Restaurants

Spin Burger's closure opens Midtown location

2011-07-15T22:30:24Z

Retail space on a prime Midtown corner is getting a lot of attention from restaurateurs after Spin Burger Bar suddenly closed there earlier this month.

On Thursday, Rocklin resident Paul Singh toured the 2,800-square-foot store, where he and partners in Monsoon Indian Bar & Grill of Toronto are considering opening an Indian restaurant and bar by the same name.

Many other restaurant owners have already checked out the space at 1020 16th St. Spin Burger's owner, SRO Inc., closed the restaurant's doors July 5, said commercial real estate broker Bobby Rich with Retail West.

The Haines brothers, who own 33rd Street Bistro and several other area restaurants under SRO, converted a Bistro 33 at that location into Spin Burger about eight months ago. They had been trying to sell the Spin Burger business for four months, Rich said.

Rich said he doesn't know why the restaurant closed.

"I wish we had more answers," he said. "It's unfortunate it didn't work out. They're really good operators."

The Haines family didn't return phone calls seeking comment this week.

Residents, local business owners and Yelp readers have been wondering why the place closed. Nerdy Dogs co-owner MDavid Low said the restaurant seemed to be doing well whenever he ate there. He and fiancée Caitlyn Shortt operate the specialty pet store a few blocks away.

"That's crazy! They were so busy," Low said.

Spin Burger sold more than 4,000 Groupon deals in April. Signs on the restaurant's windows said the Groupon deals would be honored at any other SRO restaurant.

Mark Friedman and his company, Fulcrum Property, built the mixed-use O1 Lofts at 16th and K streets in 2005. Friedman also converted the historic Elliott Building next door into mixed-use retail and lofts. Gov. Jerry Brown now lives in one of the lofts.

The space is getting the most attention from people who already own restaurants in Sacramento's central city. Two restaurateurs from San Francisco have also visited. One proposed a deep-dish pizza restaurant.

Singh visited the property on behalf of partners including his cousin, Chan Singh, and the Amaya Group of Restaurants, which owns the Amaya Indian Room and spin-off eateries in Toronto. They are interested in opening a restaurant in Midtown and will consider other locations as well, Paul Singh said.

An Indian bar and grill may be a good fit because the area could use more Indian cuisine, Rich said.

Local restaurant owners are proposing different ideas for the space, which is listed at $2.50 per square foot or $7,000 a month.

Fulcrum Property management wants to fill the spot with a business that fits well in Midtown, an arts and entertainment district with a growing night-life scene, he said.

"We hope to get another cool concept," Rich said. "We can let this sit for as long as it takes to find the right concept."

Suzanne Hurt is a staff reporter for The Sacramento Press. Follow her on Twitter @SuzanneHurt.

Biba Restaurant makeover marks 25 years

2011-07-13T01:33:25Z

Biba Restaurant reopened Tuesday with a soft new look after a remodel to celebrate its 25th anniversary in Midtown.

Sacramento restaurateur, TV show host and cookbook author Biba Caggiano added a new color palette and made other changes at her namesake Italian eatery. The restaurant at 2801 Capitol Ave. was closed July 3 - Monday to allow work on the its two dining rooms.

The makeover was done in time to mark a quarter-century in business next month.

"Just like a beautiful woman, you don't stay beautiful forever unless you do something," Caggiano said during the lunch hour Tuesday. "This place needed something: color, other things. I'm very, very, very happy."

Both rooms opened Aug. 6, 1986, with white walls, white wood and white linens broken up by black lacquer chairs. The lounge walls had later been painted light peach, but the color was too soft to be noticed. The overall effect was stark, formal and a bit cold, and the décor changed little over 25 years, Biba Restaurant Manager Scott Smith said.

Caggiano said she didn’t know exactly how to get away from the restaurant’s established look, but interior designer Bruce Benning – with input from Caggiano and management – found the perfect solution.

The remodel gives the main dining room and the lounge dining room new color, upholstery and accents. Restaurants have a lot more color now, Smith noted.

The goal was to update the restaurant’s look and create different moods or experiences in the two rooms. The new yellow main dining room has a summery vibe like a formal sun room, while the darker lounge dining room resembles a more subdued study, said Benning, who pushed for the big color change.

The changes were conservative to save money, said Smith, manager of the restaurant for 24 years.

The main dining room was painted a yellow poppy color to give it a Mediterranean summer feel with the white wood accents that remain.

Brass accents were removed, and glass partitions were removed from a service area and between two banquettes. Handpainted Italian silk sconces by Fortuny were added. Crema marfil marble was added to a ledge near the back wall, Benning said.

The marble was used to add sophistication. The sconces were added to invoke a sense of Italy, Smith said.

They also reupholstered 150 chairs and 10 bar stools. More padding was added and the covers changed from orange paisley to blue.

The lounge dining room was repainted slate blue and raisin brown to give it the feel of a study. Faux wood panels measuring 4 feet tall were added. Brass and glass accents were removed to soften the overall look of the interior. Mirrored panels were added above the bar, Benning and Smith said.

"The thought was to warm this up a little bit," Benning said.

Management and Caggiano listened to younger customers who commented on Yelp to make changes to reduce the formal atmosphere. Those comments also helped lead to a change in employee uniforms.

Some customers commented on Yelp that the restaurant’s brass and glass gave it a 1980s “Miami Vice” look, they said, referring to the TV show. Others commented on what they felt were stuffy waiters and formal service.

Bow ties and white jackets with big shoulders have been replaced by lightweight gray shirts, which are cooler in the summer, Caggiano said.

"I have a little girl who works here, and with that jacket, she looked like she was going to war," Caggiano said.

Raised in Bologna, Italy, Caggiano opened the restaurant to bring quality Italian food and more diversity to Sacramento's restaurant scene.

The California Travel Industry named her Northern California Chef of the Year in 1999. The restaurant has won accolades in publications such as Gourmet Magazine, Travel and Leisure, Condé Nast Traveler, Wine Spectator, The Sacramento Bee and Sacramento Magazine.

She hosted 100 episodes of the internationally syndicated cooking show, "Biba's Italian Kitchen," on the Discovery Channel and TLC. Her ninth cookbook, "Spaghetti Sauces: Authentic Italian Recipes from Biba Caggiano," has just been published by Gibbs Smith and is now being shipped to bookstores.

"I tried all the recipes when it was coming together," Smith said. "It's a book I will use at home. It's phenomenal."

The 25th anniversary will be celebrated with book-signing nights in August and a more formal celebration in September, after the book has been out awhile and the summer restaurant season ends, Smith said.

The restaurant's summer menu began June 27. Lunch entrées are $16.50 to $19.50, and dinner entrées are $17 to $30. The restaurant offers a $30, three-course fixed-price dinner Monday - Friday.

The restaurant has lost a third of its customers because of increased competition from the expanding number of restaurants in the central city, the recession and Sutter Medical Center construction that has closed down streets, moved a parking garage and confused customers since 2007, Smith said.

The restaurant was forced to offer more expensive valet parking. Older customers, which the restaurant caters to, have been intimidated by the construction and don't want to walk the extra block to the new parking garage, especially in winter, he said.

"With the recession, we took a double hit," he said.

Longtime patron Art Rankin, a retired engineer with the state Department of Water Resources, admired the changes during lunch Tuesday.

"I think they're fine. It's less formal," Rankin said. "This is probably – outside of the Bay Area – the best restaurant in Northern California.”

Suzanne Hurt is a staff reporter for The Sacramento Press. Follow her on Twitter @SuzanneHurt.

River Rock Tap House to open

2011-07-05T02:06:28Z

Two restaurateurs with a love of fine beer and coffee plan to open an alehouse in Midtown with a possible cafe and coffee-roasting operation next door.

Tex Mex Bar and Grill owner Mike Keolanui said he and his best friend, Anthony Priley, expect to replace Keolanui's restaurant at 2326 J St. with a joint venture, River Rock Tap House, July 9.

They decided to team up again, about 17 years after they opened River Rock in Citrus Heights featuring 40 craft beers, on-site roasted coffee and food. Priley and his father, Steve, who co-founded Java City, owned River Rock. Keolanui was the general manager.

Within a month, they also hope to sign a lease for the space next door at 2330 J St., which most recently held a well-known breakfast spot called Cornerstone Restaurant, Keolanui said.

River Rock Cafe could open in a year focusing on coffee, tea and breakfast, but possibly offering over-the-counter lunch and dinner as well. A costly interior and exterior renovation would be done first.

The restaurants would be beverage-driven yet feature different menus. Keolanui would oversee the food at both spots. Steve Priley, who sold his interest in Sacramento-based Java City in 1993, would manage the coffee-roasting operation and its wholesale and retail coffee business. His son would manage the tap house's craft beers: 40 to start and another 30 down the road.

"Tony has always been a visionary and sort of a 'Rain Man' when it comes to beer," Keolanui said. "If Tony's the Rain Man of beer, his dad is the guru of coffee. He's the Gandhi of coffee. That guy has got a huge following. He talks a different language."

He opened Tex Mex on J Street about nine months ago as a new location for Texas Mexican Restaurant, which was facing closure as part of a K Street Mall redevelopment project. Tex Mex did well, but Keolanui wants to try something new, he said.

"I got kind of burnt out on the Mexican food scene," he said. "There are so many Mexican restaurants down here."

He said he knew he wanted to feature craft beers. Brian Bennett, who co-owns Paul Martin's American Bistro Restaurant in Roseville, came up with the idea for the "tap house" name and other ideas for the business, Keolanui said.

The list of beers is still being finalized. At least 80 percent will come from California and Oregon microbreweries. Classics like Guinness will also be on tap, Anthony Priley said.

West Coast brewers are developing their own style of high-quality beer using fresh hops grown nearby and more hops, which imparts more bitterness. Craft beer from the West Coast is gaining respect after developing its own style, just like California wines did in the 1970s and 1980s, he said.

"There's such quality and diversity right on the West Coast. It's a more aggressive style of beer than you find on the East Coast, in the Midwest or even internationally," Priley said.

"The flavor profile of traditional English beer is smoother and sweeter – less bitter. A softer mouth feel than something with a lot of hops. The difference would be sweetness compared to a bitter flavor profile."

They'll include many local beers from microbreweries such as Rubicon, Sudwerk in Davis, Roseville Brewing Company and Two Rivers Cider.

"I'm excited about the beer culture that's developing here," he said. "Sacramento is becoming a very well-known beer culture throughout the region."

Priley has persuaded six former employees to come back one or two days a week as tap masters – sort of beer sommeliers – at a small second bar to be added. They will help train and educate customers as well as Keolanui's existing staff about fine beer.

"It's going to be this crazy restaurant Brady Bunch kind of thing. Tony and I are the parents and we just got married," Keolanui said.

River Rock Tap House hours will be 11 a.m. to midnight daily.

The tap house will start with a small menu that may include some food from Tex Mex and the original River Rock, such as a fresh fish sandwich and smoked salmon salad. They'll introduce two or three new items each month and have food events driven by beer, such as ribs or brats and beer.

Items may include fried oyster nachos, crispy calamari with poblano sauce, summer grilled sausage with stone-ground mustard and a butcher's board of meats and cheeses.

"The food itself is going to pair wonderfully with the beer," Keolanui said. "I think people will be surprised at how well beer goes on the palate with those items."

Suzanne Hurt is a staff reporter for The Sacramento Press. Follow her on Twitter @SuzanneHurt.

Amber Stott: Living la vida locavore

2011-06-28T01:13:54Z

Sacramento locavore Amber Stott is documenting her life as a conscious consumer and her journey to eat as locally as she can with a food blog, Awake at the Whisk.

She said she likes to start each day, camera in hand, with a walk through the garden.

On a recent June morning, she snapped photos of plants in her backyard next to the American River.

Planter boxes were filled with watermelon, tomatillos, corn, squash, cucumbers, melons and peppers growing in various stages. She pushed aside leaves, peered under plants and squealed with joy when she found the first jalapeno of the season.

"With the garden, every single day there's something new. That's – for me – my favorite part of the day," she said.

"If I do it in the morning, I can get a sense of what's out there and what needs to be picked,” said Stott, who worked most recently at a local nonprofit. “And I can start brainstorming throughout the day about what to cook with it."

She started the blog in 2008. She describes Awake at the Whisk as a lifestyle guide filled with tips and ideas she's gleaned on her path through life. Her blog's tagline sums it up: "Living la vida locavore."

Stott posts gardening tips, what's in season, recipes, essays about life, and ideas on ways to protect the environment. She also does restaurant and book reviews and chef interviews.

She's been gardening all her life and cooking nearly as long. Stott grew up tending a big garden with her parents in rural Savanna, Ill., near the town of Galena. Her aunt and uncle had a well-known bakery in nearby Iowa.

Stott started cooking, baking and canning with her mother as far back as she can remember. She said she's loved to read and write all her life.

"My mom's a librarian. I always had a book in my hand. So if I wasn't in the yard or in the kitchen, I was reading," she said.

She majored in journalism in college but found the stories she wrote for the school newspaper bored her, until she got a chance to write features. She worked hard on an assignment to find the best coffee in her college town of Madison, Wis. – only to have most of her writing cut due to lack of space.

Devastated, she changed her major to literature, minored in women's studies and went to work in the nonprofit sector after college. She did grant writing, press releases and website content.

“I just was too young for that kind of rejection,” she said.

She let her own writing go as life got busy. Four or five years ago, something inside her awakened when she read New York Times food critic Ruth Reichl's book, "Garlic and Sapphires." Stott said before then she'd never thought about putting food together with writing.

She later learned Reichl had become a successful newspaper writer and author although she didn't have a journalism degree.

"It was like permission for me to write about food," she said.

Stott said she's been a locavore all her life. But there wasn't a name for it when she was growing up. Now, people are beginning to set guidelines for what that means – but those guidelines don't fit everyone, she said.

She said she realizes it's impractical to get everything from your own garden or a farmers market, especially when you're first starting off.

Stott recalled how little food she and husband Brendan, a geomorphologist who restores rivers and streams for a living, got from their garden the year she tried to grow everything from heirloom seeds. Heirlooms tend to be more disease-prone. Stott gardens organically and lost those plants to pests.

The couple bought a house on a quarter-acre so they could have a huge garden, with plenty of fruit trees, native flowering plants and beautiful nooks to hang out in.

"The most critical thing for me is to have space – nature – out my back door," she said.

Standing in her garden, Stott picked a few pungent leaves while pointing out herbs such as lemon grass, rosemary, orange bergamot mint and oregano growing thickly against the garage. Then she pulled stalks of rhubarb and took them to the kitchen.

Brendan built the main vegetable and herb garden. He handles the water system and composting and tends pollinator plants and fruit trees.

She plants and tends the garden, harvests and makes the food. Stott bakes and cooks using fresh, seasonal ingredients from her garden and local farms and ranches.

The couple's lifestyle reflects their shared commitment to the earth and making the world a better place, she said.

Her blog catches it all: Stott writes about what's going on in her garden, culinary experiences and other things she's interested in related to living on a healthy planet, such as honey bee colony collapse disorder.

Inside her Caribbean lime green-colored kitchen, she quickly hacked leaves and stem bases off stalks of rhubarb with a utility knife. Stott then grabbed her Canon digital camera and snapped a few photos of the stalks.

Using a handwritten family recipe handed down by her grandmother, she began simmering rhubarb sauce on the stove to make rhubarb pinwheels, one of her favorite desserts.

She does both writing and photography for her blog. She doesn't have a regular posting schedule, but said she tries to post once a week. She fits it in around work and other parts of her life.

Stott said she would like to increase the blog's readership and write a book. She doesn't have any ads on her blog, so she isn't making money with it. She plans to spend the summer exploring ways to do more writing and transition to writing for a living.

The blog has become an adventure – just like her life, living la vida locavore.

"It nurtures me. I've discovered all these other things I'm good at," she said. "It's just a celebration of the earth, but through food and through my life."

Suzanne Hurt is a staff reporter for The Sacramento Press. Follow her on Twitter @SuzanneHurt.

Midtown Squeeze Inn to open this fall

2011-06-09T01:15:51Z

This fall, Midtown Sacramento will finally get its own Squeeze Inn – home of the famous Squeeze Burger and Squeeze with Cheese.

Squeeze Inn employee Sabrina Nicola will open her first restaurant under the guidance of Squeeze Inn owners Travis and Vicki Hausauer. The Hausauers will be silent partners in the new restaurant expected to open in October on K Street.

Nicola, 25, will be the sole operator and will work under a licensing agreement with the couple, who bought the original Squeeze Inn on Fruitridge Road in 2001.

Both she and Travis Hausauer said she has learned a lot working behind the counter, starting out at the little old shack that first housed the Squeeze when she was 18 and working now at its Power Inn Road location.

"I think she'll do great. She's full of energy. She's great with people," he said. "She's been there for a long time. She's actually cooked at some point. So she really knows almost every aspect of the business."

The Hausauers operate the Power Inn Road restaurant. Their son, Brandon Hausauer, and his wife, Katie, operate the one in Galt. Other people run Squeeze Inns in West Sacramento, Napa and Roseville under a licensing agreement allowing them to use the restaurant’s name, menu and orange and red colors.

Nicola still works at the Squeeze Inn on Power Inn Road. She's been with the company for five and a half years, taking a year and a half off to travel around Europe. She worked at Squeeze Inn throughout college and also did a one-year stint at Table 260 in Elk Grove.

"Squeeze Inn used to be Sacramento's best-kept secret," she said Tuesday on a break at Squeeze Inn, 5301 Power Inn Road. "It's a very good business. It's been very good for Travis. He thinks it will be very good for me."

Hausauer became Nicola's mentor over the years. She graduated from Sacramento State three years ago. He taught her the only way to get ahead in life was to work for herself.

"He's like a second father to me," Nicola said.

She joked for years that she wanted to open her own Squeeze Inn. Hausauer encouraged her. She said she recently decided she was ready.

She found a spot at 1630 K St. in Pensione K. Infusion Cafe formerly operated there. A renovation may start in four to six weeks if plans are approved by the Planning Commission, she said.

Nicola wants to create the Squeeze Inn vibe there. She'll use the original menu, build a big counter that can seat at least a dozen people and decorate the interior in orange and red. There will be additional seating inside and patio seating on the sidewalk.

She'll add a few new menu items, such as an albacore tuna melt, chicken bites for kids and a Midtown Squeezesteak sandwich, a version of a Philadelphia cheesesteak. The restaurant will not serve beer or wine.

The Midtown location will be the only Squeeze Inn open on Sundays, but is likely to be closed Mondays. Tentative hours will be 11 a.m. - 9 p.m. Tuesday through Thursday, 11 a.m. - 11 p.m. Friday through Saturday and 11 a.m. - 6 p.m. Sunday.

Hausauer said he's excited Nicola is making her dream happen.

"She had her eye on the goal. It's finally coming to fruition for her," he said. "It's all about taking chances. If you don't take any chances, you don't go anywhere."

Suzanne Hurt is a staff reporter for The Sacramento Press. Follow her on Twitter @SuzanneHurt.

Gönül's J Street Cafe and Formoli's Bistro swap locations

2011-06-07T01:15:11Z

Two East Sacramento restaurants with Mediterranean roots – Gönül's J Street Cafe and Formoli's Bistro – are trading places this month.

Gönül's will be the first to open in its new location. After eight years near the corner of 39th and J streets, owner Gönül Blum will open just six blocks away at 3260 J St. on Wednesday.

In about two weeks, chef Aimal Formoli and wife Suzanne Ricci will reopen their restaurant in Blum's former space at 3839 J St.

Blum first made an offer to switch locations with the couple two years ago because she wanted to downsize her restaurant.

"I have way too much room that I don't use," Blum said. "I just wanted something cozy."

With the move, Blum's restaurant is undergoing a reincarnation to become Vanilla Bean Bistro. Blum said she changed the name of the restaurant because customers had a hard time remembering it when they wanted to recommend the place to friends.

She will launch the restaurant with a summer menu and an infusion of vanilla beans. Blum will keep the same menu, dropping just a couple dishes and adding two more.

She'll add desserts with a vanilla bean base, such as vanilla gelato and Meyer lemon and orange marmalade bread pudding, using oranges and lemons from citrus trees at her home. Blum also will add vanilla beans to organic teas made with herbs she picks from her garden.

On a cold, wet morning last week, she brewed a tea made with sprigs of lemon verbena, lemon balm and mint and a freshly cut lemon in a cast-iron pot on the stove in her sunny yellow kitchen.

"The tea that I have in the restaurant – people love it," she said. "You can get really addicted to it."

Blum was born and raised in Turkey. The Mediterranean bistro food is a mix of French, Italian and Turkish recipes all influenced by Blum's creativity and using organic ingredients from local farms.

