In new download, Spidey teams with a Top Chef

AP, PHILADELPHIA: When the web-slinger heads out for dinner, danger is always on the menu.

In a new one-shot tale available through Marvel Comics' app and online, Spider-Man teams up with "Top Chef" Eli Kirshtein in a bid to thwart the hallucination-spewing Mysterio who disrupts the wall-crawler's date.

The team-up was born, Marvel said Friday, of a fascination for food shared not just by Kirshtein, but also C.B. Cebulski, the comic publisher's senior vice president of creator and content development.

An avid fan of Twitter, and food, Cebulski and Kirshtein struck up a friendship that led to the latter's appearance in the 11-page digital-only tale that was written by Marc Bernardin and drawn by Mike Henderson.

"C.B. and I met on Twitter and began to talk about food and comics regularly," Kirshtein said. "I, on a whim, almost jokingly asked if he could get me into Spider-Man. With no hesitation he said 'Sure!' It's an amazing honor to be part of the legend that is Spider-Man. It's every kid's dream!"

Cebulski, who tweets often with advice to aspiring artists, and even writers, also talks about a love for food, too.

"The more we explore the similarities between art and food worlds, the more we've discovered certain connections between chefs and comics, especially on a creative level," Cebulski said. "Upon hearing Eli was a comic fan, asking him to appear in a comic for us seemed like such a natural fit. The fact Eli was also open to playing an active role in the story and helped lend his culinary expertise to ideas on how to help Spidey out of a super-villain jam really added to the overall experience we had making this comic with him."