ArtsEmerson
ArtsEmerson certainly brings the world to its stages. This season alone, it hosted acrobatic feats from Montreal's troupe Les 7 Doigts de la Main in Traces; Isabella Rossellini in her cult-tastic one-woman show, Green Porno; an oil-drums-and-marimba reimagining of Mozart's opera The Magic Flute, by South Africa's Isango Ensemble; and, from the Hub's own Israeli Stage, a North American premiere of the affecting Ulysses on Bottles. Most impressive, ArtsEmerson realizes its global vision while remaining audience-focused and community-centric. (Cutler Majestic Theatre, 219 Tremont St., Boston) 559 Washington St., Boston, MA 02111, artsemerson.org.
Backworks
You can go to a luxurious, candlelit spa where they'll charge you a C-note to slather lavender ointment on your aching back, or you can go somewhere where licensed therapists will actually help get to the source of the problem. Enter Backworks, where serious muscle healing, soft-tissue tretament, and stress reduction are the foundation for easing a bona fide injury or soothing the aches that result from simple daily stress. After just one intense hour of deep-tissue massage, we left in a physical state we haven't known since childhood: utterly care-, stress-, and knot-free. 34 Batterymarch St., Boston, MA backworksinc.com.
Framers' Workshop
The friendly folks at Framers' Workshop give you a choice. You can simply drop off your MFA poster/diploma/illuminated manuscript, and pick it up behind glass two weeks later. Or you can master the craft of framing it yourself—an economical, labor-intensive, yet strangely meditative process, on par with making your own bread. Choose the matte and molding of your choice (they cut it for you), then plant yourself at one of 10 workstations in the back, equipped with a vise, nails, glue, and all the other supplies you need. The background music is good, too. 64 Harvard St., Brookline Village, MA .
Riccardi
Buying within a clothing genre whose designers seem to delight in tweaking our dysmorphic tendencies has left us feeling broke, fat, and alone on more than one occasion. But at Riccardi, no body is left behind. With original denim-obsessed hipster Riccardo Dallai Sr. at the helm, brands show up here before the kids (not to mention the department stores) even know to lust after them, and the dozen-plus lines in stockcult favorites like Nineteen48, Nudie, Ksubi, and Superfinecater to thin, thick, petite, pear-shaped, stick-straight, and overly self-critical alike. 116 Newbury St, Boston, MA 2116, riccardiboston.com.
Clarke
This is the ultimate playground for those in the throes of kitchen renovation. Open to the public and the design trade, Clarke lets consumers explore how a kitchen might look and discover the latest in cutting-edge kitchen technology from manufacturers like Thermador, Sub-Zero, Gaggenau, and Dynasty. The 5,000-square-foot show room contains a number of kitchen vignettes, and consultants are on hand to answer questions about models, features, and cooking techniques. Because Clarke is a distributor, there's no pressure to purchase; consultants will refer consumers to any one of 150 stores within its network. 63 South St., Suite 190, Hopkinton, MA .
Dr. Robert Leach
Exercise leads occasionally to injury, and for treating the busted knees, there's probably no one better than Leach. He works with the Boston Celtics, the US ski team, the Olympic squad, and top professional tennis players. "The real action though," Leach says, "is not with the pros. It's with the people who are doing sports for fun." That category includes Leach. With son Mike, the Leaches are a nationally ranked tennis duo. But Leach's sports medicine is all business. "These days, reputations are often made not on the surgery, but on not doing the surgery," he says. "And the athletes know I don't quit. They recognize I'm relating." Boston, MA
Fred Donovan and John Dewar
The John Dewar & Company operation has been in business only since October, but already its commercial clients include Front Street, the Hermitage, and Jason's. The Dewar company also encourages retail business at its 753 Beacon St., Newton, address. According to Fred Donovan, the vice-president and chief meat cutter of the store, "We're not trying for the strong sell. We just want to satisfy the customer. We don't care if they come in for one hot dog or four ounces of hamburger. We treat all our customers the same." John Dewar & Company, .
Coolidge Corner Clubhouse
A moment of silence, please, for the newly shuttered Sports Depot in Allston, at one time the only true sports bar (thanks to its 70 TVs and $9.99 Sunday brunch) this town could claim. Left to fill its shoes are several bars near Fenway and the FleetCenter, but only the Coolidge Corner Clubhouse offers the requisite coziness and camaraderie every sports bar needs. Trivia Night on Mondays draws a packed house, while 22 TVs and 36 microbrews to choose from keep the energy high. Now if it could just lose the annoying 90-minute table limit. 309 Harvard St., Brookline, MA thecoolidgecornerclubhouse.com.