Farmers who are now her friends call her regularly to let her know what's ripe and drop produce off every other day. Blum also uses merlot and chardonnay grapes and grape leaves from her home vineyard in her cooking.

In a few months, she'll begin working to see if she can add tables on the sidewalk in front. The hours will remain the same: 11 a.m. - 9 p.m., Monday through Thursday; 11 a.m. - 10 p.m., Friday and Saturday; and 8 a.m. - 9 p.m. Sunday.

Formoli and Ricci, who runs the front of Formoli's, recently decided they were ready to move the 3-year-old restaurant to a bigger space. They are trading a 1,300-square-foot location that seats about 42 people for one that is double in size. Their new spot can seat more than 60 inside and other people in a sidewalk cafe out front.

The new American and Mediterranean bistro will keep the same cooking style, with a menu that changes every two months. Dishes include a warm date salad, eggplant portabella Napolean, stuffed dates and a pan-seared petit filet.

The restaurant’s last day in its original location was June 1. Formoli and Ricci said hope to open within two weeks.

Hours will change slightly – they're adding Saturday lunch and will start Sunday brunch soon after opening. Lunch hours will be 11:30 a.m. - 2:30 p.m., Tuesday through Saturday. Dinner will be served from 5:30 - 9 p.m., Tuesday through Saturday, although the restaurant may stay open Friday and Saturday nights until 10 p.m.

A renovation is under way to change the yellow interior to an Italian or Mediterranean color scheme. They will also open up the kitchen, change bar seating and add new lighting. Having more space will allow them to add more kitchen equipment and have more than two people on the kitchen line.

That will also enable them to offer a farmers market brunch on Sundays, fresh baked bread from a pizza oven, more small plates and more desserts.

"I wanted to progress more as a chef," Formoli said. "The space I had was pretty limited."

Ricci said they're eager to expand the culinary offerings and be able to accommodate more customers while keeping the same ambiance and charming service.

"They put amazing food out. I want everyone to come in and get that experience," she said.

Suzanne Hurt is a staff reporter for The Sacramento Press. Follow her on Twitter @SuzanneHurt.

A new deli to fill your belly

2011-06-03T23:28:34Z

Midtown Deli is expected to open next week at the Alexan Midtown complex.

Subcontractor Butch Plank came up with the idea to open an upscale deli when working at the apartment complex while it was under construction in 2009 at the northeast corner of Alhambra Boulevard and S Street.

He plans to have a soft opening Monday and Tuesday, followed by a grand opening Wednesday.

Plank had a hard time finding sit-down restaurants nearby as he installed all the doors on 275 apartments at the site, which sits across from the California Department of Transportation.

The Sacramento Natural Foods Co-op, which is kitty-corner from the apartment complex, also has a deli with a dining area. But Plank wanted to open a full restaurant where people could relax without the bustle of the co-op.

"There was no place to eat down here," said Plank, who co-owns a door company, Michael Hopper Construction Company.

The Roseville resident also liked the neighborhood and the apartment complex itself. But he has no previous restaurant experience.

So Plank hired former Beach Hut Deli manager Jenny Hunt to manage the place after her brother, a plumber, introduced them. Hunt worked at a Beach Hut while growing up in Jackson and later managed several other Beach Huts.

"My only experience with delis was eating at them," Plank said.

Although the apartment complex was finished in January 2010, the corner space at 1899 Alhambra Blvd. had nothing more than a dirt floor inside when Plank decided to lease it last fall. The restaurant now holds booths with granite tables and other seating for 24, two wide-screen TVs and a new kitchen. A sidewalk patio will seat 14.

The restaurant will sell classic deli sandwiches, salads, paninis, wraps, soup, appetizers, beer and wine. It will also offer pastries and coffee for breakfast.

The hours will be 7 a.m. - 8 p.m. Monday through Thursday, 7 a.m. - 10 p.m. Friday and Saturday and 10 a.m. - 6 p.m. on Sunday.

Alexan Midtown Business Manager Megan Mier said office staff and tenants have been waiting eagerly for the deli to open.

"Our residents are very excited,” she said. “It'll be a great benefit for everyone.”

Suzanne Hurt is a staff reporter for The Sacramento Press. Follow her on Twitter @SuzanneHurt.

Handmade gelato, Italian cafe coming to Midtown

2011-06-02T01:05:49Z

An East Sacramento couple will open an Italian cafe specializing in handmade gelato and sorbetto in Midtown this summer.

Elizabeth and Brian McCleary decided to open Devine Gelateria & Cafe after she spent a month in Italy learning how to make the icy Italian confections. Elizabeth McCleary will operate the gelateria ("je LOT uhria") at 1221 19th St., where a Parisian boutique and cafe called Le Petit Paris closed last fall.

McCleary, who is part Italian, went through a four-level course to become a gelato maker at Carpigiani Gelato University near Bologna. She also spent a week working at the school's gelateria to get some real-life experience.

While there, an ABC TV crew interviewed her for a story about people making midlife career changes. But McCleary didn't decide to open a gelateria until long after returning home. She said she knew the shop would be a lot of work – but she also realized she really loved making Italy's ancient version of ice cream.

"It's just a different form of art and passion for me," she said. "For me, the love of making it, and having you bite into it and you love it – that's my reward. That's what drives me."

The couple wanted to open an authentic Italian cafe, which traditionally includes sandwiches, pastries, gelato and specialty coffees. Some cafes in Italy sell pizza rather than gelato, McCleary said.

They expect to open Devine in about five weeks.

McCleary worked as a media buyer at MeringCarson in Midtown and later co-owned another business.

She's been baking since age 12. But she didn't consider going into the food business until she, her husband and a friend talked about how she might change her career over dinner one night. The friend raved about gelato he'd sampled in Europe. Her husband had read about the school.

Opening gelaterias has been a trend for about five years. McCleary went through the school with about 40 people. Now others in her class are opening gelaterias in places such as Ottawa, Canada, and Singapore, she said.

She and a friend from Ottawa later learned advanced techniques in a three-day custom gelato course at PreGel America in North Carolina.

Now, McCleary knows the difference between gelato, sorbetto, sherbet and ice cream.

Gelato is a creamy, milk-based frozen dessert. Ingredients include milk, a little cream, sugar and natural flavors like chocolate, ground-up pistachio or vanilla bean, she said.

Sorbetto, or sorbet, is made with just fruit, water and sugar, which means it's dairy- and fat-free. Sherbet is a blend of the two, with a fruit base and a little milk and cream, but much less dairy than gelato.

Ice cream is mostly cream, a little milk, sugar and flavorings. A few gelatos and ice creams also include eggs.

Gelato is low-fat, with about a third of the fat and calories as most ice cream, she said.

She plans to sell 18 to 30 flavors of gelato, sorbetto and sherbet. She'll make traditional flavors such as dark chocolate, vanilla bean-infused vanilla and stratiatella, similar to chocolate chip. Her signature gelato will be mascarpone, which she learned to make in Italy.

"It is a big favorite of mine. I loved it so much, I couldn't stop eating it," she said.

McCleary will also rotate in specialty and seasonal flavors, such as pumpkin in the fall, peppermint in the winter, and in the summer, strawberry, peach and raspberry.

Gelatos have less air and more flavor than ice cream, partly because they're made with far less cream, which tends to coat the tongue and make it harder to taste flavor. Gelatos are also served at a warmer temperature, so tastebuds aren't frozen.

"You're not going to get brain-freeze from gelato," she said.

The cafe will also sell paninis, specialty coffees and homemade baked goods like cakes, pies, Italian biscotti and scones. She will buy the paninis from a local supplier but make nearly all other baked goods herself.

McCleary plans to offer desserts like her grandmother's pound cake, her dad's favorite pineapple upside down cake and her own Meyer lemon cheesecake. Her mother, Gloria DeMars, will help operate the shop.

The space is undergoing a complete renovation. Two kitchens are being added, including a "clean room" where only gelato, sorbetto and sherbet will be made.

Devine will be open 11 or 11:30 a.m. - 8 p.m. Tuesday through Thursday, 11 a.m. - 9 or 10 p.m. Friday and Saturday, and noon - 6 p.m. on Sunday. The shop will be closed Mondays.

Opening an authentic gelateria is expensive. New equipment alone costs $150,000 to $200,000. McCleary said she saved money by buying used equipment for a third of that from a Los Angeles shop that went out of business. The couple got loans and dipped into retirement savings to open the place.

"It's a big risk. I'm starting my life over," she said. "But I can't tell you how excited we are. My husband and I are excited and scared – all at the same time."

Suzanne Hurt is a staff reporter for The Sacramento Press. Follow her on Twitter @SuzanneHurt.

Food blogs growing in Sacramento

2011-05-30T19:56:37Z

Sacramento's growing food scene is being documented by an expanding community of local food bloggers.

The city and surrounding area have at least 30 blogs dedicated to two things all its residents have in common: food and eating.

Foodies can find blogs dedicated to cooking and eating locally, frugally, gluten-free or raw. There are also people who concentrate on baking, desserts, finding the best burger or even hunting and gathering ingredients.

"The world of food blogging is fascinating because there are so many camps," said Awake at the Whisk blogger Amber Stott.

"There are people who just do recipes. Then you've got people like Munchie Musings – she does a lot of restaurant reviews. It's more a melding of everything," Stott said.

"Then you've got people like me and Hank (Shaw), who are ultra-focused. If it's not local, I'm not writing about it."

Elise Bauer of Carmichael said she created the area's first food blog, Simply Recipes, and one of the first in the country in 2003. At that time, the only other food bloggers were writing from cities including San Francisco, Paris and New York.

"When I started, there were only a handful of food blogs in the whole world," Bauer said. "Now there are tens of thousands."

Today her blog has an international following of more than 5 million visitors a month.

The Sacramento area is home to other well-known food blogs, such as Shaw's Hunter Angler Gardener Cook, Garrett McCord's Vanilla Garlic, Kimberly Morales' Poor Girl Eats Well and Catherine Enfield's Munchie Musings.

Bloggers here write a lot about vegetarian and vegan cooking, eating less meat and eating locally sourced, seasonal food, said Lisa Howard, community manager of Sacramento Connect, a blogging network launched by The Sacramento Bee a little more than a year ago.

"I think that reflects a lot of the sensibilities in Northern California," Howard said. "I think Sacramento has some really good food writing."

Sacramento Connect has 20 to 22 food blogs among 140 blogging partners. Some food bloggers grew up baking and cooking with moms and grandmas and write about the family connection through cooking.

But there are others who blog for different reasons, such as the three guys behind RoSham Burger who started the blog as they searched for the region's best burger. They've since expanded the search to encompass the globe, Howard said.

"Blogging is big in Sacramento," she said. "What I love is it's a different genre than traditional journalism. So you get a different voice and a different perspective about what's going on in Sacramento."

Below are descriptions of 10 local blogs and a list of others. Food bloggers will be profiled each month on www.sacramentopress.com.

Awake at the Whisk
Conscious eater Amber Stott describes her blog with the tagline, "Living la vida Locavore." She focuses on eating, baking and cooking using fresh, seasonal ingredients from local farms and ranches and her own garden.

She writes about how to make a complete meal from the farmers market, personal gardening exploits such as trying to grow cilantro in Sacramento and what's in season. The blog also includes recipes, restaurant and book reviews, ways for consumers to take action and essays about life.

"When we eat with the seasons and from our local farmers, it's such a joyful experience. There's nothing better than buying a peach that is ready to burst from its skin," said Stott, who's also the director of development at Women Escaping A Violent Environment (WEAVE).

Baked Bree
Photographer Bree Hester started her recipe blog, Baked Bree, a little more than a year ago to show people how to cook. Hester had run her own portrait photography business and also launched the blog to have a part-time creative outlet as she raised three kids. Her blog now gets 250,000 page views a month, and she gets regular emails from other countries.

"I think one reason I didn't have a hard time getting a readership is everyone eats. People cook," she said.

With a husband in the Coast Guard, Hester leaves Tuesday for Fort Leavenworth, Kan. She's lived in five states and Canada in the last eight years. She said she'll miss having such easy access to fresh produce and other foods grown on nearby farms and ranches.

"I think California is a unique place because the ingredients here are unbelievable," she said. "Here I think we have such an opportunity to eat clean and eat well and eat local. The farmers markets here are unlike anything I've seen, and I've lived all over."

Hunter Angler Gardener Cook
Former political reporter Hank Shaw does more than share wild game recipes. He takes readers on his forays from field and stream to table on his wild food blog, Hunter Angler Gardener Cook. He started hunting in 2002 and now hunts or fishes for nearly all his meat.

His blog won an award for best blog from the International Association of Culinary Professionals in 2010 and was nominated twice for best food blog by the James Beard Foundation. He's currently on the road, touring to promote his new book, "Hunt, Gather, Cook: Finding the Forgotten Feast."

Kitchen Travels
The tagline of Kitchen Travels is, "Exploring the world, one taste at a time." Dawn Balzarano loves to travel and came up with the idea to start her blog in late 2009 because she wanted to experience the world through food.

"Even if I am not able to travel to the many places I want to visit, I can get a taste of those places by cooking a meal or baking a dessert from the region," she said.

As a working parent, her focus has shifted to her life and her kitchen, and how cooking and baking fit into that life. Her posts may tackle gardening, home canning or the holidays. Recipes range from Drunken Fig jam and sugar cookies to fried smelt and homemade pasta.

Munchie Musings
CalPERS employee Catherine Enfield is the "Ms. Munchie" behind Munchie Musings, a blog about food and life. The blog is one of the city's most influential food blogs, according to Howard. Enfield is a passionate advocate for food trucks in Sacramento, which she writes about often.

She also posts restaurant reviews from Sacramento and places she travels, keeps a foodie calendar and provides links to cooking schools and other blogs. She said she considers the blog she started in December 2007 to be a hobby, but she was named News10's blogger of the month in April. Her site gets 4,000 to 5,000 views a month.

Poor Girl Eats Well
Kimberly Morales created her blog in 2008 during what she describes as her worst personal recession. The blog focuses on how to eat healthy food even on an extremely limited budget. Recipes include hearty steak and red bean chili at $2 per serving and pork and apple fajitas at $3.50 per serving.

Posts may focus on how to save money by bringing a brown bag lunch to work once a week or what she was able to buy for $25 at a farmers market.

The Raw Project
Christine Allen is documenting her transition to a highly raw, whole-foods vegan diet on
The Raw Project. She blogged that she's been health- and weight-conscious since she was at least a teen. Her desire to lead a healthy life pushed her to begin eating more raw foods in July 2009. Her blog features many recipes, such as banana chocolate kale chips and mushroom burgers.

Sac Foodies
Sac Foodies is a collection of 14 bloggers and public relations professionals at Fleishman-Hillard Sacramento. The majority of the firm's clients work in the food and wine industries.

"We really live and breathe this stuff on a day-to-day basis," said blogger Liz Conant, a senior account executive with the company.

The blog was started in 2007 by about seven employees as a way to contribute to the local food blog scene and to connect with other bloggers. The site focuses on Sacramento-area restaurant reviews, recipes and local events. Almost everyone in the office contributes to the blog.

"They're almost by default a member of Sac Foodies," Conant said.

Simply Recipes
Elise Bauer launched what’s believed to be Sacramento's first food blog, Simply Recipes, in 2003. She started the blog to maintain a positive focus and keep herself busy after becoming so sick from chronic fatigue that she needed to move back in with her parents.

Then 42, she realized working as a Silicon Valley consultant hadn't given her time to learn to cook. Her parents are both great cooks, and she realized she had a great opportunity to learn to cook from them. She also wanted to save family recipes. She got her own house nearby a year ago.

More than 100,000 people from as far away as Australia and New Zealand now read her blog each day. Bauer moved the cooking to her kitchen in Carmichael and hired food blogger Hank Shaw of Hunter Angler Gardener Cook to experiment and develop new recipes with her.

Vanilla Garlic
Pastry chef and food writer Garrett McCord operates one of Sacramento's longest-running blogs, Vanilla Garlic. Since 2006, his essays and posts have revolved around food, eating and life. He focuses heavily on desserts and cheese. McCord is a contributing writer at Edible Sacramento and writes the weekly "Food Stuff" for the Sacramento News & Review.

Other local food blogs include:
Adventures of a Food & Wine Diva
Appetizers
Cakegrrl
Chucrute com Salsicha
Dessert for Two
Elaine Baker's Pastry Playground
Everything Rachael Ray
Gluten Free Adventures
Just the Two of Us
Michael Tuohy's All About Food
Peanut Butter Boy
Rookie Cookery
Sacatomato
SacRag
Sacramento Spice
Undercover Caterer
Yumtacos
RoSham Burger
Crazy for crust
52 kitchen adventures

Suzanne Hurt is a staff reporter for The Sacramento Press. Follow her on Twitter @SuzanneHurt.

Garlic Shack expects June opening

2011-05-27T23:59:11Z

The Garlic Shack is expected to open in Midtown in about two weeks once a renovation and inspections are complete, the restaurant's owner said Friday.

The opening was delayed by more than two months to bring in engineering services needed for the installation of a 17-foot-wide sliding glass garage door that will dominate the front of the building.

Sacramento County building inspectors wanted the installation plans drawn up for the space on a busy corner at 19th and J streets.

The door will be installed in two parts with a two-foot supporting pillar in the middle. An engineer was called in to ensure the installation will leave the building structurally sound, owner Ken Powers said.

"Everybody just wanted to make sure the building isn't going to fall," Powers said.

The door will open onto a patio facing J Street. The inside dining room will grow slightly after a server station leftover from former tenant Plum Blossom was reduced in size. A soffit or architectural feature that hung from the ceiling was also removed to open up the interior.

"It feels a lot brighter in there – and a lot bigger," Powers said.

On Friday, he and workers were clearing space in the kitchen so a new griddle and charbroiler can be installed next week.

The under-$15 menu at Garlic Shack will include plenty of – you guessed it – garlic.

He said he hopes to open the restaurant by Saturday, June 11, or within a few days of that. The restaurant must first pass final inspections by Sacramento County building and health inspectors and the Sacramento Fire Department, which will determine exact capacity.

The restaurant will be open from 11 a.m. - 10 or 11 p.m. Sunday through Thursday and until 3 a.m. Fridays and Saturdays. However, Powers said he may put out a neon sign that says, "Open 'til whenever" and add breakfast down the road.

In a year, the restaurant may even be open 24 hours a day from Thursday through Sunday night, he said.

Powers and the building owner chose colors to make the corner vibrant and draw customers. The interior has been painted green and red. The exterior, which was brown and red, is being repainted blue and avocado green.

"I don't want to be rocking brown paint with red out here," he said.

A customer at a business across the street recently commented on the new color palette, according to Powers.

"He said, 'It looks like Miami over there,' " Powers added. "Just trying to make Midtown feel good."

Suzanne Hurt is a staff reporter for The Sacramento Press. Follow her on Twitter @SuzanneHurt.

Clark's Corner takes over landmark home of Shakey's pizza

2011-05-19T00:28:54Z

An East Sacramento native is taking over the corner building that was home to the original Shakey's Pizza Parlor and later Sweetwater – turning what was most recently The Corner Restaurant & Bar into Clark's Corner.

New owner Clark Branscum grew up playing Little League baseball in East Sacramento and chowing down on Shakey's Pizza at 57th and J streets after games.

Branscum spent five years in San Francisco, where he was a partner in two Marina District establishments: a restaurant and bar called U Street Lounge on Union Street and Kelley's Tavern on Fillmore Street.

Now 30, Branscum recently bought The Corner Restaurant & Bar business and building after the previous owner decided to focus on acting. Branscum is remodeling the space and plans to open Clark's Corner there as his first solo venture on May 27.

"It's kind of an iconic landmark in East Sacramento. There's always been a restaurant in that building since there was a Shakey’s," Branscum said. "It's nice to come full circle and to own the place I used to go to after baseball games as a kid."

In 1954, Sherwood "Shakey" Johnson – who got his nickname from nerve damage caused by malaria contracted during World War II – and his partner, Ed Plummer, opened the first Shakey's Pizza at the site of a former grocery store at 5641 J St.

Joyce and Jerry Thompson bought the building and operated the Shakey's Pizza Parlor in the early 1990s. A fire in the late 1990s closed the business and the building lay vacant. The family later reopened the place as East End Bar & Grille, then sold the business to another operator who opened Sweetwater Restaurant and Bar.

After Sweetwater moved, Jerry and son Joel opened "The Corner" on Oct. 4, 2009, as partners. Joel Thompson developed the concept and operated the restaurant and bar.

The family put the business and building up for sale after Thompson's acting career blossomed. The ability to own the building into which he'd pour remodeling money sold Branscum on opening his business there.

