"Locke's" is the traditional Boston restaurant, a power-broker favorite since 1875. It changed hands and underwent a refurbishment in 2001, but that was just cosmetic -- even with some physical upgrades and a female owner (famed Boston restaurateur Lydia Shire), it feels like a time machine. In an alley off the Winter Street pedestrian mall, the wood-paneled restaurant entertainingly evokes a Waspy men's club. The long, mirrored downstairs bar dates from 1880, and the service can feel equally antique (as it did when a 20-something waiter called our party of 30-something women "my ladies" throughout lunch).

The food is unapologetically old-fashioned, though chef Jacky Robert injects a contemporary French touch. Traditional fish cakes come with new-fangled jasmine rice; salmon is tea-smoked; delectable scalloped potatoes accompany the signature roast beef hash. Other traditions, including excellent steaks and chops, Wiener schnitzel a la Holstein, and broiled scrod with brown bread, endure. So does Locke-Ober, an "only in Boston" experience if ever there was one.