It’s interesting how much respect Sleeping Frog Farms has earned in a few short years. A construction worker mentioned his admiration for the farm yesterday. A week earlier a sommelier was going off about the work ethic of the people who run the operation, and a month before that a chef at a well-known restaurant was offering equally high praise.

Food Conspiracy Co-op at 412 N. Fourth Ave. seems equally impressed with the farm, and is investing a nice chunk of cash that could help the farm increase how much it produces each season.

Coley Ward, who handles marketing for the co-op, says the store made an initial $5,000 investment in the farm some time ago, which bought them weekly deliveries of the farm’s incredible produce. The farm had a year to pay back that commitment. They did it in seven months.

The store's board of directors was impressed with both that return and the farm in general, so much so that they decided to make another investment of $25,000. Sleeping Frog Farms has three years to pay that back, but there is a general feeling that it will take them far less than that.

If you’ve met Adam Valdivia, C.J. Marks, Debbie Weingarten and the other fine folks who comprise the farm, this news will bring a smile to your face. They are honest, hardworking farmers who love what they do and it shows in the vibrant and delicious vegetables they produce.

The other great thing about this new commitment is that Sleeping Frog Farms can use the money to increase its operational scope, which means more vegetables for a lot more people than just those who shop at the co-op.

It's officially time to start making plans for this year's Tucson Culinary Festival, which is offering a bit more this year than in years past.

The Copper Chef Challenge, Margarita Championship and Reserve and Grand Tasting will take place like they do every year, but this time around there's a great opportunity to enjoy special dinners at local restaurants as well. Festival officials are calling it Originals Adventure, and you can check out what that entails here.

This event is always a blast and is a great chance to experience the talents of many chefs in one weekend. If you're interested you also might consider nabbing some tickets or making reservations soon, as space is limited for most events.

In case you haven't been watching TV's Dr. Oz pontificate about what foods are good and bad for you, here's an update on his latest health craze (no, you don't need to go buy a different label of Acai berry smoothie packs or start taking some weird herbal supplement).

After Dr. Oz broke startling news to his viewers that even their toddler staple, apple juice, was filled with arsenic, the FDA finally put an end to his shenanigans last week, slamming the TV doctor for not distinguishing between naturally occurring arsenic, which was at safe levels, and inorganic arsenic, the kind that can be dangerous.

A little digging shows the testing agency that Dr. Oz used, EMSL Analytical, Inc., seems to have perked their ears up about arsenic from an FDA release about chicken livers back in June. In the article, they then advertised their food testing services, at their own website www.foodtestinglab.com. What's curious is the lab's results show a single level for arsenic, even though they adknowledged there are two kinds in their previous news release about the chickens months ago.

Guess Dr. Oz got duped, as the FDA was peeved enough to release an update on their website, leveling the arsenic myth as a bunch of baloney.

So, fill up your sippy cups and celebrate! Apple juice is still go. But watch out for those cantaloupes.

While we have no one to blame but ourselves, I suppose, since GOOD Magazine accepted nominations for their United States of GOOD Sandwiches project, but they seem to have some confusion about what a sandwich is. For example, they considered huevos rancheros and fish tacos as finalists? I love both menu items, but they're neither are sandwiches by the basic definitions I'm aware of:

"AZ is the heart of the Southwest and Tex-Mex food is the official food of the desert," one Arizonan GOOD reader writes in. "That said, our state sandwich should be huevos rancheros with flour (whole wheat, preferably) tortilla. Perfect for any meal and has all the food groups, not to mention it's importance in Cormac McCarthy's Border Trilogy."

As an Arizonan myself, I can tell you that the state doesn't really have a sandwich. Still, I must disqualify huevos rancheros on the basis of it not being a sandwich under even the most liberal definition of the term. (Also, McCarthy's trilogy is set mostly in New Mexico and Texas). The fish taco is a good patch for the huevos rancheros problem—though not a sandwich under all definitions of the term, at least you can pick it up with your hands. But while fish tacos are popular throughout the state, Arizona isn't exactly known for its bodies of water. So I hereby nominate the Navajo taco, a delicious wedding of Arizona's Mexican and Native American cultural heritage—just take a traditional taco filling and wrap it in warm flatbread. The sandwich also represents the uncomfortable mainstream appropriation of native cultures that has come to define Arizona in recent years (even the name "Navajo taco" is a pretty crude construction). It might not be GOOD, but at least it's honest.

