Fifteen food trucks will convene in the parking lot of Benjamin Plumbing Supply at 76 E. Sixth St. this Sunday. There will be an emphasis on cold things that take the edge off this lovely summer heat. There will also be food from Jamie's Bitchen' Kitchen, fish tacos from Baja Tacos and many others. Check in over here for more on that.

Sorry for all you non-Facebook users, but the organizers of this event only post their information there and haven't been updating their website with much event info.

These food truck events are great, and I truly hope they continue to evolve and grow and thrive. But let's not forget that there's a food truck festival happening nearly every day along South 12th and Sixth avenues and elsewhere in the city, where food trucks have been a way of life for many decades. Those little taco trucks, raspado stands and hotdog vendors continuously crank out amazing street food that is cheap and delicious.

Check it out sometime. You might be surprised at what you find.

Ari Shapiro, owner of Xoom Juice and the hip downtown coffee joint Sparkroot, is opening a new restaurant in Broadway Village that will serve high-quality coffee, pizza, hand-crafted beer, wine and other things. The new place will be named Falora Pizza & Espresso. A press release describes it as such:

TUCSON, AZ- Local entrepreneur, Ari Shapiro, has signed a lease at Broadway Village for a new Neapolitan style pizza restaurant which will also specialize in espresso & coffee as well as wine and imported and hand crafted beer. Falora Pizza & Espresso will be located at 3000 E. Broadway Boulevard at the front corner of Broadway Boulevard and Eastbourne Avenue. The restaurant will be built with an old world charm of a street side cafe, which fits the characteristics of the historic Broadway Village.

The wood burning oven is being imported from Naples, Italy and the espresso machine is being imported from Florence, Italy. Falora will serve breakfast specializing in fresh baked bread, and lunch specializing in fresh salads and it artisan pizza pies, serving them on into the evenings.

In other pizza-related news, the owners of the new downtown pizza joint Reilly Craft Pizza and Drink have started hiring, signaling that the opening can't be far off. This place, which is going in at the old Reilly Funeral Home at 102 E. Pennington St., has been under construction for almost a year, and is said to be quite striking, design-wise.

And finally, Vito's Pizza Kitchen, which closed a while back at 2921 E. Fort Lowell Road, has merged with Shlomo and Vito's New York Delicatessen at 2870 E. Skyline Drive. A press release says the restaurant will hold a reopening in August; the pizza place's website says the changes are already in place.

The main design element inside the new Firehouse Subs up at 3844 W. River Road, in Marana, is a hand-painted scene of the blaze that engulfed Old Tucson Studios some years back. Special attention has been paid to the details, with fire engines from both Tucson Fire Department and Northwest Fire Department in the painting.

But, hey, that's how Firehouse Subs rolls: Always giving it up for the firefighters. They've also integrated memorabilia from several local fire departments into the design of this new store to give it an "authentic firehouse setting," according to the press release announcing the opening.

Apparently there's a Coca-Cola Freestyle machine in the house. Those things crank out like 120 different flavors of carbonated beverages, and, if memory serves me correctly, were designed by the same people who design sports cars.

There's more on the restaurant over here.

If you're easily grossed out, you might want to skip this post. If you want to hear a story about a Texas family that made the mistake of making their own sushi, keep going, but you've been warned.

The Pham family is trying to forget what happened at their large Father's Day celebration Saturday in Central Texas.

They prepared their own sushi with raw salmon purchased the same day at the H-E-B in Round Rock at State Highway 45 and Greenlawn Boulevard.

"My niece came in here, and she was eating one of the few pieces of sushi we had left on the plate and said, 'Ew, something feels funny,'" said Nichol Pham. "She pulled something out of her mouth, and it looked like a string."

When they looked closer, the string was moving. When they looked at the rest of the salmon, they could see more tiny worms covering the fish.

Pham said 23 people ate the salmon and felt sick the next day. Half of them were children, all cousins, ages 2 to 12.

"We've vomited, have diarrhea, stomach aching," said Pham. "My stomach is still aching today."

She said they went back to H-E-B that night to talk to a manager who offered a refund.

"We explained to him: 'We don't want a refund. We've already ingested this into our bodies,'" said Pham.

Since it is the summer time, things have started to slow down and I have gotten in that rut of going to the same restaurants over and over again. So I wanted to try something new.

