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Best of Boston 2009

After months of dining, shopping, and advice-seeking our way across the Hub, it's here: your annual guide to the finest our city has to offer.

August 2009
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Photos by Joseph Webb, Hornick/Rivlin, Keller + Keller, Tim Llewellyn, Bob O'Connor, Eric Roth, and Michael Piazza.

North End to South Shore, East Boston to MetroWest. We made a lot of stops in our hunt for the finest of everything the Hub has to offer, an annual quest that we took in a whole new direction this year (see "How We Did It"). And now, 12 months, hundreds of miles, and about a gazillion calories later, our Best of Boston journey has finally ended. Yours, however, is just getting started.

BEST OF BOSTON 2009 AWARDS

Dining Winners

Dining: Singular Sensations

Dining: Food Pros

Dining: Cravings

Dining: Bang for Your Buck

Dining: Neighborhood Dining

 

Shopping Winners

Shopping: Singular Sensations

Shopping: Bang for Your Buck

Shopping: Kids' Stuff

 

Service Winners

Service: Singular Sensations

Service: Hair Pros

Service: Bang for Your Buck

 

Nightlife Winners

Nightlife: Singular Sensations

Nightlife: Pickup Bars

 

Suburbs Winners

North

West

South

 

HOW WE DID IT

Haven't heard the word "transparency" this year? Good--because that's what this edition of the Best of Boston is all about. Our team of expert judges selected winners based on months of browsing, buying, primping, gorging, and partying (it's research, people); as proof, in the pages ahead you'll find more analysis and evidence of our pavement-pounding than ever before. In another enlightenment-boosting move, we're calling out both runners-up and previous honorees for the first time. And this year, city limits are no boundary to the best: If a place is outside Boston, but serves up, say, the most blazingly tasty Szechwan in the land (See Best of Boston 2009 Chinese), it earned a place on our honor roll.

Contributors: J. Kenji Alt, Alison Arnett, Matthew Reed Baker, Rachel Baker, Elizabeth Bomze, Jamie Coelho, Annie B. Copps, Geoffrey Gagnon, Donna Garlough, Sascha de Gersdorff, Alyssa Giacobbe, Jolyon Helterman, Brittany Jasnoff, J.L. Johnson, Charles Kelsey, Paul Kix, Rachel Levitt, Wyndham Lewis, Erin Byers Murray, Jeremy Savlen, Jason Schwartz, Francis Storrs, Brigid Sweeney, Amy Traverso

Go on to the next page or click the links above to see the awards...


 
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User Comments:

craigie is locavore? seriously?
Posted by Anonymous | Aug. 21, 2009 at 12:44 PM
COMMENT:
spanish octopus, hearts of palm, greek sardines, pacific fish with avocado & citrus on everything? If that's local I'll eat my hat. The PR marketing machine is local though...
Best of Boston 2009!
Posted by | Oct. 10, 2009 at 11:02 PM
COMMENT:

Posted by sherry1 | Mar. 10, 2010 at 5:49 AM
COMMENT:
Boston is the capital and largest city of the Commonwealth of Massachusetts, and is one of the oldest cities in the United States. The largest city in New England, Boston is sometimes regarded as the unofficial Capital of New England" for its economic and cultural impact. Boston city proper had a 2008 estimated population of 620,535, making it the twenty-first largest in the country. I am a student of microsoft study guide and i am so much specialties in the network solution's.
 
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