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.

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.

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.

Hard to believe it’s been near 10 years since the shuttering of Chez Henri, Paul O’Connell’s great neighborhood bistro. But at least its classic cubano sandwich pops up here and there.

This mediterranean tuna is marinated and dressed in olive oil (no mayo is used) and garnished with fresh spinach, tomatoes and onion. It’s simple and wildly addictive.

This Turkish-infused bakery by Belmont and Watertown has always offered prepared foods to go, but its pandemic-era priced meals for two, packaged with heating instructions, deserve the same kind of praise.