I like Lococo's Pizzeria, and I've got some pretty good reasons for it:

• They've got great super-thin crust pizza. I mean, it's really thin. Like tortilla thin. But it's crispy and stands up to their hearty sauce. The cheese actually has flavor and texture, unlike many of the chain places. It's cheap, too. A 16" cheese pie is $12.95. If you want a double crust, add a dollar.
• They've got the cheapest beer imaginable. A 48oz pitcher of Bud/Bud Light will set you back $4.00. Bud too swanky for you? A bottle or can of PBR will set you back $1.25. Still too rich for your blood? A can of Old Style can be had for a buck.
• They're just nice folks. It's a family-run place, and they seem to genuinely want their customers to leave happy.

When you add on free delivery (not to my house, but still), live music on Friday & Saturday (9pm until whenever on Friday and 7-9pm Saturday), and a pretty broad menu, I think you've got yourself a winner.

Lococo's is in the Bashas' Plaza at Thornydale & Cortaro. They're open 11am-9pm Sun-Thurs, Friday 11am until they're not open anymore, and Saturday 11am - 10pm. Got questions? Visit lococos.net or give them a call at 520-744-7136.

Kevin
-TFD

My friend Travis called me last night to clue me in on an event happening this Saturday. Nana's Kitchen Mexican restaurant is having their one-year anniversary celebration! Congrats Teran family!

They'll be having mariachis, $1.50 longnecks, $2.00 margaritas, and some great food specials.

Mention that you heard about it on Twitter and... well, it probably won't get you anything extra, but it'll make them happy!

So here's the recap:

• Nana's Kitchen, by I-10 & Cortaro
• (520)395-2508
• Saturday, August 29th
• 6:30pm until they're done
• http://nanaskitchenaz.com/ (hasn't been updated in a while - they've been cooking instead!)

Go out and help them celebrate with some great food, cheap beverages, and live entertainment!

Feast or famine. That really seems all-too-appropriate for a food blog, doesn't it? I have times when I'm not really sure what I'm going to write about, and times where I've just got so much stuff running around my brain. Right now, I'm in the latter situation.

Because of that, I'm going to cram two fun and exciting recent happenings into one post. The danger here is that this is going to be way too long and full of extraneous details. *Sigh* I'll understand if you don't make it all the way to the end.

Odell Brewing
Last night, they were in town to launch their Tucson presence. They (Kirk & J.R.) spent some quality time at Plaza Liquors, then a couple of hours hanging out at 1702 (where we were stationed), and then whisked themselves off to Old Chicago. To protect identities, I'm going to refer to the members of my party as K, S, & B.

Things officially kicked off at 6:00, but S & I got there a little after 5:00. They're right across the street from work, for cryin' out loud! K arrived shortly thereafter. Then the good folks from Odell, bearing gifts. I think we all ended up with bottleopener keyrings, t-shirts, & coasters (those might not have been giveaways - I may have actually stolen them). B came a little later still, having gone to work out first (go B!).

I was fortunate to have been Tweeting when they got there (although I think my tweets became slightly less coherent as the evening continued), and I may or may not have been tipped off to keep my eyes on Twitter at about 6:30. I did, and I ended up winning a 750ml bottle of Woodcut #2, which retails for about $25.00. I'll looking forward to popping that open sometime in the near future.

So we sampled their three beers (IPA, Easy Street Wheat, and 90 Shilling Scottish ale), and I still think that their IPA may be my favorite beer ever. I mentioned it in my Postino post, and it's just that good. The others were good as well, but what can I say? I'm an IPA kind of guy. K enjoyed the wheat, S was in agreement on the IPA (and we usually see eye-to-eye on beer), and B.... well, I don't seem to remember which she liked! I remember her really liking their yellow t-shirts (although she didn't end up with one), but I'm fuzzy on her beer preference.

To wrap up, it was a good time with good friends, good pizza, and good beer. What more does one need?

Julie & Julia
Before I start talking about the movie itself, I want to thank Arizona Public Media for the guest passes to the sneak preview. We enjoyed the movie and appreciated you sponsoring the event itself.

Kristine, Gale & I went to Old Pueblo Grill beforehand for a glass of wine and some appetizers. Steve was going to meet us at the theater because he was out buying a Volvo or something silly like that. He had chips & guacamole and the tostada sampler. The machaca tostada was a hit all around. We didn't discuss the guac too much, but it seemed a little flat to me. It could used more zip, delivered through lime juice, or even some salt...

Ok, so the movie is everywhere. You've heard all about it. You've read all about it. You know what to expect. I did too.

Some of the things I'd heard weren't entirely accurate, though. Amy Adams was roundly panned. I think it was Gourmet magazine who advised bringing reading material and a penlight for those sequences (harsh!)... She was not nearly as good as Meryl Streep, but c'mon! That's Meryl Streep she's up against! And Meryl Streep was brilliant as Julia. There were many times I forgot that it wasn't Julia Child on the screen. Some of those scenes took me back to when I was a youngster watching Julia on TV and thinking, "I could do that". Which I then did.

I found it to be a lovely tribute to her memory, with a slightly weaker story of self-empowerment thrown in with it. Of course, I'm not a film critic, and neither are Kristine & Gale, who both gave it thumbs up. I'd like to be able to say that Steve liked it too, but the whole Volvo-buying process took longer than anticipated.

Ok, that's it. I'll stop now. I think I've probably done longer posts, so I'm happy that this one is as short (and yes as lively!) as it is.

Thanks for reading.

-TFD

I have lunch at 1702 on a pretty regular basis. One of the guys I work with and I have a theory about the place though: there’s an inverse relationship between the quality of the lunch slice and ‘normalcy’. When the place is pretty low-key and there are no glitches with the service, you get a fairly mediocre slice. When there’s crazy stuff going on all around, you can be pretty sure the pizza’s going to be awesome.

Take today, for example. I actually went with someone else, but the theory held up anyway. The place was swamped when we got there (and it was 1:15 – it shouldn’t have been that busy!), none of the empty tables had been bussed, there was only one waitress on when we got there, and it took forever to get our drinks. All of that’s forgivable because they were really hopping.

I always order my slices ‘crispy’, because they tend to pull them out of the oven too early and they’re room temp in the middle. The waitress didn’t know if that would be possible, but I convinced her that it would be. We pulled our utensils out of the empty six-pack holder, and both my fork and pizza cutter had been used and put back. That pretty much grossed me out, but I sent them back to the kitchen and got a clean set. After a really long time, the waitress came out to tell us the slices were in process. About 10 minutes after that, she came back and said that my slice had burned to black and they had to re-do it. When all was said and done, the pizza was really good. Too bad it took well over an hour for us to get out of there.

On the plus side, 1702 has one of the best beer selections in town. They’ve probably got 40 on tap, and Miller Lite isn’t one of them.

So go there for happy hour, and have a great beer. And if it’s weird in there, order a slice.

1702 is at 1702 E. Speedway. Their website is 1702az.com, but it appears to be down right now.