Best natural-food store
Sure, it's yuppie hell. But in which other produce section are you gonna find horseradish root, kaffir-lime leaves, and edible flowers? Who else fills dry-goods bins with organic yeast and flax seeds, four types of lentils, and 14 kinds of granola? Whose meat and fish departments seem quite so pristine? And where's the supermarket deli that can compete with those at Whole Foods, which serves such creative bites as zucchini-parmesan latkes, corn-cilantro fritters, and lobster-mango spring rolls? So grin and bear it - once you've lugged your groceries home, you'll be in heaven.

"Is grocery shopping making you yawn? Then come join the shopping adventure at Trader Joe's," reads the welcome sign near the entrance to the Back Bay outlet of this California-based specialty grocery, where there are indeed surprises and even a few giggles in store. Equal parts granola and gourmet, with an emphasis on minimally processed prepared foods, it stocks wide-ranging options such as blue-cheese fries and pistachio-mousse tortes in the frozen section, wild-mushroom quesadillas and halibut rolls in the deli case, and the amusingly named "Trader Giotto's" Tabula Rasa Pizza Crust among the baked goods. Roaming the aisles may never rank with bungee-jumping on the excitement scale, but T-Joe's does bump it up a notch.

Whole Foods, multiple locations, www.wholefoods.com; Trader Joe's, multiple locations, www.traderjoes.com.