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Bank

USTrust Bank

Let the big boys fight it out among themselves. For our money, the best deal in town is USTrust. Free checking with no minimum balance. Free checks, even, with some accounts. Decent rates for consumer loans. Best of all, no charge for using your ATM card, even at most other banks. If that’s not enough, there are still real tellers who are genuinely friendly and always free, unlike Fleet.

Car-Buying Advice

Robert Aron, Cardealerphobia

Nowadays you can figure out the real cost of cars via the Internet, but for many of us, buying a car is still a traumatic experience. Luckily, Aron thinks like a shrink and can cure the worst case of auto-neurosis

Car Service

Boston Coach

From the pleasant people who take reservations to the early-edition daily newspapers, reading lights, and phones in each car, Boston Coach has got it covered. Forty dollars will get you from downtown to Logan in the luxury of a snazzy Volvo ($45 from Cambridge). Limos are available as well, $60/hour for a six-seater, $78/hour for eight to ten people. You can make international arrangements, too

Car Wash

Belmont Car Wash

Once or twice a year, lavish love on your buggy with the $30.99 full treatment-an exterior wash and interior cleaning and vacuuming, with all the bells and whistles. The whole process takes about 15 minutes, and the car washers don’t make you feel like a curmudgeon for pointing out that little smudge just to the left of your rear bumper. Given the gentle touches and attention to detail, we wished they buffed car owners too.

Carpet Cleaning

Repele of New England

No wine is too red, no mud too murky, no Super Bowl salsa too gunky to be chased out of your rug by Repele. Call Terry, and he’ll come and work his magic right in your house, or haul those soiled carpets away to be purified at the shop. You’ll never know you had an oops moment.

Concierge

Tim Capone

When a guest needed his clothes laundered late one night, Capone took them home to his apartment in the South End and washed them himself. The Westin Hotel-Copley Place, 10 Huntington Avenue,

Dog Walker

Boston Pet Sitters

Fact is, you can’t always be there when your beagle needs you. Let Jennifer North or one of her colleagues at Boston Pet Sitters take over the midday walk, or even those weekends when Snoopy isn’t invited along to Tanglewood. She’ll come as many times a day as needed to walk, feed, water, and generally coddle the little darlings. She comes with a pocketful of plastic bags for pooper-scooping, industrial strength foul-weather gear for those New England winters, and, most important, a sincere love of dogs.

Doorman

Tony Coviello

Maybe it’s because his “Good morning” is warm as toast on your way into the hotel for a 7 a.m. breakfast meeting. Or maybe it’s because he (and the players on his team) really will keep your car up front when you tell them you’re only going to be an hour. But Tony Coviello has become a beloved Boston institution most likely because he makes every guest who swishes through the portals of the Four Seasons feel that he or she belongs there

Dry Cleaning

Holly Cleaners

People who have trouble keeping food in their mouth, wine in their glass, and their kids off their back spend a lot of time at the cleaners. The best thing about Holly Cleaners (other than its ability to get out stubborn stains, of course) is the fact it delivers-literally. The only catch is that you have to set up an account and there is an extra cost ( 25 to 60 cents, depending on the garment). What’s more, Holly is meticulous when it comes to formal wear. So get those sullied evening gowns out of the closet..

Frame Shop

The Frame Gallery

From photos to posters to high art of every style, The Frame Gallery’s vast selection will get the job done to picture perfection.

Hotel, Intimate

The Eliot Hotel

If you want blinking neon welcome signs, uninspiring neutral furnishings, and tasteless room service in an anonymous structure, don’t come here. The four-star Eliot is an intimate and cozy home away from home (we should all live so well) with a decidedly European flair. Its beautifully furnished one- and two-bedroom suites, featuring living rooms and private pantries, are the perfect respite following a day exploring the Back Bay or simply as an urban retreat with your honey. And right downstairs is the nationally acclaimed restaurant Clio.

Hotel to spot a celeb

Lenox Hotel

During the Boston Film Festival next month, the Lenox will have more celestial density than a black hole. If you manage to catch that director’s eye, proceed to Anago to seal the deal with seductive cuisine.

