The “B” List

Beth’s “A-List” Favorites for All Things Essential

Whether you’re new to town or sim­ply want the inside “scoop” on the best places for the best ser­vices and essen­tials, you turn to a trusted friend for advice. Ah, the power of “word of mouth.”

Over the years, sev­eral friends have asked me what my favorite places are for this and that—who to go to for the best deep tis­sue mas­sage, where’s the coolest store to shop for cut­ting edge style com­bined with high qual­ity, who in the world is the best dog walker in the area? I’ve decided to share some of my insights here, as I’ve remained loyal to these peo­ple and places for a reason—they’re sim­ply the “A-listers” in my book, so read on to learn more.

Eats and Treats

Restau­rant
La Cam­pa­nia (www.lacampania.com), my favorite Ital­ian restau­rant located on Main Street in Waltham, MA con­sis­tently serves the most delec­table and authen­tic Ital­ian cui­sine, cou­pled with impec­ca­ble ser­vice. Through­out the sum­mer months, choose the out­door ter­race for din­ing, with its vine cov­ered trel­lises and tea lights that will def­i­nitely remind you of the old country.

Cof­fee Shop
Que­brada Bak­ery, with loca­tions in Welles­ley, Arling­ton, and Bel­mont, MA (www.quebradabakingco.com) has the best cof­fee in the area, along with deli­cious home­made scones and numer­ous other baked goods. It’s also one of the hottest gath­er­ing places for early morn­ing meet­ings and socialization.

Retail Ther­apy
Located in Fal­mouth, MA on Cape Cod, Maxwell & Co. (shop.maxwellandco.com) is worth the drive if you’re seek­ing unri­valed col­lec­tions for both men and women, and pur­vey­ors of unique brands from around the world. In addi­tion to the excep­tional array of cloth­ing and accessories—from casual wear to couture—the own­ers Dan and Lori Maxwell and their staff, are knowl­edge­able, warm and atten­tive to their customers.

Beau­ti­fi­ca­tion

Hair
By far, the finest hair styl­ist I’ve known and used for many years is Denise McClel­lan at Daryl Christo­pher, with its newest loca­tion in Waltham, MA (www.dchristopher.com). Denise is a mas­ter styl­ist at the salon, pro­vid­ing the best ker­atin treat­ment, color, cut and blow dry­ing tech­niques that I’ve ever expe­ri­enced and have earned her acco­lades from her loyal clientele.

Facial and Mas­sage
Gerta Paul, with her pri­vate stu­dio at 48 River Street, Suite 100R, in Welles­ley, MA has mag­i­cal hands that can trans­form even the tens­est client into a relaxed and reju­ve­nated “pud­dle” by the time she’s fin­ished. With a serene atmos­phere and her sooth­ing touches—such as warm tow­els and hot stones—Gerta uses the finest prod­ucts from France to ensure glow­ing results. When you’re ready for the midas touch, give her a call at: (978) 996‑2700.

Spa Retreat
Since open­ing its doors in 1958, the Golden Door (www.goldendoor.com) remains “the orig­i­nal lux­ury spa retreat.” Located in beau­ti­ful Escon­dido, CA, it’s well worth the trip if you’re seek­ing the finest spa expe­ri­ence imag­in­able. Focus­ing on bal­anc­ing mind, body and spirit through its inno­v­a­tive approach to health and fit­ness, an indi­vid­u­al­ized pro­gram is devel­oped for each guest for max­i­mum ben­e­fit and results. Sur­rounded by lux­u­ri­ous ameni­ties and an unpar­al­leled com­mit­ment to ser­vice, the Golden Door pro­vides a tran­quil atmos­phere for the ulti­mate spa experience.

