Well, it's really angel food cake soaked in tequila and then deep fried, but I'm still trying to figure out the science that somehow allows the alcohol to remain and now burn off in the hot oil

According to this Elite Daily post, no actual nasty face produced when downing a shot of tequila, since deep-fried tequila allegedly produces the same results:

"... cut the cake into small cubes and soak them in tequila. Deep fry the small bites in oil until they are golden brown. Top them off with powered sugar ..."

Our version will be topped off with a little salt, lime and chile.

I applaud restaurants and bars "dressing up" for Halloween - in fact, I campaigned for local places to do so back in 2010 - and the delightful Saffords of Tap & Bottle made me very happy last year when they turned their craft beer and wine joint into the Meet Rack for a night last year.

This year, the bar is going as The Red Room, the indie rock/cocktail establishment attached to Grill, both of which closed back in November of 2011 (more on the history of the Red Room in David Mendez's August cover story), but they could use your help.

From Facebook:

Friends - this year T&B has a special halloween night planned. We will be dressing our bar up as the Red Room to honor one of our favorite Tucson places from the past. More details to come...but before then we would love pictures of your photobooth pics from the Red Room to feature on halloween. Please pm me your pics or email to [email protected]

The Buffet is celebrating its 80th (!!!) anniversary on Saturday, Nov. 1 from 1 to 5 p.m. (mark your calendars!), but the festivities have already kicked off as Mayor Rothschild has signed on to what appears to be the greatest proclamation ever to be issued from his desk.

You can read the whole thing above, but here are my favorite WHEREAS-ES:

WHEREAS, the atmosphere inside The Buffet Bar displays decades of names, quotes, drawings and jokes covering the walls as intentional graffiti art...

WHEREAS, for recreation, The Buffet Bar has a regulation-sized shuffleboard table where games are played for free...

WHEREAS, The Buffet Bar still serves hot dogs "cooked in beer"...

Congrats, in advance, to the owners and staff of the Buffet for this recognition.

Congrats to the gentlemen at Borderlands Brewing Company, as they're the latest Tucson brewery to go the route of retail, canning about 400 cases or so of their Noche Dulce vanilla porter in 16 ounce cans to be sent around town. Look for it in stores starting this weekend, but in full force next week or so. The suggested retail price for four cans will be in the $12 range and you'll be able to pick them up at Total Wine, Plaza Liquors, 1702, Tap and Bottle, Rumrunner, Magee Road Liquors and elsewhere around town.

I suppose it was inevitable, considering strip clubs generally serve beer and craft beer seems to be running its more commercial cousins off taps all over the place these days, but hey, there's a gentlemen's club making its own beer. What is somewhat surprising is that this isn't happening in Portland, Oregon (a place with two vegan strip clubs), but in the suburbs of Dayton, Ohio at a place called Pinups and Pints:

We went to the back room, which was where the brewery was housed. The brewery is a small affair — only a 15-gallon set-up, but a SABCO high-end computerized system that homebrewers would certainly kill for.

Conrad confessed he hadn’t been an avid homebrewer, but the idea of making his own beer appealed to him. It also helped to renovate the club. Baby Dolls didn’t have a liquor license, and to get a license through the regional agencies can be tough. However, a brewer’s license is easier to obtain. Pinups and Pints’ type of license is the same one Fifth Street Brewpub, Lock 27 and several other local breweries hold. It allows them to not only brew and serve their own beer, but also to serve a full bar of guest beers, liquor and wine.

Pinup Pale Ale, Conrad’s inaugural beer, was being primed for release that Monday, but we sampled an early release. It was a solid pale ale, a good start on a new system and one that will get better as Conrad works out the kinks in his system. “If I’m going to have it, I might as well make it good,” Conrad explained. He plans to do an Oktoberfest as well, offering two beer styles alongside the full bar.

When asked about the impact the craft beer is having on business, Conrad noted, “It’s been great. We’ve been having people come out for the beer.” Alisha, the bartender, noted a similar occurrence: “People are interested in the beer. It’s fun to have more to offer.”

Overall, we had a great time. What we expected was light years away from what we experienced. With high-quality décor, attractive and enthusiastic entertainers and a solid bar centered around microbrewed flagship offerings, Pinups and Pints seems to have figured out a formula to turn around a struggling gentlemen’s club into something with the possibility of being a regional destination, as well as perhaps the only microbrewing strip club in the country.

Not sure Arizona's liquor licensing operation is likely to allow an adult-entertainment business to also brew beer, but someone has to be the test case, right?