Kennel

Weloset Kennels

So it’s a bit far-flung. But if you’re the type of person who recoils from the thought of tossing Toto into caged care, then this is your child we’re talking about. Located in a woodsy setting with a knoll where you can stroll with the babe before tearfully wishing him adieu, the kennel also has a fenced play area where the staff will take your pal for a few minutes of quality time. The pens are the largest we saw anywhere, at 80 to 100 square feet for large dogs, and have attached runs, bedding with heated floors in the winter, and constantly circulating fresh air. Grooming is also available, as is nondairy canine ice cream. Best of all, stays are reasonably priced at between $19 and $21 a day.

Lawn Maintenance/Landscaping

Schumacher Landscaping

Schumacher has been the grand Pooh-Bah of flora for the past 31 years, and is largely responsible for bringing a healthy dose of green to Boston’s asphalt avenues. Its creative ingenuity can be appreciated throughout the city at the Fraser Courtyard in the Museum of Fine Arts, the Snell Library Plaza at Northeastern University, and Post Office Square Park. But don’t be intimidated if your yard is more like a foot. These doctors of the green thumb are equally adept at smaller residential projects-say, planting pansies around the porch, installing sod over that crabgrass, or mowing your lawn when you just don’t feel like it.

Maitre d’

Brent Kaufman

How does he remember me? I’ve only been here once before. But he’s treating me like a queen, setting up a special table for me and my visiting in-laws. Then again, he did it the first time I was here, too. Hmmm. Maybe he’s flirting with me. Nope. We’ve since heard that he does this for everyone. Kaufman either has a photographic memory, is outrageously congenial, or can smell a special occasion a mile away. This restaurant may not be the fanciest place in town or serve the best food, but when you want to be treated well, it’s nice to be remembered-or at least to think that you are. Ciao Bela.

Marina

Constitution Marina

The best thing about the most protected marina in Boston Harbor isn’t even the free parking; it’s the location. Proximity to the locks means quick access to the harbor, but you might decide not to leave once you’ve seen the view of Old Ironsides and the Bunker Hill Monument. The docking fee, $2.50/foot, is based on the length of the vessel or the slip, whichever is longer. Services available include laundry, shower, cable, and a pool.

Hall of Fame

Movers

Gentle Giant Moving Co.

These are no lugs from the Cretaceous period. Gentle Giant moving guys are pros, they speak in full sentences, they’re polite (many are college rowers), and they know their way around your marquetry, majolica, and Mikasa. They’ll baby-sit you all the way, steering you through all the petty decisions that can drive you nuts on moving day. By the end of the day, they’ll be your best friends. Smart move

Personal Shopper

Pamela Santorelli

A store with avant-garde clothing needs a sales assistant who can steer a client through it. Pamela Santorelli of Louis Boston, does just that. She’s relaxed and refreshing, patient and pressure-free. And she tells us when something looks terrible without hurting our feelings.

Pet Grooming

Newton Highlands Pet & Grooming

A few hours under the tender loving care of manager/groomer Jane Bruce, and your Citizen Canine (or Feline) will be smelling like a rosebud.

Photographer, Wedding

Cheryl Richards

A journalistic-style special event photographer, Richards spends 60 or 70 hours in the darkroom after every wedding she shoots. She’s the pro’s pro (they all recommend her, even if grudgingly) and her prices testify to her top-of-the-heap status. Most of her current wedding albums are in black and white because she says it’s less distracting than color and lets her capture the expressions on people’s faces. It may be “just” your wedding day, but you’ll end up with some prints worthy of an opening at the ICA.

Psychic/Medium

Nancy Garber

Rating a medium is tough: interpersonal style is as crucial as wow-ability, and how can you tell if someone is wrong about your future? But we like Nancy’s nurturing approach, since she counts many of the recently bereaved among her clients, and she did manage to spook us when we wanted a spooking.

Realtor, Rentals

Prudential Gibson

After years of apartment hunting in this city, our perpetual renters have found that Pru Gibson is the most consistent in getting you what you want with the least amount of hassle. Its agents take the time to call you when a new listing opens up, and they don’t try to sell you on undesirable locations or “features” such as linoleum in the living room.

Realtor, Sales

Mark Bensky

Searching for real estate is as much fun as a bad case of hives. Mark Bensky of Hunneman’s Back Bay office is like a dose of hydrocortisone. Kind, funny, very professional, and ever-patient, Mark will help you see that the adorable garden flat you’ve set your heart (and collateral) on is actually a resort hotel for vermin.