Miss Saigon’s downtown location (47 N. Sixth Ave.) closed for a while when it underwent renovation last spring, but it’s back and better than ever with late-night hours on weekend nights—and it’s now the only Miss Saigon offering delivery service.

Just a few weeks ago, the yummy Vietnamese café decided to stay open till 1 a.m. on Fridays and Saturdays, so you more options for food while you’re hitting the downtown bars and clubs.
Call 320-9511 for more information, or visit misssaigon-tucson.com. (It’s the Campbell location’s website—but don’t worry; the folks there can also answer your questions about the downtown restaurant). 

Ask and you shall receive! We have had so many people request our avocado toast that we have decided to officially put it on the menu! #prepandpastry 📸: @nateares40

A photo posted by @prepandpastry on Sep 8, 2016 at 11:46am PDT

Be honest. If you could pair an awesome meal with a cocktail before noon—without getting labeled a boozehound—what are the chances you’d do it?

Judging by the large number of loyal customers at one of Tucson’s long-time best brunch spots, Prep & Pastry, lots of people would, as a treat or as a regular tradition. At peak weekend hours, the Campbell location (3073 N. Campbell Ave.) is packed.

Lucky for brunch-lovers across the city (OK, mostly central and the east side, depending on how far you’ll drive), Prep & Pastry is one of several locally owned restaurants to expand this summer, recently opening a new location on Grant Road near Wilmot at 6450 E Grant Road, Unit 160. 

It opened in July to huge fanfare on Instagram, where it showcased beautiful blueberry-topped bagels, pretty pancakes and “Prep’s potatoes,” as well as colorful cocktails with a wide assortment of tasty garnishes. Oh, and the people in those IG pics (staff and customers) weren’t hard on the eyes, either. Online reviews affirm that the place’s food and drinks taste as good as they photograph—certainly on par as the food at the original Prep & Pastry.

So if you’ve found yourself waiting around too long at the Campbell P&P—but you love its tasty food, polite service and hip atmosphere—check out the new east of there. (Heaven forbid you go to a diner—according to Prep & Pastry, “Brunch without booze is just a sad, late breakfast.”)

The Screamery Handcrafted Ice Cream has a couple other locations in Tucson, but its latest one—in the heart of downtown, which opened this summer—has been getting the most attention. It’s pretty daring to open a location of your gourmet ice-cream shop smack in the middle of HUB territory (the HUB is basically across the street), and The Screamery has a lot in common with its already well-established competitor (widely-praised-as-tasty products; eclectic flavors; homemade and locally sourced fare; friendly staff; awesome interior design … and the prices are comparable, too).

But there are a few things that make The Screamery stand out:

1. “The Flight”: a menu option letting the customer choose six (count ’em, six) different flavors (served as small scoops) as one order.

2. A punch card! The Screamery isn’t above a little customer-incentive hack like giving you every 15th scoop free.

3. Ice cream that’s pasteurized by the shop. Screamery co-owner Kenny Sarnoski II is the only certified pasteurizer the state, and his stores make their own cream base out of milk from grass-fed cows, instead of ordering it from Shamrock Foods. This lets the Screamery mix in their (chemical-free) flavors and ingredients early on in their signature five-step process.
What about taste? We have no doubt that a bajillion HUB devotees would declare it impossible for any other store to top the deliciousness of a particular favorite HUB flavor (“bacon bourbon” comes to mind). But we’ve also heard and read plenty of amazing reviews of The Screamery’s ice cream, such as that it’s “lighter” and/or less sweet than the HUB’s—and this place, too, has some rave-worthy flavors (like “sweet cream honeycomb”).

Anyway, we’re not gonna argue that either place is better than the other. We’re really just thinking, “Now we have two super-delicious and trendy hand-churned ice-cream shops downtown?! YAY!”

