Tickets go on sale Wednesday for the Oct. 17 event, which will feature signature foods from Atwood’s Tavern, Bambara, East Side Bar and Grille, Formaggio Kitchen, Hungry Mother, Oleana, Pug’s Bar and Grill and Tupelo, according to Carl Fantasia, president of the association.

More restaurants may join in.

“The Rib Fest will be a culinary showdown pitting pit master against pit master for the title of the best ribs in town,” Fantasia said in a press release. “If barbecue isn’t your thing, don’t worry — there is still plenty of food and fun to be had.  Each team will be selling a dish of their own, showcasing their restaurant’s menu. This special event is a perfect opportunity to get a taste of the local fare in East Cambridge.”

The Rib Fest and street food fair, for which The East End House is to include entertainment for children, is set to take place on Cambridge Street between Fulkerson and Sixth streets. Tickets are $15 “to sample ribs from a growing list of teams” and to vote, Fantasia said. They can be bought by going to the association’s website and at Atwood’s Tavern, East Side Bar and Grille and Pug’s Bar and Grill.

Jeff Cooper, author of “Cooking for Geeks,” makes ice cream in 30 seconds using liquid nitrogen. (The recipe is in the book.) Cooper is holding a book signing at 6 p.m. Monday at Toscanini’s ice cream in Central Square, Cambridge.

It’s a natural: Toscanini’s ice cream, the rec room of entrepreneurs, students from the Massachusetts Institute of Technology and visitors for the annual Ig Nobel Prizes, is hosting a book signing Monday for Jeff Potter and his “Cooking for Geeks.”

The book combines 101 recipes, 21 geek-celebrity interviews (Caterina Fake, of Flickr, Etsy and Hunch, for instance, and Xeni Jardin, of Boing Boing) and much discussion of the science behind cooking — the simple chemistry that explains what makes cooking work, but also looks at more exotic techniques.

Perhaps the most exotic is cooking with liquid nitrogen, which would appeal to what Potter calls “the über-nerd, who’s unafraid to try anything … maybe a bit too unafraid,” as well as the type most likely to have liquid nitrogen handy.

To these folks Potter offers the following warning from an accident report at Texas A&M:

The cylinder had been standing at one end of a ~20’ × 40’ laboratory on the second floor of the chemistry building. It was on a tile-covered, 4–6” thick concrete floor, directly over a reinforced concrete beam. The explosion blew all of the tile off of the floor for a 5’ radius around the tank, turning the tile into quarter-sized pieces of shrapnel that embedded themselves in the walls and doors of the lab… The cylinder came to rest on the third floor leaving a neat 20” diameter hole in its wake. The entrance door and wall of the lab were blown out into the hallway. All of the remaining walls of the lab were blown 4 to 8” off of their foundations. All of the windows, save one that was open, were blown out into the courtyard.

But there are other kinds of geeks — which helped the first printing of Potter’s book sell out before shipping — and Potter writes for them all, even the beginner geek:

Regardless of which type of geek you are, as long as you have “the courage of your convictions” to pick up the spatula and try, you’ll do fine. The goal of this book is to point out new ways of thinking about the tools in that box full of kitchen gear.

Gus Rancatore, the founder, owner and very public face of Toscanini’s, loves all the geekiness that packs his place. (He invented Internet ice cream — Nerds candy in vanilla ice cream — for the year’s ROFLCon on Internet culture.) He calls Potter’s book “lots of fun, and educational about the science of food and cooking.”

But there are other reasons for the book signing party to be in Toscanini’s. One of the videos Potter has posted online is about how to make ice cream in 30 seconds.

How do you do it?

With liquid nitrogen.

The book signing is at Toscanini’s , 899 Main St., Central Square, Cambridge, from 6 to 9 p.m. An RSVP is requested but not required. See the Facebook event page: http://bit.ly/cfg-tosci. There will be some copies of the book available to buy. Copies can be ordered at http://www.cookingforgeeks.com/amazon/. There will also be a demonstration and sampling of Barismo coffee and a new Luminaire coffee maker from a group of Olin College students, Rancatore said.

A couple walks Saturday by Leisure Station, a new business touting its tea in Cambridge’s Kendall Square. (Photos: Marc Levy)

I am a booster of Cambridge, and as a rule want Cambridge businesses to succeed — especially in Kendall Square, which needs more vibrant retail. But on the basis of its specialty — tea — I’m not sure why Leisure Station should thrive.

That may sound harsh; I mean it at face value.

