Urban Soirée
When up-and-coming event planner Renée Sabo launched her own boutique firm in 2017, she quickly established herself as one of the city’s go-to vendors. While her creativity and attention to detail shine through in each wedding the Urban Soirée founder brings to life, it’s her deep commitment to her clients and community that impresses most. When the coronavirus outbreak threatened to derail untold brides’ and grooms’ big days, for example, Sabo sprang into action, sharing crucial postponement and rescheduling advice on her blog and teaming up with fellow pros to offer gratis planning consultations for local couples in distress—true leadership, if ever we’ve seen it. urbansoireeboston.com.
Wish
Anyone who's spent hours frantically searching for the perfect outfit for a class reunion knows how hard it can be to strike the balance between trendy and sophisticated. This precious Charles Street boutique does so with style, stocking a mix of cutting-edge clothing, from tailored work separates by Theory and Chaiken to casual twinsets and capri pants by Trina Turk and whimsical skirts by Rebecca Taylor. Of special note is the impressive selection of party dresses, all hand-selected from collections by the likes of Nanette Lapore and Shoshanna. Timid shoppers take note: Though the store is a treasure trove of garments you won't find elsewhere, the price tags and sometimes aloof sales staff can add up to an experience as intimidating as rush night in college. 49 Charles St., Boston, MA wishboston.wordpress.com/.
Bob Smith's Wilderness House
First things first: If you're still skiing on old-fashioned straight skis, you should be ashamed of yourself. Skiing has changed dramatically in the past 10 years, thanks to improvements in equipment. Shorter, curved skis can make first-timers look like Picabo Street, and Bob Smith's Wilderness House is where to find them. The accessible, knowledgeable staff begins by determining where you'll be skiing (hard-core New England ice and rocks, or pansy-pants West Coast powder), your ability level, and budget, then points you to (and custom fits) the perfect pair. The wide selection—from Rossies to Völkl, K2 to Dynastar—means there's a fit for everyone. The shop also stocks a wide range of apparel and accessories, with everything from glove liners to back-country ski gear, and its end-of-season sales are a favorite with skiers in the know. 1048 Commonwealth Ave., Boston, MA .
Michael Schlow, Radius
In the four years since Michael Schlow moved to Boston, he has become not just a major figure on the local culinary scene, but on the national ones as well. So when he left Cafe Louis to plan his own place, foodies eagerly awaited his next move. The impeccably designed Radius more than survived the attendant hype to become the restaurant sensation of the year. Offering a distinctive counterpoint to Boston's culinary old guard, Schlow's strength is his understanding of flavors and texture. To that end, he finds the finest ingredients and uses his mastery of technique to treat them with the utmost respect. His pork confit is memorable, meltingly soft and sweet, made in a classic confit technique of cooking the meat in its own fat, which, paradoxically, heightens the flavors without making the confit fatty. As for his striped bass, Corby Kummer wrote that "the impeccable conception, execution, and presentation would be hard to find in any arrondissement [in Paris.]" With food like that, he added, "I'll fight for a table wherever [he's] cooking." 8 High St., Boston, MA .
Stan Grossfeld
<p>In 1984 and 1985 Stan Grossfeld won back-to-back Pulitzer prizes for his work in Ethiopia and Lebanon and on the U.S.-Mexican border. He wrote and edited The Eyes of the Globe, a compilation of 25 years of the Globe's best photos. He spent 40 days last year playing Huckleberry Finn, floating down the Mississippi on a wooden raft with Globe reporter Wil Haygood. The product of their experiecne, Two on the River, will be published this fall. Most recently Grossfeld received the $10,000 World Hunger Award and donated his winnings to Oxfam America.</p> <p>This year hasn't exactly been a slow one, either. Stan Grossfeld, the Globe's 34-year-old photography director, is now a semifinalist in the Journalist in Space competition. If selected, he plans both to photograph and to write about what life is really like inside a 16.5-foot-long cabin.</p> <p>Grossfeld also scored for the Globe day-after shots of both earthquakes in Mexico City. He photographed the second quake, in fact, while it was happening. "It was really eerie," says Grossfeld, who joined the Globe in 1975, after working at the Star-Ledger in Newark, New Jersey. "I just heard screams and then the ground started shaking and I started running up the street. I felt like a drunk. The street was just heaving underneath me. But then I tried to calm down and make some pictures of it all."</p> <p>Not only did he "make some pictures," but he also made the Globe's deadline by persuading a Delta flight attendant flying out of Mexico City that Friday night to take his film to the Associated Press in Dallas for processing. Grossfeld's photos and first-person account made the Globe's Saturday front page.</p>
Gwen Butler so impressed Swiss financier Erich Sager with her work behind the bar at the Federalist that he offered to buy her a restaurant of her own as a tip. More than a year and $2.5 million of Sager's money later, the planned Back Bay restaurant Zita (named for the patron saint of waiters and waitresses) hasn't opened.