Food Conspiracy Co-op has signed a deal that will more than double the amount of room the store at 412 N. Fourth Ave. has to work with.

Co-op officials just announced that they signed a deal to lease a 6,500-square-foot building at 425 E. Seventh St. The plan is to convert at least 1,000 square feet of it into a commercial kitchen, which will allow the store to increase the number of dishes available through its popular in-store Avenue Deli.

This is great news for the co-op. The store — which celebrated its 40th birthday this year — has been trying to expand for quite some time now.

You can read more about the co-op over here. The press release announcing the expansion is after the jump.

• Janos Wilder is unaffected by direct summer sun, and is a true food-trucking champion.

I picked Chef Janos Wilder up shortly after 11 a.m. today at his restaurant Downtown Kitchen + Cocktails, and we headed south in search of street food. We’d never met before and had no plan other than two empty stomachs and a bit of food-truck fever to contend with.

Sonoran hot dogs, street-vendor corn and other roadside foods have popped up at Wilder’s restaurants, but his yen for street food runs deeper than that. He once ran a food truck out of his original downtown restaurant—he laughs out loud and beams while describing the tricked-out truck that didn't work out—and is credited with helping El Guero Canelo grow from a tiny food trailer into a thriving business.

Why does Janos Wilder— author, chef, James Beard Award winner and owner of three acclaimed Tucson eateries — care about street food? And, more than that, why is he willing to drive around in some food writer’s un-air-conditioned and unkempt truck in triple-digit heat to talk about it?

“Because I love it,” says Wilder, in between bites of a tostada at our first stop, food truck Mariscos El Primo on the corner of Sixth Avenue and Aviation Drive. “Because the food is totally worthy, and it’s good, and it’s cheap, and it’s the food people eat every day.”

Wilder pointed out that the seafood tostadas we were eating were less than $3 and left little to be desired. “The octopus is tender; the tostada is good. The tomato is fine. Sure, some of it may be frozen, but all the ingredients are fresh and balanced.”

It was getting hotter, and we needed refreshments, so we headed to food trailer Primavera Raspados and Hotdogs. Downing a pineapple and mango version, Wilder said he’s thinking about adding raspados to the menu at Downtown Kitchen + Cocktails. He’d also like to do a version of tostinos preparados, a Mexican street food that is basically a bag of chips cut open and covered with condiments.

Can I just say that standing in a parking lot on Ajo Way with traffic going by and Janos Wilder going off on the virtues of street food is, well, a lot of fun? His eyes get wide when he talks about the first Sonoran hot dog he ate ("I said, 'This is really something. This is something that is identifiable as being from this region.'"), and he’s got stories for days about tiny taco stands and going “carting,” or hopping from food truck to food truck in search of good eats.

Winding our way through the streets of South Tucson, Wilder spoke of pork tacos and other roadside meals he’s had over the years. Then he spoke of $30 plates of beef cheeks, guiding top-notch restaurants to high acclaim and fine French cuisine, and how it all fills a common space in his culinary mind.

“I’ve always considered demystifying food as part of my job,” said Wilder. “Part of that job is also to demystify street food and to show people, just like with the fancy stuff, that there’s nothing to be afraid of.”

We made one more stop for jerk chicken and oxtail stew at food truck D Island Grill JA, on the corner of Grant Road and Sixth Avenue. The drink of the day was sorrel-ginger. Wilder had to be at a meeting. I rushed one last question.

"So, how would you say all these food trucks fit into Tucson food culture?"

“It’s like the bass note. It keeps the rhythm moving in a sense, and it plays a huge economic role, too,” says Wilder. “This is immediate, inexpensive food that pulls from the culture and heritage of regular people. It becomes folk food, in a sense.”

• Janos Wilder and seafood tostadas at Mariscos El Primo.

Middle Eastern food offers a serious flavor blast, and what’s going on at the new Sahara Café and Hookah Lounge is a very delicious version of it. The chicken shawarma is so good it's almost unbelievable, and the kabobs—there are three kinds on the kabob combo platter—are gently-seasoned, soft and fragrant.

But it’s the little cups of super-potent garlic butter and the curious assortment of pickles served with some orders (one of the pickles was so pink that I verified its edibility prior to eating) that make the food tingle with its own electricity. Friends tell me these are the hallmarks of quality Lebanese cooking; my tastebuds tell me to fill my belly with it as often as possible.

As for the baklava and Turkish coffee, I want them three times a day, every day, for the rest of my life. And this is all after one meal, during the restaurant's first week in business, which is typically a shaky time for an eatery.

My stomach is so happy right now.

The popular Santa Cruz River Farmers’ Market on the corner of Speedway and Riverview boulevards is relocating next month to the Mercado San Agustin at 100 S. Avenida del Convento.

