Rocco's Little Chicago image by Will Ferguson

The closure of The Safehouse last week is just the latest in a line of popular, somewhat-beloved local places suddenly shuttering up. In the last year, we've lost Grill, Zachary's, Colors and Cactus Moon, among others.

Each has their share of mourners, but let's be honest: We can only grieve for so long. I say that it's time to take some action, Tucson: We need to be finding locally owned replacements giving those our business before they follow in the steps of those who have disappeared.

Take Zachary's, for instance: The building, located just south of the University of Arizona campus, was muggy inside during monsoon season; the tables and chairs were nothing to write home about; and the service wasn't always spectacular. But the pizza was tremendous (often in both taste and size), and the beer selection left little to be desired. So what else is there to take its place?

Rocco's Little Chicago, now the pre-eminent deep-dish pizza in Central Tucson and Best of Tucson Staff Pick, is the obvious choice, though it's a bit far away for students to stumble to.

In Main Gate Square, there's two potential competitors, joints right next to each other: No Anchovies, practitioners of a New York-meets-California-gourmet style; and Frog and Firkin, a British-esque pub whose deep-dish pizzas share menu space with a number of sandwich and salad options. Both are great options for lounging about and enjoying beer in the afternoon; if you don't have a thin-versus-deep-dish preference, it regularly comes down to whether or not you prefer table service (Frog) to grabbing a slice at the counter (Anchovies).

1702 seems to be the next-closest possible successor, with its casual atmosphere, huge slices and great beer—unfortunately, the current construction on Speedway makes it a bit of a struggle to slip in and out with ease.

So what do you think, Tucson? Leave your comments, suggestions, and verbal abuse (for leaving off your favorites) at the bottom.

Want to watch a bunch of high school football players try to eat way more than they should? If so, the Tucson Hunger Games event taking place this Sunday, Aug. 19, might be right up your alley.

From the press release announcing the event:

Shlomo & Vito’s New York Delicatessen and Pizza Kitchen will host “Tucson Hunger Games” in the Courtyard of Plaza Colonial on Sun. August 19 at 6 p.m. The Ultimate Man vs. Food Competition is part of their celebration of their Grand Re-Opening efforts.

Local high school football teams will compete for their chance to win $500. Players from each school will compete in 4 Quarters with four rounds of food.

Round 1: Matzoballs
Round 2: Hotdogs
Round 3: Shlomo & Vito’s NY Style Pizza
Round 4: Keylime Pie
Overtime: Shlomo & Vito’s Cheese Fries (if there is a tie breaker)

The High School Football Player who eats the most in the competition will win $500 for his school’s football program.

The event is open to the public and admission is free. Plaza Colonial is located at 2870 E. Skyline Drive.

We finally got a look inside the space at 50 E. Broadway Blvd., where paper signs have teased us for months with the promise that fine food and drink would soon be served there.

I met Luke Anable there at noon today to talk about the new restaurant. He quickly introduced me to Patricia Schwabe, co-owner of Peach Properties and Tooley's Cafe in the Lost Barrio and the driving force behind what is quickly taking shape in the space.

Today it was all screaming power tools and wood dust, but things are coming together fast. The bar is already in place in the center of the space. Bench seating is beginning to take shape along the periphery and workers were putting in a rustic reclaimed-wood wall coverings as we ducked through to the office spaces out back.

Schwabe said the place - she hasn't settled on a name yet - will serve Mexican food, but she's focusing on what she calls "the fabulous food of Mexico that is not represented in Tucson." She further explained that she will serve small plates of classed up street food during lunch and late-night, but there will be equal focus on fine dinner dishes that one would enjoy best with a properly made cocktail or a glass of wine.

Which is where Anable comes in. Anable built the drink program at the now-defunct Red Room at Grill - the owners once praised his abilities to me with such conviction that I never forgot his name - and now works at Wilko. He's one of the top cocktail talents around these parts, and his consulting work for this new restaurant speaks of good things to drink for Tucson.

"I want the drinks to be simpler than some of the cocktails that are happening in Tucson," said Anable. "You will be able to read the ingredients and know what your cocktail will taste like."

Anable is also working to bring back some of the small-batch European beers he featured at Red Room.

