Genteel bistros, greasy spoons, insidery haunts, and good-time hubs with one thing in common: They make visitors feel like regulars, and regulars feel like family.

ALLSTON/BRIGHTON: Deep Ellum

477 Cambridge St., Allston, 617-787-2337, deepellum-boston.com

Mention "Allston/Brighton," and the average Bostonian's nose hoists a few degrees skyward, as if avoiding the odor of a thousand musty futons. That's fine by locals, whose dual neighborhood's rep as a student slum keeps interlopers at bay; thus, the crowds remain fairly tolerable at this rare grownup watering hole, where the cocktails hail from yesteryear, the food from down south, and the tap list from a beer geek's fever dream.

RUNNER-UP: Carlo's Cucina Italiana