Foodie Roundup: Bong Water, Meat Mags, and Top Chef Frenzy

It's Wednesday. The 14-inch Philly cheesesteak we took down at lunch is starting to sit heavy. Be a glutton like us and check out these links to all the food news that matters this week.

- The LA Times explores the cuisine of Shanghai: and where to find it in the Southland.

- Awww, those crappy cheap wines grow up SO FAST! Buy a bottle of two-dollar merlot and drink it all tonight in honor of Charles Shaw's fifth birthday.

- Do you get all itchy and nervous when you can't provide your guests with home-made tortillas? Do you make all your pizza dough from scratch? Do you mourn over the lost zucchini in your backyard garden? These people do too: the NYT investigates.

- Tom Colicchio coming to Los Angeles? Yes! No. Yes! No. Maybe.

Speaking of…are you planning on watching Top Chef next week? We're watching the Season 1 vs. Season 2 face-off right now and it's AWESOME! Tiffany's still bitchy-cool and so is Elia (with awesome hair!) and Harold's gotten fat and Marcel is also still bitchy-nerdy, and Dave is also bitchy-AWESOME and Sam is HOT and Ilan is bitchy-hot in the way that makes you feel kinda guilty! it's the perfect show! and we can't wait for Season 3 to start.

New Google Maps mashup over at Gridskipper features hot foodie spots and good meal deals in Los Angeles.

A magazine about…meat. Yup.

Bong Water soft drinks. Awesome.

Photo by anarchosyn via flickr