If you love our local coffee shops (and you damn well should, considering the both the quantity and quality of cafés in this town) then you need to check out Tucson Coffee Crawl. Adam wrote a bit about it last week, but now their website is finally completed and includes a list of upcoming events.

A handful of cafés, including Cartel Coffee Lab, Sparkroot, eXo Roast Co., and Caffe Luce are set to participate, while local roasters Yellow Brick Coffee and Adventure Coffee Roasting are setting up shop in 47 Scott and Brewd downtown.

For the list of events and workshops, check out their site here.

If so, will you opt for the $3-per-plate option or the $21 all-inclusive "Pork Pass?"

Either way, there will be plenty of pork to go around at Tucson's first Porktober event on Friday, Oct. 26, at Mercado San Agustin at 100 S. Avenida del Convento. Several local food trucks - including Planet of the Crepes and Mexico City Kitchen - will be there, as will one member of the team from one of our favorite trucks, Animal Farm. Chefs from Agustin Brasserie and Taqueria el Pueblito will also be in attendance.

I've long thought Tucson needed an event like Seattle's magnificent Burning Beast. Could this be the first step in that carnivorous direction?

The best information we've found for Porktober is here and here, but you could always call Mercado San Agustin at 461-1110 for more information, too.

If you decide to go to Wat Buddhametta's monthly Thai buffet at 5 p.m., this Saturday, my suggestion is to arrive early. Last month's event was absolutely packed, and the line was still almost out the door nearly an hour after it started.

I wouldn't keep talking about this event if it wasn't so tasty, affordable ($10, free for kids 10 and younger) and, well, just plain awesome. There's more information about Wat Buddhametta over here.

Mazage Cafe and Hookah Lounge has shut down its original location at 1545 N. Stone Ave., but further investigation shows the place is setting up shop in what was most recently the extremely short-lived Auntie Dora's Front Porch at 903 E. Fort Lowell Road.

The restaurant's sign is already affixed to the outside of the new spot and it appears renovations are underway.

Hey, the more falafel the better. There's more on the restaurant here or look at the menu over here.

Writing about food is pretty much as innocent as it gets. Venture out, find things people might like to eat and write about it in a way that is useful. But there's a sleazy side to it that most food writers don't like to bring up.

This dingy side of it concerns restaurants giving free meals to bloggers, writers and just about anyone else who can somehow influence how their eatery is portrayed to the public. This happens under the auspices of "just showing off our new menu" or a so-called "media dinner," which amounts to lavishing people with freebies in the hopes that the place will be mentioned in the future.

I attended two of these events years ago when I first started writing for the Weekly. But after I saw what was going on I was pretty disgusted - it was also hard to watch so-called foodies and their whole pretentious rigamarole, but that's a topic for another day - so I didn't go anymore. Looking back, perhaps it was somewhat ridiculous to pass on all that free food, but it seemed important.

I think it matters. As it is press releases dictate more of what you read than you realize. Businesses, including restaurants, use the press release to offer writers easy stories they have to do very little work on. With many newspapers short on staff, it's become the easiest way to get the word out about what you're doing.

Add to that this meal-for-mention tradition, which is rather inherent to this side of journalism, and one starts to wonder who is more responsible for the content of food stories: The writer or the restaurant. I know it's just food, but readers deserve what is new and interesting, not what some blogger or writer knows about because they bellied up to a free dinner.

I've posed the question of whether it is ethical to accept these dinners to other people in Tucson's food-writing world, and they disagreed with me. They say it's a perk of the job and attend just about every event that drops into their inbox.

To each their own, but I think it's sleazy. Any thoughts?

This just arrived in my inbox:

My name is Stacie Simonpietri and I am a production researcher with the Travel Channel program, Bizarre Foods with Andrew Zimmern. After such an enjoyable experience filming our “Arizona” episode in 2009, we are looking into producing another episode entitled, “Arizona Desert.” It would be in and around the Tucson area and its environs to the south, focusing on the Sonoran desert, Chihuahuan desert, Superstition mountains, and Gila mountains. I’m interested in hearing your thoughts about the local foodways and culinary scene—anything our host could not miss if we came to the Tucson area.

Got any suggestions? Mine include cholla buds, saguaro fruit, rattlesnake and Jan Brewer, although that last one's a bit on the leathery (and crazy) side.

The My Big Fat Greek Restaurant at 7265 N. La Cholla Blvd. is closed, according to a sign in the window. The eastside location at 7131 E. Broadway Blvd. remains open.

Brian Metzger, owner of popular local restaurants Jax Kitchen and The Abbey, is holding a dinner next week to help his twin brother's family as they deal with a medical emergency. From a press release:

For more than four years, local restaurateur Brian Metzger has put smiles on the faces of Tucson's foodies, through his award-winning eateries Jax Kitchen and The Abbey. Today, Metzger is asking for the community's help in sharing those smiles with his twin brother, Jay, who is battling a rare and paralyzing neurological disorder.

On October 22, at 6:30 pm, Metzger will host special Jay Day Dinners at both Jax Kitchen and The Abbey to raise money for his twin, who was recently diagnosed with Guillain-Barre Syndrome, leaving him unable to move, speak, and even breathe on his own. While he has begun to shows signs of recovery, the financial burden he faces is acute, as the disorder has rendered his family unable to pay medical and other bills.

The dinners, which will be hosted simultaneously at both restaurants, will include a cocktail party (featuring the special 'Jay-bird cocktail'), a delicious 3-course dinner and special wine selections. All of the food has been donated by U.S. Foods, and each restaurant staff member, from the front of the house to the back, will be volunteering their time that evening. This way, Metzger says, 100 percent of the money raised will be donated to Jay and his family. Metzger will be traveling between each restaurant to introduce Jay via video, and to share stories about him and his beautiful wife and young daughter.

The all-inclusive dinner is $150 per person, and seating is limited. To make reservations to attend the dinner at Jax Kitchen, please call 219-1235. If guests wish to attend the dinner at The Abbey, please call 299-3132.

If you're into the caffeinated lifestyle, this upcoming event is for you.

Cartel Coffee Lab, eXo Roast Co., Sparkroot, Caffe Luce, Yellow Brick Coffee, Adventure Coffee Roasting and Brewd Coffee Lounge have already signed up to participate in the Tucson Coffee Crawl on Saturday, Nov. 10. Each stop will provide something coffee-related - classes, tastings, tours - and, as far as I can tell, it's free.

Check it out on Facebook over here. The website, which is still under construction, is right here.

It's too good to be true: A food truck specializing in Indian food will soon add its assortment of skewered meats and other dishes to the ever-growing ensemble of local mobile-food options. From the Twisted Tandoor Facebook page:

Hi Tucson !! this is to let you all know that our food truck The "Twisted" Tandoor is in the process of being built and outfitted to be released on the streets of Tucson in the middle of November. We are bringing North Indian Grilled meats,Punjabi Fish, Curries , Wraps, Vegan and Gluten free dishes!!

Oh hell yes. More over here.