Schwabe is sourcing as much from local farmers and food producers as possible, including coffee from Exo Roast Co. She's even having the dishes made locally, at Santa Theresa Tile Works.

The restaurant will also have a patio facing Broadway Boulevard, but that will have to wait until the street-car construction in the area is complete.

The restaurant will be open for breakfast, lunch and dinner when it opens this fall.

Tucson's newest Asian buffet opens this Wednesday, Aug. 15, and it sounds like something fans of the all-you-can-eat style of dining will want to check out.

Jay Zheng, manager of Hibachi Super Buffet at 4629 E. Speedway Blvd., near the corner of Speedway and Swan, says the restaurant has 11 buffet lines boasting fare from numerous Asian locales. Hibachi dining, where customers choose the ingredients and employees cook it up for them, is also included every meal.

Zheng says he believes Hibachi Super Buffet is the largest of its kind in the city. We will be heading down later this week to see if that is indeed the case.

Prices are $6.99 for lunch and $9.99 for dinner, except on Sunday when it's $9.99 all day. Hours are 11 a.m. to 9:30 p.m., daily.

Call 326-0000 for more information.

I don't know exactly how I feel about these PBS remixes of their icons. No harm done to the reputations of Bob Ross, Fred Rogers or the subject of this video, Julia Child, but the novelty of each of these seems to wear off after a minute or so. It might be the general desire of the internet to capture to world at its most adorable that's starting to get to me, but hey, if you've ever wanted to hear cooking legend Julia Child, whose one-hundredth birthday is tomorrow, sing Autotune style, here you go.

The Fix, a macaroni-and-cheese themed restaurant located in the former Sultan Palace spot at 943 E. University Blvd., opens today.

The place serves numerous types of the classic American comfort food and you can pick between several types of noodles, including a gluten-free variety. There are all sorts of sandwiches and salads, too.

We've been told that the restaurant will start off with about nine kinds of noodles-and-cheese, eventually expanding the selection to include as many as 20 varieties. You can also order big pans of mac-and-cheese to go.

There's more on Facebook here. The restaurant's website is here, but it's still under construction.

Five Guys Burgers and Fries is opening a location near the corner of Ina and Thornydale roads, in Marana.

That area has been bombarded with burger joints over the past year or so. Culver's opened a location just south of Ina and Thornydale almost exactly a year ago and Freddy's Frozen Custard and Steakburgers was quick to follow.

But, hey, the more the merrier. The new store - which will be located in the Target shopping center on the corner of Ina and Thornydale - is expected to open in September.

Another long-time Tucson business bites the dust, as Safehouse on Speedway closes after fifteen years in business:

I can't wait for Jason Anderson's new Umi Star restaurant to open. I'm a sucker for slick and sensible restaurant design, which is one of his specialties.

Anderson designed the new Cartel Coffee Lab space - a smooth, open room with clean lines, great lighting and a very comfortable feel - and worked on Union Public House before heading off to other projects. He's also designed a number of places up in Phoenix.

Anderson says Umi Star, which is located in the former Cartel Coffee Lab location at 2502 N. Campbell Ave., will serve Asian street food with an Arizona and Southern California flair. He was talking about Japanese-style hot dogs, sushi, tacos and other things this morning. He's brought in a chef from renowned La Jolla, Calif., restaurant Crab Catcher to run the place as well.

He expects to get the doors open by early September. You can follow Umi Star on Facebook here.

A water pipe broke in the space above the Fat Greek on the corner of Park Avenue and University Boulevard a couple of weeks ago, forcing owner George Markou to close the place and undertake a complete rebuild of the interior.

The windows of the restaurant are currently boarded up as construction workers begin repairing the damage. From the sounds of things that's going to take a while being that new plans need to be drawn up to bring the eatery up to new codes required by the city.

Here's the good news: Markou says that when the restaurant reopens in three to four months it will feature a larger menu including more traditional and seafood dishes.

"The new concept will have a full service evening dining and a counter service at lunch time," Markou wrote in an e-mail received yesterday.

For the time being, you could always go visit Markou's other restaurant, the Greek Taverna at 3225 N. Swan Road. That restaurant even features items from the wonderful Markou Ranch, where the owners raise goats, geese, sheep, chickens and enough vegetables to freshen up the restaurant's menu with a few homegrown items.