Organizers say the market needs more room due to a steady increase in vendors and visitors, and that the Mercado San Agustin offers more shelter from the elements.

I always marveled at how this farmers' market brought that barren gravel lot on Speedway Boulevard to life once a week. It will surely be a wonderful addition to the numerous things going on at Mercado San Agustin.

The market will officially open at the new location on Thursday, June 16.

The MooBella vending machine (currently distributed in the northeast part of the country) makes made-to-order real ice cream in a number of flavors in 40 seconds. If this machine was in the Tucson Weekly break room, I might weigh 400 pounds within a year. I am, however, willing to take that chance.

Tucson food truck people, I love what you're doing, we've dedicated a whole series on the blog to the mobile food phenomenon, but until I can get a sandwich from a truck decorated with the theme of a popular science fiction franchise, the score is Fayetteville, Arkansas: 1, Tucson: 0.

• Have I mentioned how awesome Tucson's street food is?

The Rolling Chef is a flame-emblazoned food truck run by the former executive chef of fine-dining establishment Anthony’s in the Catalinas. It can be found on the corner of Stone Avenue and Pennington Street between 10:30 a.m. and 2:30 p.m., weekdays; and outside of the Music Box Lounge at 6951 E. 22nd St. until the wee hours on weekends.

Chef Carlos Aponte said he was let go from Anthony’s in the Catalinas when the recession hit and sales plummeted. It was a bit of a blow—he’d worked at El Parador, opened City Grill for Sam Fox and worked at fine New York restaurants, earning accolades and an impeccable reputation along the way—but there was precious little time to mope around.

“Basically, I had to make my own economy,” says Aponte. “It came down to what would be the most profitable, what would take the least to get started, and what is trendy.”

The result: The Rolling Chef, which has been wowing downtowners with gourmet, street-style tacos, cheese steaks and roast-beef sandwiches. For the moment, it’s about the closest thing Tucson has to the now-famous Los Angeles food truck Kogi BBQ, and Aponte is forever adding to the menu.

Aponte’s tacos are stuffed with shredded Angus beef, pit-roasted pork and other things he carefully roasts over special wood until it all collapses into tender shreds. It is then stuffed in a tortilla from the Anita Street Market and topped with coleslaw and caramelized onions, or cabbage salsa and lime, and handed over to you for the paltry sum of $1.

There's also talk of a teriyaki chicken taco topped with Asian salad and pineapple, but that's still in the development stages.

The Rolling Chef is down this week—it's getting a new engine—but should be back next week.

You can follow the truck on Twitter here.

• The doorman was trying on his new outfit when I stopped by.

The restaurant and hookah lounge is going in at 1730 E. Prince Road, in the former Guadalajara Grill location. Owner Jamal Lulu—originally from Jordan—said he spent the last eight months getting the place ready, and that he's amped to bring his version of Middle Eastern food to Tucson.

On the food menu: Falafel, chicken shawarma, kabobs, fattoush, stuffed grape leaves, sandwiches, salads and other items. On the hookah menu: Too many flavors to name, but you can smoke stuff that tastes like everything from a can of cola to something called "safari melon dew."

This place also has a large courtyard replete with giant mesquite tree and trickling waterfall. As for entertainment, there will be DJs and bellydancing on weekends.

Hours will be 11 a.m. to midnight, Sunday through Thursday; 11 a.m. to 4 a.m., Friday and Saturday; and noon to 10 p.m., Sunday.

Call 881-5800 for more information.

You’ll notice there is no dessert course on the menu posted below, being that decadence of that caliber is beyond the scope of our three-dimensional universe.

Talented pastry chef Tavel Bristol-Joseph is behind this unique tasting dinner at 6 p.m., this Wednesday, May 25, at Hacienda del Sol:

1st course - Scallops with a white chocolate Stilton sauce, citrus salad paired with Bianca Vigna Prosecco

2nd course - Milk chocolate enchilada paired with Michael David Sixth Sense Syrah

3rd course - Dark chocolate marinated beef paired with Bertani Valpolicella

Tickets are $35, and reservations are required. Call 529-3500 for more information.

I can barely finish three tacos from Boca, the taco shop at 828 E. Speedway Blvd. But if there’s anyone out there who can mow through 17 of them and one of the restaurant’s one-pound baked potatoes stuffed with meat and fixings, then this challenge, posted recently on Facebook, is for you:

The BOCA Challenge has been set!!!!!!!!

Will you be the first to beat it?

17 tacos and a papa boca in 45min you finish I buy, you sign the wall and get a shirt you dont finish you owe me $50+tax

As a side note: Is there no end to the weirdness that is Boca’s Exotic Taco Wednesdays? Recent tacos have included kangaroo meatloaf, pheasant and chicken heart as fillings.