Shop & Eat in Boston: 5 Randoms

popcorn in the underground - cute!

The week before our Boston trip, I was so swamped with work and pulling together the MacDella Cooper Foundation’s annual gala that I had no time to Google and yelp the city. Maybe my lack of direction was for the better — we wandered around with open eyes, observant of Boston’s cute quirks, like its self-compacting street trash cans and popcorn stands in the underground T (subway) stations. Landmarks are lovely, but in the end, isn’t a city all about its details?

If you were going to Boston on a budget, here are 5 lesser-known stores and shops I’d tell you to pop into:

1. Bodega (6 Clearway St.)

Sammy outside Bodega

Someone must do a marketing analysis of how this store is a viable business. I guess it proves what Sammy always refers to as “the Tipping Point” –- Malcolm Gladwell’s term for things that rise in popularity, simply due to word of mouth. The façade is a modest bodega on a side street, its windows filled with faded toilet paper rolls and laundry detergent bottles. Go inside and it still looks like a bodega, except then a secret door opens and leads you into a hip sneaker store! Even the web site is mysterious: www.bdgastore.com.

2. The Other Side Cafe (407 Newbury St.)

This cafe is staffed by struggling musicians, who are well-tattooed, spike the coffee with alcohol, and make a mean bowl of yogurt, fruit, and granola. Just look at the masterpiece one of them created for me! I watched him carefully slice and dice the fruit from our seats on the second floor, which overlooked the kitchen. The menu is known for its healthy, vegan options.

3. Johnny Cupcakes

First heard of Johnny Cupcakes when Katy Perry endorsed it as one of her favorite places to shop in LA, but come to find out, he’s based in Boston! Johnny Cupcakes has a fascinating story — he started his brand of screen-printed t-shirts, marked with cupcakes and bones, as a joke. The store is set up like a mock bakery — the t-shirts are encased like desserts. The clothes are pricey ($30-60 for a shirt) but go to counter and look for the $1 pins in cupcake tins so you can add a little Johnny to your life. I bought the “make cupcakes NOT WAR” pin.

4. Anna’s Taqueria

Our Boston native friend Diana recommended this spot for the best burritos ever, and I think she was right. Go for a good cheap eat ($4 per burrito and 75 cents for guac).

5. When Pigs Fly

We talked up the boy behind the counter to get free samples of the old-world style artisan bread here. Stop in after Anna’s (it’s on Beacon St. in Brookline) and try Mango, Pineapple, Raisin, with Toasted Sesame and Ginger bread. Carbs with a kick of citrus — delicious.

Lulu-what?

I got a gift card to lululemon athletica, a store I’d never heard of, probably because they specialize in clothing for yoga, which I can’t really bear to do…I’m a woman on the move. Turns out the only NYC location is right in my Lincoln Center neighboorhood. The clothes are well-fitted, feminine, and functional (i.e. I love that the lightweight jacket I got has invisible zipper pockets, so keys and money don’t fall out. It’s the perfect replacement for the college sweatshirts I still had lying around.)

The coolest thing about Lululemon is their manifesto, which they print on their bags (see below, or view here). How smart to build a brand around these universal truths. You can’t help but identify with the store, even if you’re not signing up for their free yoga class anytime soon.

p.s. If you’re wondering what lululemon means, the answer is nothing. It was simply created because it has three l’s in it. fyi!

My $10 Tour of the East Village

Friday night, I decided I would spend my sweltering, 97-degree Saturday wandering the East Village. Who needs AC, right?

I began my morning reading The New York Times, which for the umpteenth time proves it shares a pulse with me, because the “Weekend in New York” column spotlights an East Village juice bar, Liquiteria (“Pour Me a Melon: Masters of the Blenders’ Art”). I clip the article and make a mental note to stop by for an immunity-boosting drink.

When I get to Liquiteria, I study the overhead menu and debate my choices…do I dare try the Brain Teaser, like the NY Times reporter did (it’s made of carrot, kale, apple, red cabbage, parsley and ginger) or should I go safely with Peaches-N-Dream? Just then, one of the juicers calls out to me and offers me a mango smoothie sample. I try it, like it, and then tell him I’m a newbie here, I just happened to see Liquiteria in the NY Times this morning. ”Oh really?, that was my picture!,” he says, referring to the NYT’s shot of him pouring a juice. “No way!,” I say. “You’re Cesar?” and I pull the clipping out of my bag to verify. “It is you!” I felt like I’d just met a New York celebrity. He hands me a menu and I ask him what his favorite drink is. He says it’s the Grasshopper, a concoction of apple, pear, pineapple, wheatgrass and mint ($5). The master Cesar makes my so-called “miracle juice” himself and I sip it in all its green glory, pleased. I leave Cesar with my newspaper clipping and then mosey my way over to Union Square park, silently mocking those who carry humdrum Starbucks Frappuccinos. 

170 Second Ave.

Before Liquiteria, I popped into Bamn!, the automat I’ve been wanting to visit since I first read about it in 2006. I had read that automats were how fast food worked before McDonalds (Horn & Hardart was the famous automat chain in NYC) and wanted to blast myself to the past. You put coins into a vending machine and then you pull open a window to remove your hot meal. At Bamn!, for a mere $3, I got a tasty grilled veggie burger and a free sample of green tea/vanilla swirl yogurt from the automat operator. He told me that his boss opened this automat because he was inspired by how big they were in Amsterdam. I’m all for reviving the trend – bring it to the UWS next, please!

I spent the remaining $2 on two pairs of earrings from a vintage fashion shop, Amarcord, on 7th St. between 1st and 2nd. If you go, also stop by AuH20 next door and chat with the proud owner, Kate Goldwater. (Her store’s name is her surname spelled out in the chemical symbols for gold + water.) She had plenty of affordable, trendy pieces of jewelry and invited me to her upcoming fashion show.  

Do you have any recommendations for my next East Village stroll?