Cotoletta
Cotoletta offers classic pastas, solid seafood, and a starter of provolone-and-sausage-stuffed hot peppers (the last a must-get), but really, you come here for the namesake cutlets – five varieties, made with chicken, veal or eggplant, each pounded thin and fried to perfection, all slices of pure home-style comfort. 201 Jefferson Street, Bala Cynwyd, PA 19004, cotoletta.net.
MBR Nanny Network
Finding someone to come into your home and take care of your kid is as personal as it gets, which is exactly why Marissa Rosen's nanny biz has taken off: She meets with each family in person, vets each nanny and sitter herself, and is always available by email, text or phone. mbrnannynetwork.com.
Baked Sunless Tanning
Consider a perfectly bronze, all-natural spray tan your reward for all those sunny days down the Shore spent slathering on SPF 100. Feeling lazy? They'll come to you. In-store spray tans start at $35, at-home treatments at $55. 815 South 4th Street, Philadelphia, PA 19147, bakedtanning.com.
Linvilla Orchards
You get pizza, lemonade or cider, cake, coloring books, a hayride, animal feeding, and an entrance to Linvilla's all-wooden playground. Season allowing, ask for a pick-you-own add-on, so each kid gets to go home with some handpicked fruits and veggies. 137 West Knowlton Road, Media, PA 19063, linvilla.com.
Philadelphia Pet Hotel and Villas
You can rest easy leaving your precious Precious at this kennel/spa/playhouse when you're off to the Shore, but here's fair warning: She may never want to come back home. Do you throw her birthday parties? 7401 Holstein Avenue, Philadelphia, PA 19153, phillypethotel.com.
Humpty's Dumplings
Get the Buffalo chicken, cheesesteak and roast pork, and some apple pie dumplings for dessert. You can order and eat your dumplings right there, sure, but the smart move is buying them frozen and taking them home. They cook up so well, no one will ever know they came out of your freezer. 277 North Keswick Avenue, Glenside, PA 19038, humptysdumplings.com.
Style by Blain
Aside from being one of the best-dressed and best-named business owners in the city, Voltaire Blain has an unusually welcoming store — a historic Chestnut Hill home where the shoes are displayed not on racks, but on a pool table — and an equally impressive collection: Styleshoes by Alden, Paraboot, and Gaziano and Girling, some of which he designed himself. 8433 Germantown Avenue, Philadelphia, PA 19118, stylebyblain.com.
The Velvet Lily
If Condom Kingdom is Walmart, The Velvet Lily is Bergdorf's. (Note: All purchases come packaged in discreet black bags, so you can buy-for, you know, your "friend"-without letting your freak flag fly on the way home.) 1040 North 2nd Street, Philadelphia, PA 19123, thevelvetlily.com.
Golf Science Center
Homing in on your tee game is probably the last thing you thought you'd ever be doing near Chinatown, but the HD simulators in this inconspicuous building allow you to "play" some of the world's most prestigious courses, while the high-tech swing analysis, private lessons and beginner workshops keep the yips away no matter the season. 211 North 13th Street, Philadelphia, PA 19107, golfsciencecenter.com.
Triple Tree Flowers
The King family doesn't go in for fancy arrangements or bells and whistles. (No surprise there: They're Amish.) These growers, who come from Lancaster every Saturday to sell their flowers at the Rittenhouse and Clark Park farmers' markets, put together simple but stunning bouquets so vivid that the kiosk literally stops passersby in their tracks. And you can take one home for as little as $5. Rittenhouse and Clark Park farmers markets, .
Fairmount Park Organic Recycling Center
Tired of spending your time and money schlepping to Home Depot? There’s an alternative. City residents are entitled to 30 gallons of free organic materials every year from Fairmount Park: screened leaf compost, mulch, wood chips, and whatever “other organic materials” means. If you happen to own a chain saw (though — why do you have a chain saw in the city?), you’re welcome to break some felled trees down into firewood, too. 3850 Ford Road, Philadelphia, PA 19131, phila.gov/services/trees-parks-the-environment/get-organic-materials.
Waterless Works
This Malvern-based start-up run by a trio of local college-kids-turned-entrepreneurs comes to your home or office to do the job, eschews soap and water for a plant-based cleaning solution, and donates money from each wash (they start at $40) to provide water for communities in need. Service areas include Philly and its 'burbs and select spots in Delaware and South Jersey. waterless-works.com.
Premier Art Installation
You're probably capable of hanging family photos on the wall, but when it comes to fine art, you should turn to a pro. Kevin Reissmann of Premier Art Installation is a professional installer for the Philadelphia Museum of Art who also hangs priceless pieces for collectors in the area and beyond. (Clients have included Coretta Scott King and Usher.) He'll even move your masterpieces, should you need to relocate your Renoir from the Devon estate to your home in Miami. premierartinstallation.com.
Doggie Style Pets
Sign up to walk one of Doggie Style Pets’ resident pups. The dogs are adoptable, but even if you can’t take one home, you can have a canine companion for a half-hour. Just pick your time and store location online, show up, present your ID, and get instant happiness in the form of a fluffy friend (while helping the shelter give the dogs some exercise). Multiple locations, doggiestylepets.com.
Vernick Food and Drink
Greg Vernick has gathered ideas from places as far-flung as Qatar and Tokyo but the best thing about his restaurant is the way it makes you feel at home. While the Cherry Hill native comforts you with his stupendous toasts or lulls you into a daze with his grilled black sea bass his best pal, GM Ryan Mulholland, makes everyone who comes through the door feel not so much like an honored guest as a welcome friend. 2031 Walnut Street, Philadelphia, PA 19103, vernickphilly.com.