As the standard sort of food-loving jackass that seems to be everywhere these days, I enjoy the food blog Eater. They do a great job with the fun national trend stuff, but also provide a solid insight into what's happening in the various cities they cover. However, for better or worse, Tucson has rarely made it on to their radar (the Boca lion meat story, the Chick-Fil-A drive-thru jerk, the forthcoming Pizzeria Bianco and a few other things).

Today, Tucson gets a prime spot on the site with a local installment of their Heat Map feature. The idea is to cover the most interesting new restaurants in a city, but in Tucson's case, that's more or less the nine places you'd expect, considering not that many places really open here any given year. I guess this information might be helpful for someone from out of town or who doesn't follow local food news, but at least as Tucson's culinary culture stands right now, I think a wider net still makes more sense (plug alert: like our 100 Essential Dishes feature from earlier this year!)

So, here's the list, as composed for Eater by Adam Lehrman of Tucson Foodie:

Diablo Burger
Falora
Penca
Wild Garlic Grill
Dante's Fire
Proper
The Twisted Tandoor
Reilly
Umi Star