He also considered the corner location that formerly housed Cornerstone at 2330 J St., and Le Petit Paris at 1221 19th St., which closed in September 2010.

Remodeling those locations would have cost far more than Branscum was willing to spend as a tenant, he said.

"This is a risky industry. It's harder if you don't own the building," Branscum said this week while at a restaurant supply shop with Executive Chef Marlaw Seraspi.

He also liked the building's location and friendly neighborhood vibe, as well as its history and place in his childhood.

The Corner’s last day of business was May 11.

Branscum is doing a minor remodel inside and overhauling a 1,600-square-foot patio he described as a hidden gem. He's giving the patio street visibility by removing bushes, trees and a wooden fence. He's installing an iron lattice fence with a gate for street access and raising a canopy to allow more sunlight into the space.

New furniture, landscaping and potted plants are being added. Branscum plans to add a waterwall – a water feature running down a wall – and a fire pit within the next few months. Dogs will be welcome out there, said Branscum, who has a golden Labrador retriever.

"It's just a gem of a patio,"he said. "I don't believe you should waste a single square foot in your restaurant."

The exterior will get a touchup with new paint and awnings. The interior will be repainted in light neutrals. New carpet will be installed and bathrooms will get makeovers. The dining room will be reconfigured by removing a partition. A new pizza oven and other kitchen appliances are being added.

"We're getting the kitchen all tricked out the way we like it," said Branscum, who attended the California Culinary Academy.

The menu of classic American and pub food is still being finalized. Items include roasted beet salad with hazelnuts, goat cheese and a sherry orange vinaigrette; a pulled pork sandwich with chipotle mayonnaise, local cheddar cheese and pickled veggies; and pan-roasted petrale sole.

Clark's Corner will be open daily from 11 a.m. - 2 a.m. The kitchen will likely close at 10 p.m. Sunday through Wednesday. The bar may also close early Sunday through Wednesday if no one is there. A cook will be working until 2 a.m. Thursday, Friday and Saturday so the kitchen can serve food until the bar closes, Branscum said.

Suzanne Hurt is a staff reporter for The Sacramento Press. Follow her on Twitter @SuzanneHurt.

New owners reopen La Bonne Soupe Café

2011-05-12T01:11:35Z

French chef Daniel Pont has passed his tiny La Bonne Soupe Café on to a couple who bring the same passion for French cookery.

Chef Ed Stoddard and his fiancée, Leah Brown, are not related to 72-year-old Pont, who sold them the downtown soup and sandwich shop he created and operated on his own for six years. Nor are they French.

Starting Monday, the Midtown couple will continue to offer the same gastronomic experience, following in Pont's footsteps as closely as they can. Stoddard describes the food as good, honest French cooking and the place itself as a French cookery.

"A cookery is a place where you don't just go to eat food. You go there to meet people and learn about food," he said. "This food does take a long time to cook – but it's worth it."

Pont retired April 29 after owning five restaurants and spending more than 50 years in the industry. Zagat rated his French onion soup at La Bonne Soupe Café as the best in the world in 2009. If he comes out of retirement, he said he would have a staff to work alongside him. He sold the café's concept, name and equipment.

Perhaps most surprising is that Stoddard and Brown found La Bonne Soupe Café in time to buy the business.

They discovered the café through an ad on Craigslist. But the description and location were so vague, they had no idea what it was until talking with Pont. They didn't really know much about the restaurant or its huge following. La Bonne Soupe Café is hidden behind a modest storefront at 920 Eighth St. on an obscure downtown block.

Several others also wanted to buy the café. Two people later made offers to buy the business from the couple. Stoddard believes his commitment to good French cooking and the way he makes stock with roasted bones and meat convinced Pont to sell the café to them.

Stoddard and Brown replaced a sink and art on the walls, but little else. La Bonne Soupe Café had a soft re-opening Monday and Tuesday.

However, problems with a refrigerator, meat slicer and plumbing cropped up Wednesday morning. The couple posted a sign on the door and temporarily closed the café to give them time to repair or buy a new commercial fridge, repair plumbing, replace a second sink and buy a heavy-duty slicer.

The café's charming yellow and red interior and even the phone number – 492-9506 – will stay the same.

The small menu of $4 soups, $6-$7 sandwiches and $5 salads will seem nearly identical. The new menu will keep a customer favorite, Pont's brie and prosciutto sandwich, a variation of Pont's famous French onion soup, and braised meat sandwiches. The rest will be variations of Pont's offerings. Stoddard will reintroduce wild game such as boar and antelope to the menu.

The dishes will be based on his own recipes, with improvisation. The café won't use any of Pont's recipes.

"You don't buy the chef," Stoddard said.

The locavore restaurant will reflect the couple's commitment to eating locally produced food. The dishes will be made using only organic produce, with Stoddard picking up 90 percent of the produce at local farmers markets or ethnic food stores.

Meats from free-range animals will come from local and non-local sources. He'll travel to the Bay Area to buy fresh seafood for soups and sandwiches each week.

The food will also have "integrity." If the menu says it came from a certain location or company, it does, Stoddard said.

He and Brown are working out a plan to deliver groceries at night by car and bike or skateboard to work downtown each day.

Stoddard has worked in restaurants since he was 13, when he cut wood for a restaurant in an upstate New York spa town, Ballston Spa. At 16, he began apprenticing with a chef who taught him to cook. Stoddard returned to the restaurant business after a stint in the Marine Corps.

He moved to Sacramento in 1991 to train as a sous chef in the kitchen at the private Capitol Club in the Renaissance Tower – just steps away from his new location. Stoddard also worked at Bernice's Cookery and Ella in Sacramento. He developed the menus and was the catering chef at Morgan Creek Golf Club in Roseville.

La Bonne Soupe Café is his first restaurant. Two changes they'll implement: the café will now be a two-person operation, and Brown, the general manager, will deliver meals to tables after taking orders at the small counter.

Customers can still watch the chef in action just behind the counter.

"People like to see the cook cut things – just put on a show," he said. "Everybody's going to see my secret sauce."

They still expect a line to form inside and outside down the sidewalk. Stoddard hopes to hire a classical guitarist to play for customers during lunch once or twice a week.

The couple will add a second outside table but keep just six small tables inside. They'd like to add a sidewalk produce stand. The hours initially will be just slightly extended, from 10:30 a.m. - 3 p.m. Monday through Friday.

Within two months, Stoddard and Brown hope to add breakfast and coffee and open at 7:30 a.m. They also may open on Saturdays. For now, Stoddard is offering guerrilla or underground dining on Saturday nights: Parties of up to 20 people can reserve the spot for private dinners.

Pont is still very much a part of the place. He stopped by with his family Sunday night. He wanted to check on them as they prepared for their soft opening the next morning.

"He said, 'You better be serious,' " Stoddard recalled. "He just cares so much."

Suzanne Hurt is a staff reporter for The Sacramento Press. Follow her on Twitter @SuzanneHurt.

Chefs compete in Iron Chef-style contest

2011-04-28T01:28:29Z

Six chefs. Five secret ingredients. Three dishes. Forty-five minutes. While hundreds watch.

That's what's happening Friday when the Celebrity Chef Challenge by InAlliance takes place in Sacramento. Half a dozen local chefs will compete in this Iron Chef-style cook-off that raises money to help people with developmental disabilities.

The nonprofit's ninth annual chef challenge will be much more spontaneous than other types of cooking contests because no one will know what the secret ingredients are until minutes before the event begins. The chefs are planning to have a good time in this friendly competition.

"It's going to be fun," said Evan's Kitchen owner Evan Elsberry. "We're going to put on a good show."

Elsberry will take the stage in a lion costume – joining his sous chef, Michael Steele, who will be dressed as a lamb. While the theme song "Born To Be Wild" plays, Steele will prance around until Elsberry the lion takes out a fake pistol and pretends to shoot. Lamb chops will be served at the East Sacramento restaurant's booth at the event.

He will be going up against Richard Pannell of Cuisine Noir magazine, Mark Liberman of Black Sheep Butchery, Ramiro Alarcón of Tequila Museo Mayahuel, Jim Turknett of the Vizcaya and Keith Richardson of Colusa Casino.

About 600 people are expected to watch as the chefs use five mystery ingredients in three dishes they create on stage. Starting at 6:30 p.m. and spaced 15 minutes apart, the chefs have 45 minutes to prepare and plate their dishes. They'll then have 10 minutes to present and explain the dishes to six judges also on stage, said event organizer Jessica Bean, public relations coordinator for InAlliance.

The chefs will also have booths in the event's food, wine and beer show from 5:30 - 9:30 p.m. at the California Auto Museum, 2200 Front St.

More than 100 restaurants, wineries and breweries will provide samples of their wares. Three pastry chefs will be set up in three different locations in a separate pastry competition.

The chefs will all have access to a pantry with basic ingredients such as flour, eggs, spices and fresh produce. They can bring sauces, oils and rubs they’ve made. But if they bring any other ingredients not in the pantry, they’ll have to share with the other chefs, Bean said.

Minutes before the cooking begins, the competitors will be told what secret ingredients must be included in the dishes. The ingredients include a meat, seafood, fruit, vegetable and a "wild card.” They’re encouraged to use as many secret ingredients as they can, she said.

The chefs are given a four-burner stove top, convection oven and assistance from one sous chef.

Russell Michel, the winner in 2010, found he had to slightly alter his game plan in last year's competition after one of the secret ingredients turned out to be goat leg meat. He used another secret ingredient – papaya – to braise and quickly tenderize the meat, then served that on crostini with black truffle goat cheese, white truffle oil and red Alaea Hawaiian sea salt.

"What fun that was!" said Michel, executive chef at the Sheraton Grand Sacramento and its Morgan's Central Valley Bistro.

The competitors didn't want to give all their secrets away before Friday. A few were willing to share some of their plans.

Pannell has been cramming for the challenge by watching competitions on the Food Network and practicing presentations in the kitchen. He's watching to see what's thrown at chefs and how they present.

"I'm in training," said Pannell, who was the chef at Table 260 until the downtown Sacramento restaurant closed a month ago. He operates Pannell Quizine Catering. His cousin, Sam Pannell, was married to City Councilwoman Bonnie Pannell.

He said he may have an advantage over the other chefs because his cooking doesn't have to represent a restaurant's menu or personality. Pannell said he hopes to get an edge with an array of international cuisine or fusion cooking that might mix southern-based food with another culture.

"My strategy is basically to go around the world (with the dishes). I figure I can go anywhere – from the Caribbean to Italy, Mexico, Africa or Asia," he said. "I have the freedom to be very eclectic and very open."

Liberman will use experience picked up at competitions like the Bocuse d'Or USA in New York or at restaurants such as San Francisco's La Folie and the Joël Robuchon Restaurant in Las Vegas.

He'll bring ingredients and equipment such as knives, a handheld blender and a thermal immersion circulator used to make waterbaths. He'll also bring half a dozen spoons of different shapes and sizes stolen from restaurants where he's worked to commemorate his time there.

"I'm kind of a klepto with the spoons," he said. "I love my spoons. It's pretty much an extension of my hand at this point."

The judges are Russell Michel, Guy Farris of Sacramento & Co., Michael Anthony of SacDine.com, Alex Lane of Yelp, state Assemblyman Roger Dickinson, Bryan May of News10 and Melissa Crowley of News10 Good Morning.

The chefs are encouraged to make an appetizer, entrée and desert because they’re judged on the three dishes as a whole. They’re also judged on taste, quality, originality, creativity, overall presentation, personality and theatrics.

The winner takes home a medal and bragging rights. Organizers hope to raise $40,000 to $60,000, Bean said.

The chefs are trying to decipher two clues sent out this week about the secret ingredients. The first clue was that Colombian pastry chef Carlos Sanchez was responsible for the success of a certain ingredient for nearly four decades.

Elsberry will bring staples from his kitchen, such as favorite herbs, stocks and marinades. Thursday night, he'll start reducing what he described as a "killer super stock" that will go with chicken, beef or pork.

"There's really not too much you can do until you know the ingredients," he said. "I'm pretty crazy. I should be able to figure something out."

Fresh from Jalisco: New Midtown taqueria

2011-03-22T00:02:50Z

A pair of Roseville taquerias called Jalisco Fresh Mexican Grill have become so popular that their owner has opened another in Midtown Sacramento.

Fans were driving from as far away as the foothill towns of Nevada City, El Dorado Hills and Auburn to get to the family-owned restaurants in Roseville. Some pleaded with owner Ramon Arias to launch his next taqueria in Auburn so they wouldn't have to travel so far for the tacos, burritos and fajitas.

"They said, 'You should open another taco house,' " Arias, 42, said Monday. "We didn't think there were enough people over there (in Auburn) to keep our business open. I thought Sacramento was better."

Arias and his family opened the third Jalisco Fresh last Monday at the corner of 19th and S streets in the R Street Marketplace. The Mexican eatery has taken over the spot at 1831 S St. vacated by Daphne's Greek Cafe last summer.

A native of Guadalajara in Jalisco, Arias came to the United States in 1984. He went to work at a turkey farm in Sonoma County, where he became the manager. He worked there 16 years before opening his first restaurant in Concord in 2000. He later sold it and moved to Roseville.

Arias opened the first Jalisco Fresh Mexican Grill at 9050 Fairway Drive in Roseville in 2003. He opened a second there three years later at 5180 Foothills Blvd.

His three daughters, who were born in California, came up with the name for the restaurant. The family travels back to his home state of Jalisco every year or two to visit his parents and get spoiled by his mother's cooking, he said.

The restaurants use recipes handed down by Arias' mother and grandmother and others from Guadalajara or the Jalisco region. The burritos and fajitas – made with his mother's recipe – are the most popular, Arias said.

"We do it our own way," he said. "People just love those things."

The menu includes tacos, burritos, tostadas, quesadillas, seafood, soup and plates ranging from $2.25 for a small taco to $14.99 for a beef-and-shrimp fajitas. The counter-service restaurant serves breakfast, which on weekend mornings includes Menudo. Beer, horchata and aguas frescas are also served.

His wife, Leticia Arias, brothers Jose and Alejandro, and his oldest daughter, 20-year-old Leidi, help out at the restaurants. The Midtown space underwent a renovation, with a green interior being repainted in terra cotta and pale yellow. The restaurant seats about 50 inside and 20 on an outside patio.

Jalisco Fresh is open daily from 10 a.m. – 9 p.m. They're still determining how late they need to stay open as news of the restaurant's opening spreads, Arias said.

"Weekdays is going good," he said. "Weekends is quiet. Nobody knows that we're there."

Suzanne Hurt is a staff reporter and photographer at The Sacramento Press. Follow her on Twitter @SuzanneHurt.

Gourmet bakery TreyBCakes opens in Midtown

2011-03-10T02:50:38Z

The owner of TreyBCakes – rhymes with "baby cakes" – made good on a dream inspired by his grandfather when he opened the gourmet bakery and eatery Monday.

Trey Luzzi, 34, just started his first business at 19th and L streets with plenty of help from his relatives. Recipes, family stories and a love of food have been handed down for generations on both sides of his family.

George Lunsford, the grandfather who showed him how much fun cooking and entertaining could be, died five years ago. But the rest of Luzzi's family has done everything they can to help launch TreyBCakes at 1801 L St. in Midtown.

"It's a family affair," said Luzzi Wednesday as his sister, Tami Adge, ate lunch at a table next to him. "This is what I've thought about for 25 years."

TreyBCakes offers sweet and savory foods. Pastry chefs Jenni Brewster and Steven Facio arrive at 2:30 a.m. to make desserts, which include cakes, cupcakes, brownies, cookies, fruit tarts and fresh, seasonal pies.

Savories include sausage or bacon breakfast sandwiches, salads, soup, quiche, three sandwiches (steak, chicken and meatball) and "stud muffins." Brewster, who has helped many local bakeries open, created the stud muffins, baking meatloaf in puff pastry with a mashed potato, parmesan cheese and bacon topping. It's now their top seller, Luzzi said.

His other grandparents, Betty and Fred Luzzi Jr., put their house up as collateral so he could get a business loan. Betty Luzzi, 81, taught the two pastry chefs how to make her special red cake and its complicated butter cream frosting. Fred Luzzi, 90, restained all the tables.

Luzzi’s father, Fred Luzzi III, helped him redo the floors and install Sheetrock and tile on the walls. His mother, Kathy, did interior decorating and shared family recipes.

His retired father volunteers behind the counter, while cousin Staci Moitoso is the restaurant manager. His mother often comes in to help.

It was his parents, in fact, who suggested he open a high-end bakery when he resigned after 14 years working for the state of California.

Starting with the state at age 18 – working full-time while going to college full-time at night – Luzzi worked his way up until he was hired as deputy cabinet secretary to Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger. He was later appointed to revamp the Department of Corrections' compliance department.

"It was time to go in a different direction," he said. "I thought, 'Now's the time to fulfill a dream.’ "

But Luzzi, who describes himself as a workaholic, had started even earlier in the restaurant industry. At 14, he took a cooking class with chef Kurt Spataro and then worked as a prep cook at his restaurant on Sundays. Luzzi later prepped salads and desserts at Zinfandel Grille on Fair Oaks Boulevard.

Both sides of the family are Italian. So family gatherings and memories have always involved plenty of food.

His grandfather, Lunsford, developed the recipes for sausage and banana cream pie sold at TreyBCakes. But "Popi," as he was known to grandchildren, also encouraged Luzzi to one day open his own place.

"At that time, I wanted to open a restaurant. That's what I wanted to do with my life," Luzzi said.

He chose a vacant space next to Ginger Elizabeth Chocolates in Sotiris Kolokotronis' mixed-use complex containing retail and residences. Suite 70 previously held Freddric Bradford, a home decor store.

The bakery cafe is bright and airy, with walls in pale yellow and brick red, nearly floor-to-ceiling windows and European-style decorative ceiling panels. Pendant lights hang above a granite counter decorated with orchids.

The L-shaped dining room has seating for at least 40. Luzzi is working on permits for outdoor seating, where dogs will be welcomed with treats and water.

He's also applied for a beer and wine license. He wants to feature wine and dessert pairings, such as a wine and dessert flight pairing bite-sized desserts with an ounce of wine. He might offer chocolate-covered strawberries with champagne, chocolate ganache cake with port and fruit basket cake with white wine. The price would probably be $8 to $10.

"Prices have to be fair," he said.

TreyBCakes also sells high-end Vaneli's coffee, tea and gelato such as honey lavender and white mint. Hours are 7 a.m. - 10 p.m. Monday through Thursday, 7 a.m. - 1 a.m. Friday and 9 a.m. - 1 a.m. Saturday.

As for the name of the business: a friend gave Luzzi the nickname years ago, rhyming it with "babycakes," and the name stuck. He's now had the name trademarked.

"Everybody calls me TreyBcakes," Luzzi said.

Suzanne Hurt is a staff reporter and photographer at The Sacramento Press. Follow her on Twitter @SuzanneHurt.

Blue Prynt to open at 11th and H

2011-03-05T00:30:34Z

Sacramento chef Jason Lockard is drawing up plans to entice customers to his new restaurant and bar, Blue Prynt, expected to open this month.

The 30-year-old will use social media marketing, drink specials and tie-ins to popular community events to attract clientele to a somewhat hidden spot where several restaurants have failed.

Lockard, who has been the chef at Brew It Up! for seven years, is opening his first business inside the Best Western Sutter House at 11th and H streets.

After Sofia restaurant closed in that location last September, Lockard is developing plans for events and specials to coincide with the Second Saturday Art Walk and Friday Night Concerts in the Park at nearby Cesar Chavez Plaza.

"Right now, we're kind of on the edge of everything," he said.

Second Saturday events are concentrated in Midtown. He wants to team up with Naked Lounge across the street to expand Second Saturday events to their area. Lockard is working out logistics to host a farmers market, art show, wine tastings and live music starting at 3 p.m. on second Saturdays.

The market will start small, with a few farmers' stands on a front patio and inside a small banquet room beginning in early April. He said he hopes to get the city's permission to close off the parking lot at 815 11th St. so a larger farmers market can be set up there.

He hopes to hold art show openings featuring as many as four to five artists and set up live bands to play in the evening on Second Saturdays. The Citrus Heights resident is also talking with a local farm to see if the restaurant can be a drop off/pick up spot for residents who want monthly produce deliveries.

The restaurant will offer lunch and dinner with an emphasis on quick, affordable lunches for downtown workers.

The menu of appetizers, sandwiches and entrées includes American and French dishes such as crab cake canapés, a blackened pork tenderloin sandwich, burgers, chicken cordon bleu, flat iron steak, fish and chips, and wild mushroom risotto. Prices currently range from $6.99 to $23.99.

