Chef Ramiro Scavo - the former executive chef for the management group that runs Harvest Restaurant, the Grill at Hacienda del Sol and both Zona 78 locations - is opening a restaurant by the UA that will specialize in "urban farm food."

Pasco Kitchen and Lounge will serve "traditional comfort food and drinks, approached with modern techniques and with an emphasis on fresh, locally sourced ingredients" when it opens next month, according to a press release put out today.

Pasco Kitchen and Lounge will be located at 820 E. University Blvd. We'll let you know when we learn more.

Zinburger is opening a location on the East Coast. Here’s The New York Times story about it.

Mr. An opens his new restaurant at Casino del Sol on Sunday, Dec. 19. An del Sol will specialize in Chinese and Japanese food, and will have a sushi bar. More information here.

Thunder Canyon Brewery has its annual run of Ornament Ale on tap. This is the obvious choice of libations if you’re planning an inebriated outburst during Christmas dinner, and, yes, they sell it by the half-gallon. More information here.

As mentioned in Noshing Around, Hotel Congress’ Whiskey Weekend gets underway this evening and runs through Sunday. More here.

The Bears of the Old Pueblo hold a beer bust and chili feed at the Venture N from 3 to 7 p.m. this Saturday. It’s only $1 a beer, or $2.50 a pitcher, and bowls of homemade chili will be $2. Probably the best deal in town, and the money raised benefits Wingspan.

The new restaurant inside Nur Market sells the best freaking food, and the prices are low. The East African tea is unlike anything I’ve ever had, and you’d do well to snag a bag of the pita-like bread they sell in the market on your way out. You’ll thank yourself later.

Made any New Year’s Eve plans yet? The Tucson Weekly’s calendar of New Year’s events doesn't come out until next week, but it's already posted here. There are parties everywhere from the Meet Rack to the JW Marriott Starr Pass Resort, and events ranging from fine-dining to laser-light shows.

Enjoy!

We had to call out Wienerschnitzel in our cover story this week, but the scam that Pee Wee's Famous Hot Dogs and Hamburgers is trying to pull might be worse.

From Gustavo Arellano and OC Weekly's Stick A Fork In It food blog:

Take a close look at Pee Wee's so-called Mexican hot dog at left from the snapshot of their website above. Notice the stream of mustard bisecting the dog, the tomatoes shoveled on top of the dog, the trickle of relish, the zig-zag of—HA!—Mexican creme fraiche (sorry, folks: HAHAHAHAHAHA!), the contours of its paper wrapping below, the indentations of the bread, the size and placement of everything in the picture. This is the shot that Pee Wee's uses to advertise itself as the "Home of the Mexican Hot Dog."

I knew I had seen that picture somewhere ...my own blog post on five "authentic" Mexican dishes that would make Rick Bayless scream! And that picture came from the website of Tucson's El Güero Canelo chain, where the art of the Sonora dog has reached beautiful heights highlighted even in the frou-frou food pages of The New York Times.

Pee Wee's rip-off is shameless. The only thing they did to make the picture theirs is Photoshop out the roasted pepper on the side (compare and contrast! compare and contrast!). How much effort would it have taken to merely take a picture of an item you're already claiming as innovative, an item you duped a poor Reg reporter into inaccurately reporting on? Do you really think online customers are that dumb? Actually, you do! Replace that photo ASAP, but such tactics have given me an ethical pepper belly for you guys that I don't think can ever be cured.

Oh, and Pee Wee's? $3.95 before tax for a Sonora dog is larceny—El Güero charges $2.71, a price that includes the tax. And a "true" Sonora dog doesn't use a bolillo as its bread. Bolillos are for tortas; hot dog buns are for hot dogs. Even in Mexico.

How dare you, Pee Wee's. HOW DARE YOU.

I tried calling Pee Wee's but no one answered (lunch rush, maybe?), so I sent an e-mail to the address listed on their site to get a comment. More information to come as the story develops.

This morning, I was driving down Fourth Avenue—and marveling at the number of new dining and drinking joints that have opened downtown—when I noticed yet another new eatery called Medusa Kabob House setting up in the old Casbah Tea House location at 628 N. Fourth Ave.

Downtown has welcomed Downtown Kitchen + Cocktails, Empire Pizza and Pub, Mr. Head's Art Gallery and Bar, Rice House and Café Desta in recent months. HUB Restaurant and Ice Creamery and Sparkroot are also coming soon, and then there's the bakery, taco stand, market, snow-cone vendor, Argentinean restaurant and cocktail lounge opening at Mercado San Agustin.

