Best of Boston

Sadly, the rediscovery of the cocktail culture has perverted the once noble activity of drinking, reducing it to a runway show for an unfortunate breed of baseball cap-sporting frat rats, who choke on cigars, while wincing through martinis. The lounge at Frank’s Steak House, in North Cambridge, is sufficiently off the beaten path to attract the fully grown who really enjoy the basics—conviviality, entertainment, and, of course, booze. The rat-packy lounge is free of the smarmy irony that characterizes some of the Johnny-Come-Lately cocktail spots; Frank’s has been open since 1938, and some of the patrons look as though they’ve been glued to their barstools since opening day.