It’s especially awkward to criticize the just-opened business because it’s the creation of Ken Huang, a graduate of the Massachusetts Institute of Technology who has been a Cambridge resident and who clearly has his heart in the right place (again, that “right place” is 625 W. Kendall St., Kendall Square). But a visit to the shop on a sleepy Saturday, after torrential rains shut down much of the area, produced an alarmingly expensive product with an especially, uh, subtle taste.

And by subtle, I mean “mostly flavorless.”

The tested drink was a small (or “regular”) almond milk tea with boba, or tapioca bubbles — my staple when I go someplace offering milk tea or bubble tea.

Leisure Station’s was no worse than what I’ve had in Allston’s Super 88 food court or in Porter or Harvard squares, but it was far worse than the cold, refreshing, sweet almond milk tea dispensed at the Juice Bar at 40-44 Harrison Ave. in Boston’s Chinatown. And despite my affection for the Juice Bar, where I’ve been a fan since it was one of the stands in the Chinatown Eatery food court, now condos, upstairs at Harrison and Beach streets, it pains me significantly when Cambridge can’t stand up to Boston.

But here’s something Leisure Station’s almond milk tea was: Really, really expensive.

And here’s something Leisure Station charges for, unlike every other boba tea place I know: boba.

Since boba is more or less Leisure Station’s reason for being, this is a little weird. Certainly the place sells other items, such as interesting-looking savory rolls, and also has jellies and puddings to put in tea, but boba tea is more or less its reason for being. From the business’ press release:

In addition to the fantastic Boba Tea, daily lunch selections and more, they even have free Wi-Fi, a karaoke machine, texting and online ordering and curbside pickup! … Pearl milk tea, which is also known as boba tea, bubble tea and tapioca milk tea, is simply a delicious sweetened milk tea drink. The fun twist of the drink comes in the “pearl” or tapioca balls that the drinker simultaneously slurps up through an oversize straw with the freshly brewed tea of their choice, which is always fresh to order. First-time drinkers may initially find the concept of chewing and drinking at the same a bit unusual. Nevertheless, after a few sips, it’s hard to resist these tasty, soft, chewy treats combined with our delicious blended milk tea beverages. The bubble tea experience is truly a blissful union of snacking and sipping at the same time! [Emphasis mine.]

Note that the press release doesn’t say “Additional charge.”

This press release invited me to a tasting in June, but I couldn’t attend. I would like to think the same concerns would have arisen, but maybe this way is best — to experience the place on an average day as a paying customer.

The Juice Bar, on Harrison Avenue in Boston’s Chinatown, has a large menu that includes some superior drinks for lower prices.

My small tea was $3.80; the boba was an additional 50 cents; and the taxes brought it to $4.60. A large drink of what I ordered would have been $5.24, a worker said Monday.

The same drink at Harvard Square’s Boston Tea Stop costs a total $3.75, a savings of 85 cents even with the 7 percent tax. A large would have totaled $4.82. Extra boba or jelly is 35 cents, but a regular dose of boba is free.

The same drink at Tapicha, part of the Shops at Porter Square in Lesley University’s old Sears building, costs $3.20, including the tax, for a savings of $1.40 over Leisure Station. A large almond milk tea at Tapicha would total $3.70.

The Juice Bar in Chinatown has only one size of drink. An almond milk tea there is $3.50 with boba and tax included — a $1.10 savings over Leisure Station and far more flavorful.

A review in the Cambridge Chronicle noted that Leisure Station makes its boba fresh every two hours, but there was nothing about the boba sampled Saturday that distinguished it from the flavorful, chewy boba at the Juice Bar bought Monday.

In addition, the Kendall Square business’ “high-tech” approach is mentioned in its press release, Chronicle review and a review at A Boston Food Diary — both of which, I must say, were extremely positive; I’m so much an outlier that I might as well be that guy who panned “Toy Story 3” — but a high-tech tea is pointless if the tea isn’t good. The focus on technology, in fact, reminded me of nothing so much as a passage from Douglas Adam’s “Hitchhiker’s Guide to the Galaxy,” when hero Arthur Dent encounters a ridiculously high-tech machine that promises to make any drink he wants:

The way it functioned was very interesting. When the Drink button was pressed it made an instant but highly detailed examination of the subject’s taste buds, a spectroscopic examination of the subject’s metabolism and then sent tiny experimental signals down the neural pathways to the taste centers of the subject’s brain to see what was likely to go down well. However, no one knew quite why it did this because it invariably delivered a cupful of liquid that was almost, but not quite, entirely unlike tea.

