Best bar
A new winner in our readers' poll, the B-Side Lounge has all the trappings of a perfect neighborhood bar -
which it isn't. Any business-school dropout can tell you that the B-Side is in a terrible location,
somewhere in the twilight zone between Kendall and Inman Squares, and yet it has become one of Cambridge's
favorite bars. (It also exerts a pull on Bostonians tired of falling in love with unpretentious taverns
that suddenly turn into fusion restaurants.) The comfort food is a draw, but so is the adventurous martini
menu. Its elaborately detailed tin ceiling, red-neon signs, and free hard-boiled eggs sitting atop the bar -
which almost everyone admires rather than eats - might be considered nostalgic, but few of the patrons are
old enough to remember the Carter administration. Take a look at the people instead of the décor, and you
won't have any doubt that you're in the 21st century.
On the Boston side of the Charles, the Delux Café long ago expanded its clientele beyond the bike couriers
who once made this their drinking headquarters (though a few still remain). In a weird kind of symmetry,
the Delux wins equal praise for its high-class food and the appallingly kitschy décor in its bathrooms.
(Your mouth will know it's in the South End, but other body parts may not be so sure.) If you're not hungry,
just walk past the shrine to Elvis Presley and take a seat at the bar. Cosmopolitans and the Cartoon Network
await you.
B-Side Lounge, 92 Hampshire Street, Cambridge, (617) 354-0766; Delux Café, 100 Chandler Street, Boston, (617) 338-5258.
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