By various Globe staffers and correspondents, 04/13/99

Not an easy question - especially with the dynamic restaurant scene here. Every week, Calendar reviews two restaurants: one on the thrifty side, the other more upscale. Unfortunately, restaurants that fall in the middle sometimes fall through the cracks. So we asked Globe writers to recommend mid-priced restaurants that span a broad range of cuisines and locations. Their entrees run from $10 to $16, though we made some exceptions in the interest of variety. This is not a Top 10 list. After all, who wants to spend the next month trying to answer questions that start with, "How could you leave out ...?!"

Addis Red Sea
If it isn't the red velvet curtains, soft lighting, low tables and chairs, and unobtrusive staff that give this place its reputation for romance, then it must be the way they serve the food.

B-Side Lounge
In the music business, the B-side is the companion song to a newly released single.

Caffe Luna
Jack Benjamin opened Caffe Luna over 12 years ago, when no one spelled cafe the Italian way.

Dudley Soul Food
Although Miss Queenie Williams wasn't a professional chef, she had the reputation of being one of the best soul food cooks in Roxbury.

La Casa de Pedro
Pedro Alarcon doesn't simply talk about the food at his Venezuelan restaurant in Watertown Square.

Le Bistro
It's an incongruous setting, squeezed between a one-hour photo lab and a taxi company along a barren commercial stretch of town.

Mermaid Restaurant
Sitting in the serene Mermaid Restaurant, it's easy to forget that just steps away is tourist-jammed Faneuil Hall Marketplace, which at its worst can be as charming as "Animal House," and the Big Dig, which won't be charming until it's over.

Marrakesh
Marrakesh, in East Cambridge, claims to be "the only authentic Moroccan restaurant in Massachusetts," and is, as far as we know.

Mount Blue
Two years ago, Jane and Patrick Bowe left Boston for the 'burbs; the city's loss has been the South Shore's gain.

Village Smokehouse
Get ready to roll up your sleeves and pull your hair back when you visit the Village Smokehouse in Brookline.