Newest articles on The Sacramento Press tagged as "cafes"

Capsity Offices and Pangaea Cafe celebrate anniversary as part of "The Parks"

2009-08-06T03:22:53Z

Recently, the owners of Midtown businesses on J Street facing Marshall Park renamed their area The Bloc. Downtown, the owners of the businesses on 11th and H streets renamed their establishments The Retrolodge.

Now a group of Curtis Park businesses will rename themselves.

This Saturday, Gunther's Ice Cream, Pangaea Cafe and Capsity Offices will reintroduce the corner of 3rd and Franklin streets as "The Parks."

They want to call it "The Parks" because the area is located near Curtis Park, William Land Park, Tahoe Park and Oak Park, says Ricardo Robles, co-founder of Capsity Offices. From 1 to 3 p.m., the neighborhood will celebrate the one-year anniversary of Capsity Offices and Pangaea Cafe.

Gunther's, on the other hand, will turn 70 in April, and has been in its current location for 60 years. It is located across 3rd Street from Pangaea and Capsity.

Also opening next door to Pangaea and Capsity will be a salon and several other businesses, Robles said.

Before Rob Archie opened Pangaea Cafe, he spent four years running a college prep academy in Curtis Park. Then he left to play basketball for a year in Italy.

After experiencing the cafes in Italy, he wanted to fulfill his dream of opening up a similar place in Sacramento. Catering to a morning, noon and evening crowd, Archie opened Pangaea Cafe last July. His family owns the building.

"I love the community. It's just been an ongoing pleasure to just do business in Curtis Park," Archie said. "It's a very walkable area and people take pride in living in Curtis Park."

Capsity, which opened in Midtown last year as a co-working space, had been thinking of expanding into Curtis Park for several months. They recently made a deal with Archie, and are now in the process of revamping the space and moving in furniture.

When renovation is complete in September, three small private rooms upstairs, a conference room, and a Wi-Fi spot and laptop workspace downstairs will be available as co-working spaces. The original location will remain open as well.

"The economy played a major role," Robles said of Capsity's successes. "[In the last year, Capsity had] loyal clients [such as] entrepreneurs and the self-employed who needed the space to work."

"We want to push more people from Midtown over here," Robles added. The new office space will still hold the "productive, collaborative and fun" environment that it's known for, he explained.

"I feel like this is a very unique area," Archie said of the corner of 3rd and Franklin Streets. "You've got the neat little neighborhood, ice cream across the street from the cafe, entrepreneurs in the building, entertainment and different events."

Several weeks ago, Pangaea Cafe began serving Belgian beers on tap, becoming one of the few places in Sacramento to do so. They will be serving Affigem, Blanche de Brussels and St. Bernardus this Saturday, along with nachos, pulled pork sliders, and paninis.

Capsity will be serving Chick-fil-A, and hosting a chicken nugget eating contest. Gunther's will serve ice cream.

A possible attendee will be Pangaea's guest chef Josh Ploeg, a.k.a. "The Touring Vegan Chef," who serves a vegan dinner at Pangaea once a month. Josh will not be cooking a vegan dinner on Saturday, but those who would like updates on future dinners should e-mail pangaeajava@gmail.com.

Starting this year, the cafe will also be open later. Instead of closing at 7 p.m., they will be open until 10 or 11 p.m. on the weekends, Archie said.

"It's a cool draw for people to be able to reference everything that's happening here as a whole," Archie added. "We definitely want to come together with the businesses here and be recognized as The Parks."

The event will take place at 2743 Franklin Blvd.

Yummy Yogurt opens in old Benny J's spot

2009-06-28T06:29:21Z

The cozy, cottage-like storefront that used to be Benny J’s in Downtown Westfield Plaza is a meeting place for yogurt and coffee lovers once again this summer. Owner Jason Yee opened the cozy nook’s doors to the public Thursday as Yummy Yogurt, a self-serve frozen yogurt shop and café.

With its easy-to-spot sprinkles sign and bright pink walls in view from the storefront's window, Yummy Yogurt is currently the only yogurt shop in Downtown Plaza.

Yummy Yogurt is sold in cups by the ounce, Yee said. Yogurt junkies can choose from and mix mango, strawberry, chocolate, cheesecake, vanilla and tart-flavored nonfat yogurt, and throw in toppings like almonds, mochi, almond roca, marshmallows, raspberries and blueberries.

“There are plenty of toppings to choose from,” said Yee, adding that more are still coming.