Isn't the obvious pick the torta? Throw whatever you want on it (my call: carnitas, always), but here and in our overheated neighbor to the north, you can get a solid torta nearly anywhere. And, at very least, it's clearly an actual sandwich. Bah.

I've always thought of Chili's as more of a "I give up, this appears to be the best place to eat in this airport" sort of place, but I guess if they want to convince people that they're somehow "bold" for suggesting to eat at a place that could be best described as "not quite as bad as Applebee's", so be it:

In a new ad for Chili’s, the 36-year-old restaurant chain, an office worker in his 20s approaches the cubicle of a co-worker, and asks, “Hey Jill, you want to go to Chili’s tonight?”

She swivels in her chair, smiles, and when she speaks what comes out is the voice of the bluesman John Lee Hooker, singing, “I love that talk, when you talk like that, you knocks me out, right off of my feet.”

Looking surprised but undaunted, he says, “So, that’s a yes, or — ?”

As she nods, it is again the voice of the late Mr. Hooker from “Boom Boom” — first released in 1962 — that she incongruously lip-syncs, “Hoo, hoo, hoo.”

The ad — by Hill Holliday, Boston, part of the Interpublic Group of Companies — continues with a voice-over that urges, “Go bold with Chili’s $20 dollar dinner for two,” and footage of entrees eligible for the deal, including a new menu item, grilled shrimp tacos.

“We want to play up the boldness of the brand,” said Krista Gibson, senior vice president for brand strategy at Brinker International, Chili’s parent company, about the new spot, which is scheduled for an Oct. 3 premiere. “How he behaves is bold, how she behaves is bold, and the food we’re featuring in the spot is boldly flavored.”

I'm not necessarily anti-chain, but whenever I think of Chili's, I can't quite get a passage from David Kessler's The End of Overeating" out of my head:

We tried contacting the owners of the Apple Farm Bakery Restaurant in Benson to get some more information on this restaurant, but never got a response. That restaurant is known for homemade American food done country-style, and seems to be a hit with most people who've tried it.

If anybody's eaten at this new restaurant, feel free to let us know what you think in the comments section below.

I stopped at the casino for other business this week and found An putting finishing touches on the store. The place will sell frozen margaritas, daquiris and other drinks, too. Can you imagine the potential of a frozen-yogurt shop with a liquor license? The possibilities are endless. The store's slogan, "Creations and Libations," is pretty sweet, too.

While dining at the casino I was suddenly surprised by Mr. An arriving with a plate that was on fire. That Mr. An sure is a character. It was all so surreal: Sitting in a casino for the first time in decades, thinking about frozen drinks and staring at flaming sushi rolls. Hot and cold. He'd also changed from a sky blue shirt to a black one. It was like two versions of the same An. So strange.

"Wow, it looks a lot like In-N-Out," I said to the girl working at this new burger place in the old Taco Shop Co. location at 45 W. Valencia Road.

"Yeah, a lot of people have been telling us that," she said in a monotone voice that perfectly communicated her absolute disinterest in the subject.

The fries are hand-cut, and they come with some sort of aioli that tastes great. The prices are also super low, and it was doing decent business yesterday afternoon. Frankly, I liked it better than In-N-Out, for what that's worth.

I remember when 47 Scott was getting ready to open and murmurs rippled through the local food scene that the location was cursed, that no eatery could succeed there. Boy were they wrong.

The last time I sauntered into 47 Scott it was packed, and I mean PACKED. Deciding to wait out the storm, I headed next door to the intimate little cocktail bar Scott and Co., where people were lined up for drinks and the bartenders were slinging them as fast as they could make them.

Ah, sweet success. Anyway, Travis Reese, one of the owners of the eatery, says the patio area is finished and that he's started offering late-night dining. They also just debuted their new fall menu, and put out a fresh cocktail menu at Scott and Co.

If you haven't had this places pomme frites, which come sprinkled with rosemary, you simply must. Paired with one of the amazing cocktails crafted by nationally known mixologist Ciaran Wiese, it's an experience you will not soon forget.

I spoke with owner Robert Stawicki this morning and he says he’s serving up five kinds of pierogi, stuffed cabbage, Polish sausages, potato pancakes and all sort of other great Polish eats. He’s also brought in a nice supply of Polish beer, vodka and liquor.

Stawicki was involved in Amber Restaurant and Gallery until 2009 when he sold his share. He opened his first restaurant in Warsaw, Poland, in 1998.

Prices range from $5.50 to $9.50. Call 891-1244 for more information.