I discovered Joel’s Bistro while walking along University Blvd. and thought I would try it out with a couple of friends. It is located right in Main Gate Square surrounded by trees with a fountain in the center. It was a beautiful Saturday morning and as we entered the restaurant we were greeted with warm smiles. The relaxed and welcoming environment was great and made me feel like I was at home.

I would suggest Joel’s to anyone who is looking to try something new or to just enjoy a nice meal with friends in a relaxed environment. I am a big breakfast person so I ordered one of their veggie omelets and it was delicious. Good conversation and good food, I’m not sure what could be better.

I would definitely recommend this place to anyone, the prices are great and I think this would be a great place to bring family or friends, especially if you've dug yourself a restaurant rut, hitting the same old places.

Starting tomorrow, Gus Coliadis and his bike-powered ice-pop stand Cyclopsicle will be operating at a semi-permanent location on the corner of Stone and Pennington. Hours will be 11 a.m. to 2:30 p.m., Wednesday through Friday; and noon to 4 p.m., Saturday.

Triple-digit heat? Crazy-ass gourmet frozen things made with love by a super nice guy? I think you know what to do.

You can read what we wrote about Cyclopsicle here, or follow him on Facebook here.

Frozen custard and big, meaty, fast-food style hamburgers? Tucson loves 'em. This has been proven by the unequivocal success of both Culver's locations that opened in recent years and the steady stream of customers found at Freddy's Frozen Custard and Steakburgers at 3725 W. Orange Grove Road, in Marana.

Freddy's is now readying to open another location, this one on the corner of Broadway and Kolb. Sarah Selmon, the public-relations director for the chain-restaurant, says the location is expected to open in early November.

The part of me that believes there's a health apocalypse on the horizon cringes a bit at this news. The part of me that thinks thinks said apocalypse is unavoidable and hence should be witnessed with a 3,000-calorie milkshake in hand completely celebrates it. There's more on the restaurant over here.

Heard of the Pichuberry? I hadn't either until I ran into my old friend Keith Green the other day and he handed me a couple of the unique South American berries.

It looks like a tomatillo due to its green papery husk, but it tastes sweet and berry-like. The flavor does not really compare to anything I've tried before, but it is very good and I want to eat more of it.

More intriguing than all of that is the fact that this strange little berry is apparently some sort of superfood that is teeming with antioxidants, vitamins and other things scientists say are good for us. Che's Lounge is making cocktails out of them - I haven't tried them, but have heard they're quite good - and Green says the fresh berries can be bought at a couple of farmers' markets around town.

I spoke with a company representative yesterday and he told me that people at the UA are working on perfecting techniques to grow these berries locally. The challenge for now, he said, is to build a market so farmers will have a reason to cultivate the fruit in the first place.

There's more on this radical little berry here.

Every couple years I sit down with Dave Carroll, the kitchen manager at Surly Wench Pub, to sip Jaegermeister and Pabst and wax philosophical about life. He's always got his finger on the pulse of what's happening Downtown and his varied work history at different restaurants down there gives him a unique perspective on the dining scene.

When we sat down this week he was a little bit pissed about the banner that hangs outside of Lindy's on Fourth. It says the place serves the best burger on Fourth Avenue. Carroll says that's an unsubstantiated claim, and I have to agree.

Carroll said they should settle this difference by having a Best Burger on the Avenue competition. This is a good idea. Maloney's serves one hell of a burger, and so does Surly Wench, Delectables and Bumsted's. Hell, it might even be a good idea to hold it sometime this August when the construction creeps down to that portion of Fourth Avenue, slowing business and pissing everybody off in general.

Let's make this happen Fourth Avenue Merchants Association, restaurant owners and anybody else who has something to offer. It would be a blast.

Allen Yap of OM Modern Asian Kitchen will try to dethrone reigning champion Ryan Clark of the restaurant at Lodge on the Desert at this year's Iron Chef Tucson Culinary Weekend event.

The competition, to be held during the Culinary Weekend taking place at Loews Ventana Canyon, will unfold just like the fast-paced television show. A surprise secret ingredient will be revealed and Ryan Clark of Lodge on the Desert will defend his title. He will face off in a serious culinary battle with Chef Allen Yap of OM Modern Asian Kitchen on Saturday, June 23rd. A panel of 3 judges will sample the dishes and determine who will be crowned the winner.

The Culinary Weekend also includes; a showcase of products and services for foodies and those who enjoy cooking and entertaining.

The Culinary Weekend will run for two days, Saturday, June 23 and Sunday, June 24 from 10a-4pm.

Check in over at the event website for tickets or more information.