Area Four
The Hub’s abundance of prize-worthy pies continues to grow, but this year’s cornicione crown goes to a repeat winner. We credit the Area Four team’s obsessive attention to detail, starting with the tang, chew, and char of that crust, enough to make a dough aficionado’s knees wobble. And the toppings? Just your run-of-the-mill larder staples like hand-stretched mozzarella, Wellfleet clams, and a satiny mushroom sauce that is surely the reduction of some luxe French bisque. 264 East Berkeley St., South End, Boston, 857-317-4805; 500 Technology Sq., Kendall Square, Cambridge, 617-758-4444, areafour.com
The Club Car
Housed in a Nantucket Railroad car, this 41-year-old stalwart got a gorgeous redesign last year courtesy of its new owners, who earned their bona fides at Boston favorites like Toro and Grill 23. Chef-partner Mayumi Hattori’s Cali-inspired cuisine is top-notch, but we especially love the scene at the bar, which pours local Cisco brews and cocktails such as the Garden Variety, a refreshing mash-up of tequila, cucumber, and lime. Live piano music gets the party started while keeping it classy. One Main St., Nantucket, MA 02554, theclubcar.com.
Union Square Donuts
We thought we couldn’t possibly love Union Square Donuts’ soft, flaky pastries, filled with homemade pineapple preserves, glazed with blackberry-basil-lime icing, and studded with smoky-sweet Vermont maple bacon, any more than we already do. Then the Somerville-born bakery, led by recent Food Network Holiday Baking Championship finalist Sarah Belisle, started offering its treats at outposts of the Bagel Table, another growing Boston-area brand. Now we know where to go for a morning fix of sugar and everything spice — and boy, is it nice. Multiple locations, unionsquaredonuts.com.
Night Shift Brewing
You’ll find plenty of old-school Neapolitan and Sicilian slices in the neighboring North End, but if you’re craving Detroit-style pizza — a square-cut variety slowly starting to appear in Boston — you’ll need to stop by this young TD Garden–side brewery, which tapped a super-talented team of Eastern Standard alums to perfect its recipe. Locally milled high-gluten flour yields a wonderfully chewy, sheet-pan-deep pie built with sweet tomato sauce on top of salty, tangy cheese that reaches all the way to the caramelized edge — and don’t forget the crispy, heat-curled cups of dry-aged pepperoni. 1 Lovejoy Wharf, West End, MA 02114, nightshiftbrewing.com.
J.P. Licks
Good thing J.P. Licks launched a new line of ice cream cakes in time for its 40th birthday. Now we can properly celebrate the small chain of Boston-area scoop shops, which has gifted us over the years with countless creative flavors served in cones and cookie sandwiches. All of them are still handmade at Licks’ home base in Jamaica Plain, including a few boozy varieties — like caramel-bourbon-fig or cherry-amaretto — that would feel particularly appropriate for raising a ruby anniversary toast. Multiple locations, jplicks.com.
Company One Theatre
Let's get one thing straight: Fringe isn't synonymous with small. In fact, the fringe companies in town are all about big ideas, big risks, and big heart, none more so than Company One Theatre, a long-standing resident of the Boston Center for the Arts. Dedicated to performances you aren't likely to forget (did you see the perfectly perturbed Shockheaded Peter ?), Company One should be celebrated not only for its adventurous theatrical achievements, but also for its efforts to carve out a more diverse, informed, and open-minded city. 539 Tremont St., Boston, MA 02116, companyone.org.
The Brattle Theatre
In a time when Hollywood seems to have lost its way (Mortdecai, anyone?), places like the Brattle Theatre stand as beacons of hope. Rather than subject you to Let's Be Cops on three screens, the Brattle offers area premieres of independent films, Charlie Chaplin's 100th birthday celebration, the annual Boston LGBT Film Festival, a week of avant-garde Polish cinema, and a newly restored print of Jaws. All of this, plus the warm feeling you get from supporting a local nonprofit theater, and the additional warmth provided by the local beer and wine available at the concession stand. 40 Brattle St., Cambridge, MA 02138, brattlefilm.org.
Matt Murphy's Pub
For a city with an Irish bar on every block, Boston is decidedly short on palatable Irish fare. The exception is this enclave of green cuisine in Brookline Village, which serves up traditional Gaelic dishes with a modern twist. Rabbit pie comes tender in a soda bread crust; fish and chips are wrapped in newspaper to seal in the steam. Meals go down even easier with the help of a hefty board of farmers' cheeses and some chunky, well-spiced homemade ketchup (not to mention the obligatory pints of Guinness). Service and consistency here have fallen off of late, but Murphy's is still a shillelagh above the competition. 14 Harvard St., Brookline, MA mattmurphyspub.com.
