MIDDLE EAST

Usually, talk of the Middle East is tinged with despair, but mention of the MIDDLE EAST within earshot of any area music lover stirs religious-like fanaticism in favor of the Central Square institution. Four performance spaces — Upstairs, ZuZu's, the Corner, Downstairs — regularly play host to some of the biggest indie and hip-hop acts to roll through town. And brothers Joseph and Nabil Sater, owners of the appropriately shabby club since 1974, know how to make weary guitar-toting travelers feel welcome: the complex's restaurant dispenses generous helpings of comfort food from their native Lebanon, like falafel, kafte, kibby, and meze. Prices promise plenty of cash left over for beer, so no surprise local students and tattooed nine-to-fivers declare it something to sing about.

MIDDLE EAST | 472-480 Mass Ave, Cambridge | 617.864.3278