An entry on Nimbus Brewery's Facebook page says the brewery is getting into the non-alcoholic-beverage business with a new line of signature sodas.

The brewery is currently seeking submissions of artwork to be used on the label for its first soda, Nimbus Rootbeer.

Click here for more details.

Baggin's Gourmet Sandwiches at 5056 E. Broadway Blvd. is moving down the street to the former Jason's Deli location at 5420 E. Broadway Blvd.

Norma Gentry, who handles public relations for Baggin's, said the move is expected to happen in mid-September. A closing date for the current Baggin's location has not been set.

The new location has twice the seating of the current Baggin's location, said Gentry. She said additional details would be available after plans were finalized.

Officials from Jason’s Deli had planned to reopen the location, which closed in May due to financial problems with the franchisee.

Daniel Helfman, a spokesman for Jason’s Deli, said the company is now looking for a different spot for a second Tucson location.

“It’s unfortunate the Broadway location did not work out, but we look forward to surprising Tucson with more locations soon,” said Helfman.

Janos Wilder has detailed the painstaking process of designing his new restaurant, Downtown Kitchen and Cocktails, on his blog, but there’s been little mention of the food it’ll serve—until recently.

From the newest post on Wilder’s blog:

I wrote the first menus three months ago. DOWNTOWN will serve the food of what America is today. We will serve you the flavors of the New American melting pot. My grandparents came from Russia, my parents are first generation Americans. They were not unusual, that wave of immigrants came from all over Europe. Earlier waves came from England, Spain and France. The history of immigration is the history America. We have always been the place people from around the world could come to find safety and a new chance.

Following a tradition as old as human migration, today’s immigrants bring with them the foods from their homes in Indo-China, the Middle-East, China, Latin America and Africa. We will be choosing the dishes from those and other sunny regions around the world where the climates are similar to our own so that we can grow many of the ingredients we’ll cook. DOWNTOWN the food will be full of flavor, it will excite your taste buds and nourish your soul.

We’ll be serving lunch, dinner, a bar menu and late night. Our prices will beaffordable(sic). We know what the economy’s doing to everyone’s discretionary income. We want you to be able to come often. Have a bite at the bar one time then come back before or after a performance and return again when you have time to enjoy a few courses. As the name implies, we’ll also serve you some the best and most exciting cocktails you’ll find in Tucson.

Read the whole thing here.

Chef Matthew Stricker (aka Chef Mattie) from Monkey Burger says the restaurant’s downtown location is on track to open in mid-August.

The new location is going in at the former Burger City spot at 47 N. Sixth Ave., right across the street from the Ronstadt Transit Center. Stricker said the building has been remodeled and now features a bar that takes up about one-third of the space. It will serve the same menu as the original Monkey Burger at 5350 E. Broadway Blvd., Suite 128.

Stricker said the new location will be open during the day most of the week, with extended hours on weekends.

The brand-new Empire Pizza and Pub is open at 137 E. Congress St. On the menu: pizza (slices and whole pies), sandwiches, hot wings, salads and a couple of desserts. Order at the counter, and take a seat at one of the outdoor tables up front, or head to the back room where the bar is. No alcohol yet, but an employee said the liquor license should be approved in two to four months.

Check out the menu here.

Joe Mama's Grill, which started serving breakfast and lunch nearly two months ago at 4230 N. Oracle Road, Suite 100, has added dinner hours.

Owners Krista and Sean Kanter have worked up a new dinner menu that includes grilled ribeye served with blue-cheese butter or mushroom-and-red-wine sauce; grilled sesame-crusted ahi tuna served with wasabi aioli or ginger-pineapple salsa; and Mediterranean pasta. They're waiting for more input from customers before adding more selections to the menu.

The new hours are 6:30 a.m. to 2:30 p.m., Sunday through Wednesday; and 6:30 a.m. to 8:30 p.m., Thursday through Saturday.

Pizazz! Pizza Bistro at 1763 E. Prince Road is now Prince Pizza and Family Restaurant, and it’s gotten an overhaul since the new owner took over.

Andrew Yun bought the restaurant last October and changed the name, but signs on the building make it look like it's still Pizazz. The only indication of the change is a banner that's hard to see from the street.

Yun most recently owned and operated an Asian restaurant in Los Angeles. He owned a video store here in the 1980s.

His new restaurant serves pizza, sandwiches, appetizers and other items. Ground beef is the only ingredient that gets frozen. Yun calls the food “very healthy.”

People who have eaten there seem happy. From one e-mail:

The new owners are incredibly nice! Some of the wait staff are the same and seem to really appreciate their new owners. They have refurbished a good menu into a great one. It seems gourmet food in a family restaurant.

The wine list was crafted by master sommelier Laura Williamson, one of the only female master sommeliers in the world. Most of the wines come from small-scale Italian wineries, said Yun.

He also mentioned severals specials that we didn't write down, but we distinctly remember hearing "$1.25 12-ounce draft beers" and "buy one, get another one for half-off, Sunday through Thursday."

Hours: 11 a.m. to 10 p.m., Monday through Saturday; and 11 a.m. to 9 p.m., Sunday.

Call 325-9040 for more information.

• Honey from Southwest Bee Supply.

1. There is speculation among local beekeepers that the honey supply may run short this year. Bees have been unexpectedly leaving hives, and they take half of the honey with them when they do. Should this happen, Wilson expects a spike in honey prices prior to supplies running out completely.

2. Heating honey to infuse it with flavors destroys the stuff that some say is beneficial to allergy sufferers. A cold-infusion process does not. Wilson uses a cold infusion process to make his flavored honeys.

3. Adding a queen bee of European descent to a swarm of aggressive Africanized bees will change the nature of the group. This "re-queening" of an aggressive swarm is used to domesticate bees for honey production, which Wilson says is a practical alternative to insecticides.

4. Wilson's honey is a lot cheaper than what's found at many local farmers' markets.

Call 882-7522 for more information.

The owners of Gandhi Cuisine of India are opening a new restaurant in Oro Valley.

Flavor of India is expected to open in about two months at 12112 N. Rancho Vistoso Blvd., said Mukhtiar Singh, who owns Gandhi Cuisine of India at 150 W. Fort Lowell Road with his brothers, Sandhu and Tarsem Singh.

The menu will include items found at Gandhi, as well as a number of new dishes, said Singh.

If you're like many local foodies, you're wondering why May's Counter Chicken and Waffles (2945 E. Speedway Blvd.) isn't open yet, despite numerous reports that it would be by now.

John Foster, who is opening the restaurant with Phoenix chef Aaron May, says he had to push back the opening after his furniture delivery was delayed. The eatery was initially expected to open in late May, but that date was pushed back to Sunday, June 20. However, that date has come and gone, and the restaurant has yet to open.

Foster said he's currently on schedule to open by August. He expects to start hiring and training employees in about three weeks.