From the Sunday Boston Globe...

Arts and Entertainment Section did a nice job on local areas to see live music. Click here for a great article on hidden gems around the City to see local and national acts.

The Boston Globe Magazine did a feature called "Best of the New." Here are my picks from the magazine for food & shopping. I tried to pick some food places that were either cheap or moderately priced. Click here for the full Magazine (it's a good read and will make you very hungry).

Food:

-Diesel Cafe owners are opening up a new cafe, called Bloc 11 Cafe (on Bow Street). This cafe is in the up and coming Union Square in apparently an old bank building. From passing by it as it was being constructed, this new cafe looks to be two floors and therefore, much more space than Diesel, which is such a hot spot there are never any seats on the weekends. My best bet is try this new cafe where you'll still get the good food and coffee, but somewhere to sit.

-Myers & Chang (South End, Washington Street). Similar to what the Globe said, this new Asian restaurant is from the chefs of Via Matta, Radius & Great Bay (Christopher Myers) and Flour Bakery owner Joanne Chang so that alone should be the "I gotta get there" factor. Considering I when I think about my last supper, a part of it is Flour's roasted lamb sandwich, it's amazing I still have not dragged my ass over to this place.

-New sushi/Japanese food in the Leather District. O Ya. The description sounded cool. can't really go wrong with something on the menu that is a foie gras nigiri with a balsamic-chocolate sauce...right? Something to look into.

-I can completely vouch for this place - La Verdad on Landsdowne. As a HUGE fan of Ken Oringer's Toro restaurant in the South End, I was very excited to see his new Mexican restaurant (Oringer has been behind Clio and KO Prime). Perfect for a pre-game spot, perfect for anything. :) I could eat their guacamole all day.

-Berryline in Harvard Square sounds similar to the Pinkberry chain. It's apparently fro yo that tastes like yogurt and you can add your own toppings. I'll have to check this out after work one day.

Shops:

-Envi on Newbury Street is probably on the high-end, but I'm excited to see an environmentally friendly clothing shop enter the shopping mecca of the Boston area. The store apparently has Bono's wife Ali's line, Edun.

-Greenward in Cambridge, between Porter & Harvard. Similar to Envi, Greenward is another environmentally friendly store with home goods and gift items.

-The whole Natick Collection. Considering this was my mall growing up, it's become an area of the Natick/Framingham shopping mile that feels completely foreign to me. I get lost in the maze of parking and rotaries now. (So, be for warned.) It's fun to go window shopping in the new wing, with Gucci, Channel, Michael Kors and other major designers boutiques. On top of that, you can try to get these designers on sale at Nordstorms a few feet away. My picks - the Apple Store, Zara and Puma store. I don't have the benjamins for the rest of that place.