The episode of the Travel Channel's Man V. Food that takes place in Tucson airs this Wednesday, Dec. 2. Check the show schedule here.

I can't wait to see the show's star, Adam Richman, take on the O.M.F.G. burger—a 12-patty behemoth—at Lindy's on 4th. It looks like he made stops at El Güero Canelo and Mi Nidito, too.

• White Hots cooking alongside their more commonly colored counterparts.

I honestly thought someone was messing with me when I opened the e-mail at 4 a.m., but it must be noted that I was only on my third cup of coffee of the day, which is a vulnerable state for me. Within moments, I was embarking on a Google journey into white weinerdom that left me stunned and mystified.

Stopani says he flys the white hots—which are native to Rochester N.Y.—in about three times a year. Apparently the white color is a result of using meat that is neither smoked or cured. This made it the "poor man's hot dog" back in the 1920s, according to some accounts. Conversely, the pale sausage is considered an upscale tube steak in these modern times.

Check out the Wikipedia entry on these colorless hot dogs here.

Check out Zweigle's Web site here.

Lodge on the Desert's restaurant (306 N. Alvernon Road)—which closed back in July for renovations and a concept change—is reopening this week with a new chef and menu.

A press release put out today says the restaurant will begin serving dinner on Friday, Nov. 20, with lunch service beginning on Monday, Nov. 30.

The place has named Ryan Clark, the former sous chef at The Dish, as its new chef. Clark—a graduate of the Culinary Institute of America who has also worked at Canyon Ranch and Fuego—has redesigned the menu with a focus on "the freshest products and ingredients, most locally grown and locally sourced," according to the release.

"And we believe our guests have a right to know the source of the food they are enjoying as well as the methods used to prepare it. Our role is to facilitate the food’s journey from farm to fork,” Clark stated in the release.

Reopening the restaurant is the final touch on a $15 million renovation. Originally a private residence, Lodge on the Desert first opened as a business in 1936.

Call 320-2000, or visit their Web site for more information.

• Kimchi is awesome.

The place opened a few weeks back at 4951 E. Grant Road. It's a family-run eatery with 10 or so tables and a simple décor. It seems to pull in a pretty steady crowd and was relatively busy on a recent Wednesday night.

Korean food had always been a mystery outside of my obsession with kimchi, so I was flying blind. When this is the case, I just order whatever is the most fun to say. That turned out to be "be bim bap," a variety of vegetables topped with a fried egg. I didn't really know what to do with it when it arrived, but the owner sensed my confusion and helped with instructions on how to enjoy it properly.

The meal was preceeded by miso soup (included in the price of the meal) and came with two types of kimchi (also included). Both the kimchi, and the be bim bap (damn, that is fun to say) were hotter than summer asphalt, but in a way that was less painful than many spicy dishes I've tried.

The nicest touch though was that the bill came with a tiny, chilled yogurt drink that all but extinguished the spicy oral wildfire that lingered after the meal. Nice touch.

Prices are in the $5 to $12 range. Call 881-7777 for more information.

The taping will take place at 11 a.m., Thursday, Nov. 5, and will focus on the eatery's carne seca, the sun-dried beef cured in the swinging cage above the restaurant. The show will also touch on the restaurant's use of nopales—pads of the prickly pear cactus—to make nopalitos

Tucson is certainly starting to strut its stuff in the national food scene. Man V. Food was here at the end of September to visit Lindy's on Fourth and El Guero Canelo. What do we have to do to get Anthony Bourdain and Guy Fieri to stop by?

I challenge anyone to enter the new Hog Pit Smokehouse Bar and Grill in the old Taco Bron location at 6910 E. Tanque Verde Road without embarking on an eating binge that will leave you sauce-smothered and craving more of what comes out of the magical smoker.

I'm just going to come clean here with how this went down. I typically don't eat meat—I don't enjoy the flavor of it, so I typically order veggie options. Well, that changed this Wednesday when I stopped in the Hog Pit to check it out for the Noshing Around column, only to find myself devouring a pulled-pork sandwich in my car a half-hour later. I almost licked the to-go container too. I am not joking.

