Cross levers do work fine and now you can even get hydraulic ones from Shimano which is pretty neat. I have them on my touring bike but none of my other drop bar bikes. I simply wanted them on the touring bike for some comfort on long rides if I decide I want to slow a bit but don't want to be on the hoods I can do that but honestly I don't use them a huge ton so I could probably get rid of them at some point and not mind. They work a whole lot better than the old suicide levers.
Personally I would rather just have a nice comfortable drop bar brake lever (or STI lever) For those I would go SRAM S500 (as I have on several bikes) or if it was a vintage bike probably the TRP RRL SR or go with a vintage lever.
If you are running a vintage bike you might consider
these little babies and get some downtube cable bosses and be all set no more reaching down to your downtube or bar end or stem to shift everything is done more similarly to modern bikes with integrated shifter and brake levers like STI, DoubleTap or Ergopower. However with the Gevenalle you can sweep up and down your freewheel or cassette with speed and ease. I have a set again on the touring bike and aside from the hood shape which is fine (but not as nice as the SRAM S500) are excellent. I really wish my custom built ones could have worked and maybe someday I will revisit now that I know how to improve it and have better access to some useful tools and machinists.