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Porta Classica is ignored by droves of office workers who glance in the windows and imagine that it caters to "others". Go inside. They carry a wide variety of clothing, from the extremely loud to...
Porta Classica is ignored by droves of office workers who glance in the windows and imagine that it caters to "others". Go inside. They carry a wide variety of clothing, from the extremely loud to the quietly stylish.
Porta Classica imports clothing from China that has the same degree of intricate design as Italian knits. It's a combination Chinese craft and their use of modern looms. This clothing is of equal or higher quality than is found in quality men's stores, but the prices are a fraction. Excellent looking and well made shirts might be $20 or $25.
Overcome your prejudice and try this place. Go downstairs. The salespeople are great. They'll really sell you and know the merchandise.
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Hi Rise is located at the corner of Concord and Huron, near Harvard Square. The crust on their baguettes is the most genuinely crispy French of any bakery. All their breads are simply wonderful....
Hi Rise is located at the corner of Concord and Huron, near Harvard Square. The crust on their baguettes is the most genuinely crispy French of any bakery. All their breads are simply wonderful.
Hi Rise makes a number of specialty sandwiches. My favorite is the Mahatma Gloves, which is curried chicken with chutney and raisins.
Hi Rise is also perhaps the only place in Boston you can get Vernor's ginger ale. It's the best mass market ginger ale made in America.
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Pemberton Gardens is located on Mass Ave, just north of Porter Square. They not only have a terrific selection of plants but also have a large, enclosed market and supply store.
We've bought...
Pemberton Gardens is located on Mass Ave, just north of Porter Square. They not only have a terrific selection of plants but also have a large, enclosed market and supply store.
We've bought plants at Pemberton Gardens for many years. Their plants are consistently larger and healthier for the price. They also tend to have a selection of slightly more unusual plants, particularly perrenials.
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Ethel Weiss has run Irving's since 1939. Irving was her husband. Ethel is now at least 94 and she happily wears a button that reads, "I love my customers."
Irving's is maybe 10 feet wide and 30...
Ethel Weiss has run Irving's since 1939. Irving was her husband. Ethel is now at least 94 and she happily wears a button that reads, "I love my customers."
Irving's is maybe 10 feet wide and 30 feet deep. Ethel usually sits in a chair next to the counter inside, next to the candy display. She carries lots of candy, including some hard to find items. A small box of jawbreakers costs 15 cents - a carton may be $2.
Irving's has small toys and novelty items. In the drawers are cards for almost every occasion, some of them dating back years. Ethel can pull out anything if you ask.
In almost any weather, including right after a blizzard, you can pop into Irving's to talk to Ethel. She loves her customers.
Irving's is between Beacon Street and Commonwealth Avenue, in the "Kosher Corner" section of Brookline.
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Bonnie's Boutique has altered dresses and men's suits for us with fantastic results. She completely remade a dress for my daughter, turning it from ill-fitting to elegant. Her work is meticulous,...
Bonnie's Boutique has altered dresses and men's suits for us with fantastic results. She completely remade a dress for my daughter, turning it from ill-fitting to elegant. Her work is meticulous, always delivered on time and frankly is higher quality than the other tailors and dressmakers we've tried.
For example, she took a suit that fit in the shoulders and nowhere else and took the extra material out of the body so it hangs perfectly. She not only took in the pants but cut extra material out of the pant bottoms so they truly fit. We are now bringing her things that other tailors have altered so she can fix them.
Prices are low, especially considering the quality of the work.
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The Peabody Essex is one of America's great museums but few people know it exists. Salem was the center of the China Trade and made a great fortune from it. PEM owns several houses, which are open...
The Peabody Essex is one of America's great museums but few people know it exists. Salem was the center of the China Trade and made a great fortune from it. PEM owns several houses, which are open for tours, and has a vast collection of Asian art - mostly Chinese and Japanese - as well as a large collection of materials relating to the China Trade and more relating to New England history.
They also have a truly unique feature, the Yin Yu Tang house, an actual large stone Chinese family house that was meticulously taken apart and reconstructed in a special courtyard. It is completely as it was, down to the speaker for receiving party propaganda broadcasts and the kitchen implements left on tables.
PEM mounts major shows, such as the treasures from Chatsworth, home of the Duke of Devonshire and one of the great treasure houses of the world. As I write this review, they are showing treasures from the Kingdom of Siam, the only place this amazing show of objects never seen outside Thailand will visit on the east coast.
PEM's shows cover a wide range. Again as I write this review, they are presenting aerial photographs by Alex MacLean that turn patterns into profound and beautiful art.
PEW is rarely crowded and also has a great gift store. As disclosure, I'm a member though I live nowhere near Salem. Cheap parking is available at the parking garage attached to the small mall across the street. I also highly recommend the film at the Salem national park visitor center, also across the street in its own building. Fun and informative.
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Most art galleries in Salem are essentially gift shops for the flow of tourist. This gallery has a large selection of gift items, but also presents high quality art by good artists - at prices below...
Most art galleries in Salem are essentially gift shops for the flow of tourist. This gallery has a large selection of gift items, but also presents high quality art by good artists - at prices below what a Boston dealer would charge. A gallery is only as good as its owner's taste and the owner of this gallery, Amy DesChenes, has a very good eye. The gift items also reflect her sensibilities.
For the record, my only involvement with the gallery is that I've bought a painting by Lou O'Keefe from them.
Salem also has a few old line galleries that specialize in marine pictures.
The work at Galerie Luna ranges from glass to textiles to paintings. It is definitely worth visiting.
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Clear Flour provides bread to many restaurants around Boston. Their bakery and store is on a sidestreet off Commonwealth Avenue, near Harvard, on the B Line. The store sells a wide variety of their...
Clear Flour provides bread to many restaurants around Boston. Their bakery and store is on a sidestreet off Commonwealth Avenue, near Harvard, on the B Line. The store sells a wide variety of their products, all very fresh. It's a tiny corner of the bakery.
I think they make the best foccacia in the city. Their onion foccacia makes a great pizza, topped with goat cheese and toasted.
Other favorites include their olive rolls and morning buns - both addictive. Their cranberry scones are delicious.
Clear Flour is probably one of the top 3 bread makers in Boston, along with Iggy's and Hi-Rise.
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New Taste of Asia serves northern Chinese food from Xian and Beijing. Many are dishes most Americans have never heard of, like yangrao paomao, which is lamb soup with noodles, lamb and pieces of a...
New Taste of Asia serves northern Chinese food from Xian and Beijing. Many are dishes most Americans have never heard of, like yangrao paomao, which is lamb soup with noodles, lamb and pieces of a thick, homemade flat bread which you tear up and put in the bowl before they add steaming broth. It tastes like the essence of lamb and should be a famous dish. They serve such northern Chinese basics like shredded potatoes in garlic - Mao's favorite dish - a plate of potato slivers that must be blanched but remain firm with a light sauce and "chinese hamburger, which is five spice beef on a roll with cilantro. Their ma pa tofu is sublime and authentic, covered in real ground szechuan peppers.They even make the fried dough that kids in China live on.
A dish like Kung Pao Chicken tastes nothing like the fatty, mild dish you normally find.
They serve "normal" Chinese food as well. You may have to ask for the northern menu.
For dessert, try the Fire Exploded Apple - chunks of apple, dipped in a sugary batter, fried and served with a bowl of cold water. You dip the pieces until they harden like candy, with strands of sugar trailing and the insides hot.
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