Best jukebox

Music on the jukebox is like a condiment on a sandwich. Ask how someone's smoked turkey and Swiss is, and chances are you won't get "Man, the mustard is incredible" in response. Likewise, no one answers "How was your night?" with "Holy cow, you should've heard the tunes on the juke." A jukebox has the power to elevate an evening to epic. And a good one depends on two elements: the selection of songs and the tastes of the patrons. Phoenix readers aptly chose J.J. Foley's as the Grey Poupon of jukeboxes. Fixed gears line the fence outside Foley's, and bike-messenger types rub elbows with aging locals and the suited Financial District set in two dimly lit rooms with stools and booths. A sample set list might include songs by the Ramones, the Pixies, Springsteen, Jane's Addiction, Joy Division, Hendrix, the Pretenders, R.E.M., the Cure, the Allman Brothers, and A-Ha.

Charlie's Kitchen, a repeat winner in this category, is so staunchly devoted to its jukebox and its customers that it let regulars add their favorite discs to the rotation, taking the you-pick-the-music privilege to a whole new level. That is, until the music-machine company got word of it and sent over jukebox goons to remove all the illicit CDs. Citizen contributions or not, Charlie's jukebox is its trademark -- that and the double cheeseburgers. Tattoos line the arms, legs, shoulders, and backs of the lovelies behind the bar as well as a majority of the patrons, and Lou Reed, the Stones, the Kinks, the Cure, Johnny Cash, Run-DMC, and Iggy Pop play loud (and free on Sunday and Monday nights).

J.J. Foley's, 21 Kingston Street, Boston, (617) 338-7713; Charlie's Kitchen, 10 Eliot Street, Cambridge, (617) 492-9646.