It's the smell. The place is absolutely permeated with a smoky scent that is unlike any I've encountered. I felt entranced, intoxicated and mesmerized. It was like one of those cartoons where a scent cloud in the shape of a hand grabs the character and drags him around like a ragdoll.

The pulled pork was amazing, and judging from the happy looks on the faces of the people mowing through racks of baby-back ribs, those aren't too bad either.

Check out their Facebook page here. Call 722-4302 for more info.

• A sample of produce from Sleeping Frog Farm.

The Yum! section comes out next week and in it there'll be all sorts of food stories, including one on Sleeping Frog Farms, a small organic operation not far from the Foothills Mall.

You'll find the whole story in Yum!, but what I'm here to rant about is the produce I recently bought from the farm. The picture above, which shows Sleeping Frog produce harvested earlier this year, is not of the bag of goodness I took home. The picture does, however, give you some idea of what caliber of color, taste and absolute freshness ended up in my frying pan on a recent night. A stirfry of purple peppers and basil mixed with multicolored eggplant was created and devoured. Taste buds danced in delight.

No vegetables I've tried in recent memory can hold a candle to what Sleeping Frog produces. Maybe that's why Janos Wilder and a number of local cooks are gaga over the veggies. Maybe that's why someone was heard telling the owners "Your parsley makes me want to sing!" on a recent morning.

Or maybe it's because Adam Valdivia and C.J. Marks are two knowledgeable, dedicated farmers with a wealth of gardening experience between them, and they absolutely love what they do. Marks and Valdivia are also two of the most hardworking, courteous and friendly folks I've run into in years, and I've got a feeling we'll be hearing more about them as their operation continues to grow.

The produce is available on Thursdays at the Santa Cruz River Farmers Market (corner of Speedway and Riverview boulevards) or Sundays at the market at St. Philip's Plaza (corner of East River Road and North Campbell Avenue). You can also check in with them at their Web site.

And don't forget to check out the story next week in the Weekly's Yum! section.

Here's your chance to launch a career in the sport of competitive eating! El Charro Cafe is looking for contestants in its first-ever tamale-eating competition.

Details from El Charro:

El Charro Café will host the 2009 World Championship Tamale Eating Contest at the inaugural Southern Arizona Food, Art and Wine Festival this Saturday, Oct. 17.

The object of the competition is to eat as many tamales as time will allow. The event, which is set to start at 1 p.m. at Rillito Raceway Park on First Avenue and River Road, is part of a full slate of events at the weekend festival put on by

I've got a free copy of the Field Guide to Candy to whoever e-mails the best candy recipe to [email protected] by Saturday, Oct. 31.

The book is a cornucopia of confection information, including recipes for everything from rice-crispy treats to chocolate-covered strawberries that look like they’re wearing tiny tuxedos. My personal favorite is the recipe for chocolate-dipped potato chips, the mere thought of which makes my love handles jiggle with giddy delight.

Entries will be judged by assistant editor Irene Messina and me, Adam Borowitz. I'll mail the book to the winner.

Good luck, and if this contest goes well, we'll be holding more in the near future.

Dan Multhup, director of operations for Metro Restaurants, said the real opening will take place no later than next weekend. So much for Malingering Monday.

Multhup went on to describe what's going on at the new Nimbus: 1,500 square feet of patio, more than 20 beers on tap, 130 more in bottles (most from craft breweries across the country), a menu of favorites from the Nimbus on 44th Street and new items by Metro Restaurants executive chef Michael Brown. A small test brewery and private tasting room have also been added.

"We’re not trying to duplicate what happens over there," Multhup said, refering to Nimbus' industrial warehouse headquarters. "We're going from just beer to a whole bar, from counter service to actual table service; we’re taking it to the next level."

Multhup said other ventures between Metro Restaurants and Nimbus are being considered, but wouldn't elaborate on the matter today.