Best drive-through liquor store

For a few short months this past summer, the Wine and Cheese Cask in Somerville was literally a drive-through liquor store: a customer had piloted a car from the parking lot right through a wall. But the wall has finally been replaced, and that means the food section of the store is back in operation. So ask the cheese man to slice you a chunk of stilton to accompany the bottle of vintage port you just brought from the back room. Or try a wedge of manchego. (Forget goat cheese; all the beautiful people have moved on to this tangy Spanish sheep's-milk cheese.) Or just pick up some duck pâté, a loaf of French bread, and a container of cornichons for a picnic lunch.

Still, the main attraction here is the chance to get any kind of wine you could possibly want. The buyers at the Wine and Cheese Cask spend their days searching the globe for the best and most interesting vines, bringing their favorites back to Somerville for the rest of us to imbibe. Their knowledge is beyond compare, and they're quick to offer a recommendation -- whether it's a $10 red to bring to dinner or a Châteauneuf-du-Pape to put on the shelf for a few years.

Wine and Cheese Cask, 407 Washington Street, Somerville, (617) 623-8656.