Make Up and Make Up Artist
Stu­dio 28 by Stacey Frasca, located in Welles­ley, MA (www.staceyfrasca.com) is the one and only des­ti­na­tion for the finest make up appli­ca­tion using Stacey’s sig­na­ture prod­uct line. With over twenty years of expe­ri­ence in the busi­ness, Stacey con­tin­ues to beau­tify her long ros­ter of celebrity “A-listers” and mere mor­tals alike. Whether its make up appli­ca­tion for a wed­ding, photo shoot, pri­vate event or tele­vi­sion appear­ance, Stacey is a mas­ter at cre­at­ing gor­geous, flaw­less look­ing skin. Equally notable are her beauty prod­ucts that are avail­able for pur­chase at the stu­dio and online.

Nail Salon
L’Amanti Stu­dio, located at 1280 Cen­tre Street in New­ton Cen­ter, MA, (617–244-5616) is a fam­ily owned and oper­ated busi­ness that’s well known for pro­vid­ing the best mani-pedi in the area. Helen has the most amaz­ing hands that gen­tly mas­sage your legs through­out your pedi­cure, while Kyle and Han­nah, are both metic­u­lous and knowl­edge­able about the lat­est prod­ucts and tech­niques of the trade. The salon is excep­tion­ally clean and is always a fun des­ti­na­tion for meet­ings friends.

Wax­ing
Del­laria Day Spa (617–527-8155) located in New­ton Cen­ter, MA (www.dellaria.com) is the place to go for the quick­est and best wax­ing around. Kash­mira is the highly skilled “queen” of the process and is always kind and gen­tle with her approach.

Per­fume
Nat­u­rally, I have a favorite per­fume for day­time and another for evening. My all time favorite to wear dur­ing the day is Un Jardin Sur Le Nil by Hèrmes. With green mango, grape­fruit, sycamore and frank­in­cense, this light mix­ture is sim­ply lovely.

For evenings, I pre­fer Hanae Mori Eau de Toi­lette, with its heady notes of berg­amot, jas­mine, musk and vanilla. It’s del­i­cate yet sensational.

Jeans
“YIKES!” is often the under­scored term or thought asso­ci­ated with jeans because the fit has to be just right to look great—not too low in the rise, not too loose or too tight—jeans you can really live in. I have finally found the per­fect match at National Jean Com­pany (www.njcboston.com). Made by AG (Adri­ano Gold­schmied), I love the fit of the “Stilt” jean style best. Avail­able in dif­fer­ent washes and col­ors, they’re purely a plea­sure to wear and look amaz­ing for nearly every occasion.

Dry Cleaner
Her­cules dry clean­ers in Lin­den Square, Welles­ley, MA (www.herculesdrycleaners.com) is by far the best at remov­ing any sort of stain and over­all “best in show” in my opin­ion. With a clean and friendly envi­ron­ment, I know I’m always going to have my items ready on time and that they’ve been treated with the high­est level of care.

Tai­lor
House of Costas, located at 107 Elliot Street, New­ton, MA (617/965‑1991) is the place to go for alter­ations of any kind—from sim­ple hem­ming jobs to cus­tomized suits, Costas Xan­thopou­los is a mas­ter tai­lor. Estab­lished in 1974, House of Costas con­tin­ues to deliver fast, metic­u­lous and reli­able ser­vice with a smile.

Favorite New Acces­sory
The “Tribeca 7” handbag/clutch by Holly Cald­well (www.hollycaldwell.com). It’s not truly a wal­let, a hand­bag, or a clutch, but is a lit­tle bit of each. The great­est thing about the “Tribeca 7,” is that it holds EVERYTHING yet is so com­pact in size that it appears to be a wal­let or clutch. I think of it as my “Mary Pop­pins” bag, as peo­ple are always amazed when I unzip it to reveal all that it con­tains inside. While I cher­ish and own four of these divine pieces (yes, I love them that much!), my newest favorite is a cream-colored patent leather ver­sion, fresh for this season.