Our courageous editor Dan Gibson braved the elements on Saturday, Aug. 16 to participate as a judge in the Salsa and Tequila Challenge. He reported back to the office many delicious tequila cocktails, as well as unique paleta and food offerings. He was pretty happy, and it wasn't just the tequila that was making that happen.

Funds from the event went to the Southern Arizona's Art and Cultural Alliance Creative Arts Therapy Program, Food Bank of Southern Arizona and Tucson Hispanic Chamber of Commerce Foundation scholarship fund.

Salsa Challenge Winners:

Best Traditional - JW Marriott Star Pass Resort & Spa

Chef Danny Perez for Salsa Helada

Best Hot - Armitage Wine Lounge

Chef Jorge Moreno for Habanero Mango Salsa

Best Mild - Hotel Congress

Chef Karl De La Ossa for Sweet Tomatillo Salsa

Best Alternative - Wilko

Chef Ian Sugarman for Kimchi by the Sea

Judges 1st Place Winner - Armitage Wine Lounge

Chef Jorge Moreno for Habanero Mango Salsa

Judges 2nd Place Winner - Hotel Congress

Chef Karl De La Ossa for Sweet Tomatillo Salsa

Judges 3rd Place Winner - Prep & Pastry

Chef Liz Delgado for Blueberry Jalapeño

People's Choice 1st Place Winner - Mouth of the South Salsas Co., LLC

Chef Andrea B. McGowan for INSANE

People's Choice 2nd Place Winner - Pima Community College, Culinary Arts

Chefs Linda Tandjung, Chelsie LaRochelle and Jesse Huggins for Drunken Pineapple

People's Choice 3rd Place Winner - Marriott University Park

Chef Adrian Castillo for Smokeless Fire

If your interests include interesting movies and Arizona beer, life has gotten a little bit better now that Casa Video has added a growler-filling station complete with three Arizona beers to choose from. Bring in your glass, stainless steel or ceramic properly-labeled jug and take home some of the state's finest craft beer with your copy of Hot Rod*.

* You can rent something other than Hot Rod, but if you haven't seen it, it's a lot of fun. They've got a lot of movies that don't star Andy Samberg as well.

[Craft Tucson FB page]

Maynards Market & Kitchen and Hotel Congress are offering beer tastings throughout the summer. Here are events for August:


On Aug. 9, from 6 to 8 p.m., Maynards Market & Kitchen (400 N. Toole Ave.) offers a Sear N' Beer event. For $25, you get five beer samples and barbecue bites. 

Aug. 16: At Hotel Congress, 311 E. Congress St. $20 for five samples of Colorado Craft new releases with "bites" to eat

Aug. 23: At Hotel Congress: $20 for five samples of IPA's of the world with "bites" to eat

Aug. 30: At Hotel Congress: $20 for five samples of beers of Bisbee, Arizona with "bites" to eat

For more info, visit www.hotelcongress.com/food and www.maynardstucson.com.

Plenty of folks from our burg are making the trek to San Diego for Comic-Con (including the Weekly's Henry Barajas) to soak up comics, films, anime, celebrities and more. Comic-Con takes place from July 24 through July 27 at the San Diego Convention Center. In typical PR fashion, a couple of establishments have concocted some special drinks for the occasion. 

At the ALTITUDE Sky Lounge @ Marriott Gaslamp Quarter (sandiegogaslamphotel.com), they will serve "The Superman," which features Stoli vanilla, orange and raspberry vodka, white cranberry and pineapple juice and a splash of grenadine. “Thor’s Hammer” features orange vodka, peach Schnapps and a splash of orange juice mixed and dropped into a glass of red bull. 

Over at RoofTop600 @ Andaz San Diego (sandiego.andaz.hyatt.com), bartenders will honor Star Trek with the “Beam Me Up Scotty” shot, which mixes coffee liqueur, crème de banana and Bailey’s. (Hmm, Scotty didn't seem like a crème de banana kind of guy.) For Mario Bros. fans, there's the “Power Up” cocktail with orange flavored vodka, peach schnapps and Red Bull.

 

Local filmmakers Charles Lynch and Nathan Lee are in the local craft beer business, and business is booming. The latest episode of Hopped Up highlights Tap & Bottle, 403 N 6th Ave #135. Lynch interviews the downtown bottle shop owners Rebecca and Scott, and talks to Vickee and Sarah of Girls' Pint Out.


Click here to check out previous episodes of 'Hopped Up' and here for more information on Tap & Bottle.