Early birds can come in at 7 a.m. when the shop opens and enjoy 100 percent organic coffee from Coffeeworks as well as breakfast burritos and scones, brownies, cookies and of course, frozen yogurt. The shop also sells salads, fugazetta, vegetarian quiche, ham and cheese pockets and cold drinks.

Espresso drinks are coming soon, Yee said.

Vegetarians and vegans will be happy to learn that the mango yogurt is a dairy-free sorbet, and the breakfast burritos consist of beans, egg, tomatoes, chilies and melted cheese wrapped in a tortilla - no meat included.

Yummy Yogurt is located on the second floor of Downtown Plaza across from the food court.

The shop is open 7 a.m. to 6 p.m. Monday through Thursday, 7 a.m. to 7:30 p.m. Friday, 10 a.m. to 7:30 p.m. Saturday and 10 a.m. to 6 p.m. Sunday. Hours are subject to change.

You can visit the store’s website here: Yummy Yogurt.

True Love coffeehouse shuts door, Jasmine Cafe opens them

2009-05-13T02:58:45Z

While strolling down K Street, some might have noticed a change to one of midtown’s favorite gathering spots. True Love coffeehouse has shut down and is now the Jasmine Café.

First opened in 2001 by music man Kevin Seconds and his wife Allyson, the former True Love coffeehouse opened up on J Street before moving to K Street in 2006, positioning itself with nearby bars and eateries such as Golden Bear and Rick’s Dessert Diner. The coffeehouse then moved upstairs to Sanad’s Mediterranean Deli and closed up shop along with the deli a few weeks ago.

There is much speculation about the reasons for the closure and the current owner believes it was mainly “paperwork” issues but others believe it was an ordinance imposed by the city that would not allow retail sales out of the upper units of buildings in the area. Instead of moving back downstairs to the coffeehouse’s former home, Seconds closed up shop and took off on a solo music tour.

True Love coffee lovers need not despair, though. Owner Mo Mahfouz plans on keeping the coffee drinks as well as the vegetarian selections the same for now. There will, however, be some minor kinks to the café’s live music scene but customers will be happy to know that Mahfouz has decided to keep that tradition alive.

Kevin Santos-Coy of KLSCstudio has been a major player in the Sacramento art scene for the past 15 years and may have perhaps single-handedly saved Jasmine’s live music scene.

On a visit to True Love, he met Mahfouz and shortly after proposed coordinating the café’s entertainment.

“I went over there…and saw some portable stages. I found out [Seconds] wasn’t around anymore and asked Mahfouz if I could borrow the stages. I’ve been building the relationship ever since,” said Santos-Coy.

While not exactly the same as Seconds’s mixture of the punk/indie/alternative rock genre, Santos-Coy is focused on offering a wide range for the audience’s listening pleasure. He has a different musical genre planned for each day of the week and is working on collaborating with the local music community, such as Brian Valentine from Valentine Records.

The café is permitted to host live music until 10 p.m. every night as long as they stay within city decibel requirements, which can't surpass 75 dBs at anytime according to the Sacramento County noise ordinance. As long as the neighbors are okay with the noise, they will continue to host music acts every night for the first couple of months to get the word out around town.

In addition to music, Santos-Coy will be working on Jasmine’s presence during the Second Saturday art walk. A part of Bridge to Arts and Alley Arts, he will be making sure that art lines the walls of Jasmine for the monthly art celebration.

Within the next month and a half owner Mahfouz has plans to expand the café’s previous menu, which has been known for featuring a wide range of noshing options from waffles to nachos and hummus. He is working on adding barbeque menu offerings as well as beer and wine. He is also working on setting up free wireless internet access, which was offered by True Love.

As part of the reggae-themed night, Jasmine will be hosting DoubleLion, a combo band made up of Xsample and Kinghopeton this Wednesday, May 13. Also taking the stage will be special guest Tony Moses, who was friends with and has jammed with the late Bob Marley. The show will begin at 7 p.m. on the front patio and donations of around $3-$5 are encouraged.

The tentative music schedule is as follows:

Mondays: Funk/Jazz
Tuesdays: Spoken word
Wednesdays: Reggae/World
Thursdays: Rockabilly
Fridays: Fiesta Fridays, Latin
Saturdays: TBD
Sundays: Alternation between Folk and Soul

Jasmine Café is located at 2315 K St. For more information about upcoming events, call 916-441-6900.