Lockard said he will also promote banquet facilities and happy hour to draw customers to linger after work when downtown often empties.

He hopes to turn Blue Prynt into an after-hours spot to bring customers over from Friday night concerts two blocks away. A DJ or band will provide music. The bar will announce drink specials via social media and pass out fliers at Cesar Chavez Park, he said.

"Those things will snowball real quick if sent to the right people and it's a good enough deal," said Lockard, adding that he may launch Friday night specials before the Concerts in the Park begin in May.

The name, "Blue Prynt," is a nod to one of his two investors, who is an engineer. "Prynt" is spelled with a "y" so a martini glass could take the place of that letter, Lockard said.

His father, 52-year-old John Lockard of Auburn, was at the restaurant last week to help get the place up and running. The interior is undergoing some redecorating, with retextured walls, new light fixtures and new paint featuring blue accents. A small lounge area with two new flat-screen TVs has been set up near one of the two bars.

He expects to hold a soft opening within seven to 10 days, once a liquor license is approved – with a full opening March 21. Hours will be 10:30 a.m. - 10 p.m. Sunday through Thursday and 10:30 a.m. - midnight Fridays and Saturdays.

Lockard has worked in restaurants for half his life – starting out as a 15-year-old dishwasher at Headquarter House in Auburn. He's getting a chance to use everything he's learned to create his own establishment, he said.

"I've seen a few things that work and I've seen a few things that haven't," he said. "I think I know what people want: quality, comfort and good value."

Suzanne Hurt is a staff reporter for The Sacramento Press. Follow her on Twitter @SuzanneHurt.

Garlic Shack brings zesty flavor to Midtown

2011-02-19T02:14:12Z

A late-night eatery celebrating the virtue and flavor of garlic is expected to open soon on J Street – replacing Plum Blossom, which mysteriously closed this week.

The Garlic Shack will offer a funky, low-key vibe, with an under-$15 menu starring garlic in everything from Caribbean rice bowls and burgers to dessert, said owner Ken Powers.

"It's going to be a fun place to come eat some food, drink some beer," he said. "Almost everything we have will have garlic in it."

After 20 years in the food industry, Powers is opening his first restaurant on a prime Midtown corner at 18th and J streets. The Sierra foothills resident has mainly worked at restaurants in the foothills and the Sierra Nevada, such as the restaurant at Rainbow Lodge. He also owns a garden store in Lake of the Pines.

On Friday afternoon, Powers and a crew of workers were busy cleaning and preparing for a renovation. A garage door will be installed in front, and a server station will be removed from the dining room. The restaurant will be able to seat 50 to 60 people inside and about 20 outside, with an indoor-outdoor dining room when the garage door is open, he said.

The interior will be painted gold and different shades of red. Powers is hiring Sacramento artist Mikey Dwitt, who’s also a tattoo artist, to paint a giant garlic man in silver and white on an interior wall and possibly smaller "garlic dudes" in a bunch of other places.

"It'll be really sweet," Powers said.

No one could be tracked down to explain why Plum Blossom closed. Signs were put up as early as Tuesday announcing the Asian restaurant had closed.

The Midtown Business Association hasn't been able to locate the business owners or the owners of the property.

"We heard nothing. I was completely surprised when I walked by," MBA Executive Director Rob Kerth said Friday.

The Garlic Shack's menu is still being developed and will include vegetarian items, soups, salads, rice bowls, burgers, entrees, appetizers and dessert. Items include a Caribbean rice bowl featuring pork, yams and black beans; a portabello Reuben with mushrooms replacing meat and garlic cheesecake. The items will range from $3 to $14.

The Garlic Shack is expected to open in mid- to late March. The restaurant will be open daily. Hours will be 11 a.m. - 10 p.m. Sunday through Wednesday or Thursday. Hours on Friday and Saturday, and possibly Thursday, will be 11 a.m. - 2 a.m. or "whenever people stop coming in," Powers said.

He hopes to create a "very homey" ambiance for diners with details like serving beer in tall cans, which he's still exploring to see if he can make happen.

"We want to make you feel at home," he said.

Suzanne Hurt is a staff reporter for The Sacramento Press. Follow her on Twitter @SuzanneHurt.

Star Ginger opens next week

2011-01-19T01:08:23Z

Lemon Grass Restaurant owner and cookbook author Mai Pham is expanding her culinary empire to new regions, with a different name and broader-range cuisine.

Pham said she expects to open her newest restaurant, Star Ginger, in East Sacramento on Jan. 25. She's also working on plans to open more Star Gingers on the East Coast in the next year or two.

She cooked up Star Ginger as a modern, pan-Asian dining concept that would allow her to widen the menu to include more Asian cuisines while offering quicker daytime service.

"As I cooked over the years and as my horizon expanded.... I became enamored with other Asian cuisines," Pham said.

The former TV reporter and public relations professional launched her career in the food industry by opening Lemon Grass Restaurant, featuring Vietnamese and Thai fine dining in Sacramento's Arden-Arcade neighborhood in the late 1980s. She cooked what she knew, serving customers food from her homeland, Vietnam, and dishes she learned growing up in Thailand. Her family had fled Vietnam in 1975 after the fall of Saigon.

Pham later developed a scaled-down eatery with faster service called Lemon Grass Asian Grill & Noodle Bar, and opened two of them on nearby Howe Avenue and at the Sacramento International Airport.

She wrote or co-wrote three cookbooks and developed the curriculum to teach Southeast Asian cooking at the Culinary Institute of America. As she gained more national exposure, Pham's interests widened. She said she wanted to expand her menus after exploring Southeast Asia's mother cuisines from China and India.

The "Lemon Grass" name has become too common, so Star Ginger was developed as a unique brand, said Derrick Fong, chief executive officer of the Lemon Grass Restaurant Group.

Pham opened the first Star Gingers on college campuses, starting with the University of Massachussetts Amherst in 2006, followed by others at Stanford University and the University of California, Berkeley. Located in commercial food courts or in dorm dining halls, the eateries are run by the universities or a food service company. Pham developed the menus and recipes, Fong said.

Two more may open this year at Emory University in Atlanta and UC Davis, although the latter may be housed in a food truck, Pham said.

Sacramento's first Star Ginger Asian Grill & Noodle Bar will be opened at the corner of Folsom and Alhambra boulevards, on the border of Midtown. The restaurant will be Pham's first in the central city.

Star Ginger will feature a small menu that focuses heavily on street foods such as soup and noodles, plus other dishes from Southeast Asia, China, India and Japan.

To speed lunchtime service, the restaurant will offer only counter service during the day and table service from a wait staff after 5 p.m., said Tina Weinmeister, a culinary and marketing project manager with Be Our Guest Consulting.

The restaurant will open at 3101 Folsom Blvd., which operated as a See's Candies store in the 1960s and 1970s. The building housed a Togo's sandwich shop most recently.

Pham said she wanted the look and feel of Star Ginger to reflect the natural, authentic and exciting Asian flavors of the food. The exterior and interior of the new space combine modern, urban textures and finishes with soothing earth tones and reclaimed woods.

As part of the building’s transformation, the front of the concrete masonry block building was cut and reshaped, and wooden columns and composite wood planks were added to increase texture and depth, said Mark Hefling, design construction manager for Star Ginger.

"It was an ugly building," he said.

A stainless steel kitchen was added to the 2,700-square-foot restaurant, which will seat about 75 people.

For the first two weeks, hours will be 11 a.m. - 4 p.m. Starting Monday, Feb. 7, hours will be 11 a.m. - 9 p.m. Sunday through Thursday and 11 a.m. - 10 p.m. Friday and Saturday.

The renovation was designed and overseen by Pham, Hefling, Fong and Darryl Chinn Architects of Sacramento.

Inside, in-wall lights, partitions and other art contain lemongrass accents to pay homage to the flagship Lemon Grass Restaurant. Bamboo tables and wall tiles also help create a modern Asian setting.

“The vision for this place is more modern, more urban,” Pham said. “Authentic flavors served in today's setting.”

Suzanne Hurt is a staff reporter for The Sacramento Press. Follow her on Twitter @SuzanneHurt.

Golden Bear hits Food Network

2010-12-23T21:24:49Z

A Sacramento neighborhood favorite, The Golden Bear, makes its TV debut on the Food Network early next month.

The gastropub featuring chef Billy Zoellin, a friendly staff and sloping front porch is scheduled to be one of three restaurants starring on "Diners, Drive-ins and Dives" at 7 p.m. Jan. 3.

Owners Kimio Bazett and Jon Modrow are bracing for a huge spike in customers once the show airs.

"I don't know if it's more of an expectation or a hope. But from talking to other people who've been on the show ... Everyone said to expect anywhere from a tripling to a quadrupling of business in the year following the show," Bazett said.

Food Network promoters told them new episodes of the show, hosted by Guy Fieri, are watched by about 4 million viewers, while reruns attract 1 million. Some viewers plan vacations and business travel to include stops at the show's featured restaurants.

Bazett and Modrow expect not only more patrons, but a more eclectic variety of patrons.

Fieri visited once in August after the pub at 2326 K St. underwent a renovation. A camera crew and producers spent two 13-hour days filming for the half-hour episode titled "Pub Grub and More." Washington, D.C.'s Tortilla Cafe and the Memphis Taproom in Philadelphia will be featured on that episode.

The crew also filmed at Putah Creek Cafe in Winters and Gatsby's Hamburgers on Alta Arden Expressway in Sacramento while in town to shoot The Golden Bear. Those restaurants are being included in other episodes.

The Golden Bear will host a private party for people who were involved in filming from 6 - 8 p.m. Jan. 3. The pub will open to the public afterwards. The scheduled air date is subject to change, Bazett said.

He said he and Modrow are happy but nervous about the expected increase in business, especially after a good yet constructive restaurant review by Sacramento Bee restaurant critic Blair Anthony Robertson brought a dramatic jump in customers.

"I have a feeling there will be more business than we can handle," Bazett said. "That's not a bad thing."

Photos by Suzanne Hurt, a staff reporter for The Sacramento Press. Follow her on Twitter @SuzanneHurt.

Grill stays on at Jim-Denny's

2010-11-18T01:22:02Z

Sacramento's famous little vintage diner, Jim-Denny's, is about to quietly change hands.

Regulars and history buffs can breathe a sigh of relief: The buyer plans to keep the 76-year-old landmark restaurant operating right where it is, said broker Dave Herrera of Colliers International.

An investor who values the diner's history is purchasing the business and the property at 816 12th St. It's expected to close escrow in the next two weeks.

"He had a lot of interest because of the history that the building and business have had, and the impact it's had on all the locals," Herrera said.

An agreement was reached within about a week of when the historic diner and restaurant business was marketed for sale – along with a 3,734-square-foot piece of downtown real estate that went on sale simultaneously after staying in one family for about 60 years.

But Jim-Denny's current co-owner Patsy Lane isn't retiring yet.

Lane, her grandkids and the rest of the crew will keep operating the restaurant for at least four months under the agreement with the new owner. The buyer was only interested in the deal if Lane agreed to stay during a transition, she said.

College grads Jim Van Nort and Dennis "Denny" McFall opened Jim-Denny’s at 16th and J streets in 1934. The pair left Salt Lake City for Sacramento in 1933. During the Great Depression, their new economics degrees only got them jobs with the railroad. They then decided to open a hamburger joint, said George Bassett, who has managed the land for his family for nearly 30 years.

After serving in World War II, they moved the business to its present location as “Jim-Denny’s No. 2.” Bassett's grandfather, a banker he was named after, owned title to the land on 12th Street. The bus station was next door then, and the diner operated 24 hours a day.

No lease has ever been signed for the land, which has been rented month-to-month since those days, Bassett said.

Van Nort operated the restaurant until he was 79. Newspapers in Sacramento and San Francisco lamented the diner's closing when he retired a few months after having coronary bypass surgery in 1988. But the restaurant was only closed for a few months before someone bought it and reopened it under the same name.

"Like Mark Twain said, 'Reports of my death have been greatly exaggerated,' " Bassett said. "This place has been trying to die a natural death since 1988 – and yet it keeps going."

The 750-square-foot building is now a protected historic landmark. However, it could be moved if a new owner wished.

The land was owned by a trust made up of Bassett and six siblings or cousins – a family with old roots in Sacramento. Selling or leasing the property has been too complicated with that many involved, Bassett said.

But when the Lanes called recently saying they wanted to sell the building, Bassett thought it would be better to sell than pass the property on to another generation of land owners.

"This is just a little dinky piece of property that has stayed in the family for years," he said.

Lane and her daughter Joanna and son-in-law Sean Lane became the fifth set of owners when they bought the restaurant in 2005. In late September, Patsy Lane and the diner were featured on the Travel Channel show “Man v. Food.”

The entire property is selling for close to the asking price of $295,000, with $45,000 of that for the building and business.

The sale stirred up quite a few calls, Herrera said.

"We had a lot of interest," Herrera said. "We're still getting calls today."

Jim-Denny's for sale

2010-10-19T02:41:57Z

Sacramento landmark Jim-Denny’s went up for sale Monday.

The Lane family has decided to sell the historic white and red diner after five years so Patsy Lane, the heart and soul behind the counter, can retire to Montana.

The restaurant has served breakfasts and burgers for 76 years – first at 16th and J streets, where Jim Van Nort initially opened the restaurant. Van Nort moved the business to 816 12th St. after returning from WWII.

The Lanes struggled with the decision even before the diner was featured on the Travel Channel show Man v. Food in late September. Lane just turned 60, and she's ready to take it a little easier, said her daughter, Joanna Lane, part owner along with her mother and husband, Sean.

"It's hard for her, standing up on her feet all day," said Lane, a real estate agent. "It takes a lot of work and time."

A for-sale sign will be posted as soon as Tuesday. For the first time in 60 years, the land will be offered for sale at the same time as the building and the business. A family trust apparently related to Van Nort also recently decided to sell the 3,700 square feet of prime downtown real estate the building sits on.

"They've all come to mutual agreement to sell the land," said Dave Herrera, Colliers International broker.

They wanted to sell the land to the Lanes, the restaurant's fifth set of owners. The Lanes own the building and the business but leased the land. But the Lanes are ready to sell as well.

The listing price for the land, the turn-key business and the diner, which is about 750 square feet, is $295,000. The building is a protected historic landmark. If the buyer decided not to operate the restaurant there, the building would have to be moved, Herrera said.

Patsy Lane had 30 years of experience owning restaurants and managing kitchens, first with her husband and then for companies including The Sacramento Bee and Kaiser Permanente. She put in the sweat equity after her daughter and son-in-law bought the business for her. She's ready to return to Montana, where she already has a home, friends and a job at a hospital waiting for her, said her daughter.

Grandkids Ashley Ahumada, 22, and her 20-year-old brother Zachary worked there with her. Zachary Ahumada will now go to culinary school.

Since the show aired last month, the "10 busiest seats in Sacramento" have gotten even busier, Joanna Lane said.

"We've been slammed," she said.

Tex Mex opens, Texas Mexican closes

2010-10-08T03:13:50Z

Tex Mex Bar and Grill has opened in Midtown, while a continued loss of business led the long-time original to close downtown.

Owner Mike Keolanui said he's focusing on his newest restaurant, Tex Mex Bar and Grill, and opening two more in Davis and Roseville after "furlough Fridays" and the recession doomed Texas Mexican Restaurant.

He’d initially planned to open Tex Mex as a sophisticated sister restaurant to the establishment that operated just off K Street Mall for 19 years. But Keolanui closed Texas Mexican quietly a month ago, without even posting a note on the door, after losing too much money.

"It was really sad," he said. "The furloughs were killing me. I just couldn't survive."

He’d taken over ownership of the restaurant at 1114 Eighth St. from his now-ex-wife, Griselda Barajas, and her parents Rosa and Victor Barajas in 2007 just as the recession began. Keolanui got the place reopened after it closed during an eminent domain battle between the property owner, Mohammed "Moe" Mohanna, and the city.

Nearly 75 percent of the steadfast downtown restaurant’s clientele were state workers. Despite many empty storefronts on nearby K Street, the restaurant did alright until furloughs began, he said.

The building will be redeveloped as part of a project to breathe new life into the 700 block of K Street. But construction won't begin until late 2011 or early 2012, said Maurice Chaney, spokesman for the city's Economic Development Department.

The building’s redevelopment had no impact on the closing, but Keolanui said he just couldn't hang on until it happens.

Keolanui suggested state furlough days be moved to Mondays to help central city businesses that are continuing to lose revenue from the absence of state workers. Mondays are already slow for many businesses, so furloughs on that day wouldn't hurt so much, he said.

Following more than $350,000 in renovations and some delays, Tex Mex had a soft opening last Friday at 2326 J St. The restaurant with six flat-screen TVs and a custom, recycled-glass bar that glows is now serving Texas-style cuisine with a Latin twist.

The menu includes a skirt steak house specialty, fried oyster nachos and Mama Rosa's Chicken Soup made with roast chicken, rice and avocado, as well as tacos, burritos, salads and enchiladas.

The bar was made from recycled brown beer bottles and blue Skyy Vodka bottles. The bar glows at night and heats up in the winter. Nearly $12,000 worth of lights change color behind the bar back. A tequila tower featuring 60 different brands of tequila will be installed soon.

Additional work on bathrooms will start next week. The exterior, including a sidewalk patio, will be redone.

“I had to get open. It’s been too damn long,” he said.

Hours now are 11 a.m. - 11 p.m. daily. In two weeks, hours expand to 6 a.m. - midnight and the restaurant will serve breakfast after a popular breakfast spot, Cornerstone Restaurant, closed down next door. A grand opening will be held in about a month.

Keolanui will expand the Tex Mex Bar and Grill "mini-chain" to Davis and Roseville. He's still deciding between two buildings in Davis but expects to sign a lease next week. He's also negotiating on a space in Roseville. He expects the Davis restaurant to be open by February and the Roseville restaurant next summer.

He and Griselda Barajas said they remain close friends and support each other’s careers. She was just a teen when her parents opened their first restaurant, Atlantes Mexican Restaurant, on 12th Street. They ran several others in Sacramento before Texas Mexican. She now owns and operates Griselda's Catering and Tex Mex @ the Capitol.

While sad that Texas Mexican could no longer make it, Barajas said she's happy he's opened Tex Mex. He's continuing to serve many of her mother's recipes and employ many of their long-time employees, she said.

"He is so passionate about it," she said. "He's someone I know that can continue with the family recipes and the traditions."

Food photo provided by Tex Mex Bar and Grill. Other photos by Suzanne Hurt, a staff reporter covering business and development at The Sacramento Press.

Cornerstone reopens at Headhunters

2010-10-06T02:09:31Z

Cornerstone Restaurant has reopened, at least temporarily, at Headhunters Video Lounge.

The restaurant's owners, Kwang "Joe" Jang and his brother-in-law, Danny Leung, took over kitchen operations at 1930 K St. a month after closing in their longtime corner spot a few blocks away. They've signed a one-year lease with Terry Sidie, who owns Headhunters and Faces.

Sidie said he tried leasing the space to a restaurant owner and bringing in chefs. He was operating the restaurant himself until Jang and Leung took over.

"I'd rather leave it to people who like to do it," Sidie said. "These guys have 17 years’ experience."

Cornerstone will serve breakfast, lunch and dinner from 6 a.m. - 10 p.m. Sunday through Thursday and 7 a.m. - 4 a.m. Fridays and Saturdays. The bar is open until 2 a.m. weekdays.

In the meantime, Jang and Leung are moving ahead with plans to turn a vacant old church at 23rd and K streets into a restaurant. The remodel has stalled after some neighbors have fought the project.

Neighbors of the old church have voiced concerns over hours, alcohol sales, and the lack of on-site parking and space for garbage, recycling and grease bins. Confusion exists because the restaurant’s application to the city proposed hours from 6 a.m. - 2 a.m.

Demand for parking is already high, with three eateries on that block and several others nearby, as well as four churches and several apartment buildings, said a neighbor who asked not to be identified.

On Sept. 16, the city zoning administrator limited seating and hours and granted a parking waiver request, which are all dependent on whether the owners lease seven parking spaces within two blocks.

Under the ruling, Cornerstone can operate from 6 a.m. - 9 p.m. with seats for up to 51 people, inside and out, if the owners lease parking elsewhere. If not, they can operate from 6 a.m. - 5:30 p.m. for 51 people or 6 a.m. - 9 p.m. for 41 people, according to the zoning administrator's report.

Neighbors have appealed the decision. The city's Planning Commission may consider the appeal as soon as its Oct. 28 meeting.

The Midtown Neighborhood Association is not opposed to the business but is considering joining the appeal based on the same concerns. The group also opposes Cornerstone getting a new liquor license, even if it's only for beer and wine, and evening hours after 5:30 p.m., said MNA Chairman Matthew Piner.

