Flour Bakery + Café
Photograph by Keller + Keller. Styling by Catrine Kelty. It may seem like a simple task, but pulling off truly great chocolate chip cookies requires some serious baking chops. Pastry empress Joanne Chang tweaks her recipe with bread flour for chew, and luxe Tcho semisweet and milk chocolate to satisfy the designer-cocoa-bean fiends. The result is a gooey, crisp-edged confection exquisite enough to make all the fancier pastries in the case jealous. 1595 Washington St., Boston; and other locations, flourbakery.com.
Flour Bakery + Cafe
Let the cupcake lovers revel in their frosting-induced myopia; those of us who truly love pastry still embrace tarts, cakes, and cookies. Particularly when they're made the way Joanne Chang's crew bakes them: carefully (à la the sharp-flavored lemon lust tart), creatively (like the hazelnut-almond dacquoise with coffee buttercream and dark chocolate ganache), and with the best ingredients around (as in, everything they sell). 1595 Washington St., Boston, MA 2118, flourbakery.com.
Flour Bakery + Cafe
The buttery sugared brioche and pain aux raisins pair perfectly with cappuccino. 1595 Washington St., Boston, MA 2118, flourbakery.com.
Flour Bakery + Café
When 9 to 5 becomes 9 to 9, takeout joints become a blessing. But how much hot-and-sour soup can one person eat? South End hot spot Flour now serves a handful of fresh meals to go, three nights a week, including roast pulled chicken with orange slices and green beans, and spicy stir-fried sesame-ginger noodles with tofu. Working late has never tasted so good. 1595 Washington St., Boston, MA flourbakery.com.
Les Fleurs
Need beautiful blossoms on a budget? Or want to splurge on an awesome arrangement? Whatever you need, Les Fleurs will customize flawless floral bouquets for the occasion—without the snooty airs often put on at upscale shops. It caters to all events, from casual garden parties to elaborate black-tie shindigs. 354 N. Main St., Andover, MA lesfleurs.com.
Matt Murphy's Pub
How serious are we? Put it this way: Without Matt Murphy's, this category ceases to exist. True, the recent explosion of Celtic pubs has dragged Irish food into respectability and, sometimes, all the way to tastyland. But the eponymous Murphy's is in another league. The mismatched tables, the scuffed floor, the tiny loo squeezed into the kitchen, make it feel like a workingman's bar. The clear chicken soup with spring vegetables is a meal in itself. Split the sandwiches with a date, they're so damn big. The fish and chips even come wrapped in the Irish Times, a cute touch. And the egg salad sandwich with bacon and spicy mustard is so good it deserves an award of its own. 14 Harvard St., Brookline, MA .
The Children's Story
Floor-to-ceiling good clean fun. 434 Harvard St., Brookline, MA .
North Cambridge Laundromat & Dry Cleaning
Here the owners dispense restaurant recommendations and gossip tidbits along with perfectly pressed suits and blouses at the cheapest prices we've seen. They restored not only a merlot-stained silk top for a mere $3.95, but also our faith in humanity. (Seriously. They're that friendly.) 2410 Massachusetts Ave., Cambridge, MA 2140, .
Embassy Rug & Upholstery Cleaning Company
For downtrodden carpets and tired upholstery, the folks at Embassy will come and literally take that dirt and grime away. Service is prompt and prices are reasonable. 110 West Adams St., Somerville, MA .
Paws to Consider
Even the bad pun can't keep us away from a pet service this efficient, loving, and dependable. Owner Scot Jones clearly cares for his four-legged commissions with the same passion he does his business, keeping an organized staff of five fully briefed in everything from pet first aid to the fundamentals of TLC. Whether it's cat sitting (litter changes included) or dog walking (rain or shine, 365 days a year), Paws to Consider makes as many visits as you want—and will even care for plants, collect mail, and make veterinarian or grooming runs. 24 Halifax St., Jamaica Plain, MA pawstoconsider.com.
Cha Fahn
If the array of refined Asian-inspired nibbles doesn't clue you in, the owners of this four-year-old restaurant will take pains to make clear that Cha Fahn is about much more than tea. But set aside the premium sake and the inventive entrees, and what's left is simply the best-chosen tea selection in the city, in a perfect setting for enjoying it: a peaceful yet romantically charged room, ideal for lingering over pots of aromatic darjeeling, oolong, assam, lapsang souchong, and so on. It's the kind of spot that feeds the soul. The fact you can also feed your appetite is a lovely bonus. 763 Centre St., Jamaica Plain, MA chafahn.com.
The Maids
The initial cleaning fee might jar you more than the dust bunnies that have colonized your closet, but trust us—it's worth it. For $140 an hour, a team of professionals from this Newton-based maid service will wrestle your home into cleanliness, wiping down window sills, straightening stray objects, and mopping floors until they gleam. They'll even take out the trash. Carpet cleaning is available for an additional fee. When you come home to a sparkling, fresh-smelling house, the $75 charge for weekly visits will seem like a bargain. 73 Lexington St., Newton, MA .
Fourth-Floor Apartment
The Combat Zone has a number of good ones, but the best is to be seen on Newbury Street. Each afternoon, the occupant of a fourth-floor apartment near the Ritz disrobes, then cleans house. We applaud her lack of inhibition . . . and shades. Newbury St., Boston, MA .
Area Four
This highbrow pizzeria may have a few new outposts, but it was here where Cambridge's technorati first learned to love those perfectly charred and chewy pies. For brunch, try the hangover-slaying "Hot Mess" in a screaming-hot skillet. 500 Technology Sq., Cambridge, MA 02139, areafour.com.
Area Four
PHOTOGRAPH BY JESSE BURKE To find espresso this good—hot and potent, with a nutty crema—served sans withering disdain is a rare thing indeed. 500 Technology Sq., Kendall Square, MA 2139, areafour.com.