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.

The old Grafton was a high-ceilinged, open space with large-screen TVs over the bar; the new one has a cozy, library-like ambiance that says scotch, cigars and informed academic discourse – vintage Harvard, if you will – but a solid menu with small plates that will delight, especially when it comes to shellfish.

The main item Shy Bird offers is half and whole roasted birds (you see them slow roasting as you get your waitlist number at the host stand) as well as a ranch-fried chicken sandwich that looks juicy and sinful. In its Umami Bowl, fried or roasted chicken is listed as an extra … but you should consider it mandatory.

It’s been a while, but the cozy pub interior of R.F. O’Sullivan & Son is still a homey place to rub elbows and take in a Celtics or Sox game and still the place to go for a plump, juicy burger cooked on an open-flame grill and served with meaty, golden onion rings.