Nutri­tion­ist and Trainer
Dr. Tom Hal­ton pos­sesses the pin­na­cle of expe­ri­ence in both nutri­tional coun­sel­ing and per­sonal train­ing (www.drtomhalton.com). Hold­ing a Doc­tor of Sci­ence in Nutri­tion from Har­vard Uni­ver­sity and a Mas­ters Degree in both exer­cise sci­ence and human nutri­tion, Dr. Hal­ton is moti­vat­ing, intel­li­gent and knows all of the lat­est and great­est tech­niques for healthy weight loss and mor­ph­ing your lifestyle into one that you can live with to sup­port your hard work. He even makes house calls for your per­sonal train­ing sessions!

Enter­tain­ment

Favorite Movie The­ater
West New­ton Cin­ema in West New­ton, MA (www.westnewtoncinema.com). I love this the­ater because it presents the finest for­eign, inde­pen­dent and crit­i­cally acclaimed films around. Its nos­tal­gic feel—complete with vel­vet cur­tains and swirling staircases—makes you feel like you’re at a pri­vate soirée or pre-screening event.

Get­ting There – My Favorite Car Ser­vice
Christo­pher Hadge, of Madi­son Trans­porta­tion, LLC in Bel­mont, MA, con­sis­tently deliv­ers timely trans­porta­tion via impec­ca­ble cars. He is per­son­able, reli­able and con­ser­v­a­tively priced, so give him a call at: (781) 760‑1928 when­ever you require a lift to any destination.

To Give and to Get

Favorite Host­ess Gift
Can­dles are always a lovely gift for any occa­sion. My favorite is “pump­kin chai” by Nest (www.candleluxury.com), a blend of wild pump­kin, spicy masala chai, car­damom, gin­ger and cin­na­mon. Beau­ti­fully housed in brown translu­cent glass with orange wax, and wrapped in a lovely box with the brand’s sig­na­ture stripe, it’s a gift that will be mem­o­rable and used. But this par­tic­u­lar can­dle is pro­duced in lim­ited quan­ti­ties dur­ing this sea­son and sells out quickly so stock up on them now!

Favorite Wine Store
Lower Falls Wine Com­pany is the finest in the area, bar none (www.lowerfallswine.com). Fea­tur­ing extra­or­di­nary wine tast­ings with guest vint­ners from around the world, home deliv­er­ies, and an incred­i­bly knowl­edge­able and pleas­ant staff, there’s some­thing here for every­one here.

Favorite Sta­tioner and Per­son­al­ized Gifts
Toby Dondis, Ltd. of Waban, MA (www.tobydondis.com) car­ries a wide range of cre­ative per­son­al­ized gifts and fine sta­tionery for all occasions—from children’s notes pads to high-end busi­ness sta­tionery, Toby has it all. With her highly atten­tive demeanor and vast indus­try knowl­edge, she can eas­ily assist with the most demand­ing or unique requests.

Favorite Con­sign­ment Shop
Found (www.foundsomerville.com), the new and fab­u­lous upscale con­sign­ment bou­tique in Somerville, MA, is a new favorite for many reasons—gorgeous, high-end cloth­ing to buy and sell, cou­pled with a won­der­ful and knowl­edge­able staff to work with. For added con­ve­nience, they come to your home to pick up your items that you wish to con­sign, and are extremely fair with their pric­ing of your gen­tly used items.

Pets RULE

Favorite Dog Walk­ing Ser­vice
Deca­dent Dog (www.decadentdog.com) is the ulti­mate in pre­mium canine and feline care with a strong focus on walk­ing, hik­ing, pet sit­ting and board­ing of your beloved furry mem­ber of the fam­ily. Julie and Sarah have been my favorite dog walk­ers for my 85 pound Bernese, Riley, for many years, and I can­not pro­vide a stronger endorse­ment for Robert Nager, Founder and “Top Dog” of this delight­ful company.

Favorite Dog Park
Cen­ten­nial Park in Welles­ley Hills, MA is a fab­u­lous space for dogs to run freely and “leash-free” if your pooch responds well to voice com­mands. This 42-acre expanse of trails, fields and a beau­ti­ful pond area is truly a dog’s par­adise. Addi­tion­ally, it’s the best place for dog own­ers to social­ize with one another and to equally enjoy the experience.

Respect­fully,

Beth Miller