Crystal Clean Boston
You know what they say about cleanliness and godliness. Which must be why visits from Crystal Clean always leave your home so divine. A four-person team buffs and shines down to the hard-to-reach spots and tops it all off with finishing touches—dusted reading glasses, triangle-folded toilet paper—that other services often skip. Boston, MA 2116, crystalcleanboston.com.
Gretta Luxe
Chloé dresses and Balenciaga bags are just two style-savvy suburbanite mainstays found on the racks at Gretta Luxe. Owner Gretchen Monahan travels to New York, Paris, and Milan to bring home exclusive high-fashion apparel and recently debuted a line of knit separates; manager Katie Faessler plays resident style coach, recommending the right Zac Posen top to wear with your new Matthew Williamson embroidered skirt. 94 Central St., Wellesley, MA 2482, grettaluxe.com.
Giuliano Day Spa
It's too bad this full-service salon doesn't include a hotel, because after a 50-minute pedicure, the last thing you'll want to do is pull on a pair of heels and go home. Feet are pampered, soaked, massaged, buffed, and polished, all while you relax in a cushy massage chair. The friendly, professional staff is relentless with rough patches and doesn't stop sanding until your feet are smoothed to a buttery, baby softness. 338 Newbury St., Boston, MA g2ospasalon.com.
Common Dog
A caged kennel for Fifi? Quelle horreur! Now there's a doggie bed and breakfast where she can lounge like she's in her own living room. Common Dog, which opened last year, boards dogs overnight in a home-style setting, right down to sleeping on worn sofas and romping in a gravel backyard with wading pools. It also doubles as doggie day-care service, picking up canine campers in a small white bus so they can play while their owners are out earning their kibble. 22 Park Terrace, Everett, MA .
Billy Drummond
Short but not scary, his flattering haircuts make you feel like Winona Ryder or Isabella Rossellini (depending on your age and role model). Billy excels at developing long-term growth strategies for hair that looks like an outtake from the disaster movie of your life. He's also the manager of this youthful-but-not-too-trendy salon, set in a Commonwealth Avenue townhouse. John Dellaria Salon, 623 Commonwealth Ave., Boston, MA .
LuxCouture
While other retailers stay home and (literally) phone in their orders, LuxCouture owner Sari Brown hits the European circuit to source the next obsessed-over bag. She built a business on being first, introducing customers to new shoulder bags, clutches, and totes from VBH, Adriana Castro, and Elena Ghisellini. The store's increasingly impressive supply of casual clothing helps dress the woman who accessorizes, but in Brown's eyes, the bags will always have it. 21 Lincoln St., Newton Highlands, MA 2461, .
Matsu
Luddites rejoice. Perhaps the factory-inspired, hard-sell, high-tech atmosphere infiltrating most retail outlets inspired Dava Muramatsu to open a store that has your spiritual well-being in mind. Sure she sells great designer togs from Dosa, Cynthia Rowley, and Lilith among others, but she also stocks objects of beauty for body, home, and soul. Keep your eyes peeled for her seasonal festivals featuring yoga instructor Roni Brisette, astrologer Elizabeth Hermon, and hair maestro Troi. 259 Newbury Street, Boston, MA matsuboston.com.
Metropolitan Health Club
Metropolitan's underground decor includes exposed stone walls, purple neon lights, big plants, and great shower curtains in the women's locker rooms. The mainly gay clientele is in better shape than most people ever hope to be. Barney Frank lost his flab and got pumped up at Metropolitan. Are you cool enough to belong? 209 Columbus Ave., Boston, MA .
Charles G. Crones
Crone's father began the J.A. Sanborn Company forty-nine years ago at 28 Merchants Row (next door to Quincy Market), and it's still flourishing. "We go out of our way to buy the best," Crones told us. "We buy whole fish off the boats, and cut them here. You can always find a good selection." If you dine at the Ritz, or at St. Botolph Street, you're eating Sanborn selections, and Crones will even mail fresh lobsters for you. J.A. Sanborn Company, 28 Merchants Row, Boston, MA .
Market
Provincetown is awash in style-savvy men. We're guessing that best dressed of them frequent Market, a small but flashy clothing destination on Commercial Street. Pick up a new pair of swim shorts by a notably chic designer such as D&G, Hugo Boss, Jean-Paul Gaultier, or DSquared2. What's even better? Market has two sister stores in Boston, so you can still shop till you drop when you get home. 173 Commercial St., Provincetown, MA .
Tosca
Rustic charm meets sophistication in Hingham's happening flagship restaurant—from the funky décor and hip, laid-back crowd to the nouveau Italian menu. Chef Kevin Long, following in the accomplished foosteps of predecessors including Ken Oringer and Joe Simone, takes good advantage of the neighboring sea. Gems like whole shrimp with beefsteak tomatoes and Cerignola olives are best followed by the fantastic thin-crusted, wood-fired porcini mushroom and asparagus pizza or a plate of pan-roasted hake served over fresh pea anolini. 14 North St., Hingham, MA toscahingham.com.
Lady Lamb the Beekeeper
With an unadulterated sound and a timeless, gamine look, Aly Spaltro, a.k.a. Lady Lamb the Beekeeper, upstages every testosterone-fueled act in Boston. Her voice is light yet certain, as are her banjo and guitar stylings, which will sound even better when properly recorded (until now, her bedroom has served as her studio). Next to Spaltro's spare verses and trancelike repetition, everything else sounds like a whole lotta noise. ladylambthebeekeeper.com.
Christina's Homemade Ice Cream
You know the contenders as well as we do, and the good-natured competition they generate is making area ice cream better by the minute. Case in point: Christina's, which is holding its own against such long-loved local big boys as Herrell's and Toscanini's with flavors including carrot cake, avocado, and khulfi (cardamom and pistachio). But originality alone doesn't cut it: The textures here are addictive, and the toppings are fresh. Go ahead, make a meal out of it—you might be able to cover all the food groups. 1255 Cambridge St., Cambridge, MA christinasicecream.com.
Teuscher Chocolates of Switzerland
Your quest for the Holy Grail of chocolate can end right here. Topnotch and velvety white, dark, and milk chocolates are flown in from Switzerland every week to literally and happily melt in your mouth. The shop's crème de la crème? White chocolate-covered apricot and orange slices, cocoa-filled truffles, and the signature champagne truffles (at a hefty $27 for a box of 16). Admittedly, the staff can be icy, but, then, so can Switzerland. No matter. The exemplary chocolate stash will leave you without a hint of bitterness. 230 Newbury St., Boston, MA teuscher.com.
Sayle's Seafood
If it's true that everything good is better fried, you plain can't lose at Sayle's. Diners choose from tasty fresh quahogs, steamers, and lobsters, and even tastier fried clams, scallops, shrimp, calamari, and (for the odd landlubber) chicken. The venerable shack also offers a $35-a-head clambake with corn, potatoes, a half pound each of steamers and mussels, a whole lobster, and a bucket of chowder big enough to float back to Hyannis in. 99 Washington St., Nantucket, MA 2554, saylessseafood.com.