Tucson's El Charro Café, which is celebrating 90 years in the Mexican-food business this year, gets a shout-out in a recent story in the New York Post: about happy food accidents through the ages:

Chimichanga, 1922 — Another happy Mexican accident occurred at the El Charro Café in Tucson, Ariz., where a cook named Monica Flin was in the midst of frying beef for tacos. Whirling around a small kitchen, she mistakenly knocked a plated burrito into the fryer, where it began to crisp. Annoyed, and likely amid a string of curses in English and Spanish, she blurted out the word chimichanga, which roughly translates to the Spanish version of “thingamajig.”

Read the rest of the article here.

New York Magazine's Grub Street compiled a food destination for all fifty states for people who have money to actually go places this summer and while I assumed they would pick something in Phoenix (Pizzeria Bianco? Fry Bread House?), but instead, Tucson is number one, with El Charro taking the admittedly meaningless honor. Still, it's nice to be recognized for something positive once and awhile.

Sure, I'd have to buy a cutter that looks like donkey, the cookie apparently takes more time than your average baked treat, and most celebrations of Cinco de Mayo are essentially a construct to sell more Corona, but these piñata cookies seem like a lot of fun. Piñatas are fun, cookies are delightful...what could go wrong?

[The Hairpin]

It looks like the new Italian restaurant Bella D'Auria is open. You can read what I wrote about the place almost a year ago, when work first began on the restaurant, here.

There's more over here on the restaurant's website. If anyone makes it over there drop some info in the comments. I'd love to know how the place turned out.

The new Firehouse Subs in Marana inches ever closer to its opening. The chain eatery - which was founded by a family with serious roots in the world of firefighting - has more than 400 locations across the country, but the location opening soon in the Marana Marketplace on the corner of River and Orange Grove roads will be Tucson's first.

There's more on the company here. The opening date has not been announced, but hiring has commenced. We'll sound the sirens when we hear more.

All five of the Tucson-area El Charro Café locations are throwing down in a most serious manner for the Cinco de Mayo weekend. While the festivities seem to largely include super-cheap drinks - 90 cent mini-Mexican beers and Sauza margaritas - there will also be 90 cent chicken tacos and tamales to be had.

That, my friends, is a recipe for Cinco de Mayo revelry. The best thing? It happens on Friday and Saturday, May 4 and 5. There's more on the restaurant - which turns 90 this year - over here.

The only thing that's stopped Food Conspiracy Co-op at 12 N. Fourth Ave. from expanding the numerous local, organic and otherwise interesting and/or healthy items it sells is a bit more room. But that's starting to change thanks to an expansion that kicked off recently.

Coley Ward, who handles marketing for the co-op, says the store recently moved its administrative offices to a new commercial kitchen space nearby. This has made room for what will soon be a salad bar, a hot-food line and a cooler that will be stocked with local meats and cheeses.

You can check out all of this at an open house tomorrow, Wednesday, May 2, at 5 p.m. There will be a tour of the new kitchen facilities, a screening of a movie about genetically modified organisms and a chance to talk with representatives from Local Roots Aquaponics and Forever Yong Farm.

You'll also be able to gather some information about upcoming events. Ward mentioned a garlic-harvesting event and a tour of Local Roots' facilities. And Tucson's local-food community swooned ...

In other news, the co-op will be offering 10 percent off locally grown food every Wednesday for the next couple of weeks as part of its Eat Local Challenge. Also: The co-op's mascots, those adorable veggies with fists raised high, have finally been animated. See the animation and vote it in as a winner in the My Co-op Rocks video contest here.

A gravel parking lot on the corner of Sixth Avenue and Grant Road is fast becoming a sort of United Nations of local food trucks. Jamaican food truck D Island Grill JA has called the spot home for more than a year, as has the small truck with the big tacos, Taco Fish. And if you walk down the block a bit you'll run right into Molcas, which, in my humble opinion, serves the freshest and most beautiful tortas around.

Ryuu Sushi Express has added yet another dining option to this unadorned parking lot, tossing up a small tent with a few chairs and feeding people "sushi with a Latin touch." The truck opened but a few weeks ago and business seemed a bit slow today, but that's sure to change once Tucson catches on to what the truck is doing.

