• Photo by Henry Barajas
• The Coronet will have a soft opening this weekend starting at 10 a.m. Friday, March 21.

Good news for Tucson foodies: The Coronet is coming. The Brasserie-style restaurant located in the historic Coronado building at 402 E. Ninth St., near North Fourth Avenue announced on its Facebook page that there will be a brief opening from Friday, March 21 through Sunday, March 23. Conveniently, the soft opening will coincide with the Fourth Avenue Street Fair from 10 a.m. to 5 p.m. all three days.

Here's a taste of the menu:

Saucisson en brioche
Ratatouille tartine
Gravlax tartine
mini Country Pate board
mini Vegetable board
Bavarian pretzel
savory empanadas
various pastries/cookies

Beverages include a (mostly) full coffee bar, limited beers and wine selection and a cocktail punch, according to the Facebook update. The official reopen date will be announced shortly after Sunday. Click here to like the Facebook page.

How do you make the perfect Vietnamese banh mi sandwich? That’s a question Linh Nguyen, owner of the new food truck Vina Baguette, is uniquely qualified to answer.

“Well, 50 percent is the baguette you use. I get mine from La Baguette on Pantano,” Nguyen said today. “And you have to marinate the meat for at least a day and you have to cook it slow for at least two hours."

"Every single item has to be blended together — the daikon, the pickled carrots, the cucumbers, everything. It seems simple, but it’s very technical.”

Nguyen is from Vietnam, arriving in Tucson back in 1986 and graduating from Rincon High School. He went on to work at a variety of jobs, most recently managing Miss Saigon Bar and Grill in Tucson. He also did a stint at Vietnamese restaurant Ha Long Bay out on Broadway Boulevard.

“Then one day about a year ago I bought a truck and figured that everywhere in the United States they were talking about banh mi, so I figured let’s start a food truck and cruise around Tucson."

The truck hit the streets at the end of February and has been popping up on corners around town ever since.

Vina Baguette serves a number of banh mi variations — which in its most elemental form is a bun stuffed with some kind of meat, pickled vegetables, hot peppers, cilantro and a mayonnaise-based spread.

He currently has versions made with pork, chicken and bo luc lac, seasoned beef cooked in a wok and known for its flavorful payload. For vegetarians, there's a lemon-grass tofu version on the menu.

On the beverage front, think boba milk tea, green tea and iced Vietnamese coffee.

The truck will be at the Food Truck Round-Up at the International Wildlife Museum today, Saturday, March 15. Keep up with Vina Baguette on the Interwebs here.

Bad news from the corner of Tucson Boulevard and Glenn Street, as quirky fancy foods shop/deli sandwich joint Ted's Country Store announced this morning that they're closing permanently this weekend. In recent years, it seems the store has focused more on the sandwich and soup part of their business than the selling of European cookies and such, but Ted's has a solid reputation around town as a good place to grab lunch.

No word on whether something new is taking over the space, but we'll keep an ear to the ground.

With the recent opening of Gio Taco downtown, local restaurateur Brian Metzger already has a lot on his plate, but he's also opening another new restaurant (at La Paloma) at closing another. After five years in business, Jax Kitchen on Oracle near Ina will be closing its doors on Sunday, February 16. A weekish later on February 21, Poppy Kitchen will open at La Paloma.

According to a press release, Poppy, part of a super-expensive renovation at La Paloma, will feature "a fusion of the flavors and flair that have defined the Metzger experience, with influences from other Metzger concepts Jax Kitchen, The Abbey and Gio Taco" and will seat 160 in a space designed by FORS Architecture and Interiors featuring a "main dining room, private dining room, bar and large panoramic patio."

On the Jax Kitchen front, the press release quotes Metzger:

“It’s a bittersweet moment to introduce something new and exciting while simultaneously saying goodbye to the one restaurant that started it all,” said Metzger. “We were facing the end of our lease period at Ina and Oracle, and spent a lot of time reflecting on what the future looked like for this company,” he continued, "and we decided that we needed to be more tightly focused on the company's growth brands. We'll forever celebrate the impact that Jax Kitchen had on our family and in this community."

More info about the Jax closing and Poppy's opening to come.

• Photo Courtsey of Cartel Coffee Lab
• The Cartel Coffee Lab grand opening starts at 5 p.m. Saturday, Jan. 25, at its new location on 210 East Broadway.