Melons for sale at the Central Square Farmers Market, open Mondays through Nov. 22. (Photo: Sushiesque)

The Central Square Farmers Market is accepting Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program benefits as payment, and a grant is doubling the money spent using the benefits, said Josefine “José” Wendel, school nutrition coordinator for the
Cambridge Public Health Department, in a Monday e-mail.

That mean if you use $10 of your SNAP benefits, once referred to as food stamps, you can buy $20 in produce, Wendel said.

This is how it works: Check in with the market manager’s table. Swipe your SNAP card for let’s say $10, and they will give you $20 worth in coupons to spend at the market.

The market is scheduled to be open at Bishop Allen Drive and Norfolk Street every Monday from 11:30 a.m. to 6 p.m. from through Nov. 22.

This post was written from a press release.

The Friendly Toast, which has restaurants in Kendall Square and Portsmouth, N.H., has announced an honor from “Good Morning America” for breakfasts such as this one from May 2009. (Photo: Brad Searles)

The Friendly Toast, the all-day breakfast-and-more hot spot in Kendall Square (and Portsmouth, N.H.), has announced its fourth-place finish as the best breakfast in America! At least in the eyes and mouths of the folks at “Good Morning America.”

Finding the official link to the win is difficult, but here’s a link to the Toast’s Facebook page and announcement, the contest rules and a video of the show’s visit.

Diesel’s super-size steins have returned. (Photo: Marc Levy)

Your eyes, stomach and bladder are not deceiving you: Diesel’s large drinks have indeed gotten bigger.

The Davis Square coffee shop returned its steins to service this week after a trial run during the summer. Mostly the mugs are for sale these days; it turns out that, when handed out over the counter during the summer months, they wound up not getting handed back.

That is, people stole them.

But Diesel is trying again, trading more Thai iced tea or beverage of choice in exchange for, you know, not being robbed.

Somerville’s Evoo and Arlington’s Za are converging in February in Cambridge’s Kendall Square. (Photos: top, Chompster_2009; above, courtesy of Za)

It’s been news to foodies since October that the restaurant Evoo is moving to Kendall Square from Somerville, and that its 350 Third St. location — called the Watermark Building — will also host the second Za, an Arlington pizza restaurant run by the same group. They should open in February, helping Kendall become more of a nighttime destination.

To get ahead of the curve on restaurant news:

Expect the former Friendly Eating Place, at Massachusetts Avenue and Dana Street in Central Square, to become a restaurant called Canteen. Food-industry sources are describing wraps and sandwiches (the sort that makes you feel as though you’re eating healthily, made with breads from the near-ubiquitous Iggy’s — a Cambridge business) and starting with breakfast.

Speaking of Central Square: It’s also rumored that Rendezvous and Central Kitchen are seeking sites for second branches, and that Flour Bakery + Cafe is moving in next to Central Bottle.

Although economic downturns are always risky times for restaurants, since dining out is among the first things to go when budgets get tight, they are also the best times for restaurateurs to find low-cost commercial space. Timing is everything.

Real estate played a role in how Evoo and Za will be arranged in Kendall Square. Steve Kurland, partners with Peter and Colleen McCarthy at the restaurants, described the venture like this for the online dining community:

The two locations will be next to each other and will share an entryway and a host/ess stand, but will be operated as separate concepts. Za (including a 13-seat, full-service bar) will seat about 80 guests inside and 50 guests outside. Evoo will seat about 70 guests inside and 50 guests outside. Both menus will be consistent with the current operations. Za and Evoo will both be open for lunch and dinner to serve workers, residents, students, visitors and anyone else who would like to come. We are looking forward to February and are very excited to be part of the Kendall Square community.

And here’s a transcript from a Licensing Commission meeting last year; discussion about Evoo and Za begins on Page 54 in the file.

The staff of the Flying Zucchini Café ready servings for patrons last year. The annual event takes place again tonight.

If fresh food from local farms cooked for you and served to you sounds good, it sounds like you need dinner at the Flying Zucchini Café.

Community members have to act fast, though. The Flying Zucchini Café can be visited only once or twice a year — because the Café is actually a a two-night, student-run restaurant primarily for family members of the Agassiz Baldwin Community Afterschool. The kids do everything from design the menu to cook and serve the food, said program director Jacy Edelman, and they do so based on what fresh, local foods they get.

