September 2002 Issue

Restaurants

Restaurants

With Caffè Umbra, chef Laura Brennan has finally struck out on her own—and revived a revolutionary cuisine in the process.

Caffè Umbra 1395 Washington Street, Boston 617-867-0707 Chef: Laura Brennan “Nobody's doing that anymore,” I thought when I scanned Laura Brennan's opening menu at Caffè […]

So-called “malternatives” are all the rage these days, but what are these drinks, really? Our wine expert investigates.

Remember Zima? Of course you do. Way back in 1993, when your stock portfolio was, like, double its current value, nothing was more satisfying after […]

Other

Scary as it seems, there may not be a better time to put your money to work.

This may be the most important investment column I have ever written. Because we are at a crossroads. And the decisions you make now have […]

Bought & Sold

Reebok president and COO Jay Margolis and wife Donna have made tracks to the Four Seasons, where they picked up a $1.4 million condo. Harvard […]

Bought & Sold

Reebok president and COO Jay Margolis and wife Donna have made tracks to the Four Seasons, where they picked up a $1.4 million condo. Harvard […]

A year later, the barricades still stand. But Boston is also different in ways we can't see.

It begins with an innocent recommendation, passed along by a preschool headmaster to the parents of one her pupils. You've got to check out the […]

For the first time, Ted Williams's feuding daughters detail the troubled past that led to the fight over their father's remains.

Long before they started sparring over their famous father's remains, Claudia, Bobby-Jo, and John-Henry actually liked each other. For a brief period, anyway. In fact, […]

Some local residents plan to live forever.

Tony Reno of Pepperell doesn't buy the skepticism about cryonics — freezing a body so it can be brought back to life one day. “I […]

Huge price expected for rare painting — of cats.

The Skinner auction house in Park Plaza will hold the nation's first-ever all-cat art auction on September 20, featuring the world's largest antique cat painting, […]

Hospitals bleed cash as price of blood goes up.

Reeling from two increases in a year in the cost of blood supplied by the American Red Cross, local hospitals have started buying blood from […]

The Notebook

Women on Top As college opens this month, it might seem as if the men dropped out. A study by Northeastern University and the Boston […]

Can't find a purse to match the color of those shoes? Just flip a switch.

A pair of local scientists may have solved many women's fashion frustration: What to do when the purse doesn't match the shoes. Maggie Orth and […]

A Newton company starts test prep at six.

Here's a novel twist on the in-creasingly competitive race for university admissions: a newly opened tutoring company in Newton that starts student test preparation in […]

Two area businesses are fined for patronizing Libyan hotel, attempting to sell sponges to Iran.

A Lynn company has been charged with doing business with the enemy, according to newly released government documents. Its crime? Trying to sell about $1,000 […]

Education

New England’s best colleges spill the beans about which boston-area high schools, public and private, they look to first for future freshmen — and why.

Walking the hallways of this $54 million school complex that rose last year in Massachusetts farm country 20 miles from the New Hampshire border is […]

Why the Symphony thinks new conductor James Levine will bring back Boston's glory days, why Levine decided to accept the offer, and how the whole deal almost fell apart.

A hundred folding chairs shuffle across the carpet in the Hatch Room of Symphony Hall. It's been four minutes since James Levine was first presented […]

The MBTA is crowded, slow, and increasingly shabby, with rude employees, endless delays in promised improvements, and a legacy of bungling at every turn. Bringing it up to speed would cost billions. Can the T get back on track?

Rena Kirsch is on the verge of making a big mistake. Clutching the bag of vegetables she intends to grill at her Jamaica Plain apartment […]

The “public-private” deal for a new North Station leaves the public pinched.

The Winchester commuter was lucky: She'd survived the logjam of bodies that fills North Station when rush hour collides with a FleetCenter event, and she'd […]