Silvertone Bar & Grill
There are perhaps no greater late-night food cravings than for French fries or macaroni and cheese. Fortunately for Boston barhoppers, Silvertone serves mean versions of both in its soothingly dark subterranean bar and lounge. Slip down the stairs and settle into a booth to order from a menu filled with a mix of comfort food and gourmet dishes, served quickly and efficiently by the casual, friendly staff. The full bar means that those who still have the aptitude for one last tipple can wash down their BLTs with an ice-cold draft. What's more, the location (smack-dab in the middle of the newly trendy Ladder District) makes Silvertone an easy addiction to indulge. 69 Bromfield St., Boston, MA silvertonedowntown.com.
Aujourd'Hui
Boston chef Ed Gannon maintains Aujourd'Hui's reputation as one of the finest hotel dining rooms in the city. No, we're not swayed by the view. Okay, maybe a little. The unpretentious menu is flawlessly presented and prepared, and despite the formal china it succeeds in bridging the gap between over-the-top fine dining and the kind of food that people prefer to eat these days. Chef Gannon's creatively presented dishes are simultaneously hearty and light and they reach the table in a timely fashion. The chef gets extra credit for his friendly way of coming around to the tables, and for so willingly sharing his kitchen with visiting chefs for themed dinners. Four Seasons Hotel, 200 Boylston St., Boston, MA .
Michael Moore
"Bloodless surgery" isn't a phrase typically associated with spa treatments. Then again, there's nothing typical about the way that Quincy native Moore—who coined the term to describe his massages—operates. His Stuart Street office is just that: an office, with no cucumber water or silk robes in sight. In place of such frippery, you get what is simply the best deep-tissue, Swedish, and therapeutic massages in Boston, for half the price of most rubdowns elsewhere. This year Moore's list of clients (which includes several local politicians, athletes, and news anchors) grew so lengthy that he opened a second location in Brookline. 441 Stuart St; 1678 Beacon St., Boston, Brookline, MA 02116, 02446, .
Santarpio's
For a pizza joint, this Eastie institution has more than its fair share of character—thick Boston accents, a Sinatra-loaded jukebox, and rough (yet deep down, totally lovable) servers. And then there's the pizza itself: a crunchy, cornmeal-dusted affair slathered with gooey, sweet-sauced cheese and topped with delicacies like house-made sausage, all of it positively begging for a Bud Light or cheap wine chaser. And if you're too impatient to wait for a sit-down meal, the anything-but-ordinary cheese pie is pretty fantastic straight out of the to-go box. 111 Chelsea St., East Boston, MA 2128, santarpiospizza.com.
Square Café
Suburban restaurants often thrive precisely because they're away from the city: A captive audience takes what it can get. Square Café by contrast, could compete fiercely in any Boston neighborhood. This New American eatery radiates a laid-back confidence born of a masterful affinity for different cuisines. Another compliment, and one that may come out wrong: Menu descriptions that sound like overwrought disasters ('stuffed pork chop with spinach, prosciutto, cheddar and cornbread stuffing, sweet potato-vidalia gratin, and golden raisin demiglace') turn out to be carefully calibrated balancing acts of texture and flavor. 150 North St., Hingham, MA 2043, .
Skipjack's
For the healthy: blackened tuna sashimi. For the daring: wasabi-crusted salmon. And for the hungry: a lobster roll that's meaty, chunky, and sweet. No matter what your palate craves from the sea, Skipjack's probably serves it, and serves it well. This year, the Newton and Natick branches of the three-restaurant chain even began to feature sushi, from hearty lobster maki rolls to thin-sliced tuna sashimi. Or bypass the raw and head straight for the cooked—everything is flapping-fresh and runs from the creative (mahi-mahi grilled to perfection, then smothered in a peach pepper salsa) to the traditional. (The Boston clam chowder is a rich meal unto itself.) 55 Needham St., Newton, MA skipjacks.com.
Brookline Booksmith
The Boston literary culture may actually exist on the opposite side of the Charles, but that hasn't kept the folks in Coolidge Corner from thinking big. Writers like Dave Barry, Isabelle Allende, Frank McCourt, and Barbara Kingsolver have been featured in the "Writers and Readers Series" since it was founded six years ago. The readings, which take place either in the store or across the street at the larger Coolidge Corner Theatre, are frequent and usually free, and feature up-and-coming local scribes. Plus, the Booksmith is an independent, dog-friendly store with a smart and helpful staff. 279 Harvard Street, Brookline, MA brooklinebooksmith.com.