Best of Boston

2005 Best Lounge

Middlesex Lounge

Rolling furniture, textured wood-grain walls, Kobe burgers: Few spots in bookish Cambridge offer West Coast atmosphere like the Middlesex. What burst onto the scene with a flurry of red-roped parties last fall has slipped into the role of a comfortably hip nightspot frequented by artsy, playful types willing to form their own semicircles of gray faux-suede seats.

315 Massachusetts Ave., Cambridge, 617-868-6739, middlesexlounge.us/