Barcelona Wine Bar has both a destination and neighborhood vibe to it, as well as a menu that’s a bounty of unique flavors and textures that’ll have you coming back to sample.

The dining experience at Moëca may – dare I say it – supersede Giulia, the sister eatery focused on pasta that’s run by Michael Pagliarini around the corner.

For your special-evening-out dollars, Umami gives you an 18-dish custom meal with a chef’s entertaining explanation of each course and where it came from, sea to seat.

The menu’s handwritten and hanging up over the griddle. You sip your coffee and watch the cook whip, pour and fold your omelet on the steel hot-top just feet away. That’s old-school.

The food is every bit as good as it was at the old Tanjore, which was always one of my favored spots for Indian cuisine despite a flat, sterile interior – and that’s definitely changed.

The Life Alive cafes that have landed recently in Kendall and Harvard squares (there are Boston locales too) are a huge change-up from the crunchy Central Square original from 2010.

In the conversation about fine Italian in Harvard Square, Toscano is a quiet northern Italian eatery with a lot to recommend it — and too often gets overlooked as too buttoned-down.

Can’t say that I thought it would be a good idea to put a beer garden in a parking lot near commuter rail and the bustle of the Fresh Pond Parkway. But the newly opened Fresh Pond Beer Garden makes for a pleasant urban oasis with food from nearby Ma Magoo’s in addition to its drinks.

The interior of his restaurant and the neighborhood it’s ingrained in may have changed, but the classic Portuguese dishes and the quality haven’t.

Gone is the grungy, ’90s industrial steampunk vibe at Diesel Cafe in Somerville’s Davis Square, replaced by a more spacious and open feel, with inviting, communal spaces. The limited menu (with limited hours) includes a full slate of coffee beverages, bakery good, additions such as an ice cream bar and smoothies, and breakfast fare.