Saturday, April 20, 2024

Five questions. We just want to ask you five questions — or, rather, get five recommendations of things to read, listen to, watch, eat and buy from people who live, work or otherwise spend time in Cambridge. Here are some from Rossen Badakov, who was in Central Square recently for a Bulgarian dance course.

Read: The New York Times. Rossen appreciates its comprehensiveness and in-depth articles, despite its occasionally slightly arrogant style. He doesn’t always agree with it, but feels confident reading it.

Listen to: Rossen is a jazz fan and has heard some good things at Ryles, 212 Hampshire St., but also thinks that the less traditional performance space Lilypad — its neighbor in Inman Square at 1353 Cambridge St. — “once in a while gets really, really good things.”

Watch: For people who really like movies and appreciate them as art as opposed to pure entertainment, it’s hard to go wrong at the Kendall Square Cinemas, Rossen says. It gets films that don’t make it to the biggest screens, such as last year’s “Of Gods and Men,” about French Trappist monks who must decide whether to stay with an Algerian community threatened by a brutal civil war. “It may not be everyone’s cup of tea,” Rossen says, “but I was taken by it.”

Eat: The Rangzen Tibetan restaurant, 24 Pearl St., is “altogether nice,” Rossen says, with its buffet getting special attention for people who don’t want to spend a lot of money on a lunch. “If you’re in low range, the buffet is probably a really nice value,” he says.

Do: The Bulgarian dance classes offered 6:30 to 9 p.m. Mondays at the Green Street Studios, 185 Green St., Central Square, are for anyone, not just expatriate Bulgarians, Rossen says. “Bulgarian dance is very cool, very energetic, and the person who leads it is very professional and very dedicated, from a school in Bulgaria.” Take a class and you can count on heavy entertainment and a vigorous, sweaty type of exercise while listening to beautiful Bulgarian folk, which is probably by itself worth going there.”

Send us your own five recommendations and your best big photo at [email protected].