Midtown’s Garlic Shack has been open for a week, and General Manager Ken Powers said the locals have been craving his garlic fries, along with other items such as rice bowls based on gluten-free brown rice.

The hard part is letting people know it’s open, he said, since it has been about six months since the former restaurant, Plum Blossom, closed.

To read more about the construction and ideas behind The Garlic Shack, located at 19th and J streets, click here.

“We didn’t want to open on Second Saturday, so we made sure we opened a week earlier,” Powers said, adding that he hopes to have a DJ outside for the Second Saturday Art Walk.

The restaurant’s glass garage door, which spans much of the street-facing wall, should be open during the event to allow patrons easy access to the patio seats and let the beats filter into the dining area.

Image by: Brandon Darnell

The 17-foot-wide garage door opens onto the patio. (Image by: Brandon Darnell)

While the restaurant’s emphasis is – as the name suggests – garlic, Powers said the beers have been popular, with tall cans of Pabst Blue Ribbon and Coors Light adding to a selection of microbrews including Sudwerk, Lagunitas Brewing Company and Lost Coast Brewery.

Image by: Brandon Darnell

Most popular among the garlic-centric entrées are the rice bowls, which are served with gluten-free brown rice.

Image by: Brandon Darnell

Image by: Brandon Darnell

Image by: Brandon Darnell

The above-pictured rice bowl is the Caribbean rice bowl, which has yams, onions, a jerk sauce that includes beer, and a char-broiled, marinated pork chop. It is topped with pistachios and hemp, sesame and sunflower seeds.

Powers said the recipes are his own creations.

“Sometimes you get an idea from something you eat somewhere, and then you go home and take what you liked from that and add in something else that you like, and it works really well,” he said.

The garlic fries are popular as well, Powers said.

Image by: Brandon Darnell

Image by: Brandon Darnell

Image by: Brandon Darnell

Garlic-flavored desserts are planned, but Powers said he wants to get the flavors perfected before offering them to patrons. In the meantime, other desserts are offered, made by the dessert chef behind the Nevada City Truffle Shop.

Image by: Brandon Darnell

Pictured above are the standard size cakes: The one on the left is key lime and the one on the right is dark chocolate filled with white chocolate and topped with raspberry purée.

“We’re also making a mud pie of our own,” Powers said.

Food items range from $4.50 and upward, with an average full meal including a salad going for about $17. Nothing is above $18, Powers said.

The restaurant is open from 11 a.m. - 10 or 11 p.m., and it stays open later on Friday and Saturday nights.

“We stay open till at least 2:15,” Powers said. “We want to capture that after-bar crowd, and there’s no way of knowing how much will come in here before 2 or 2:15.”

Brandon Darnell is a staff reporter for The Sacramento Press. Follow him on Twitter @Brandon_Darnell.