"We're trying to represent the interests of residents and keep Midtown liveable. It's always a matter of balance," he said. "We want them to be good neighbors."

The church is located in a commercial zone. No zoning change is required for it to be used as a restaurant. The city set operating hours as a condition for granting the parking waiver request.

Cornerstone's owners plan to apply for a license to sell beer and wine.

"We are not a bar restaurant. We just want to provide beer and wine for the customers when they come in and eat," Jang said.

They have proposed putting garbage containers on the alley on the other side of a church, the "I Am" Temple of Sacramento, next door. They originally planned to operate the restaurant until 10 p.m. and not until 2 a.m. They'll wait until at least six months after opening to return to the city with plans to operate a sidewalk cafe, Jang said.

“We want to do this so we can show the neighbors that we can do a good job,” he said.

Jang and Leung operate another Cornerstone in Citrus Heights. They and their partners own Nishiki Sushi at 1501 16th St.

If the venture at Headhunters is successful, Jang and Leung have options to extend the lease. They may operate both restaurants, Jang said.

Jim-Denny's on Man v. Food Wednesday

2010-09-29T04:03:50Z

Jim-Denny's has gotten lots of local attention in 76 years of grilling burgers and serving breakfast.

Now travelers and foodies throughout the country have a chance to learn about the little white and red diner when Jim-Denny's is featured on the Travel Channel show “Man v. Food” Wednesday night.

After finishing a batch of chicken corn chowder Tuesday morning, co-owner Patsy Lane said she's a little stressed about the show and a viewing party they're throwing Wednesday night. Lane will make food for the party, to be held from 7-10 p.m. at Butch N Nellie's, 19th and I streets. Everyone in the community is invited, Lane said.

"I'm nervous," she said.

The show will air at 9 p.m. For the episode, the show's host, New Yorker Adam Richman, samples deep-fried eats at the California State Fair before heading to Jim-Denny's. Patsy Lane was filmed in late July serving Richman her $11, two-pound omelet creation known as "The Works."

"I think I cooked that omelet 15 times" (that day), she said. "It's got everything in it — that's why we call it the works."

"It's kind of like putting the whole kitchen table in an omelet," said granddaughter Ashley Ahumada, 22. On Tuesday, she worked the front counter while her brother, 20-year-old Zachary, grilled burgers nearby.

Lane once sold advertising at The Bakersfield Californian and pitched in at the bars and restaurants she owned with her then-husband. She's also run cafeterias for companies including The Sacramento Bee and Kaiser Permanente.

Jim-Denny's was opened in 1934 by Jim Van Nort at 16th and J streets. When Van Nort moved the restaurant to 12th Street after returning from WWII, he renamed it Jim-Denny's Lunch No. 2.

Lane, her daughter Joanna Lane and son-in-law Sean Lane bought the tiny restaurant at 816 12th St. in 2005. They serve breakfast and lunch from 7 a.m. - 3 p.m. Tuesday through Saturday. Saturday morning is the busiest time to try to find a spot at the worn counter. Jim-Denny's has only 14 seats inside.

On the show, Richman also visits Parker's Hot Dogs in Roseville, where he tries to eat five half-pound hot dogs on a 16-inch bun topped with four pounds of chili, fries, tortilla strips, veggies and cheese.

Jim-Denny's was included in the book "Hamburger America," one man's list of his favorite 100 burger places. Hardee's restaurants once filmed a commercial there before the Lanes bought the diner from the fourth set of owners.

A TV crew spent 12 hours filming at Jim-Denny's. The windows next to the grill had to be covered with paper to cut down on glare. The diner was packed with workers, the crew and customers lucky enough to stop by that day. Producers wanted to include regulars. But the filming had to be a surprise to avoid crowds, Lane said.

"We weren't allowed to tell anyone they were going to be here," she said.

Photos by Suzanne Hurt, a staff reporter for The Sacramento Press.

Trails still going at 70

2010-09-15T01:48:26Z

Take one step inside Trails Restaurant and you enter another era — an era when record-breaking swimmer Esther Williams was a movie star and meat dominated the dinner table.

Now, 70 years have passed since Williams and her husband, Ben Gage, opened the restaurant at 2530 21st St., just off Broadway, as part of a chain.

The restaurant's third owners, Gin and Kit Wong, said business has gotten slow at times during the recession. But Trails is holding its own thanks to longtime customers, Gin Wong said.

"People have been coming for generations," said Wong, who bought the restaurant in 1979 from Myrle and Al Nahas, who was a nearby car dealer.

At lunch Tuesday, retired commercial printer Steve Strong and his attorney buddies Bill Gould and Gene Pendergast said they've been going to the restaurant for at least 20 years. They like the food, the prices and the 1950s vibe, they said.

"There's no 'weed' salads — salads made out of weeds," said Strong, 71. "Plus, it's nice to help local restaurants. A lot of restaurants are going out of business."

The extensive menu includes lots of meat, from burgers and steaks to ribs and barbecue chicken. Meals usually come with potatoes and salad made with iceberg lettuce.

"No radicchio," Gould said.

The restaurant still sports the dark wood panelling, wagon-wheel light fixtures and brick hearth grill from its opening. The Wongs added cowboy wallpaper but changed little else, said Rosemary Carlson, who's served Trails customers for 17 years.

"Everything in here is just about original," Carlson said.

Eating burgers, local building inspector Brian Greendahl and his friend Danny Hobbs said they've been dining at Trails for about 25 years because the place is small, intimate and friendly.

"The food is good and the price is right," said Greendahl, who grew up nearby and now travels from Carmichael to eat there. "I just had lunch for five bucks. You can't get a better lunch in town."

Hours are 11 a.m. - 9 p.m. daily.

Photos by Suzanne Hurt, a staff reporter for The Sacramento Press.

Couple's Sofia to be shuttered

2010-09-03T01:05:17Z

A downtown restaurant, Sofia on 11th, is expected to close Saturday — another victim of the recession and Furlough Fridays, as well as a somewhat obscure location.

Jeremy and Vicki Bennett, both Mississippi natives, took over the restaurant four years ago with partner Martin Tejeda. Staff was reduced to a skeleton crew in June.

Jeremy Bennett shared news of the closing with employees and customers on Thursday.

"It just got to the point where I couldn't hold on anymore," he said.

Bennett helped seat people when Sofia filled during the lunch rush. Wearing a black T-shirt as he poured iced tea, the most visible sign that he was the owner was the strain on his face.

Dinner business dropped 60 percent since Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger's decision in June 2009 to furlough state workers for a third Friday each month to help deal with the state's annual budget crises. Happy hour sales dropped 30 to 40 percent since then, he said.

Attorneys and judges working at nearby courthouses always brought a big chunk of business to the restaurant, tucked inside a Best Western at 815 11th St. Sofia lost many regulars when at least 20 Sacramento County public defenders were laid off this summer.

But those aren't the only blows to hit Sofia. The restaurant's location at the corner of 11th and H streets has kept it largely hidden, Bennett said.

"It's been tough, because we're not part of the main strip," he said. "So getting people to come over here who weren't working nearby has been difficult."

The couple has been redecorating the restaurant gradually over the years, partly with money borrowed from his dad.

Operating independently within a hotel has been good and bad. There hasn't been money for marketing the restaurant the way there would be with a big chain. Many hotel customers eat there, yet some locals had reservations about going to a "hotel restaurant," said Bennett, who speaks with a slight Southern twang.

Hers is much more noticeable. Bennett's really comes out after a long day at work or a couple of cocktails.

They have been trying to sell the restaurant or bring in a major investor. A deal appeared imminent but fell through this week.

They also haven't been able to get state funding for a culinary program they were trying to develop for vocational high school students. The on-the-job-training portion would have started at Sofia in October with juniors and seniors at risk of dropping out of school.

"If either of those had come through for me, I would have been able to weather the storm," Bennett said. "It's just sad for the mom-and-pop shops getting squeezed out. The ones that need help the most can never get it."

An inclusive, progressive church called A Church for All will likely be able to continue meeting in the restaurant's upstairs banquet room on Sundays, he said.

Bennett will continue to pursue starting a culinary and hospitality program for at-risk youth. He'll now need to find a kitchen where he can teach.

When he first moved to Sacramento eight years ago and his drawl was thicker, Bennett used to get teased about being from Mississippi.

But lately, friends and family down South have been making fun of him for being from California, which has become notorious for its financial mess and the problems state leaders have balancing the budget every year. As the state capital, Sacramento and its economy seem to be hardest hit.

"Now we're like the new Mississippi in a way," he said.

Photo of Vicki and Jeremy Bennett by Suzanne Hurt, a staff reporter for The Sacramento Press. Sofia restaurant photo by Brandon Darnell.

Cornerstone closes - for now

2010-09-01T02:55:28Z

A popular Midtown breakfast spot, Cornerstone Restaurant, closed Tuesday.

Cornerstone's owners Kwang "Joe" Jang and his brother-in-law, Danny Leung, along with family and employees, turned off the stoves and said goodbye to customers before shutting the doors at 1 p.m.

They were unable to extend their lease for the corner spot at 2330 J St., where they've operated the restaurant for 16 years. They hope to open a new restaurant location nearby within six months.

"We served our last meal," Leung said. "Our customers are sad. Our employees are out of jobs."

Four months ago, the property owners agreed in court to give them until Sept. 1 to move out. Jang and Leung recently offered to pay higher rent if the landlords would allow them to stay a few more months — long enough to renovate an old, Spanish-style church at 23rd and K streets. The property owners rejected the offer, Leung said.

Leung's sister and a family friend bought the vacant church for $450,000. They will finance the building's renovation and lease the space to Jang and Leung

But the remodel has stalled. Changing the building's use from a church to a restaurant and a parking waiver request are partly what's complicating the permit process, Leung said.

A hearing before the city zoning administrator originally set for Thursday may be postponed following confusion over the parking waiver request.

The church building has no parking lot, which was also the case at the original Cornerstone. A new restaurant would be required to have 20 or 21 spaces on-site. Because the church is an old building, the city requires only seven on-site parking spaces. Cornerstone's owners are requesting the seven-space requirement be waived, according to the city.

They plan to use a commercial valet parking service for customers and rent parking space for employees. They are not asking the city to allow the restaurant to reserve 20 on-street parking spaces for their use, Leung said.

The remodel can start as soon as permits are approved by the city. Cornerstone's owners will use Facebook posts and e-mail to let customers know when the new restaurant is ready for business, Leung said.

Rachel and Richard Hansen, owners of The Book Collector at 1008 24th St., are sad to lose neighbors they’ve enjoyed for the last 15 years. The restaurant’s closure will be especially hard on the used bookstore because there’s no retail on the other side of the store, Rachel Hansen said.

“We’ll miss Cornerstone, but it’s also a tragedy to have a vacant business there,” she said. “Midtown is always changing (yet) people seem to land on their feet.”

Leung, Jang and others spent Tuesday afternoon moving stoves, refrigerators, furniture and other items out of the restaurant and into temporary storage. They'll use as much as possible in the new location.

"Everything is gone by tomorrow," he said. "I think it will be better once we open in the new place."

Photos by Suzanne Hurt, a staff reporter for The Sacramento Press.

Golden Bear gets its 15 minutes

2010-08-25T01:28:45Z

Sacramentans will be forgiven for not expecting to find fried green tomato sandwiches, house-made kettle chips and prosciutto and peach paninis at The Golden Bear.

Those who haven't yet discovered the neighborhood bar's new kitchen and chef, Billy Zoellin, may get their first "taste" on the Food Network's national television show "Diners, Drive-ins and Dives" this fall.

Earlier this month, a camera crew spent a day capturing footage of Zoellin in action at The Golden Bear, located in a converted old house at 2326 K St. A camera crew will soon return with the show's host, Guy Fieri, for the second day of filming. The place will be closed for production.

Zoellin joined The Golden Bear in March at a grand reopening, following a major renovation by owners Kimio Bazett and Jon Modrow that doubled the size of the kitchen to about 230 square feet. Zoellin and his kitchen staff developed a new seasonal menu using ingredients that are as local as possible — such as the pizza dough made fresh each day at a local bakery.

"Part of our theory is farm to table at an affordable price and in a comfortable atmosphere," Zoellin said. "We sell $2 (Miller) High Life, and yet you can get a duck confit club to enjoy."

The 26-year-old red-haired Irish-American trained with locally renown chefs including Patrick Mulvaney, Roxanne O'Brien, Randall Selland and Noah Zonka. To get his first job in the industry — as a 19-year-old busboy — he shucked fava beans for free at Biba, Bazett said. He later studied culinary arts at American River College.

"He's had some of the best mentors anyone could have in this town," Bazett said.

Two to three months ago, a local food blogger told the Food Network about The Golden Bear. Once a producer contacted them, they sent in photos of The Golden Bear, the kitchen, the food and Zoellin. He also interviewed over the phone for four hours to win one of four spots on the hour-long show.

Fieri, who's from Santa Rosa, chose three menu items for the show: sausage and smoked slaw pizzetta, a French Vietnamese sandwich called a pork bahn mi, and "THE Taco." During the interviews, he discussed every step he takes to make those dishes, down to roasting and grinding dry California chili peppers to make a chili powder rub for the taco.

The Golden Bear had always been known for its tacos and especially its $5 deal for a glass of Miller beer and two tacos. Zoellin caused a minor ruckus with some regulars when he replaced the simple chicken taco with a new one featuring marinated chicken rubbed with the chili powder and pasilla créme made from roasted peppers, green onions, garlic, fresh herbs, lime and sour cream. The grumbling soon stopped, he said.

“It’s hard to beat a good taco that’s made right,” Zoellin said.

The biggest challenge encountered on the first day of filming was fitting a four-person production crew and their equipment — lights, camera, microphones — in the kitchen while Zoellin cooked. When Fieri arrives, the second day of filming will capture the two of them cooking together and the host sampling the food.

Zoellin said he's not nervous working in front of a camera or celebrities. He's appeared on TV a bunch of times, demonstrating cooking for local news shows and KVIE's California Heartland. He's also worked in front of crowds as the cook for an American Le Mans race car team and at the California State Fair, where he did an hour-long cooking demo.

Other interests include gardening and competitive sports like baseball, which built up his confidence — along with his culinary accomplishments and experience as a young father, Bazett said.

"You'd be hard-pressed to find someone more confident and more determined and able to back it all up," he said.

Bazett said Zoellin deserves all the credit for winning a spot on the show.

"It's bigtime," Bazett said. "It's validation for our food and our kitchen."

Zoellin said his biggest rewards are how proud his mom and 5-year-old son are of him. But he can't tell anyone except his mom the date of the second day of filming – for security reasons. The show will air this fall, but has not yet been scheduled.

More people than in the past seem to be coming to The Golden Bear just for the food. Building up regular clients can take chefs and new restaurants one to two years. Getting on the show is likely to bring them what may seem like “instant success,” said Zoellin, who said it feels like going "from 0 to 60 at about 100 miles per hour."

He and the owners know appearing on a national Food Network show is going to change the business and their clientele. Expecting the number of customers will boom, they more than doubled the kitchen staff from five to 11 the day they found out The Golden Bear would be on TV.

They just want to make sure they hit the ground running.

"There are a lot of people who want it to be just a bar," Zoellin said. "But we're more than that."

Photos by Suzanne Hurt, a staff reporter for The Sacramento Press.

State agency restaurateur dies

2010-08-24T00:17:42Z

Plans to open a new sports bar and game room called Penalty Box in the state's East End Complex have been put on hold after the owner died Saturday.

Jamie Peart was a longtime client of the California Department of Rehabilitation's Business Enterprises Program. Peart, who was 50, owned Tradewinds Cafe in the California Department of Transportation Building at the corner of Alhambra Boulevard and R Street.

He died Saturday morning of natural causes, according to the Sacramento County Coroner's Office. The family believes he died of heart failure, but the cause of death is not yet known, said family friend Gary Crocker.

Peart had planned to open Penalty Box on Sept. 1 at the California Department of Health Services, 1629 Capitol Ave. He'd been full of ideas for revamping the restaurant that had operated for four years as MVP Sports Grill.

"He was getting all excited about what he was going to do here," MVP owner Ron Long said Monday at the Midtown restaurant. Long continued operating a sports bar at the location even after relocating his establishment a few blocks away earlier this summer.

Just over a week ago, Peart had recalled how he met his wife, Debbie, as the two were going through the food service and restaurant management program for the legally blind in 1995. They were married the next year.

She had been born with nerve damage to her eyes. Peart had lost his vision and a leg to diabetes.

Peart first operated Uncle Guido's inside the state health services building on North Seventh Street and Richards Boulevard. He then opened Tradewinds in 2002.

Peart had said he was happy to be returning to the health services department, where old customers still recognized him. Another person was already scheduled to take over Tradewinds next month.

His wife, a separate vendor who oversees food services at the Franchise Tax Board, had planned to help run Penalty Box, a big establishment with long hours. Peart had planned to turn the back of MVP into a game room with pool tables and full-size arcade games.

He'd hoped to bring prices down by offering simple fare and continuing to offer pizzas, which turn a good profit. He also wanted to highlight beer and wine from local microwbreweries and vineyards, he said.

Peart was a commercial electrician for 18 years. In the winters, when work got slow, he worked waiting tables and prepping food in restaurants managed by his ex-wife. Just before he died, he said he wouldn't let diabetes, blindness and the need to work in a wheelchair get in his way.

"Nothing's stopping me, though," he said. "It's not what you can't do. It's what you can do."

Peart was set to turn 51 on Sept. 10. A funeral is expected to be held this weekend. Arrangements are being handled by East Lawn Memorial Park and Mortuary.

Peart was a “valued” vendor with the Business Enterprises Program, said state rehab department spokeswoman Jennifer Benson.

“We are very saddened by the news of Mr. Peart’s passing and offer our deepest sympathy to Debbie and the family,” she said in a statement. “At this time, we are prudently working ... to identify both the short- and long-term operational solutions for his facilities.”

Long said he will continue operating the sports bar at the East End Complex until the Business Enterprises Program decides how to proceed.

"I think he would have done pretty good here," Long said as he sat in the back of the restaurant. "He was getting ready to do something new in life."

Photos of Ron Long, MPV Sports Bar, and East End Complex by Suzanne Hurt, a staff reporter for The Sacramento Press.

Kupros opens Friday

2010-08-13T02:10:41Z

Kupros Bistro will hold a soft opening this weekend.

The restaurant and tavern will open with a limited menu Friday and Saturday in a 100-year-old Midtown house at 1217 21st St.

On Thursday, owner Stephen Tokuhama, General Manager Hugo Herreros and chef John Gurnee led new employees through wine and food tastings.

Kupros will be open from 5 p.m. - 2 a.m. Friday and Saturday. The kitchen will be serving a limited snack menu from 5-10 p.m.

"Tomorrow, we'll have a little soft opening to test the kitchen and fire up everything," Herreros said Thursday. "It's just an introduction of what's coming. It's not the whole menu."

The establishment will close Sunday and Monday, then reopen Tuesday with a slightly expanded menu. Hours next week will be 5-10 p.m. Tuesday, Wednesday and Sunday, and 5 p.m. - 2 a.m. Thursday through Saturday.

Kupros will start offering the full menu the following week. Regular hours will start at the same time, with the restaurant opening at 11 a.m. every day and closing at 10 p.m. or 2 a.m. Thursday through Saturday.

A renovation costing more than $750,000 turned a two-story, 1910 Craftsman house into a space with a pub and kitchen on the first floor and an upstairs dining room.

"I was amazed at the transformation," said Elizabeth Kelley, a nearby business owner who once lived in upstairs backrooms when the house contained Cheap Thrills costume shop.

The restaurant is opening in time for August's Second Saturday Art Walk.

"This weekend is going to be crazy," Herreros said. "There are going to be a lot of people in town."

Photos by Suzanne Hurt, a staff reporter for The Sacramento Press.

Cornerstone remodel delayed

2010-08-10T00:27:22Z

The owners of Cornerstone Restaurant in Midtown may soon return to court to avoid eviction after the planned renovation of a nearby church has stalled.

Since December, Kwang "Joe" Jang and his brother-in-law, Danny Leung, have been fighting eviction at 2330 J St., where they've operated the restaurant for 16 years.

Four months ago, the property owners agreed in court to give them until Sept. 1 to move out.

But work has yet to begin to convert an old church at 23rd and K streets into a new home for the restaurant. Getting the necessary permits from the city has taken longer than expected, Leung said Monday.

"We're probably going back to court," he said. "We (will) try to stay longer, until our new place is ready to move into."

