M.F. Dulock
This neighborhood meat market specializes in ethically sourced, hormone-free meats—all raised on pasture within 250 miles of Somerville—and nose-to-tail butchery. That means you’ll see hard-to-find proteins such as livers and blushing lamb’s hearts, along with house-made sausages, pork cutlets, chicken, and slabs of brisket. Want to try them all? Subscribe to M.F. Dulock’s meat club and take home new cuts every month. 201A Highland Ave., Somerville, MA mfdulock.com.
Temporary Solution Staffing
Jobless recovery or none, work still needs to get done: Telephones need to get answered, mail needs to be sorted, and bosses need to have someone to order around. Providing that work force is the raison d'être of Temporary Solution Staffing, which recruits aggressively, screens rigorously, and follows up with a rare level of attention to each assignment to make sure that the match was a good one. 540 Tremont St., Boston, MA .
Boston Center for Adult Education
Nowhere is there a better selection of outdoorsy activities than at the Boston Center for Adult Ed. Learn safety and with supervision all the invigorating, fresh-air passtimes easily accessible to you in the area: moonlight paddling on the Charles, sea kayaking, rock climbing, sailing, rollerblading, horseback riding, urban biking treks, polo— or for the unrepentantly sedentary, a Polaroid scavenger hunt via limousine. 5 Commonwealth Ave., Boston, MA .
Belle Isle Seafood
Twelve rolls into our research, it seemed there was no escaping the Bun Situation: perfectly sweet meat marred by stale, soggy, cold, dinky, or too-hearty bread. Then we tried Belle Isle's roll. The buttery, griddle-crisped hot dog bun brilliantly holds its own against the tender tail, knuckle, and claw meat stuffed inside. One Main St., Winthrop, MA 2128, belleisleseafood.com.
Sweet Life Cafe
Ten bucks says if you were asked to imagine your ideal evening of outdoor island dining, you'd pick something with a water view. Oh, naive soul: On the Vineyard, the most delicious outdoor experience happens in Sweet Life's fragrant garden, where threads of tiny white lights illuminate a handful of white-tableclothed seatings. The food is similarly divine: Lively island fare such as sweet-and-spicy roasted scallops, savory halibut with curry onion rings (a must), and salmon with lemon salsa round out the experience. 63 Circuit Ave., Oak Bluffs, MA 2557, sweetlifemv.com.
Neptune Oyster
Neptune's menu is a smorgasbord of briny delights: locally harvested cherrystone clams, littlenecks, and shrimp cocktail. But the true draw here is the mighty oyster—more than a dozen varieties pulled from as near as the waters off Wellfleet and as far as Washington state. For those still coming up in the school of oyster-ology, the menu explains not just where the selections hail from, but how they'll taste going down. 63 Salem St., Boston, MA 2113, neptuneoyster.com.
Main Street in Essex
Why limit yourself to one seafood venue when you can have it all on just one block? Main Street's dream team of major seafood players—Tom Shea's (for unbeatable grilled seafood), Woodman's (for topnotch classic fried clams, lobster tails, and scallops), and Periwinkles (for expertimental, fusion-minded fish dishes)—offers Cape Ann's highest concentration of fine fish. Put together, they provide what may just be the perfect seafood sampler. Main Street, Essex, MA .
French + Italian
Remember the linen sundress you scored at that small boutique down a side street in Milan? Aimee Lombardi fills her gorgeous Marblehead shop with precisely that kind of merchandise: dresses, bags, and necklaces by cosmopolitan designers that hail mostly from—you guessed it—France and Italy (Pepita, Isabel Marant, A.P.C., Anne Willi, and so on). 129 Washington St., Marblehead, MA 1945, frenchitalian.com.
The ICA Theater
The Regattabar occasionally offers avant-garde performers like Don Byron or Michael Marcus, but no one would ever confuse with New York's Knitting Factory. The Institute for Contemporary Art, on the other hand, in cahoots with the recently revived Boston Creative Music Alliance (brainchild of the Pheonix's Ed Hazel and onetime ICA affiliate Gillian Levine), has hosted some cutting-edge jazz in the last year. Boston's fringe fans were treated to acts like John Zorn's Masada and Henry Threadgill and the Far East Side Band, who came into town in conjunction with the "New Histories" exhibit, up-and-coming pianist Myra Melford, and free jazz masters Matthew Shipp and William Parker. New shows are in the works for the fall. It may be wishful thinking, but we're calling this a trend. 955 Boylston St., Boston, MA .
Steven Zevitas Gallery
The best galleries have a knack for spotting cool things early. In recent years, the Harrison Avenue space featured Andrew Masullo’s cartoony paintings before he appeared in the Whitney Biennial and presented "Not About Paint," a survey of gonzo assemblage that went on to inspire a deCordova show. Last year’s coup was Ben Sloat’s "One Blast," which explored how technology modulates everything via paintings of a dazzle-camouflaged ship riding digital waves. 450 Harrison Ave., Boston, MA 2118, stevenzevitasgallery.com.
Barbara Krakow
Known far and wide as Boston's "mini MoMA," the Krakow is Ground Zero for emerging contemporary art. The gallery's owners consistently go out of their way to dig up new artists, adding a strong dose of local talent to the mix, and rounding it out with international masters. Look for as much photography (documentaries from Nicholas Nixon, for example) as painting and sculpture (a recent series of Cameron Shaw's work blew us away). 10 Newbury St., Boston, MA barbarakrakowgallery.com.
Blick
Painting your next masterpiece starts here. Blick has a deep selection of everything you'll need, plus folks behind the counter who are artists themselves—meaning they'll be delighted to expound on the differences between papyrus and parchment, suggest the best brushes for your buck, and point you toward the perfect frame. 401 Park Drive, Boston, MA 2215, .
Childs Gallery
Since 1937 Childs has been a flagship of Boston's fine art market. Specializing in pre-World War II American and European paintings, prints, drawings, and sculpture, Childs is where you go to find treasures ranging in importance and price from a small thing of beauty to a centerpiece of an established collection. Owner Roger Howlett's knowledge of his expansive inventory makes Childs nothing short of a museum with price tags. 169 Newbury Street, Boston, MA childsgallery.com.
LaMontagne Gallery
The new South Boston, recently referred to as "SoBo" by the New York Times, may eventually earn such a sobriquet around town thanks to relative upstarts like LaMontagne Gallery. Since 2007 the gallery has introduced a wide range of contemporary artists to the Boston scene, garnering regional and national attention for its exhibitions. 555 E. 2nd St., South Boston, MA lamontagnegallery.com.