Look over the menu and you'll quickly notice rolls with chipotle sauce, chilis and Manchego cheese. These details are woven in with the usual sushi suspects - shrimp, cucumber, sesame, crab - while not being outlandish or overpowering. However, if outlandish is what you seek, order the "Flying Pig," a roll made with chicken, bacon, cream cheese, avocado and chipotle sauce. There's word of a chicken-Cordon-Bleu roll as well, but it isn't available ... yet.

I had the "Dragon Roll" which was both beautiful and delicious. It came with three dipping sauces and a big grin from the employees. I paired it with an ice-cold Hawaiian-punch flavored Shasta from the nearby cooler and ate slowly as the lunch crowd descended on the parking lot and the generators purred away in the background. All was right in the world.

Hours are 11 a.m. to 8 p.m. and prices range from $4.99 to $9.99. Call 619-1472 or visit the truck on Facebook for more info.

Well maybe "galore" is a bit of hyperbole, but we do have two local Iron Chef-ish tidbits to talk about today.

The first is the Local Foods Iron Chef event happening this Saturday, May 5. Feast your eyes on this description:

Six chef teams will prepare gourmet dishes featuring local ingredients from partnering local farms and markets — including a special secret ingredient that we’ve just revealed to teams the week before the event. The lucky tasters (you!) will sample each dish and vote on your favorite to crown the winner of 2012 Local Foods Iron Chef.

Each chef team will be tasked with a specific variety of cooking (vegan, vegetarian, gluten-free, and meat-featuring) and we've encouraged them to make their delectables desirable to different palates — so there will be something for everyone!

Soak up a Tucson sunset while you listen to local band Hey Buckos and sample a selection of locally crafted beer, Arizona wine, and other drinks. In the spirit of Cinco de Mayo, the food and live entertainment for this event will take on a Mexican flair.

The second thing you should know about is that Iron Chef Tucson has officially begun accepting applications for this year's event. So, if you think you can beat Ryan Clark of Lodge on the Desert - a young man who seems to whip ass on just about any competitor he comes across - go ahead and fill out the application here.

• Dan Gibson

Yes, Virginia...there is such a thing as certified taco judging.

I began my day at the Tucson Taco Festival as a judge for this premiere event. The event is part of the National Taco Association, of which I am now a certified judge.

There were 23 other judges, including food writers, Karyn Zoldan and Mary Paganelli and food radio host, Matt Russell. Dan Gibson from the Tucson Weekly was also a judge. We were all sequestered in a large tent. The sponsors kept us well hydrated with all the water and/or beer we wanted. We could hear the live music and just get a peek of the crowd. We weren’t allowed to alter the tacos in anyway, if they came with a side of salsa or lime we had to just let those items be.

Tacos were divided in four categories: chicken, pork, beef and seafood. Every hour, starting at noon, contestants brought their wares to the tent – we couldn’t see who they were – where the tacos were checked in and then distributed to us in a well-planned process. There were four tables with six judges each and in spite of the fact that not every judge got to taste every taco, we still each ate over 20 tacos each. We were not allowed to talk amongst ourselves while we sampled and scored the tacos on presentation, taste and texture on a scale of one to nine.

The variety of tacos was amazing. The seafood tacos, for the most part, really rocked. One ceviche taco was jammed packed with a mess of fish and was tangy and sweet with just a slightly crispy shell. Another one had a clever shell. It looked as though the chef – whoever that was – had cut the tortilla into a square and then deep-fried it.

There was an outstanding pork taco that won me over with the first bite. It had everything a good taco should have: creaminess, crunchiness, a bit of heat, perfect balance of seasonings, tender meat and lots of it. Oddly, in that same round there was my least favorite taco where the only flavor came from an odd tangy sauce. The meat had no flavor at all and the texture was just plain weird. One of the other tables had a chicken taco where the shell was a waffle!

Check out the website for a complete list of winners.

In between rounds we wandered the grounds and made a couple of trips to the Tequila Expo. Of course, we sampled the various choices there – a there were plenty of them – but not so many as to impair our judgment or palates. We finished off with a mix of smaller categories such as salsa, guacamole, and anything goes. By that time we were taco weary, so the others were a nice way to end the contest.

I had a spectacular time. I ate good food with old friends and met some new, fun people. There were plenty of delicious potent potables. I loved every minute and can’t wait to do it again.