Four sisters — Janice Yenovkian, Kathy Khatoonian, Nancy Guenther, Dyann Yenovkian — owned the building at 2330 J St. Cornerstone’s owners said they were evicted after buying a quarter interest in the building from one of the sisters.

The three other sisters did not wish to comment at this time.

Leung's sister and a family friend bought the Spanish-style church on K for $450,000 and will lease the space back to Jang and Leung. The structure was built in the early 1900s but had been vacant for three or four years.

They first applied for a permit on April 30. Changing the building's use from a church to a restaurant and a parking waiver request are partly what's complicating the permit process, Leung added.

The building has no parking lot, which is also the case at Cornerstone. Normally, the restaurant would be required to have 21 spaces on-site. They're requesting city approval to use valet parking for customers and rent parking space for employees, he said.

The restaurant's owners also need city approval to repaint the terra cotta-colored church in beige with green trim and a burgundy awning. The city must also approve the design for a huge platform to support a mechanical unit on the roof for air conditioning, exhaust, heating and more.

Leung and Jang must still submit final drawings to the city. The design review application was submitted at the end of May. The process usually takes two and a half months. Reviews are being done concurrently by design review staff and the zoning administrator who considers parking waivers, said Maurice Chaney, spokesman for the Community Development Department.

Confusion over the eviction and relocation has cost Cornerstone some customers. There is a possibility the restaurant may close temporarily if a compromise can't be reached on the moving date, Leung said.

"We hope that won't happen," he said. "A lot of people think we're already closed."

Photos by Brandon Darnell. Suzanne Hurt is a staff reporter for The Sacramento Press.

Tex Mex delayed, but coming

2010-07-30T02:47:26Z

Tex Mex Bar and Grill is expected to open in Midtown next month following construction and money delays.

Co-owner Mike Keolanui and partners postponed opening the spinoff of his downtown Texas Mexican Restaurant after finding electrical, plumbing and other problems during renovation work inside a 50-year-old building at 2326 J St.

Tex Mex had been expected to start offering Texas-style cuisine with a Latin twist three months ago. The space had most recently held Toreros, but Taco Loco had operated there for years.

Work was halted until two weeks ago so the partners could focus on opening their two other new restaurants, Bulls in Sacramento and El Dorado Saloon in El Dorado Hills, this summer. They did that to create a cash flow for Tex Mex construction at a time when banks aren't lending to restaurants, Keolanui said.

"The building is old. It needed to have a tremendous amount of work done inside it — more than we expected," he said. "We had to raise more money to fix it."

They plan to open a fifth restaurant in Davis in December.

"Even though we're ambitious and we wanted to get them all open at once, you have to channel your income," Keolanui said.

Crews have been renovating the space to create a modern vibe with a hint of rusticity. A tequila tower back bar and flat screen TVs must still be installed behind a bar built out of recycled beer bottles.

"It'll definitely be an edgy little Mexican restaurant," he said.

They've built wheelchair-accessible bathrooms. Booths must be installed. The restaurant must pass a final building inspection and health inspection before opening.

The restaurant's hours will be 8 a.m.-midnight Sundays through Thursdays, and until 1 a.m. on weekends.

They will be hiring 35 people to work at the restaurant. Keolanui said they hope to have a soft opening Aug. 10, but that could be later. No grand opening is planned.

"The soft opening is supposed to be like a few people come in, you get your feet wet, and gradually more and more people start coming," he said. "But now, when you put out the open sign, everybody texts and tweets and it's all over."

Photos by Brandon Darnell.

Kupros to open in Midtown

2010-07-21T03:33:57Z

A gastropub called Kupros Bistro is expected to open next month in a 100-year-old Midtown house that underwent a costly renovation.

Owners Stephen and Sharon Tokuhama are opening a restaurant and bar after nearly rebuilding the formerly purple house that held a costume shop, Cheap Thrills, for 40 years at 1217 21st St. The remodel cost more than $750,000 because the building went through a structural retrofit, restoration and a restaurant buildout.

The business got its liquor license from the California Department of Alcoholic Beverage Control Tuesday. Building inspections are complete. The couple hopes to open Saturday, Aug. 14, once final health and fire inspections are held, which may be as soon as this week, Stephen Tokuhama said.

According to some, Kupros is the ancient Greek name for the isle of Cyprus, where copper was discovered. The idea behind Kupros Bistro is sort of an old-world tavern meets American television's "Cheers."

"I always wanted to make it a real welcoming place. As soon as you walk in the door, everyone knows your name," said Tokuhama, a former San Diego real estate acquisitions specialist who also owns G Street Pub in Davis. "That's always been in the back of my mind."

The renovation has turned a two-story 1910 Craftsman house into a space with an upscale pub and kitchen on the first floor and an upstairs dining room — the same physical layout used for the TV bar known as "Cheers." Kupros also has plenty of outdoor seating on a balcony and front porch.

A 25-foot by 19-foot African mahogany bar with an Arts and Crafts-style stained glass dome ceiling dominates the center of the tavern's first floor. Six wooden booths flank the U-shaped, wood-paneled bar.

"We call it a social bar, because you can see the person who's right across the bar from you," said Kupros General Manager Hugo Herreros. "It's going to be happening."

The intent was to create a place that’s casual and easy to socialize in, with better food than most pubs. The establishment will be similar to popular McMenamins pubs operated in former houses in Eugene, Salem and other Pacific Northwest cities, Tokuhama said.

The house had originally been located on K Street but was moved decades ago. The Tokuhamas bought the house, once divided up into a fourplex apartment building, in 2002. They continued to lease space to Cheap Thrills into 2006.

The building's renovation began with the second floor in 2004 and was completed in 2006. Tokuhama applied for a building permit in 2005 and finally got it in 2008. Part of the delay came from opposition from two residents who live on 22nd Street. They were concerned about the renovation of the old house and using the building as a restaurant and bar.

The house is flanked by a hair salon and a locksmith's shop. However, the building was zoned residential until Tokuhama got it repermitted to commercial, he said.

Tokuhama went through the city's design review and planning processes and assured neighbors and city officials that the renovation would respect the house's integrity, especially for the exterior and second floor.

"I wanted the structure to match the Midtown area," he said. "There are a lot of beautiful Craftsmans in the area. Really, what I wanted to do was build a place that epitomized all the Midtown charm and character."

Structural engineer Matt Parisek designed a structural retrofit for the house, which was sagging in the middle. New plumbing, electrical, heating and cooling systems were installed.

The entire house, down to its 2-x-4 studs, was made of redwood, Tokuhama said. Fiberglass siding was removed from the exterior, which was completely restored. Layers of paint were removed from interior woodwork. The front porch was rebuilt and expanded to twice its original size. A second-floor balcony that overlooks 21st Street also was rebuilt and enlarged.

The upstairs retains the character of the original house. Dining areas are split into several rooms painted sunny yellow or pale blue. Features recognizable from other Midtown houses include decorative room entryways set off by wood columns, white coved ceilings, leaded glass windows and doors, and picture-frame molding. An original bathroom and a kitchen to be used for food service also remain on the second floor.

The first floor includes two new bathrooms and a small kitchen, which helped determine the menu's simplicity, Herreros said.

The menu is Mediterranean-influenced California cuisine, focusing heavily on bistro-style small plates alongside artisan cocktails, eclectic wines and craft beer, according to Tokuhama and chef John Gurnee, who cooked at Mason's for five years.

The menu also pulls from French, Italian, American and Asian cooking — a fusion of styles Gurnee is using to create comforting yet exciting "locavore" dishes using fresh, local ingredients.

Describing the fare as an "updated version of pub food," Gurnee plans to offer such fare as crispy hominy with chile and lime, greens with shaved vegetables and goat cheese, green bean and potato salad with deviled egg dressing, a Sonoma duck confit Reuben, and spaghetti with prosciutto, figs and hazelnuts.

Another old-world tavern feature: The bar won't have a single TV. Gurnee believes the absence of television sets will make the place more social — like ancient times, when taverns were places where travelers would gather for nourishment and to socialize, he said.

"I think that's what's been lost in dining in America. It's not really an experience anymore; people are on their PDAs or watching TV," he said. "It's about sitting around in person and enjoying your company."

Hours will be 11 a.m.-2 a.m. Tuesday through Sunday. A grand opening is expected to be held in September.

Cheap Thrills photo provided by the Tokuhamas. Other photos by Suzanne Hurt, a staff reporter for The Sacramento Press.

Bombay offers gateway to India

2010-06-05T05:49:05Z

A couple with Northern Indian roots have opened Bombay Bar & Grill, featuring food from their homeland.

Inside, the back of a 16-foot turquoise marble bar is shaped like the ancient gates to Bombay. Nekhbir "Nek" Bhandal, 48, and his 40-year-old wife, Satwinder, said they hope their restaurant serves as a gateway to the world of Nepali and northern Indian food.

The restaurant opened in April at 1315 21st St. The busy Midtown location was the right choice for their latest restaurant, with its high visibility and plenty of nearby residents, said the couple, who also own Katmandu Kitchen in Davis.

"We like this area," Nek Bhandal said Friday as he sat near the bar with his wife. "It has nice nightlife."

He has extensive experience running restaurants and serving Indian cuisine. His family still owns its restaurant in Jalandhar in Northern Punjab state, where Bhandal got his start in the restaurant industry.

In 1992, he immigrated to California. He and a brother opened Star, an Indian restaurant on Geary Avenue in San Francisco. Bhandal then opened a second San Francisco restaurant, which he sold to a cousin. The couple moved to Natomas last year with plans to open a Sacramento restaurant because their Davis eatery is so popular among Sacramentans.

"A lot of customers (from Sacramento) go to Davis to eat," Bhandal said.

Roseville decorator Parris Reed designed the colorful interior, which previously housed Sarus Restaurant. The palette ranges from purple and turquoise to dark orange and fuchsia. The 74-seat dining room contains imported Indian tali or sissoo wood chairs and a prized possession: an eight-foot-tall antique painting of an Indian king and ministers that belonged to Bhandal's father.

The menu includes alu baigan, potatoes and eggplant cooked with herbs and spices; vegan thali, an assortment of veggies, puri bread, momos and samosas; and chicken tikka masala. Most entrées range from $8.95 to $12.95. The restaurant is open daily from 11 a.m. to 11 p.m.

Land Park resident Richard Estes, who was waiting to eat lunch with his wife, Lisa Ecks, said he was impressed with the restaurant's food.

"It's better than other Indian restaurants I've gone to in Sacramento."

Photos by Suzanne Hurt, a staff reporter for The Sacramento Press.

Café Americain courtyard opens

2010-05-14T04:44:33Z

Another thing to put on your list of new reasons to visit Old Sacramento: Café Americain and its new courtyard.

Sacramento's only champagne and caviar house —which also features raw food cuisine — was created to capture the elegance and allure of a legendary restaurant once run by a notorious Bay Area madam.

The owners, Mike and Natalya Wahba, are hosting a grand opening for their lunchtime courtyard this weekend. The restaurant opened for dinner in December. Starting Saturday, the brick patio courtyard behind the historic Booth Building will be open for lunch four days a week.

Executive Chef Heather David will oversee preparation of innovative raw food dishes, while chef James Clark sets up a small farmer's market and juice bar outside.

The Carmichael couple said the restaurant wasn't in their plans when the building was bought in 2002. Mike Wahba, a commercial real estate developer, bought the Front Street building that once housed California Gov. Newton Booth's grocery store and the building next door, where Booth lived or at least threw parties.

But it's become harder and harder to find and keep good tenants for the first-floor retail spaces, he said. Natalya thought they should open their own businesses there instead. She spent a year trying to convince her husband they should take the chance.

"I said, 'If we're going to do this, let's do something special. Let's kind of upgrade the culinary scene in Sacramento,' " Mike Wahba said.

His dream: to recreate the kind of experience he found in the 1970s at Valhalla, the legendary champagne and caviar house opened in Sausalito by retired madam Sally Stanford.

"I've never had real experience in the restaurant business. But I've always been a really passionate diner," he said. "I'm one of those people who always looks for the ultimate dining experience."

Wahba, who grew up in Cairo as the son of wealthy Egyptian Christians, discovered the Bay Area's food scene as a student at University of California, Berkeley, in the 1970s. He found Valhalla and became friends with Stanford, San Francisco's most infamous madam. Stanford operated elegant bordellos until a 1949 raid and then opened her Victorian restaurant overlooking San Francisco Bay. She later became Sausalito's most popular mayor.

Like Stanford, the Wahbas created their restaurant to offer "the best of everything," Mike Wahba said.

The restaurant was named for the establishment that was the setting for the movie Casablanca. But the interior reflects the spirit of Stanford's restaurant and fine cathouses. Café Americain is filled with antiques, oriental carpets, Versace bars and nude paintings, with multicolored chandeliers throughout.

"We didn't want it to be too stuffy, too Old World," he said. "We wanted it to be a little bit of something different, with a retro aspect to it."

The courtyard is set just off an alley and features a fountain, ornate shade canopy, small palms and views of the historic building. To retain the historic feel, they haven't put up a big sign, but chose instead just to have the name etched in gold on the restaurant's white front doors.

Natalya grew up in Ukraine. Her father made caviar by hand. She recruited other Ukrainians who brought recipes for caviar appetizers from their homeland.

They also wanted to offer local, organic, sustainable food. They recruited David, who recently graduated from Le Cordon Bleu College of Culinary Arts in Natomas. David has been working with raw foods for several years.

"Heather is a raw foods genius," Natalya Wahda said. "The things she puts out are unbelievable."

But the restaurant's edible star is the sturgeon and caviar, which are both 100 percent farm raised in California. Café Americain gets all of its sturgeon and caviar from Sterling Caviar, which has a sturgeon farm in Elverta.

It takes 20 years for female sturgeons to reach maturity and produce eggs in the wild. But a Russian scientist who defected brought the technology to raise sturgeon in captivity here and later went to work for University of California, Davis. The caviar is considered one of the world's best, Mike Wahba said.

Until Café Americain opened, no one here could buy the caviar or eat it at a restaurant. The caviar was all being shipped off to Paris, London and New York. Wahba wanted to bring that quality and experience to the capital.

"The closest place that was serving it was the French Laundry in Napa," he said. "It's one of the best-kept secrets in Sacramento."

Café Americain, 1023 Front St., is open Thursday - Sunday for dinner from 5 - 9 p.m. The courtyard is now open from 11 a.m. - 3 p.m.

Photos by Suzanne Hurt, a staff reporter covering business and development for The Sacramento Press.

Old World meets new at Midtown's Tex Mex

2010-04-17T06:49:56Z

Tex Mex Bar and Grill will bring regional Texas cuisine with a Latin twist to Midtown when it opens late this month.

The restaurant will open at 2326 J St., tentatively on April 27, in a renovated space vacated by Toreros but long occupied by Taco Loco. Mike Keolanui, Michael Mui, Ben Paulsen and Thien Nguyen are opening the upscale-rustic Tex Mex as a little sister to Keolanui's Texas Mexican Restaurant, which has operated at 1114 8th St. for 18 years. The restaurant was owned by his wife's family for most of that time.

"Tex Mex" was coined as a culinary term in the 1960s or '70s. The name was taken from the TexMex Railway, used for decades by people who migrated from Mexico. They had to cook with ingredients that were available in Texas, and a cuisine was born, said 40-year-old Keolanui, who also is getting ready to open the El Dorado Saloon in El Dorado Hills on June 15.

A lot of people may be surprised to learn how healthy Tex Mex food can be, he added.

"It's gotten kind of a bad rap," Keolanui said. "They think of nachos with cheese. We've taken it back a step to the original recipes (used in regional Texas cooking) and kind of infusing a Latin influence into it."

The menu will differ from Texas Mexican Restaurant, where the staples are tacos, burritos and enchiladas. That restaurant was opened by Keolanui's future in-laws after the family moved from Mexico to Texas. They raised their children there and relocated to Sacramento. Griselda Barajas, now Keolanui's wife, moved here from Houston to help with the restaurant. She owns Griselda's Catering and Tex Mex @ the Capitol, in the building's basement.

Keolanui once owned a Chevys Fresh Mex franchise in downstate Illinois. He met Barajas after returning to Sacramento, then used his corporate background to help her and Texas Mexican Restaurant.

Texas Mexican closed in 2006 during an eminent domain battle between the city of Sacramento and developer Mohammed "Moe" Mohanna. Keolanui reopened it a year later, expanding into neighboring spaces to push the restaurant from 1,400 square feet to 6,000. He now leases the space from the city.

Tex Mex will feature Texas-style cuisine prepared fresh daily from scratch using local ingredients — organic when possible — and grilled foods, including seafood, rib eye steaks and chicken. Appetizers will include "man nachos" — tortilla chips topped with a slab of flank steak or chicken. Hours will be 11 a.m. to 11 p.m. daily.

"I'm not trying to hit the late-night thing," Keolanui said. "We'd rather be known as a place where you can come at 5 and get a drink, and have dinner."

The owners are considering holding a grand opening party on Cinco de Mayo, May 5.

The space is being renovated for a rustic ambience with hip and sexy modern touches, he said. Its mostly brick walls have been restored and wooden rafters exposed in the ceiling. Flat TV screens and a tequila "tower" created with more than 150 brands are being installed behind a lighted bar built from recycled beer bottles. The 125-seat restaurant will have as many as 10 TVs.

Keolanui didn't disclose the remodel's cost. Owners can spend beaucoup bucks to renovate a restaurant or nightclub, but that doesn't guarantee success, he said.

"If you put out a good product and good service, and you stay in touch with the community, I think you can have a good shot at it," Keolanui said. "It ain't gonna look like Taco Loco, I can tell you that."

Serving up faith

2010-04-07T04:16:58Z

A downtown restaurant is now home to a church that embraces gays and people of color.

For more than a month, Sofia on 11th and its owners, Jeremy and Vicki Bennett and partner Martin Tejeda, have welcomed A Church for All to take over a 1,500-square-foot banquet room. That has allowed the church to continue providing a spiritual meeting place for its diverse members.

The Rev. Doretha Flournoy describes it as a "radically inclusive" church with an interest in social justice and unique ideas about "how God operates in the world."

"If you walk into A Church for All on a Sunday morning, you'll see African-American folks, Latino folks, Caucasians. You'll see transgender folks. You'll see drag queens. You'll see lesbians. You'll see straight people. You'll see gay people," Flournoy said. "I often just kind of look at the congregation and say, 'Wow — how did we do this?' "

Sofia, at 815 11th St., is known for its big lunch crowds, private parties and meeting space. The church's openness helped convince Sofia's owners that renting out space in a restaurant otherwise closed on Sundays — but at half the normal rate — was the right thing to do, Jeremy Bennett said.

"They don't shun anyone, which I thought was really cool," Bennett said recently while managing the restaurant.

The church has its roots in the Metropolitan Community Church, the world's first church created to minister to the gay, lesbian, bisexual and transgender community. The three reverends at A Church For All were ordained by MCC and split off from Metropolitan Community Church of Sacramento, which closed in May 2008 after 37 years.

While that church was operating in Mather, A Church for All wanted to stay close to what some Sacramentans know as "Lavender Heights," a concentration of gay-owned businesses near 20th and K streets.

Flournoy is a mother of two with a domestic partner. She also describes herself as a "very out" lesbian, African-American reverend, which she said is rare to find in church leadership.

Flournoy and two other pastors, Rosario Vargas and Charles Cooper, along with a launch team of 25 people, originally established the church at Club 21 at 21st and K streets. The club's owner, Terry Sidie, who also owns Faces and Head Hunters, invited the church to meet there monthly for free so the community would have a spiritual center, said Flournoy, a deputy director at the California Institute for Mental Health.

But people who partied there on Saturday nights found it difficult to show up at the same place for church the next day.

So they found a new home. And every Sunday, A Church for All meets in Sofia at the Best Western Sutter House from 1:30 to 3 p.m., a time that works well for anybody who went clubbing the night before, she said.

Curtains are drawn to hide the room's full-service bar, a portable stage is pulled out and chairs are set in rows in the recently renovated banquet room.

The church has about 50 regular members, and yet attendance remains very fluid. Flournoy, Vargas and Cooper watch to see who will be in the crowd each week.

"This church changes every Sunday I'm there," Flournoy said. "The room is always full."

Cornerstone to move late summer

2010-04-06T04:21:29Z

Cornerstone Restaurant will have until Sept. 1 to move to its new location at a nearby vacant church.

The family-run restaurant's owners, Kwang "Joe" Jang and brother-in-law Danny Leung, reached an agreement with their landlords in court Friday.

The landlords agreed to let them keep operating at 2330 J St. while Jang and Leung remodel a Spanish-style church just a block away at 23rd and K streets, said Jang, who sounded relieved.

