Restaurant Week began today, so my first priority was to get to Vitek's and order their featured menu item: the Sweet Potato Spud Pak.

If you don't do another thing for Restaurant Week, you should at least treat yourself to this. If you dig a Vitek's Gut Pak, just imagine a Gut Pak on a sweet potato. I can't sell it any better than that. With a large bottle of Coke, it cost me $11.04. If I spend a better $11 today, I'll be a double-happy man.

There's a lot going on at the moment when it comes to the Waco restaurant scene. Many of the goings on involve things that will be coming to town later this year or possibly even next year. But I want to direct your attention to something happening much sooner which you need to consider.

I mean like talk about it at work today and this weekend and next week. It's a chance to dine out at local restaurants and do something good for kids in our town.

The new shopping center on Valley Mills Drive is taking shape, to the extend that I discovered today that it has a parking lot. I guess that's probably been the case for a little while now, but because I knew SmashBurger and Mama Fu's will be arriving in the spring, I've put inspecting the progress over there on the back burner.

However, on Thursday, they came up to the front burner for a little bit as I stopped by and discovered, as stated, a parking lot. So there's that.

If you've ever had sushi at a restaurant and thought to yourself "I bet I could do this at home," then you are more self-confident than me. And I have more good news for you, Gourmet Gallery is offering you the chance to learn how to make your own sushi.

This is a limited offer, so if this blog hits you where you're at, you're going to want to click on Gourmet Gallery to get their phone number and call to reserved one of the few remaining spots in the January 26 sushi class.

There is no barbecue sauce on that spot on my shirt at the top of my belly that seems to be the place where sauce always lands. For the first time ever, I felt a twinge of disappointment to find my shirt clean as I stood up from the table at Franklin Barbecue in Austin.

Let the record show that was the only disappointment I felt during my first adventure to Franklin.

UPDATE: Al Miraj is open as of 5 p.m. Wednesday. They'll be open only in the evenings for a couple of weeks then begin opening for lunch around the end of this month. If you go by there this week, tell them you saw it here first.

A new Mediterranean grill and hookah bar is set to open as soon as Tuesday on Franklin Avenue, next door to Barnett's Pub.

The combination of the WacoFork wire and a Saturday evening trip to Barnett's for a drink led me to the discovery of Al Miraj, which wasn't open yet, but was hosting a party that night. The "now hiring all positions" sign caught my attention and then I noticed a comment on the blog alerting us to Al Miraj's presence.

Originally, the plan was to dispel the myth that small-town barbecue joints are automatically better than their city counterparts. It would have afforded me the chance to write that the only two things that are better in the country are traffic conditions and deer-processing butchers.

But I changed my mind because making that comparison between Bunkhouse Barbecue in Clifton and Franklin in Austin would have been unfair. So I'll just tell you what happened.

Did you know we have an iPhone app?

It's been a while since we mentioned it on the blog and in that time I would imagine that some of you have found us on the internet and some of you have acquired iPhones. So go to the app store and download the WacoFork app. It's free, so it won't cost you anything but about 45 seconds of your time.

I had a conversation on Wednesday night about something that is taking shape in our town. If this idea blossoms, it could bring significant credibility to Waco in the music and film circles generally associated with that huge spring event down in Austin.

A group called Waco Arts Media has times and places for the inaugural Waco Independent Media Expo. The two-day event will feature a film festival March 6 at The Dancing Bear Pub and a multiple-band concert March 7 at Common Grounds.

Wednesday is free sample day at Crav at Gourmet Gallery and I have to say they got me.

I stopped by to take some photos, sample a little and chat. I left with two containers of chicken salad and one container of piquillo pepper and lime hummus. Good business practice for them. Good lunch for me.