A couple of these places also serve Middle Eastern food, which is great. How they dodge the smoking ban most eateries contend with is a mystery, but they apparently do. They also keep super late hours, so this is presumably a pleasure reserved for serious night owls.

Wat Buddhametta, a Buddhist temple and meditation center at 1133 S. Swan Road, is holding its first community buffet dinner tonight. I’ve cooked with some of the people making this Thai feast, and they certainly know what they’re doing. So if you’re into small community gatherings and fragrant Thai food, this might be a fun way to get to know some new people in the community.

It starts around 6 p.m., and it’s $6 bucks per person. Kids younger than 10 eat for free. There’s more information on the center over here.

Its new location in the old Cilantro's Columbian Grill spot at 4525 S. Park Ave. makes it much less of a secret, but the food hasn't changed a bit. I just spent a half hour nursing a breakfast burrito in the parking lot, just relaxing and loving the scene as construction workers and lovely couples drifted in for their morning meals.

If you want to impress me, slap me on the back when I enter your restaurant, as if you've known me your whole life. Speak to me quietly and point out what you like best on the menu. Treat everyone in the place like family, and tell me to come back "whenever you get hungry again." This all happened at my stop at Cora's this morning, and I am blissed out because of it.

Hours are 6:30 a.m. to 3 p.m. weekdays; and 6:30 a.m. to 2 p.m., weekends. Call 294-2146 for more information.

As I’ve mentioned in the past, a local food-truck festival would be awesome. Gathering a half-dozen or more mobile-food operations and providing a central dining area would provide a unique eating experience while creating a micro-economy that could help spur Tucson’s mobile-food movement forward.

Hey, it’s worked in other cities, so why not here? I could dig on a scene where Sonoran hot dogs, desserts, tacos, tostinos preparados and other street foods intermingled. Bands could play. Maybe a beer garden? The possibilities are endless.

The owners of the Dragoon Café food truck are trying to organize just such a festival for Tucson, but they're having trouble finding enough food trucks to participate.

So if you know any food trucks that might be interested — or if you happen to own a food truck — you might consider contacting them over here.

Also, what do you all think about a local food-truck festival? Would you attend? If you'd be so kind as to leave some comments or ideas in the comments section below, that would be great. Together we might just be able to make this happen.

The restaurant proclaims itself the home of the "mega dog." I didn't have the stomach capacity to do a full investigation into this enormous hot-dog variation, so I'm leaving this one up to you, fair readers.

Hours: 7 a.m. to 10 p.m., weekdays; 7 a.m. to 3 a.m., weekends. Eat well, my friends.

Fun fact! The fifth of May, or Cinco de Mayo, is not Mexico’s Independence Day. It's actually the anniversary of the Battle of Puebla, which is certainly a minor holiday in Mexican communities, but not a celebration of the day Mexico became its own country.

The day Mexico actually celebrates its independence is this Friday, Sept. 16, which Ray Flores of Sir Veza’s Taco Garage says is the perfect day to hold his first Sonoran hot-dog eating contest. I spoke with Flores last week and he said he’s going to make the contest an annual event, sort of the Nathan’s Hot Dog competition of Southern Arizona. The contest starts around 6 p.m., and there will be prizes.

There might still be a few places left for anyone interested in competing, too, but you’ll need to contact Sir Veza’s for more on that.

A new restaurant called Green Gourmet has set up shop inside the Dunbar School Project at 325 West 2nd St.

Emily Connally, who is handling marketing for the restaurant, says the restaurant is starting off small, but the plan is to eventually use it to train teenagers how to eat and cook healthier, while giving them experience in the field of culinary arts.

For now, they’ve brought Anthony Johnson — who once worked at the high-end eatery Anthony’s in the Catalinas — on board, and he’s cooking up some mean grub. Big salads, burgers, French dips and all sorts of other sandwiches are available, and prices average out around $5. Johnson also makes fresh soups and features a different daily special most days.

There has long been a push to try to establish a charter school inside the Dunbar School Project, and Connally say a long-term goal for Green Gourmet is to provide healthy lunches for that school once it emerges. For the time being most of their business comes from the barber school they share the building with.

Hours are 11 a.m. to 3 p.m., Monday through Friday.

Tom Alfonso, who is opening Alfonso Gourmet Olive Oils and Balsamics, says he’s working with an importer from California that has exclusive trade-agreements with olive farmers in Greece, Chile, Austrailia, Tunisia and many other countries. He will carry about 25 different olive oils at a time, introducing new varieties as time goes on.

Alfonso is also bringing in 19 different Balsamic vinegars from Modena, Italy, some of which have been aged as long as 18 years.

Now for a quick tutorial on quality olive oil: Alfonso says some oils are suited only for drizzling or dipping. Others contain more polyphenols, which makes them better for cooking because they hold up better at higher temperatures.

Alfonso says olive oils are traditionally created twice a year, and that the two “crush dates,” are different depending on whether the farm is in the northern and southern hemisphere. All of the oil he sells arrives in the U.S. about 30 days after it’s produced, which maintains flavor and quality.

The flavor-infused olive oils and balsamics are made by crushing things like fruit or garlic with the olives or grapes. No artificial flavors are added.

The oil will be dispensed from big metal “fusti” - the Italian plural form of the word “tank” — which will allow customers to sample prior to purchasing.

Expect cooking demonstrations with local chefs and tastings when the store opens in mid-October.

Let me qualify that headline: They’re still going to sell an incredible selection of fish at the 17th Street Market, but the counter where you could saunter up and order from an enormous selection of fresh fish is no longer in operation.

That counter was one of the best places — actually, probably the best — place to buy fresh fish in Tucson, and it will be missed.

For the time being, the market is still buying many, many varieties of fresh fish and filleting them on site. The fillets are available in the freezer section next to the other meats. The selection right this moment is limited, but they're working on that. Check in over here for more information.

• Not fun at all.

There is absolutely nothing "fun" about this size of a Snickers candy bar. It would be fun if it was the size of a lunch box, or maybe a yard stick, but this dinky candy bar is gone in seconds, which is the opposite of fun.

That is all.