So go do some sampling for yourself—before the high temps drop to, say, below 80 degrees.
The Screamery, 250 E. Congress St., 207-7486, 

There's an event for all the fruit fanatics out there and it's coming to you this Saturday, Sept. 24. The Annual Pomegranate Festival will be coming to Tucson's Mission Gardens, 946 W. Mission Ln., for the second year in row from 9-11 a.m. 

Brought on by the Friends of Tucson's Birthplace in conjunction with the Ajo Center for Sustainable Agriculture, the festival is a free, all ages event. Festival goers can enjoy the wide variety of pomegranates with other fruit enthusiasts as well as music, tastings and presentations from Jesus Garcia, Nina Sajovec and Alfredo Gonzalez.

You don't want to be caught off guard of your fruit knowledge at this homage to pomegranates.

Here are few fruit facts to know before going to the Pomegranate Festival:

- Pomegranates are in season from September to February in the Northern Hemisphere. In the Southern Hemisphere, the fruit is in season from March to May.

- The pomegranate originated from the Mediterranean area. Today, it is cultivated all over the world including California and Arizona.

- In ancient Greece, the pomegranate was regarded as "the fruit of the dead."   

Click here for more information on the festival.

What’s your motivation to exercise? Weight loss? Heart health? How about cookies? How about not just any kind of cookie, but one of America’s favorite cookies-for-a-cause, the Girl Scouts’ Thin Mints?

If you’re willing to sweat for one of these delightfully delicate minty treats—simultaneously helping the Girl Scouts of Southern Arizona and earning your own honorary Girl Scout badge—register now for this Sunday’s early-morning fifth annual Thin Mint Sprint, a timed 5-kilometer race that includes a Thin Mint reward at the finish line. The same morning will offer a shorter Do-Si-Do Dash.

Both races are on a flat course through the Brandi Fenton Memorial Park and along the Rillito River Trail, and both are timed—although racers are welcome to either run or walk. Families, teams and individuals are encouraged to enter. The race course is, according to a press release, “ideal for new runners as well as elite runners looking to beat their personal record.”

As icing on the cookie, there will also be a children’s 100-meter dash for kids 6 and younger, so bring the little ones.

The Thin Mint Sprint and Do-Si-Do Dash start at 7:30 a.m. Sunday, Sept. 18, on the northwest side of Brandi Fenton Memorial Park, 3536 E. River Road. Registration is $25 for adults, $20 for kids 12 and younger. Race-day registration is available from 6 to 7 a.m. More info here.

There’s no shortage of controversy over candidates in our upcoming election, both nationally and locally.

But there’s another kind of (local) election coming up: The battle over the best Tucson craft beer. And man, if you think political infighting is bad regarding the presidential race, well, that’s nothing compared to how riled up folks get when it comes to their favorite brew. 

Actually, Club Congress’s fifth “Born and Brewed” celebration, coming up this Saturday, Sept. 17, has always been fun, safe and totally chill.

A dozen Tucson breweries will compete for the titles of “Best Flagship Beer,” “Best Specialty Beer” and “People’s Choice.” This year’s judging panel includes Kevin Bosley of Odell Brewing Company, all the way from Fort Collins, Colo.

General-admission voters will get a scrumptious plate of “special eats” and then traipse among tables to taste each brewery’s beer before voting. VIP participants will also be traipsing, tasting and voting, but they’ll also have access to a luxe lounge and special buffet (including a smoked pig and dessert).

Congress is also offering reduced-price admission for designated drivers, who’ll also get a delicious food plate, plus an undisclosed take-home gift (mysterious!) and, according to the Club Congress PR team, “the joy of getting … friends home safely.”

Born and Brewed is 6 to p.m. Saturday, Sept. 17, at Club Congress, 311 E. Congress St. Regular tickets are $25 in advance, $30 day of; VIP tickets are $50; and designated-driver tickets are $15.

More info: hotelcongress.com/events/september

Hey, kids! Stay in school! Say no to drugs! Get involved in your community!
Seriously—we hope you do all those things.

