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The "Burritofication in Progress" sign outside what used to be a Boston Market at 5870 E. Broadway can only mean one thing: A new Chipotle is coming.

The Denver-based burrito chain is opening between the Red Lobster and the Applebee's in the Park Place parking lot.

Chipotle already has five locations in the Tucson area. This will be its first on Broadway as well as its farthest east.

Chipotle reps said the new restaurant is scheduled to open in February. The company is looking to open 135 to 145 new branches overall in 2009.

The Tucson Tamale Company, a gourmet tamale take-out shop and restaurant, has opened in what used to be the Silver Lining Cafe at 2545 E. Broadway.

Owned and operated by Todd Martin, his wife Sherry Martin and Kirby Bollnow, the Tamale Company features a regular menu that includes chipotle beef tamales, chicken tomatillo tamales and veggie and vegan options, with a regular rotating list of specials (the restaurant served a Thanksgiving tamale packed with turkey and cranberry after it opened in late November).

For the last 12 years, Todd Martin, 50, has been a technical support director with Intuit. But he once owned the Union Station restaurant, a casual lunch spot and nightclub in Denver, in the 1980s and wanted to return to his food roots.

He was turned on to making tamales by his wife more than a decade ago.

"She told me we were going to her mom and dad's house to make some," Todd said. "When we got there, we saw five bushels of white corn, five cases of Bud Light and 20 people. I loved it. We spent all day making them."

The Tamale Company has dine-in or take-out services. You can get an individual tamale for $2.95 and a lunch plate with black beans and other options for $6.75. You can also purchase half-a-dozen for $16 or a dozen tamales for $27.75.

It's open from 11 a.m. to 5 p.m. Mondays through Saturdays. Todd hopes to be open during breakfast hours after the beginning of the year.

You can follow the development of the Tucson Tamale Company, complete with blog posts, photos and video at tucson tamalecompany.blogspot.com.

— Gerald M. Gay

It was a cold December day when Warren Nung introduced his sister to tart frozen yogurt.

"Once I tried it I thought, 'Oh, this is so good.' They offered fresh fruit in December and that just fascinated me," Marilyn Low recalled days after swinging open the doors to her own frozen yogurt shop, Cold Snap Frozen Yogurt, 4210 N. First Ave.

Her brother, who lives in Los Angeles, is Low's silent partner in the venture, which was more than a year in the planning.

Cold Snap offers the same style of tart, sweetened frozen yogurt that got Low hooked, as well as several flavored yogurts, all delivered frozen weekly from a maker in Oregon. The shop also features fresh fruit and candy toppings.

Prices run from $2.50 for a small, plain serving to $7.45 for a large, three-toppings. Toppings are 90 cents apiece.

Tucson attorney Gary Grynkewich will open his first restaurant, an outpost of the popular Texas barbecue chain Dickey's Barbeque Pit next to Cold Snap in the strip mall at North First Avenue and Limberlost.

The restaurant should open in mid-January, said Dickey's President Roland Dickey Jr.

Dickey's, which added 32 restaurants in 2008 and plans to open another 50 in 2009, has two locations in the Phoenix area. In all, the 67-year-old company has 105 locations nationwide, Dickey said.

Grynkewich will open a second Dickey's Tucson area location late next year in the Marana Marketplace, at the corner of West Orange Grove and North River roads.

If so, you may want to catch Dr. Roxana Ursea, an assistant professor in the University of Arizona's ophthalmology department, when she speaks Tuesday as part of this month's Science Café.

Her topic: "Vision and the Gift of Sight — Latest Advances in Improving Your Vision."

Launched by UA Flandrau Science Center last fall, the casual forums with UA researchers are held at 6 p.m. on the second Tuesday of each month at Cushing Street Bar & Restaurant, 198 W. Cushing St., near the Tucson Convention Center. The talk is free. You can buy food and drink.

— Inger Sandal

CataVinos Wine Shoppe & Tasting Room at 3063 N. Alvernon will host its first art opening with the underwater photography of Ron Richman from 4 to 8 p.m. on Saturday.

The shop will have its first astronomy night Saturday, Dec. 13.