Do you like coffee, pizza, craft beer and local music? Cartel Coffee Lab is hosting a big grand opening at 5 p.m. Saturday, Jan. 25, at its new location on 210 East Broadway. There will be free pizzas and sandwiches from the wood-fired oven. There will be a food truck roundup, $3 $4 craft beer, and coffee.

It can't be a grand opening without (local) music. Arthur Greenland will open for Sun Bones and Best Dog Award is headlining the free show.

When I was in Portland last month (I realize that any sentence that starts that way is generally a tedious look at how life is supposedly better there, but bear with me), I ended up eating at three or four places that had started out as food trucks, but had opened up physical locations as they built up a following.

Tucson's food truck culture is obviously still a bit behind that of our bearded cousin to the northwest, but another truck (well, a trailer, but let's not get picky) is launching a permanent spot, with Seis Curbside Kitchen following the path of Eat-a-Burger and Serial Grillers.

According to owners Erika and Jake Muñoz, Seis has signed a deal to move into a space at Mercado San Agustin, hopefully by March. The menu will feature the same takeaway takes on regional Mexican cuisine, but adding breakfast options and "some fun additions."

We'll keep you updated on when the Mercado location is ready to open.

It's almost lunch time.

Are you tired of going to the same bottomless buffet near your work? Put some pants on and try one of these four food trucks. The folks at Tucson Food Trucks conveniently tweeted the locations of these stellar curbside eateries waiting to feed you and your co-workers.

Take your pick:

January 16, 2014 at 11:00AM @TwistedTandoor #Tucson #Arizona 3360 E Hemisphere Loop #FoodTruck ^KB
— Tucson Food Trucks (@TucFoodTrucks) January 16, 2014

January 16, 2014 at 11:00AM @SeisCurbside #Tucson #Arizona @nbazinteractive Plaza 333 N Willmot Rd #FoodTruck ^KB
— Tucson Food Trucks (@TucFoodTrucks) January 16, 2014

January 16, 2014 at 11:00AM @GrillersSerial #Tucson #Arizona 7889 E 22nd St #FoodTruck ^KB
— Tucson Food Trucks (@TucFoodTrucks) January 16, 2014

• Joie Horwitz
• Enjoy the spicy lobster roll while you can.

Umi Star has closed their Campbell location, effective immediately, a few months after their October re-opening.

From the press release, a quote from owner Jason Anderson:

“It’s unfortunate that Umi won't stay in that location, but I’m confident that a different spot with more space will make all the difference. We are very appreciative to all of the loyal Umi customers that Tucson has given us over the last year and a half.” says Anderson. “We have three new concepts on the way to keep them happy and I’m trying to stay focused on getting the first of those, Nox, open[ing] in the old Cafe Jasper space at Skyline and Campbell in early February. It’s a great new concept that we designed specifically for that location.”

The concepts Anderson refers to? One, Nox, which will feature "New American cuisine with some Latin and Asian influences" is scheduled to open in February. Two, Original ChopShop Co., a healthy-food-salad-sandwich-type chain with a few locations in the greater Phoenix area, scheduled for late April. Three, Hudson on Fourth Avenue, which is still a bit of a mystery.

More info when we get it.

• Courtesy of 4th Avenue Deli.
• Limited edition 4th Avenue Deli t-shirts.

December Chow feature 4th Avenue Delicatessen decided to reward its customers to celebrate a year of serving hot dogs and sandwiches on Fourth Ave.

You can get your own "I survived the streetcar" T-shirt for $15 or $18 in XXL. The shirts will be available for purchase on Monday, according to deli owner Austin Alexander Counts.

I live in Menlo Park west of I-10, so I was really happy to hear that the YWCA opened a cafe in the lobby of its building at 525 N. Bonita Ave. I can always use a spot to work from that has coffee and nosh, but I need wifi and the YWCA delivers. The cafe is open 8 a.m. to 2 p.m. Monday through Friday, and there's plenty of seating. Today, I had a cup of hot tea and a bagel with cream cheese, priced right at $5.

Here's what they have: every espresso drink you want and need, a good selection of teas, fruit, pastries, bagels, baguettes, cake pops and more. There's art on the walls now in the gallery space and there are more tables and chairs outside in the courtyard. (Kudos to Liane Hernandez, YWCA's community life director and executive chef.)

The galleries first show, photography by Amy Zuckerman, comes down Jan. 15. The black-and-white photos are big and beautiful, and worth your time. The gallery is open Monday through Friday, 9 a.m. to 5 p.m.