Oh, and I almost forgot 47 Scott and the adjoined Scott and Co., and the massive An Congress going in at the corner of Congress Street and Fifth Avenue. We've also heard that the owner of Time Market is opening a restaurant that will serve sandwiches and beer somewhere along Congress Street, and that Ramiro Scavo —who used to be executive chef for Hacienda del Sol, Zona 78 and Harvest Restaurant—plans to open a new restaurant near the UA before long.

Boca, O'Hungry's Restaurant and Mama's Hawaiian Barbecue have also opened in the area this year.

It's a great and exciting time to eat and drink downtown. And if there's nothing down there that suits your fancy now, wait a few months. You never know what'll pop up next.

(A quick note to the Arizona Daily Star's food writers: Now that you have published stunningly slobbering accounts of the announcement, build-up and opening of Downtown Kitchen + Cocktails - not to mention today's do-no-wrong review—could you lay off the effusive stories about Janos Wilder for a while? Please? It's getting nauseating. That is all.)

A restaurant called Rice House is the newest addition to the downtown dining scene, where nary a week passes without news of another restaurant opening.

Rice House serves standard Thai and Chinese food at 54 W. Congress St. It is owned by longtime Tucson restaurateur Jun Ting Lei.

We haven’t been down to check it out yet, but an employee says hours are 11 a.m. to 9 p.m., Monday through Saturday. Call 622-9557 for more information.

A blog at the food website Epicurious has speculated on what food trends will be big in 2011—and fortunately for Scorpion-selling stalwart Kon Tiki, tiki-bar cocktails made the list:

What's old is new again, not just in fashion but also in cocktails. Polynesian-style drinks, those multi-ingredient fruit juice and rum concoctions adorned with flowers and umbrellas, will be the quaffs of choice in 2011. Though you may be tempted to think this trend is yet another stylish symptom of the current craze for anything '60s-retro or Mad Men-inspired, the "new" tiki cocktails' roots go back even farther. Dale DeGroff, author of The Essential Cocktail and The Craft of the Cocktail and founding president of the Museum of the American Cocktail, told Epicurious, "the revival of the tiki trend, ironically, is closer to the classic tropical period right after Prohibition pioneered by Ernest Raymond Beaumont Gantt (a.k.a. Don the Beachcomber). The tiki movement today is coming from the craft bartending community, using fresh ingredients and attempting to find the original recipes. Julie Reiner's sophisticated take on tropical cocktails at Lani Kai in New York City is a perfect example."

The rest of the list? Food halls, Korean cuisine, macarons (not to be confused with macaroons), "meatless Mondays," foraging, pop-up restaurants, sweet potatoes, urban wineries and paprika cousin "Pimentón de La Vera."

Oliver Ray, head roaster at Cafe Aqui on Sixth Avenue, cares about coffee a lot and shows us some of the process of roasting the beans at their new location.

City Councilmember Regina Romero and the Ward 1 staff host their second annual Tamale Festival at 4 p.m., today, Thursday, Dec. 9, at the Mercado San Agustin at 100 S. Avenida del Convento, near West Congress Street, just west of Interstate 10.

Categories for judging at this year’s event include sweet, meat and unique, according to the Ward 1 website. A panel of judges will pick the winners, and there’s talk of samples and a snacking buffet. Admission is free.

O'Hungry's Restaurant is open at 944 E. University Blvd. It's the second location of a restaurant that started in San Diego's Old Town District more than 30 years ago.

The original location is one of the only places in San Diego that sells full yards of beer. Owner Stan Chu has told us numerous times that the Tucson location will serve half-yards, but we haven't made it down there to confirm it.

We're really hoping the menu at the Tucson location will be similar to the one in San Diego, where you can get a steak for $10 and grilled mahi mahi for $5. Prices like that would make the place a magnet for downtowners and college students alike.

An employee says the place is open from 7 a.m. to 10 p.m., daily. Call 624-3907 for more information.

A new Ethiopian restaurant named Café Desta has opened at 758 S. Stone Ave, and we've already heard that the food here is as good—if not better—than that at Tucson's other, highly regarded Ethiopian restaurant, Zemams Ethiopian Cuisine.

Brooke and Telahoun Molla, who own Café Lalibela in Tempe, opened the restaurant about a week ago, and they say the response has been incredible. Beth Molla, Brooke's sister, said many customers are already coming back for seconds, due in no small part to the samples employees have been handing out to familiarize people with the unique cuisine.

Beth Molla says Ethiopian food can be judged by the quality of the injera, or the sourdough-ish bread the food is served on. She says Café Desta's injera is the best she or the owners have ever tried. The chef from the other restaurant in Tempe—which has been in operation for 19 years—said the same.

On the menu: Spicy lamb, beef and other dishes. There’s also an expansive vegetarian selection, and a bring-your-own beer and wine policy.

Hours: 11 a.m. to 9 p.m., daily

Prices: $6.25 to $13.75.

Call 622-2615 for more information.