Verve Restaurant • 1996

The first legal drink poured in Somerville after Prohibition flowed from the bar that now anchors Verve, a French bistro serving slow-cooked Provençal fare in a building dating to 1901. Crowned Best Bar in New Jersey, this iconic fixture in downtown Somerville pairs provincial country cooking with craft cocktails in a space that spans a landmark ground-floor bar and a Soho-inspired upstairs lounge. The draw today: creatively prepared French dishes and a bartending tradition that's outlasted a century.