Yeah, take the lane. OWN it. When I commute into work there are a couple of streets on my route that don't have bike lanes. They are two lanes in each direction, so I just take the right lane and own it. I don't give the cars a chance to try to squeeze by me, they have to get in the other lane.
So far so good. Drivers don't seem to mind either, they just move over and pass me.