Dal
Put one foot in this tapas bar and (as its name foretells) suddenly you've stepped inside a surrealist painting. The walls bombard the senses, covered as they are with trinkets, tchotchkes, knick-knacks, and accouterments from all over the Iberian peninsula. The food follows suit, starting with the tapas menu, which offers a palette of wildly disparate tastes in a few small bites, from juicy duckling smothered in berry sauce to delicate scallops swimming in saffron cream. But the entrées are the genuine masterpieces—especially the house special, melt-on-your-fork pescado a la sal (striped bass cooked in coarse salt that tenderizes the fish as it's baked). 415 Washington St., Somerville, MA dalirestaurant.com.
Jason Bond, Bondir
Bond showcases New England's bounty like no one else in town, dreaming up quirky-beautiful dishes that feature lesser-known flora, like calaminth, angelica root, and carrot-shaped Shunkyo radishes. And if Bond can blow us away working in a kitchen the size of a walk-in closet, we can't wait to see what he'll do when he opens the 2,800-square-foot outpost of Bondir in Concord—which will source items from his new Dracut farm plot—this fall. 279A Broadway, Cambridge, MA bondircambridge.com.
Café Vanille
Most bakeries aim for French authenticity, but few this side of the Atlantic succeed as completely as Café Vanille. Choosing between the flaky, airy, and flawlessly textured chocolate croissants and blissful fresh-fruit custard tarts is an exercise in futility: Just take one of each. The setting, an almost impossibly charming little Charles Street storefront, also sports a sunny brick patio, the ideal perch for tucking into a decadent mocha crème-filled pâté à choux while watching all of Beacon Hill stroll past. Now you know what Proust was fussing about. 70 Charles St., Boston, MA frenchmemories.com.
Siena Farms
Other CSAs (community-supported agriculture, or farm-shares) have more-convenient pickup spots or more-varied plans. But for produce quality, there's no beating Chris Kurth's Siena Farms in Sudbury, where he grows the most beautiful tomatoes and the tenderest greens you'll find anywhere. Kurth's wife, Ana Sortun, is one of Boston's best chefs (at Oleana) and weighs in on what to plant. And now that Kurth offers both a membership-style deal that gets you a discount at the farmers' markets and the traditional weekly box of produce, he's beginning to close the gap on convenience, too. 113 Haynes Rd., Sudbury, MA 1776, sienafarms.com.
Il Casale
Stop us if you've heard this one before: City chef heads to the 'burbs, ditches fine dining for comfort fare, and watches culture-starved locals pour in. Original or not, we're smitten with Il Casale, which opened this spring in Belmont's old fire station. Maybe it's because owners Dante deMagistris and brothers Filippo and Damian grew up in the neighborhood. Or it could be the simple family recipes. Who cares? We just want some more of that gnocchi with porcini cream, burrata with pistachios, and fluffy tiramisu. 50 Leonard St., Belmont, MA 2478, ilcasalebelmont.com.
Craigie On Main
Tony Maws isn't one of those chefs who tries to make it look easy. In his new Central Square digs, the open kitchen takes center stage, providing an unobstructed view of exactly how that (Vermont organic) lamb three ways and (Maine dayboat) halibut get onto the plate. Maws even spells out his principles on the Craigie website, including 'First we find the ingredients, then we create the menu'—which means that every day he's sourcing what's local, in season, and, for the most part, organic. By degrees, Maws takes it further than anyone else in town, and his work is your reward. 853 Main St., Cambridge, MA 2139, craigieonmain.com.
Rene Michelena
Within a few short months of his arrival at La Bettola, Michelena had helped the new South End tavern win honors from Esquire, Bon Appetit, and Food and Wine magazine as one of the best new restaurants in America. Raised in a Spanish-Filipino culinary tradition and trained in the finest kitchens in the country, Michelena has an extraordinary palate that is able to infuse French, Italian, and Asian flavors with subtelty and mastery. Having made his mark at La Bettola, which he still oversees, Michelena has recently taken over the kitchen at its sister restaurant, Galleria Italiana. La Bettola, 480A Columbus Ave., .