Best wine/liquor store
According to the average Allston Villager, the ideal liquor store carries three things: beer, schnapps, and more beer. Anything else is just gravy. By those standards, Marty's is swimming in gravy. There's a goodly wine selection (and an employee or two with the knowledge to walk you through it), an array of international liqueurs, a gourmet pantry, and even a deli whose customers rank it with many a better-known sandwich shop. Oh, and yet more beer.

Though rawther more civilized, the Wine & Cheese Cask hardly cultivates snobbery. On the contrary, its ethos can be summed up in two words: accessibility and affordability, with an emphasis on modestly priced European wines. The staff takes care in introducing nascent oenophiles to the inventory, keeping jargon to a minimum and exhibiting a knack for food-pairing suggestions - based not only on the store's own select array of cheeses but even on humble fare like meat loaf and chili. Doritos, however, not so much.

Marty's, 193 Harvard Street, Allston, (617) 782-325, 675 Washington Street, Newton, (617) 332-1230; Wine & Cheese Cask, 407 Washington Street, Somerville, (617) 623-8656.