Washington Square Tavern

In Europe, the luckiest of travelers lost on some tiny rue or strasse will happen upon the bar their guidebooks forgot: barely marked, yet packed with locals eating, drinking, and socializing with gusto. Such a find is the Washington Square Tavern, whose book-lined walls and scattered Orientals suggest a boozy study and whose menu suggests an upscale boîte, an irresistible combination for largely literate, well-off Brookline (and the odd wayward traveler). RUNNER-UP: Matt Murphy's