What exactly are tequeños? If you embrace the warm, filling comfort of mozzarella sticks with a chunky marinara sauce for dipping, you’re halfway there. But Orinoco’s cheese is a soft, salty, white cow’s milk product from the Guayana region of Venezuela, and it is fried almost tempura light.

I’m ecstatic about getting back to my Miracle of Science veggie burger and a place that’s been home to so many great conversations, meetups and post-game beers, with a vibe that’s endeared and persevered over decades of radical change. 

Cafe Sushi has been sitting quietly at the Central Square end of Harvard Square for more than 35 years serving top-flight gourmet sushi and Japanese cuisine at bargain-basement prices – and has scaled back only somewhat for the pandemic.

Benedetto, an upscale Italian restaurant in Harvard Square, said the reopening it expected late this month will never happen, because The Charles Hotel has terminated its lease.

Making me croissant happy is the breakfast sandwich Cafe Rustica, the European-styled tuck-away just across the Somerville city line on Beacon Street, while Mike & Patty’s in Bow Market has another classic that comes on doughy, homemade English muffins.

The bar Brass Union, which in December said it was going into a coronavirus hibernation in Somerville’s Union Square, is instead set to reopen late this month as Vera’s, described as a cocktail-focused neighborhood restaurant serving “approachable, well-executed classics.”

If an Italian-style Pilsner meant for day-sipping that’s great with food sounds appealing, there’s exactly two places to get it starting Sunday: Pammy’s, the New American trattoria in Mid-Cambridge, and Lamplighter Brewing, a brewery and taproom in The Port.

There’s just one week left (or so we are told) to get one of the glorious Japanese sandwiches at the Mikkusu Sandos pop-up in the storefront formerly occupied by Cuchi Cuchi.

If you love oysters – I do – Summer Shack’s buy-one, get-one-free Tuesday may be the best deal in town in terms of quality, presentation and price.

The steamed mini buns with pork are juicy and plump; the basic pork and leek steamed dumplings were exceptional for something so basic, with a thin but spicy soy sauce to dip into. One order of each is all you need for a lunch or dinner.