348 Congress Street, South Boston | 617.695.1806 | drinkfortpoint.com | p. 16 BAR, DIVE F RAZZY’S | 585 Somerville Avenue, Somerville | 617.623.9784 | myspace.com/razzys | p. 16 BAR, FANCY F EASTERN STANDARD KITCHEN & DRINKS | 528 Comm Ave, Boston | 617.532.9100 | easternstandardboston.com | p. 16 BAR, GAY F CLUB CAFÉ | 209 Columbus Avenue, Boston | 617.536.0966 | clubcafe.com | p. 16 BAR, HOTEL F NOIR AT THE CHARLES HOTEL | One Bennett Street, Cambridge | 617.661.8010 | noir-bar. com | p. 16 BAR, SPORTS F CASK’N FLAGON | 62 Brookline Avenue, Boston | 617.536.4840 | casknflagon.com | p. 16 BARBECUE F REDBONES BARBECUE | 55 Chester Street, Somerville | 617.628.2200 | redbones.com | p. 16 BRUNCH F THE FRIENDLY TOAST | One Kendall Square, Cambridge | 617.621.1200 | thefriendlytoast. net | p. 18 BUFFALO WINGS F BUFF’S PUB | 317 Washington Street, Newton | 617.332.9134 | buffspubofnewton. com | p. 18 BURGERS F MR. BARTLEY’S GOURMET BURGERS | 1246 Mass Ave, Cambridge | 617.354.6559 | bartleysburgers.com | p. 18 BURRITOS F ANNA’S TAQUERIA | Various locations | annastaqueria.com | p. 18 COFFEE SHOP, LOCAL F DIESEL CAFE | 257 Elm Street, Somerville | 617.629.8717 | diesel-cafe.com | p. 18 COFFEE SHOP, NATIONAL F DUNKIN’ DONUTS | Various locations | dunkindonuts.com | p. 18 DESSERTS F FLOUR BAKERY & CAFE | Various locations | flourbakery.com | p. 18 FAST FOOD F ANNA’S TAQUERIA | Various locations | annastaqueria.com | p. 18
GLUTEN-FREE MENU F ELEPHANT WALK | Various locations | elephantwalk.com | p. 18 GREASY SPOON F SOUTH STREET DINER | 178 Kneeland Street, Boston | 617.350.0028 | southstreetdiner.com | p. 21 ICE CREAM F J.P. LICKS | Various locations | jplicks. com | p. 21 IRISH PUB F THE BURREN | 247 Elm Street, Somerville | 617.776.6896 | burren.com | p. 21 JEWISH DELI F ZAFTIGS DELICATESSEN | 335 Harvard Street, Brookline | 617.975.0075 | zaftigs. com | p. 21 LOBSTER ROLLS F JASPER WHITE’S SUMMER SHACK | Various locations | summershackrestaurant. com | p. 21 ORGANIC-PRODUCE MARKET F WHOLE FOODS MARKET | Various locations | wholefoodsmarket. com | p. 21 PIZZA F REGINA PIZZERIA | 11 1/2 Thatcher Street, Boston | 617.227.0765 | reginapizzeria.com | p. 21 RESTAURANT, CHINESE F MARY CHUNG RESTAURANT | 464 Mass Ave, Cambridge | 617.864.1991 | marychung.com | p. 22 RESTAURANT, FRENCH F PETIT ROBERT BISTRO | Various locations | petitrobertbistro.com | p. 22 RESTAURANT, INDIAN F PUNJABI DHABA | 225 Hampshire Street, Cambridge | 617.547.8272 | royalbharatinc.com | p. 22 RESTAURANT, ITALIAN F DAVIO’S | 75 Arlington Street, Boston | 617.357.4810 | davios.com | p. 22 RESTAURANT, JAPANESE F FUGAKYU JAPANESE CUISINE | 1280 Beacon Street, Brookline | 617.734.1268 | fugakyu.net | p. 22 RESTAURANT, KOREAN F KOREANA | 154–158 Prospect Street, Cambridge | 617.576.8661 | koreanaboston.com | p. 22 RESTAURANT, LATE-NIGHT F FRANKLIN CAFÉ | Various locations | franklincafe.com | p. 22 RESTAURANT, MEXICAN F BORDER CAFE | Various locations | bordercafe.com | p. 23 RESTAURANT, MIDDLE EASTERN F THE MIDDLE EAST | 472 Mass Ave, Cambridge | 617.864.3278 | mideastclub.com | p. 23 RESTAURANT, NEW F THE FRIENDLY TOAST | One Kendall Square, Cambridge | 617.621.1200 | thefriendlytoast.net | p. 23 RESTAURANT, ROMANTIC F TEN TABLES | Various locations | tentables.net | p. 23 RESTAURANT, SEAFOOD F NEPTUNE OYSTER | 63 Salem Street, Boston | 617.742.3474 | neptuneoyster. com | p. 23 RESTAURANT, SOUTH AMERICAN F ORINOCO | Various locations | discovervenezuela.com | p. 23 RESTAURANT, SUSHI/SASHIMI F FUGAKYU JAPANESE CUISINE | 1280 Beacon Street, Brookline | 617.734.1268 | fugakyu.net | p. 23 RESTAURANT, TAPAS/SPANISH F DALÍ RESTAURANT & TAPAS BAR | 415 Washington Street, Somerville | 617.661.3254 | dalirestaurant.com | p. 23 RESTAURANT, THAI F BROWN SUGAR CAFE | 1033 Comm Ave, Boston | 617.787.4242 | brownsugarcafe. com | p. 24 RESTAURANT, VEGGIE F THE OTHERSIDE | 407 Newbury Street, Boston | 617.536.8437 | theothersidecafe.com | p. 24 RESTAURANT, VIETNAMESE F LÊ’S VIETNAMESE CUISINE | Various locations | lesrestaurant.com | p. 24 SANDWICHES F ALL-STAR SANDWICH BAR | 1245 Cambridge Street, Cambridge | 617.868.3065 | allstarsandwichbar.com | p. 24 STEAK HOUSE F ABE & LOUIE’S | 793 Boylston Street, Boston | 617.536.6300 | abeandlouies.com | p. 24 WAGON/FOOD CART F BOSTON SPEED DOG | 42 Newmarket Square, Roxbury | 617.839.0102 | boston-speeddog.com | p. 24 WINE LIST F NO. 9 PARK | 9 Park Street, Boston | 617.742.9991 | no9park.com | p. 24
SHOPPING & RECREATION
ART-SUPPLIES STORE F PEARL FINE ART SUPPLIES | pearlpaint.com | p. 25 F BLICK ART MATERIALS | 401 Park Drive, Boston | 617.247.3322 | dickblick.com | p. 25 BIKE SHOP F BIKES NOT BOMBS | 18 Bartlett Square, Jamaica Plain | 617.522.0226 | bikesnotbombs.org | p. 25 BOOK STORE, NEW F BROOKLINE BOOKSMITH | 279 Harvard Street, Brookline | 617.566.6660 | brooklinebooksmith.com | p. 25 BOOK STORE, USED F BRATTLE BOOK SHOP | 9 West Street, Boston | 617.542.0210 | brattlebookshop. com | p. 25 CD/RECORD STORE F NEWBURY COMICS | Various locations | newburycomics.com | p. 25 CLOTHING STORE, MEN’S F UNIFORM | 511 Tremont Street, Boston | 617.247.2360 | uniformboston.com | p. 26 CLOTHING STORE, WOMEN’S F URBAN OUTFITTERS | Various locations | urbanoutfitters.com | p. 26 COMIC-BOOKS SHOP F THE MILLION YEAR PICNIC | 99 Mt. Auburn Street, Cambridge | 617.492.6763 | themillionyearpicnic.com | p. 26 DENIM STORE F LUCKY BRAND JEANS | Various locations | luckybrand.com | p. 26 EROTIC-GIFTS STORE F GOOD VIBRATIONS | 308A Harvard Street, Brookline | 617.264.4400 | goodvibes. com | p. 26 FACIAL F BELLA SANTÉ | 38 Newbury Street, Boston | 617.424.9930 | bellasante.com | p. 26 HAIR-COLOR SERVICES F BIYOSHI SALON | 1349 Comm Ave, Allston | 617.783.1184 | biyoshisalon.com | p. 26 HAIRCUT, MEN’S F THE 379 CLUB | 379 Cambridge Street, Allston | 617.202.4330 | 379club.com | p. 26 HAIRCUT, WOMEN’S F SHAG | 840 Summer Street (third floor), South Boston | 617.268.2500 | shagboston.com | p. 26 HEALTH CLUB F CROSSFIT FENWAY | 1345 Boylston Street, Boston | 617.266.7700 | crossfitfenway.com | p. 28 HOME-DÉCOR STORE F NOMAD | 1741 Mass Ave, Cambridge | 617.497.6677 | nomadcambridge.com | p. 28 JEWELRY STORE F LAURA PRESHONG | 558 Tremont Street, Boston | 617.236.7660 | laurapreshong. com | p. 28 MANICURE/PEDICURE F MINILUXE | 296 Newbury Street, Boston | 857.362.7444 | miniluxe.com | p. 28 MASSAGE F BELLA SANTÉ | 38 Newbury Street, Boston | 617.424.9930 | bellasante.com | p. 28 MUSICAL-INSTRUMENTS STORE F DADDY’S JUNKY MUSIC | 159–165 Mass Ave, Boston | 617.247.0909 | daddys.com | p. 28 NERD STORE F PANDEMONIUM BOOKS AND GAMES | 4 Pleasant Street, Cambridge | 617.547.3721 | pandemoniumbooks.com | p. 28 PILATES CLASS/STUDIO F MOVEMENT CENTER OF BOSTON | 38 Newbury Street (fifth floor), Boston | 617.723.8090 | movementcenterofboston.com | p. 30 SHOE STORE, MEN’S F THE TANNERY | Various locations | thetannery.com | p. 30 SHOE STORE, WOMEN’S F BERK’S SHOES | 50 JFK Street, Cambridge | 617.492.9511 | berkshoes.com | p. 30 SPA F BELLA SANTÉ | 38 Newbury Street, Boston | 617.424.9930 | bellasante.com | p. 30 SPORTING-GOODS STORE F SOUTH END ATHLETIC COMPANY | 652 Tremont Street, Boston | 617.391.0897 | southendathleticcompany.com | p. 30 TATTOO ARTIST F REDEMPTION TATTOO | 2094 Mass Ave, Cambridge | 617.576.0097 | redemption tattoo.com | p. 30 THRIFT/CONSIGNMENT STORE F THE GARMENT DISTRICT | 200 Broadway, Cambridge | 617.876.5230 | garment-district.com | p. 30 VINTAGE-CLOTHING STORE F POOR LITTLE RICH GIRL | Various locations | shoppoorlittlerichgirl.com | p. 30 WINE/LIQUOR STORE F BLANCHARDS LIQUORS | Various locations | blanchards.net | p. 30 YOGA STUDIO F 02 YOGA | Various locations | 02yoga.com | p. 30
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