But if you’re a young person reading this particular blurb in this particular alternative newspaper, you’re probably pretty precocious, so you already do them. Since this is the Chow section, you’re probably interested in food, and since this is a progressive paper, you’re probably cool with conservation. And since you took the initiative to read this, maybe you’re a take-action kind of person. (If you’re a parent of such a person, read on—pretend we’re addressing your kid[s].)

So let’s switch tactics and ask some questions:

Are you between the ages of 12 and 18? Self-driven? Outdoorsy? Passionate about food, health, sustainability, adventure and other wholesome-but-exciting stuff like that?

In that case, we have a great opportunity for you: Join Tucson Village Farm’s award-winning 4-H Healthy Living Ambassadors program, which promotes healthy living, leadership, sustainability, outdoor adventures and more. You can get in on projects revolving around nutrition, cooking, local food production—even beekeeping.

Not only will your participation in this program look amazing on your college application—you’ll also have fun, since it involves meeting new people, traveling and getting trained in new skill s… for free.

Tucson Village Farm is a “seed-to-table” urban farm that helps connect young people (you!) to a healthy food system, and teaches them (you!) how to grow and prepare your own food. It’s an empowerment thing. Who doesn’t want to be thusly empowered? (Hint: The adult writing this column does … and she wishes this program were around when she was 12–18.) Don’t waste this chance!

Apply by Saturday, Sept. 24. 

Lookout Tucson, there is a new bakeshop in town and trust me, despite the name it's no mistake! 

WOOPS! (845 E. University Blvd.) originally comes from the busy streets of New York City, more specifically founded in 2012 with a small pop up shop in Bryant Park. Now, they have decided to take their dessert business southwest and chose Tucson as their prime location. The bakeshop opened its doors on University Blvd. near the UA campus just one week ago, and even in that short time, it is already stirring up a major buzz.

As the age of social media grows, WOOPS! bakery is capitalizing on two of social media's favorite things, food and decor. With twenty different flavors of macarons to chose from, it's any dessert lovers paradise. And, if that isn't enough to get you in the doors its aesthetically pleasing decor alone gives you enough reason just to stop in to take a peak. A sweet treat and a great photo, what could be better than that? 

Are you an Arizona farmer, chef or restaurant owner? Or maybe just a local food lover who is—or wants to be—in the movement promoting the local production and sourcing of food in this great state?

That movement depends on building and strengthening connections among food producers, vendors and consumers to ultimately support local (food-related) businesses, environmental sustainability and community health.

Those are exactly the aims of the upcoming seventh annual Arizona Farmer + Chef Connection extravaganza, held by Local First Arizona. At the expo’s “Suppliers’ Marketplace” a vendor fair will bring together hundreds of Arizona food producers and distributors to connect with local food-business owners and the general public. Meanwhile, there will be breakout workshops in which all attendees can connect through topics related to local food production and consumption (like last year’s cleverly named workshop “Leveraging Your Localism”).

For some people—perhaps you, fair reader?—food isn’t just fuel for living, but part of what makes life beautiful. Hence, foodies can be just as obsessed with the preparation and presentation of their meals as an art connoisseur with a painting’s color composition or a sculpture’s texture and form.

Few chefs would argue against cooking as an art form. So who is anyone to fight the comparison between art appreciation and purposefully consuming fine cuisine? Both require passion, skill and discerning taste (literally and figuratively).

This month the Southern Arizona Arts and Cultural Alliance is embracing this idea with an event called “The Art of Food,” in which some of Tucson’s finest chefs will use new technologies and cooking techniques to present dishes and desserts as visual art—even cultural statements. Some plates of food will look like colorful paintings; others may appear in sculptural form.

Have you ever been to an art museum where photographs smell scrumptious, installations taste divine, and paintings sizzle delightfully? Doubtful. So forget that trip to MOMA and book a place at a table offered by SAACA. Neither your artistic sensibilities nor your taste buds will be disappointed.

The Art of Food is on Tues., Sept. 13, at 5 p.m., at the Monark Premium Appliance Co. Showroom, 3850 W. Orange Grove Road. Tickets are $25. Call 797-3959.