It’s the first year the menu focuses on the local, Edelman said.

“We will serve fresh food from local businesses or farms, and the recipes we use will be based on the availability of local bread, dairy and in season produce,” she said, giving a long list of donators such as Somerville’s Taza Chocolates, the Harvest Coop and Lizzy’s ice cream in Harvard Square.

The kids serve about 120 people each night, including celebrities such as City Councillor Henrietta Davis, School Committee member Nancy Tauber and Maria L. Baldwin School principal Rebecca Vyduna. While the Café has limited seating, the program is hosting a potluck for all Tuesday at 5:30 p.m. at the school.

For information, call Edelman during the day at (617) 349-6287, Ext. 11. The Agassiz Baldwin Community is a private, nonprofit organization that has been providing programs and services for four decades.

Monday through Friday, people will be able to get in at 6 a.m. instead of 7 a.m., while Saturday and Sunday openings stay at 7 a.m.

The 11:30 p.m. closing time has been rolled forward a half-hour every night.

That last half-hour wasn’t profitable — in fact, very little tends to be bought or sold between 11 and 11:30 p.m. — while there is always a line of people waiting to buy in the mornings, worker said. Diesel’s competitors, such as the Starbucks across the street, are open earlier already.

The Harvard Square Herrell's Ice Cream is closing. (Photo: Jeff Breeze, weallscreamforicecream.wordpress.com)

Steve Herrell taught me how to make ice cream and taught everyone else how to once again enjoy ice cream. The Herrell’s ice cream store in Harvard Square will close soon, according to today’s Boston Globe.

In 1973 Steve Herrell opened the original Steve’s Ice Cream, not in Cambridge but in Davis Square, Somerville. Boston was already a good city for ice cream with Bailey’s, Howard Johnson, Brigham’s and Friendly’s. Steve had come to Boston to complete his conscientious objector duty. He briefly taught school before becoming a cab driver. He lived in a group house behind Porter Square and would entertain friends by making his own ice cream.

Steve’s was unique in many ways. The look was improvised hippie tree house. Steve made the ice cream in front of people, using an old-fashioned ice and salt machine that was manufactured in Winchendon. He made unusual flavors and did mix-ins where workers would customize servings like chefs in a Japanese steak house. I would always get vanilla ice cream with two portions of chocolate chips mixed in and hot fudge on top.

He opened the ice cream store on Elm Street with the idea that he would make ice cream in the morning and sell it in the evening. That plan was soon overtaken by facts: People loved Steve’s ice cream and its air of hippie authenticity. People who never thought to visit Somerville were suddenly lining up an hour before the store’s opening. The New Yorker wrote about the store. Two guys in Vermont copied the store down to the player piano that was against the back wall. Downstairs at the Davis Square T station there is a time line that includes the opening of Steve’s Ice Cream. Steve’s didn’t change Somerville, but it represented the changes that were transforming Greater Boston.

Shortly after Steve’s opened I got a job cleaning the store after midnight. The store’s success was problematic for Steve. He didn’t like business very much and he sold the business to Joey and Nino Crugnale, who owned a smaller imitation in nearby Teele Square, Somerville. Steve told the workers he was going to move to western Massachusetts and raise goats, but I think he actually tuned pianos until his noncompetition agreement expired and he opened a business called Herrell’s Ice Cream.

Steve was in the strange position of competing with his own idea. The original Steve’s opened more stores, was sold and expanded until it imploded. Ben & Jerry were distracted by the better idea of selling pints and got out of the player piano business. Every college town in America soon had a pretty good “homemade” ice cream store. A hundred flowers bloomed and Americans could get a dizzying variety of flavors, complete with mixed in candy bars, fruits and nuts. A few years ago Steve’s original ideas became the basis of several boring chains, including Marble Slab and Cold Stone Creamery. Steve’s “small is beautiful” ideals were heaved into the Dumpster behind a thousand strip malls.

For months the ice cream business has been full of rumors that Steve’s wife, or former wife, now controlled Herrell’s and planned to make changes that would make the business a more typical multiple-unit corporation. The Herrell’s in Allston is now an independent cafe and the store in Harvard Square will close its doors.

Years ago, when Steve owned the original Steve’s, he took up tap dancing. After the store closed I would begin cleaning and he would vigorously practice tap dancing for 15 to 30 minutes. “Tap dancing is great. It is good exercise and develops showmanship and confidence,” he’d say. Then he would sit down at a purple table and eat a big sundae of his very good ice cream.