"I'm excited about it," Jang, 42, said Monday. "I think it will be a better place: newer and nicer."

That also means Midtown residents won't lose an establishment that's been a neighborhood fixture for at least 20 to 30 years.

Cornerstone has served affordable breakfast and lunch every day at the corner of J and 24th streets for nearly 20 years, after Jang and Leung took over the location and name from its previous owner in 1994. Another restaurant had served breakfast and lunch at the same spot since the 1970s, Jang said.

Leung's sister and a family friend bought the church for $450,000 and will lease the space back to Jang and Leung, 41. The pair pitches in with cooking and waiting tables, and Jang's wife, Amy, regularly serves customers.

The new location will be about the size of the old: seating nearly 100 people in about 2,600 square feet inside, and sidewalk tables and a patio landscaped with palms and fenced for privacy.

The church's roof will be replaced, and skylights may be added. The exterior will be painted a brighter color. The owners plan to continue the American diner ambiance, even carrying over the same interior paint colors of cream with green trim. Fans, heat lamps, new air conditioning and more lights will be added.

"People who are coming will recognize this as the old Cornerstone — the one they've been coming to for 16 years," Jang said, "but with some upgrades to make them more comfortable."

Cornerstone's owners had been fighting eviction since December after buying a quarter interest in their current building. Four sisters had inherited the building from their parents, and one sister agreed to sell her share. The other three then decided not to continue the restaurant's lease, which was valid through the end of February, Jang said.

The building was constructed in the early 1900s and housed a Seventh-day Adventist church at least as far back as 1920. Several other churches went on to own it.

Vacant for three or four years, the building had been in escrow with several buyers. But the economy, a lack of available financing and the building's condition kept it from selling, said Colliers International Real Estate Broker Dave Herrera, who handled the sale.

The sellers had sought a higher price for some time, he added.

Cornerstone's owners will now turn their attention to preparing the new restaurant. Five months isn't a lot of time, Jang said.

"We really have to get the place going," he said. "And our customers have a definite answer on whether we're staying or leaving, and where we're going to go. So they will not think that we closed."

Cornerstone is open from 6 a.m. to 2:30 p.m. Monday through Friday and from 6:30 a.m. to 2:30 p.m. weekends.

Photos by Suzanne Hurt, a staff reporter covering business and development for The Sacramento Press.

Bangkok@12 opens at 12th and I

2010-03-23T22:58:11Z

Thai food fanatics can stop mourning the loss of Amarin Thai Cuisine.

Its employees — who wanted to save everyone's jobs — on Tuesday reopened the restaurant at 12th and I streets as Bangkok@12. The restaurant is named for its location on 12th Street.

The space stood empty for three months. But on Monday, the soft sounds of the Thai language floated between the dining room and the kitchen once more while Nancy Phupong and her friend Pam Intarakul took orders, talked with cooks and served food to practice for the grand opening.

"All the employees that used to work here are still here," said 43-year-old Phupong, who once managed Amarin. (They're) "More like friends because we've known each other for so long."

Inside the kitchen, Phupong's husband, Tee, cooked up pad thai and yellow curry with two cooks from Amarin Thai Cuisine. The Phupongs left Amarin more than five years ago to open Thai Chili in Elk Grove. They now also own Krua Thai in Folsom.

Now they're partnering with Intarakul to open a Thai restaurant where Amarin operated for more than 20 years. The trio has rehired all six of Amarin's other employees, including two cooks.

Everyone was born in Thailand. They met at Amarin, where they became close by working and eating together every day.

The employees had been sad to hear Amarin was shutting down. But before the restaurant closed in mid-January, Intarakul and two other employees called Nancy Phupong to ask her to start a new restaurant there.

"I just worry about my friends. We are like family," Intarakul said. "We know each other many years."

With Amarin's success and the crew's experience running Thai restaurants, the Phupongs and Intarakul decided to go for it. Yet they had competition for the vacant space from as many as half a dozen other interested parties. Nancy Phupong had some sleepless nights until they got the lease.

All the employees pitched in to clean up the place before a remodel. Stone floor tiles have replaced carpeting, curtains were hung and walls were repainted golden yellow with lime green and rust accents.

Photos of Thailand fill the walls. Diners who've traveled there may recognize Bangkok's Marble Temple, the reclining Buddha at Wat Pho, Erawan Falls in Kanchanaburi and the gleaming golden chedi at Chiang Mai's mountain temple, Doi Suthep.

Photos were chosen from places where the owners and employees lived. Phupong grew up in Bangkok, where she helped her grandmother sell food as a "street vendor" outside their home. Intarakul grew up in Kanchanaburi.

Ironically, Phupong grew up in that neighborhood with Lek Pitak and Yai Supanphat, sisters who run Thai Palace at 3262 J St. They met up again after moving to California.

Regulars will also recognize the extensive menu with more than 125 items. The owners are keeping most of Amarin's dishes, including BBQ Chicken, Shrimp Mango Curry and Angel Wings.

"We try to do it exactly like in Thailand," Intarakul said.

Dishes like those take a lot of work, but that's what helped make Amarin good, Phupong said. Good customer service, generous portions and a staff that can represent Thai culture will help bring in customers, she added.

"A lot of Thai restaurants are popping up like mushrooms," Phupong said.

A new sign was installed over the door Tuesday morning just before a lunch crowd began filling tables. Smiling, Nancy Phupong pointed to the three gold chedi representing the three-way partnership that now grace the restaurant's sign, as well as the menu cover.

Intarakul put the restaurant's hours — daily from 11 a.m. to 9:30 p.m. — up on the door. Then the pair greeted customers they haven't seen in a while. They were soon swamped.

"Everybody's so happy," Phupong said. "It's so exciting."

The restaurant at 900 12th St. can be reached at 443-5588.

Red Lotus to open soon

2010-03-22T05:38:41Z

Red Lotus Kitchen & Bar is expected to open as early as the first week in April — with gold Chinese calligraphy on its walls, dim sum on its tables and silk lanterns hanging from the ceiling.

Chef Buu "Billy" Ngo and partner Peter Kwong are opening the contemporary Asian-fusion restaurant at 2718 J St. following their success with Japanese restaurant Kru, a few blocks down the street. The restaurant initially was expected to open in December in the spot where G.V. Hurley's closed its doors in September. A liquor license transfer held up the opening of Red Lotus, Ngo said.

Following a restaurant trend toward small plates of food or "tapas," the restaurant will focus on small dishes, primarily dim sum, and serve no entrees. Red Lotus also will serve fried rice, noodles, and adventurous dishes such as Peking quail with crispy skin and mandarin pancakes, oxtail soup, braised beef tendon and beef tongue.

"I know that'll be a little weird, but I like the stuff," Ngo said.

But he said he draws the line at chicken feet, another Asian specialty.

"I love chicken feet, but I don't know how well that's going to go," he said. "So I'm going to keep that off the menu. For now."

Dim sum comes from Southern China, while the crepelike pancakes come from Northern China, which produces much more grain than rice. The idea is for people to order one or more plates of dim sum, as well as fried rice or noodles, and then share, Ngo added.

Bartender Erick Castro, considered by some to be the "godfather" of Sacramento's cocktail scene, will take a break from tending bar in San Francisco to develop Red Lotus' cocktail program over the next two weeks. Staff will make all syrups and juices used in the drinks.

The restaurant has undergone minor remodeling to create a contemporary urban Asian vibe, with red, yellow and black walls and paintings of Buddhas and lotuses. Booths and chairs were reupholstered in silver and black, and new furniture will fill the back patio and front terrace.

Ngo is working with a friend's father, who does Chinese calligraphy, to choose proverbs that will be painted in gold on the restaurant's walls.

Ngo and Kwong bought the business from Hurley's owners, whose operation had conflicts with neighboring residents.

The California Department of Alcoholic Beverage Control postponed transfer of the liquor license until owners of Red Lotus and Hurley's cleared up problems. The license-transfer process moved very slowly, said Ngo, adding Red Lotus will open once the transfer goes through, which is expected soon.

Ngo and Kwong consider alcohol sales important to the restaurant's success. However, their emphasis will be on food, Ngo said. Red Lotus will be open daily from 4 p.m. to 10, except on Fridays and Saturdays, when hours will extend to 2 a.m. and the restaurant will close at midnight. Ngo expects to add lunch and a weekend brunch.

Red Lotus will rotate the menu, choosing among many dishes that can be found at dim sum establishments. But there's one thing found at dim sum restaurants that Red Lotus won't have, Ngo said.

"We're not going to have ladies with the carts," Ngo said.

Photo by Suzanne Hurt, a staff reporter who covers business and development for The Sacramento Press.

Friends open 14th and O bistro

2010-02-09T04:15:58Z

Two thirty-somethings who grew up in Sacramento's restaurant scene are teaming up to open a French-influenced restaurant next month.

Simon's Bar & Cafe co-owner Alan Chan is opening his second restaurant, Bistro Michel, at 1501 14th St. The bistro will be managed by Richard Macias, who's worked in restaurants all over Sacramento. The two became friends after Macias got a job bartending at Simon's.

Chan, 36 and Macias, 35, plan to open a restaurant that is "simple and classy and not overbearing," offering primarily American food cooked with French techniques and priced for most people, Macias said.

They got fired up about French food while in France a few years ago to celebrate a friend's birthday. The bistro's name was chosen in memory of an incredible side trip they made to Brussels. The name of the city's patron saint, Michel — also known as Saint Michael the Archangel — was plastered all over, Macias said.

"We've been to France many times," Chan said. "We're inspired by the food and we want to do something special ourselves."

The bistro will replace Gaylord Restaurant in the Admail Express building, an infill redevelopment project by the Capitol Area Development Authority.

Chan grew up in the restaurant business. Nearly the same can be said about Macias, who has worked in the industry since he was 14. As teens, they went to rival Sacramento high schools.

Chan's uncle, Simon Chan, and father Johnny Chan opened Simon's more than 20 years ago. Simon owned the bar and Johnny owned the restaurant. Alan Chan took over the restaurant when his dad retired. His uncle still owns the bar.

Macias began working in coffee shops 21 years ago while in high school. He has since worked in many restaurants. He waited tables at The Waterboy, did everything from serving to cooking at The Kitchen, and helped open Selland's Market-Cafe as a manager and the person in charge of wine. Macias has also worked at 55 Degrees and Ella.

"I think I've worked at every restaurant in town," he said. "You get stale. You want to learn something new."

Chan and Macias are working together on the bistro's wine list and menu. One side of the bistro will hold a cafe where people can buy pastries, sandwiches, coffee and espresso. The neighborhood doesn't have another coffee shop within four or five blocks, Macias said.

The bistro will offer a tier of service, with approximately $5 sandwiches and $10 sit-down lunches. Wine pricings won't be "inflated," and the restaurant will offer wine tastings and other fun events, he added.

Bistro Michel will focus on farmers' market produce and locally raised meats from Bledsoe Ranch meats, as well as meats from Colorado. Dishes could include a classic rack of lamb with herb crust and potatoes au gratin using a dried truffle cheese, and a New York strip steak with bone marrow butter, French fries and spinach. The food will be prepared with the French technique Macias learned at high-end establishments.

"We just kind of want to do something that's in that style, but caters to the budgets of people who aren't executives," he said. "I don't know that we can call it French."

Chan has looked at many other locations over the years. They both like the location at 14th and O streets because it's in the central business district and close to the Capitol and the offices of many state workers.

"It's an ideal location for us, we feel," Chan said.

They expect to open the restaurant and bar in March. The cafe will open a couple months later. They will add onto the sunroom that was used as a dining room by Gaylord's.

The pair is still working out the interior's design and color scheme. They're starting with a thorough cleaning. They'll replace carpeting with flagstone, tile or nice linoleum. Pastry cases and counters must be built and the seating will be changed. Once they open, they'll seek customer input for other changes, Chan said.

"We want to make everything better and better as we go," he said.

Mexican artist tapped again for Zócalo expansion

2010-02-08T04:58:43Z

Sacramento restaurateur Ernesto Jimenez was excited, yet afraid to take on the challenge of creating a restaurant in a 6,000-square-foot corner space in the old Arnold Brothers Motor Cars building.

He already was the owner of the colorful Mexican restaurant Ernesto's when he and partners bought the 77-year-old building in 2001. And he'd been dreaming about his next restaurant for years. He wanted it to be something special.

"It was a beautiful old building, so the restaurant had to match the exterior," he said. "I didn't want it to be just another restaurant. It had to be something beyond that."

His visits to the new space at 18th Street and Capitol Avenue told him there was a lot of work ahead. Part of the fun of preparation came on trips to Mexico, his parents' homeland, where he searched for the pieces that could go into the restaurant.

By the time the building's renovation began in the fall of 2003, he'd found Ernesto Cruz, the person who helped him transform a former flooring store into Zócalo, where nearly every furnishing is a handmade piece of art.

"It was a really thrashed, ugly space," Jimenez said. "He pretty much came in and made it happen — and made it look great."

Six years after opening, Jimenez is recruiting Cruz to create a private banquet room that will add 1,000 square feet to the restaurant.

Cruz is an artist with his own shop in San Pedro Tlaquepaque, a Mexican village bordering Guadalajara known for its pottery and blown glass. He was trained as an architect. But his passionate, bohemian nature was best expressed through art, Jimenez said.

"He didn't seem to be the kind of guy who could conform to the 9-to-5 standards we live by," Jimenez said. "So he got into his art."

Cruz first began candlemaking, then got into painting and other art. But it wasn't until he married a very organized European woman that the business end of his art really soared, Jimenez said.

Cruz picked up artistic and cultural influences from other lands as the couple traveled extensively. Travel has become an important part of his imaginative and inventive existence, Jimenez said.

"He needs to do that in order to stay alive — to stay alive creatively," Jimenez said. "I respect that he's true to himself. That's not easy in this world."

Cruz branched into interior design and worked with artisans in his city to get furnishings made by hand out of stone, metal, wood and clay.

But he wasn't easy for Jimenez to find. Jimenez had gotten a tip to check out an unusual lamp in a restaurant in Morelia, Michoacan. He asked the restaurant owner who had made the lamp and where he could find that person. The proprietor sent him to Mexico City without even a name. The artist's work was nowhere to be found.

It wasn't until Jimenez traveled in the opposite direction and stumbled upon Cruz's shop, opened only one week earlier in the state of Jalisco, that he found the lamp's maker.

Jimenez had searched Mexico extensively, trying to find the look he wanted for the restaurant. He found beautiful art, but thought it had been done in too many other Mexican restaurants in both countries. He quickly fell in love with what he found in Cruz's shop, "io," named for the couple's son. But Jimenez didn't know if others would feel the same. He wasn't sure if anyone else would even like it.

"It was risky. I didn't know if people were going to say, 'This isn't Mexican,' " he said. "'Cause this isn't seen so much — in Mexico, even."

Cruz spent five days in Sacramento taking photos and measuring the space.

Jimenez visited Cruz 10 times in a year and a half to go over the interior design plans and look at artwork. Many design adjustments had to be made to fit the space and adhere to city codes for historic buildings, Jimenez said.

For example, a design for a front door awning couldn't be used because it didn't meet city code.

The two spent hours visiting shops where people were crafting pieces for the restaurant. Jimenez got to know Cruz and his family over dinners at their house.

Cruz developed a style for Zócalo that blends influences from pre-Columbian Mexico, Moorish Iberia, Spain, Morocco, Egypt and Africa. Abstract human figures and hearts can be found again and again on pieces throughout the restaurant.

"It's a little difficult to describe," Jimenez said.

Cruz designed things such as a pre-Columbian baptismal urn, called a pila; a grand volcanic stone fireplace and a huge, ornate wooden door frame for a 500-foot banquet space known as the Morelia Room; hand-blown lamps of fantastic shapes and sizes; handworked metal bar stools; and a bar and tables made of travertine. Cruz also designed wooden furniture and painted a large painting on a back wall.

Jimenez will return to Tlaquepaque in April to look at Cruz's plans for the new room, talk about specific ideas and choose art and furnishings. The existing banquet space can get noisy, partly because it is open to the entire restaurant. The idea is to create a quieter space for celebrations and meetings in a room between Zócalo and the former Dragonfly restaurant, Jimenez said.

The look will be a continuation of the main restaurant, with a more rustic style to block noise. The floor will be wood covered with big, Persian-style rugs. Heavy drapes will hang on an exterior wall containing a separate door and windows to muffle sound and create a darker space when needed for such things as audio-visual presentations.

"We're going to make it as multifunctional as we can," Jimenez said.

An opening between the space and the main dining room will be built in the restaurant's back wall, where Cruz's painting now hangs. A heavy wooden door will be installed there. A pre-Columbian statue lit like a shrine will be visible through that doorway. A small service bar and restrooms also may be added, Jimenez said.

Work on the new room is expected to start by June. At the same time, the outdoor patio will be expanded in front of the room and more plants will be added outside. The additions are meant to expand on the restaurant's goal of being a gathering place. After all, it's named after Mexico City's famous plaza, known as the Zócalo — one of the world's largest public squares.

Jimenez said he's happy to have found Cruz, who created the unique restaurant Jimenez had been dreaming of.

"There's lots of great art all over Mexico," Jimenez said. "But nothing like this."

Photos by Ernesto Jimenez and Suzanne Hurt. Restaurant scene photo provided by Jimenez.

Amarin closes after more than 20 years

2010-01-28T05:51:35Z

Amarin Thai Cuisine, one of Sacramento's earliest Thai restaurants, has gone dark after the owners closed last week.

On Jan. 19, the family-run restaurant shut its doors at the corner of I and 12th streets, just a few blocks from government buildings housing thousands of state, city, county and federal employees. Downtown workers made up the bulk of Amarin's customers during weekday lunches.

"That was our favorite," said downtown resident Gloria Burt, an art show curator for Sacramento's Central Library. "The food was really, really good. We're unhappy it's gone."

Like many other businesses in the central city, Amarin was hurt by the recession and state employee furloughs. But a loss of revenue was not the reason for the restaurant's closure, according to a source who spoke to the owners.

Amarin was believed to have been the second Thai restaurant to open in Sacramento. The Sacramento County health department's earliest records for the restaurant date back to 1989. Another family first opened the restaurant, and that may have been earlier. The current owner, listed as Sureerat Nui Mach, had opened a restaurant of the same name in Folsom in 2002 and later sold the business.

Siam Restaurant is believed to have been the first, according to Lek Pitak, who owns Thai Palace, 3262 J St., and Thais working at Siam.

Siam first opened in the 5300 block of Franklin Boulevard. The city built a police station there and Siam relocated to 5100 Franklin Blvd. City of Sacramento Revenue Division records for that location date to 1988. Siam workers said the restaurant first opened by 1984 or possibly earlier.

The Burt family discovered Amarin soon after the first family opened it. Over the years, the restaurant expanded and the interior was decorated more, Burt said.

"We had a lot of friends who liked going there," she said. "Now where are we going to get our coconut soup? It was the best."

Amarin's license to sell beer and wine expired Dec. 31, but is still considered active until the end of a 90-day grace period, according to the California Department of Alcoholic Beverage Control.

Amarin's space at 900 12th St. may not stay vacant for long. More than five potential restaurant operators have inquired about leasing the retail space on the ground floor of the Congress Hotel in the week since the restaurant closed.

The owners could not be reached for comment.

Musicians still cooking at sandwich shop

2010-01-19T02:37:19Z

Most musicians have day jobs. Now two musicians own theirs.

Cooks Mick "The Deli Lama" Stevenson and Dennis "DJ" Rogers have kept the original Dad's Sandwich Shop going strong at 1310 S St. after assuming ownership three months ago. Dad's Kitchen at 2968 Freeport Blvd. near Curtis Park closed after its owners, Alison and Sam "Dad" England, weren't able to find a buyer.

Diners may not even know a change of ownership took place, because Rogers and Stevenson had largely been running the restaurant, which operates from 8 a.m. to 4 p.m. Monday through Friday, they said. Rogers, 26, also plays guitar in the hardcore punk band Killing The Dream, and 37-year-old Stevenson is in three bands: a punk band, a folk band and a spaghetti western band called Blvd ParK.

They plan to keep the menu, filled with sandwiches such as the California Carnivore (roast beef and pastrami) and the Fat Elvis (peanut butter, honey and banana), plus salads, soup and breakfast sandwiches. And they will keep the restaurant's name.

"There's no reason to change it," Rogers said. "Dad — Sam — he's our friend."

The original opened about five years ago in the shadow of several state agencies. Rogers helped the Englands open Dad's Kitchen about two years ago. Rogers and Stevenson worked at both establishments. They've hired their own staff at the sandwich shop, and all are into music.

The restaurant is casual and small, holding four tiny, two-person tables. Diners order at a small counter. During a lunch rush last week, Stevenson, Rogers and the staff cranked sandwiches out for customers like Steve Schoenig.

Dad's Sandwich Shop is just a stone's throw away from the California Department of Fish and Game, where Schoenig works as a supervising biologist. He eats there regularly after hearing about the restaurant from coworkers. He said he likes the place because it's unique and the people making the food are nice to their customers.

"It's great food. It's not a chain," he said. "They have a real creative menu and they're real friendly."

Photos by Suzanne Hurt, a staff reporter covering business and development for the Sacramento Press.

Comforting "House" opens on Capitol Mall

2010-01-05T06:16:17Z

Chris Nestor knows people are in need of a little comfort right now.

The chef behind INK decided the time is right for a restaurant which may be able to provide that. On Jan. 12, he will open House Kitchen & Bar at 555 Capitol Mall.

Opening first for lunch, House will serve re-imagined American comfort food in a warm setting, with dinner prices that won't go above $17. The concept is a response to the times, with many people facing continuing economic challenges, said Nestor.

"Everybody has changed their mindset about what they want to pay when dining out," Nestor said. "Times are different right now. Meals are different right now. People's needs are different. So I just think it's a new day."

House is taking over the space where 55 Degrees closed more than a year ago. Dressed in chef's whites Monday, 41-year-old Nestor supervised a kitchen already serving diners who stopped by its adjacent lunch counter café to get an early taste of the restaurant. The café offers lunch-to-go in a spot that housed a La Bou eatery for a year.

Nestor shies away from the spotlight. He credits his success to surrounding himself with successful people. He never wears his name on his chef's jacket, so an air of being under pressure was all that identified him as the owner and head chef of a restaurant about to open.

Breakfast will be added one week after the official opening and dinner will be added by late February, after the liquor license has been granted, said restaurant manager Meagan Svendsen.

Lunch and dinner items and prices will be the same. They could include buttermilk fried chicken with bacon smashed potatoes and collard greens for $14.50, flat iron steak tacos for $13 and a drunken chicken salad for $12. The menu will change constantly, with half a dozen new items added daily.

"We want to take things they've had at their mom's house — dishes they have some kind of nostalgic connection to — and make it the best in Sacramento," Nestor said.

The interior renovation of the main restaurant continued out-of-sight Monday behind windows covered with brown paper. House Kitchen & Bar will be a 180-degree departure from 55 Degrees, a minimalist, high-end French restaurant that operated there until closing on its three-year anniversary on September 5, 2008, Nestor said.

Cushy booths and butcher block tables will help make the space more inviting, Svendsen said. Artist Sandy Christensen of Unique Finishes created a faux-finish copper ceiling and artist Jason Byrd made a 30-foot sculpture of a kitchen tool to sit atop a wine cooler being converted into an art piece.

"We just want to warm it up — create that cozy feel," Svendsen said. "Like at home — sophisticated and classy, yet comfortable."

Nestor started out as a waiter. Pressure from his then-fiancée led him to enroll in the Culinary Institute of America. After graduating 16 years ago, he worked as the food and beverage manager for a Hilton Hotel in Fresno, then moved to Sacramento in 1995.

He later worked at Rio City Café, the Cheesecake Factory and Paragary's Bar & Oven. Nestor opened INK in May 2003. When Sammy Chu's closed at 15th and R streets after just eight months, mentor Randy Paragary brought Nestor in immediately to start a new restaurant. Nestor opened the glitzy Icon Restaurant and Lounge there in November 2004.

Icon operated for a year and a half. Nestor said he thinks the restaurant didn't succeed partly because the location wasn't well-known yet and not many people knew about the restaurant. It took a few more years for the area to become trendy and full of successful businesses.

Nestor said he and his staff plan to work hard to increase the liveliness of Capitol Mall, which has few restaurants.

The owner of 55 Degrees, Ali Mackani, said when closing the restaurant that the establishment didn't work out because residential development did not grow in the Capitol Mall area as expected. He opened Lounge on 20 at 20th and K streets in July 2008.

House Kitchen & Bar is expected to draw diners from the Capitol Mall office buildings, the Capitol, nearby hotels and state agencies.

"Although this area is sophisticated, when people leave their offices, I think they want to be in a comfortable environment — yet still get superior service, phenomenal food and general comfort," Svendsen said.

The staff will make a special effort to welcome diners — right down to asking what they'd like to see on the menu.

"It's our house. We want you to feel relaxed here," Nestor said.

Suzanne Hurt is a staff reporter covering business and development for The Sacramento Press.

Zócalo to grow

2009-12-08T04:58:04Z

Zócalo restaurant plans to expand its space for celebration by adding a banquet room.

The 1,000-square-foot banquet room will increase the L-shaped 3,500-square-foot dining area by nearly a third.

The room will contain pre-Columbian-style artwork and noise-reduction features including "big, beautiful doors" that can be closed and rugs that will make the new room quieter than an existing 500-square-foot banquet room, said restaurant owner Ernesto Jimenez.

"We get a lot of requests for groups — especially this time of year," he said. "It's a good celebration place."

A bank has given verbal approval for a loan, but now paperwork must be completed, Jimenez said. The plan is to start work by May so the room will be completed in the summer.

The banquet room will be carved from space the restaurant uses for storage between Zócalo and the now-closed Dragonfly. Zócalo will not expand into Dragonfly's space, Jimenez said.

Photo provided by Zócalo.

Dragonfly closes

2009-12-07T02:49:28Z

Dragonfly Restaurant has closed its doors after five years in Midtown.

Owners Glenn and Rosa Rivera-Lew quietly closed the Asian-fusion restaurant at least two weeks ago. They are now considering other options for the 3,500-square-foot space at 1809 Capitol Ave., whose lease they still own, said Ernesto Jimenez, an owner of the building and Zocalo, the restaurant next door.

Dragonfly — whose menu included sushi, noodles and tapas such as sesame seed cones and taro chips — struggled for some time.

"That's a sad one for us," said Rob Kerth, executive director of the Midtown Business Association. "I think they just couldn't draw enough people in to keep it going."

Dragonfly opened about a month after Zocalo in 2004 after Jimenez and building co-owner Ron Vrilakas, an architect, redeveloped the 1920s-era Arnold Brothers Building. The space, originally built as a warehouse for car repairs, features 18-foot ceilings and outdoor dining.

A sign on Dragonfly's door says a new business is expected to open early next year. It's too early to know whether the Lews will change the concept and resume operation, transfer the lease to a new operator or bring in new partners or investors, Jimenez said.

"He (Lew) has some great ideas in the works," Jimenez said.

The Lews operate a restaurant at Arden Fair and operated Fusions restaurant in Davis for seven years. They could not be reached for comment.

Red Lotus expected in January

2009-12-02T04:54:26Z

Midtown diners and residents who have been awaiting a new Asian-fusion restaurant will have to wait a bit longer.

Red Lotus Kitchen & Bar — the newest addition to the 2700 block of J Street — isn't likely to open until January, said chef Buu "Billy" Ngo, who is partnering again with Peter Kwong after their Japanese restaurant Kru has become a success just a few blocks down the street. Kru opened in 2005.

They plan to open their new restaurant at 2718 J St., where G.V. Hurley's closed its doors in September. Ngo and Kwong bought the business from Hurley's owners, who had conflicts with neighboring residents. The liquor license transfer is holding up the opening of Red Lotus, Ngo said Tuesday morning.

The California Department of Alcoholic Beverage Control's (ABC) Sacramento District is waiting for signed paperwork from Red Lotus. One of the most crucial documents that's missing contains the liquor license conditions, which must transfer with the license, said Jeff Gregson, a supervising investigator with the district.

"It's just a matter of getting us what we need," he said. "Then we can process the application."

Ngo and Kwong's attorney submitted all necessary paperwork more than a month ago, Ngo said, adding that they've been trying to figure out what was holding up the process. Later Tuesday, ABC contacted the attorney to say paperwork was incomplete, Ngo said, who was surprised.

"Everything is turned in," he said. Ngo said he has already read and initialed the license conditions document.

"We agree with those conditions," he added. The attorney will now resubmit the documents.

Liquor license transfers usually take 45 to 60 days once an application is filed. Applications must be forwarded to the city council, planning commission and police department, which then have a chance to weigh in, said ABC spokesman John Carr.

The transfer is not being held up by complaints, unresolved issues or red tape from the city or another outside entity, Gregson said.

Three protests were filed in September against the liquor license transfer. At least one protest was filed by a neighbor active with the area's resident organization, the Marshall School/New Era Park Neighborhood Association.

Those three people were notified that they can't protest a "person-to-person" transfer because there will be no change in the business operation, Gregson said. However, their concerns were alleviated once they learned the liquor license conditions also will transfer, he added.

Hurley's liquor license required the business to sell at least as much food as alcohol, based on quarterly sales records that had to be maintained. Residents complained to ABC that Hurley's was selling more alcohol than food.

While acknowledging alcohol sales will be important to the success of the restaurant, Ngo stressed their emphasis will be on food. Only dinner will be served at first. Lunch and a weekend brunch are expected to be added. Red Lotus will be open until midnight except on Fridays and Saturdays, when hours will extend to 2 a.m., Ngo said.

Minor renovations and creation of a menu must still be planned, Ngo said. But Red Lotus will open, he said.

"It's going to happen," Ngo said.

Suzanne Hurt is a staff reporter for the Sacramento Press.

5th and H Cafe opens

2009-11-23T20:49:00Z

Downtown Sacramento's newest restaurant, 5th and H Café opened Monday.

Chef and owner Anthony Palombo and a small staff are servi,ng pastries and beverages on the first day of business. The full menu will be offered Tuesday, he said.

Palombo said he owes much thanks to his whole family for all their help with opening the café. Brother-in-law Brian Donnaley and father-in-law Bob Donnaley helped extensively with painting and installing kitchen equipment, he said.

His mother and grandmother taught him how to cook growing up. His mother-in-law Phyllis Donnaley, who once owned a deli, has provided a lot of help with the new business. She gave the café its first dollar Monday.

Tucked into a back corner of the Railway Express Agency Building, 431 I St., the restaurant sits between the federal courthouse and the Sacramento Valley Station. Hours are from 6 a.m. to 6 p.m., Monday through Friday. For more information, call 441-1130 or e-mail 5thandH@gmail.com.

5th and H Cafe to open

2009-11-12T05:24:54Z

Anthony and Tracy Palombo say the place they're opening in two weeks will be more than just a restaurant.

Husband and wife want 5th and H Café to be a place for friends and family to gather around good food and a glass of wine — a space like his uncle's café in Italy, where Anthony first started out in the restaurant business one summer when he was 24.

His uncle's trattoria sits in Montepertuso, a small town hidden in the cliffs above Positano on the Amalfi Coast. The name of his uncle's restaurant: Il Ritrovo.

"That means in Italian, 'Where Friends Meet,' " Anthony Palombo said. "It's the most beautiful place on earth."

Palombo worked at the restaurant for a year and a half. He did everything he could to learn the restaurant business inside and out.

"I was working in the kitchen day and night," he said. "Those stories you hear about chefs working 16, 17 hours a day — that was me.

"From waking up early to make fresh pastas to going down on my scooter to the market for fresh fish, pretty much right out of the sea," he said. "It was something you dream of."

Palombo has dreamed of opening his own restaurant for 15 years. After moving to the area four years ago, he helped open Spataro Restaurant and Bar as the sous chef. He worked at the downtown Bistro 33 for a year, then went back to Spataro as the chef. After two more years there, he began to put his dream into motion.

Now he and his wife are opening a restaurant like his uncle's in the back corner of the historic Railway Express Agency Building, between the train station and the federal courthouse.

With minor modifications, they're taking over the space vacated by Soups in the City and leased out by Johan Otto, who restored the building with another developer, Lynn Pomeroy. The café, decorated with a terra cotta floor and walls in autumn shades, will hold 10 tables.

He has a lot of family support. He and Tracy found a new deli case through Craigslist. His uncle, an electrician, drove down from Santa Rosa to install more electrical wire. His dad, a bricklayer, may help build a brick barbecue in an outdoor patio.

The café will be much like his uncle's, he said. Palombo will run the place himself, offering friendly, one-on-one service with help from two people in the kitchen. He said he doesn't want to put a label on his food.

"I just want to be able to do what I want to do; make what people want to eat — fun stuff," he said. "I'm going to really focus on my food. There's not really a place where you can get good, fresh food around here."

The 5th and H Café will serve breakfast and lunch, along with wine by the glass and bottles of beer. The focus will be on seasonal, locally-grown ingredients, with plenty of vegetarian options, Palombo said.

His dad's garden will supply some of the produce for the café. Palombo will also use fruits and vegetables from growers like Soil Born Farms and Full Belly Farm.

The breakfast menu will include lavender waffles and apple pancakes. Lunch items will include seasonal soups made from scratch each morning, paninis, whole wheat wraps, Niman Ranch burgers and rustic tuna salad poached in olive oil with arugula and beets.

The café will also serve artisan cheeses, cured meats, housemade antipasti and seasonal fruit plates.

The restaurant will open the fourth week in November. Hours will be from 6 a.m. to 6 p.m., Monday through Friday. Catering will be offered and outdoor seating may be added in the future. Palombo said he's starting with the basics, and then will develop the menu based on what customers want.

They expect to serve travelers using the Sacramento Valley Station, judges and lawyers working in the courthouse and state workers, he said.

"I want to cater to the people around here. I want them to feel comfortable," he said. "I want this to be a place where friends around the area come to meet."

Suzanne Hurt is a staff reporter for The Sacramento Press.

November opening for Ten 22

2009-10-16T07:00:41Z

Work crews are preparing Old Sacramento's newest restaurant, Ten 22, for a mid-November opening.

Crews continued building the large hickory bar and exposed kitchen Thursday. Work was expected to start Friday on a firepit that will take center stage in a courtyard lounge and dining area with a view of brick buildings dating to the 1850s.

The restaurant's Oct. 22 opening was pushed back a few weeks so construction could be finished and the new staff trained in depth, said Terry Harvego, director of Harvego Enterprises, which is opening the restaurant in its year-old loft building, the Orleans, 1022 Second St. The restaurant and the building are overseen by Old Sacramento Properties, a division of Harvego Enterprises.

"We just want to make sure we're ready," he said. "We absolutely understand the need to provide great service, because that's what our customers and clients demand. And we're going to work very hard to make sure we deliver that."

Management from Old Sacramento's Firehouse Restaurant, also owned by the Harvego family, helped choose the new restaurant's wines and collaborated on the menu with Ten 22's consulting executive chef, Irie Gangler. Gangler was formerly with the Firehouse and Crush 29 in Roseville.

They developed a new American menu to fit the range of tastes that will come to Old Sacramento, Harvego said.

"We want people to be comfortable coming in," he said. "It's dishes you'd know, but cooked with a modern twist. When you leave, we want you to say, 'Wow, I've never had halibut cooked that way,' or 'I've never had a steak cooked that way.' "

The restaurant's interior features hickory woodwork, a mosaic tile pizza oven, brick and light tones. Workers still need to install more wainscoting and finish painting inside the 6,900-square-foot space, where banks of French doors in the front and back let light in. A 60" high-definition television, booths and a banquette will be installed in a private dining room that can seat 55. Two dozen draft beers will be kept cool in a glycol chiller system with kegs in a basement cooler and chilled lines to the taps, Harvego said.

The new Orleans occupies a site steeped in history. The building was constructed on a vacant lot that once housed the Orleans Hotel. The original Orleans was possibly Sacramento's finest hotel, used by Mark Twain and state legislators, said Marcia Eymann, history manager for the city and county.

"When we were first entering statehood, a lot of wheeling and dealing went on in the Orleans," she said.

The restaurant's courtyard faces two historic buildings connecting back to the city's boomtown days in 1849, when most of the city's buildings were canvas. Canvas tents at both sites were replaced with wood by 1850 and then brick after a fire in1852, Eymann said.

Courtyard diners at Ten-22 will be treated to a classic Old Sacramento view featuring the back of Leggett's Ale House, a narrow three-story building featuring green shutters, and the wide Booth Building, which sports a shaded second-floor balcony.

"We thought the patio would be a great place where people could come, sit back, and relax," Harvego said.

Suzanne Hurt is a staff reporter for The Sacramento Press.

La Bonne Soupe reopens Wednesday

2009-10-14T05:01:33Z

A clean bill of health and an outpouring of customer support have prompted the reopening of a wildly popular downtown lunch spot, La Bonne Soupe Café.

On Wednesday, owner Daniel Pont will resume serving the French onion soup Zagat rated as the best in the world only months ago, as well as the sandwiches and other food that earned his restaurant Zagat's top rating in Sacramento.

The cafe passed a Sacramento County health reinspection Friday, nine days after a restaurant inspector closed it upon finding cockroaches.

Pont, a renowned 70-year-old French chef, said Tuesday he's recovering from the stress and heartbreak that landed him in the hospital just before the first scheduled reinspection. He spent all day Tuesday preparing to reopen the restaurant he first opened in 2005.

"Today, I came here to see how it is to work," he said. "I cooked for the family today. So I was happy to be in the kitchen again."

The restaurant had been closed for about three weeks before the initial inspection -- initially for a vacation, but then while Pont tended to his wife, who had become sick and spent several days in the hospital.

The closure and Pont's collapse pushed loyal customers to rally to his defense. While a for-sale sign quickly went up, customers left flowers and cards outside the restaurant. They sent emails and filled his answering machine with their calls. They phoned Sacramento County's restaurant inspection program to complain. They even volunteered legal assistance or help at the cafe.

"They were wonderful and that's one of the reasons I stopped the sale, for now," Pont said.

Mark Urquhart-Webb, a program manager with California Air Resources Board, stopped by the cafe at 920 8th St. to read the messages left by well-wishers. He and his wife had enjoyed the French food cooked and served by Pont, who runs the restaurant alone.

"It took nearly the full hour to get served. The food was just fabulous," Urquhart-Webb said. "It's not a Subway moment at all."

His friend, Raphael Hitzke, won a "Best of Best Film Award" at the Tucson Slow Food Film Festival with the documentary, Vive La Food!, featuring Pont and William Rolle, another French chef operating a one-man show, in East Sacramento.

Signs on the door said, "Nous t'adorons Chef Daniel," and "If and when you decide to reopen, we will be waiting for you."

Pont has worked in all facets of the hospitality industry for 52 years. His grandparents taught him to make bread and butter after the family survived World War II in France.

He opened his first restaurant, Le Ranch House, in Sonoma in the early 1970s. He went on to open Chez Daniel, La Maconais and La Maison, all in the Bay Area.

He retired, then he and his wife moved to the Folsom-El Dorado area five years ago to be close to their daughter and her family. Pont left retirement to open the cafe downtown.

Customers soon packed the tiny cafe, where Pont worked 60 hours a week, including Saturdays when he'd go in to deep clean. A small counter was the only thing separating him from customers who watched him prepare their meals, one at a time. The line outside grew longer and started earlier as word of the restaurant spread. Regulars knew they had to turn up by 11 a.m. to avoid the worst of the lunch rush.

It was at 10:40 a.m. one day that an inspector showed up in Pont's last minutes of preparation. Pont felt he was treated disrespectfully by a young inspector who refused to come back after the lunch rush. He's never been treated rudely or cited for any other problems in 70 health inspections at five restaurants, he said.

"We are not students here. A restaurant that never had any violations should not be treated the same as one that constantly has problems," he said. "They hurt me badly and I have to put it behind me."

Some people have said they thought the inspection was prompted by a complaint — possibly from someone jealous of Pont's Zagat rating.

However, John Rogers, the county's environmental health division chief, said the surprise inspection was routine and not initiated by any calls or complaints.

A copy of the inspection report shows that the inspector was on the premises from 10:40 a.m. to noon. The inspector tried to pull Pont aside but Pont said he couldn't and refused to talk to the inspector, Rogers said, adding there was no other verbal communication from the inspector.

Inspectors, who are now visiting restaurants three times a year, must inspect in the morning at least once a year to see whether people are using proper cooking temperatures and food-handling practice, as well as the cleanliness of the facility.

"We advise staff not to go in the middle of lunch. It's too hectic," Rogers said.

A supervisor present for the reinspection Friday agreed the annual morning inspection would be conducted much earlier from now on, and be finished before Pont opens at 10:30 a.m.

"It's a difficult situation to be in for all parties, and we do it as respectfully as we can," he said. "We understand we're coming into their place of business ... and that they own this establishment. They have some ownership and some pride, and people need to be treated in respect."

Pont took down a for-sale sign but said diners will have to decide the future of the restaurant.

"It's up to the customers," he said.

Suzanne Hurt is a staff reporter for The Sacramento Press.