Newest articles on The Sacramento Press tagged as "eastsac"

New East Sac deli pleases locals

2011-11-23T03:58:43Z

East Sacramento’s month-old Juno’s Kitchen & Delicatessen focuses on serving sustainable food out of a small space with a name inspired by a unique dog.

“Juno is a very unusual dog,” owner Mark Helms said of the pit bull/bull terrier mix. “She likes to swim underwater; she likes to carry around sticks that are like twice her weight. She’s an extreme athlete.”

Helms and his wife, Susan Vasques, opened Juno’s, located at 3617 J St., at the end of October, mere months after selling their restaurant in The Pocket, Ravenous Cafe.

They sold the upscale American-style restaurant to be closer to home, Helms said.

“I always wanted to have a place where bread was kind of the focus,” Helms said, explaining that most of the bread products are made in-house in a pizza oven that was already installed in the 1,100-square-foot space. They are then sliced on one of his prized possessions: an electric bread slicer that dates back to the 1940s.

The shop offers a wide range of sandwiches for lunch and dinner, including Vietnamese-style banh mi pork sandwiches, steak sandwiches, salmon sandwiches and grilled burgers. Also on the menu are dishes such as couscous.

Ingredients are grown locally, and nitrate-free meats and cage-free eggs are used. All sauces are made fresh in-house as well.

“That’s really important to me,” Helms said. “We don’t want to have a bunch of processed food in here. We’re serving something that’s really higher-end, but at a more reasonable price.”

Sandwiches range from $8 - $12, and Helms said he expects to bring in some new dishes in the near future, including scallops with curry served on bread.

Helms said the pizza oven – a leftover from when the space was Pizza Guys – allows him to bake airy bread, since it can cook with steam.

The bread is one thing customers eating at the deli took notice of Tuesday afternoon.

Sarah Miles, a 38-year-old registered nurse from Curtis Park, said the baguette on her steak sandwich was perfect.

“Sometimes baguettes are too hard, but this one was perfectly crispy on the outside and soft on the inside,” she said. “The meat is really tender, and the mushrooms are like butter in your mouth.”

Miles was brought to the restaurant by her friend, 52-year-old Rose Varesio, an instructor at Sacramento State.

Varesio, however, praised the fact that there wasn’t any bread on her sandwich.

“I don’t eat gluten, and I don’t eat pork,” she said. “My banh mi doesn’t have bread or meat, and I really like it that way. They’ll work with you to make you exactly what you want, whether it’s vegan or gluten-free or whatever.”

Though without bread the sandwich was directly on the plate, Varesio said it was still very tasty.

She added that she lives nearby and has already picked it out as a favorite where she takes her friends.

“I love this place,” she said.

Helms, 44, said he has lived in the area for more than 20 years, and the response from customers has been better than he expected, with more than 200 people coming in one day – a surprise for a place that seats 12 people inside and 12 more on the patio.

“I wanted to set this up to be available for a lot of takeout,” he said, adding that the business is also available for catering.

Julie Holt, a 46-year-old Sacramento City College professor from the Arden area, came to Juno’s with her parents for her birthday Tuesday.

“It was amazing,” she said, adding that she had a burger with caramelized onions and Manchego cheese, a style from central Spain. “The bun was great, and it was the perfect size – not too much and not too little.”

The restaurant is currently open from 11:30 a.m. - 8 p.m. Monday through Saturday, though that might change as business demands, Helms said.

“I’ve been a chef all my life,” Helms said. “This is my life, and it’s what I want to do. I can’t imagine doing anything else.”

Editorial Note: Spelling corrections have been made to this story. Rose Varesio's name has been corrected.

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

Holiday Inspiration from the Fab Forties Home Tour

2010-12-06T02:24:07Z

For the 37th year, homeowners in the “Fabulous Forties” neighborhood in East Sacramento have opened their homes for the Sacred Heart Holiday Home Tour.
The annual event, which benefits the Sacred Heart Parish School, is a singular opportunity for the public to tour some of the most gorgeous homes in the city and view the efforts of a small army of professional decorators, florists, artists, and garden designers. Each home has a principal designer who brings together a holiday masterpiece incorporating the history and architectural features of the property and the individual style and taste of the homeowners.

Said Margo Reid Brown, whose lovely home was opened for the tour: “This is such an important event: the partnership of the parish and community is vital in the health of the neighborhood, and it’s a lovely tradition.” Brown attended Sacred Heart, as do her two children. 8th grader Catie was off to tour the other homes.

The streets were lined with visitors, and except for a few showers the weather was cooperative. Many visitors have come for the tour for decades. All were enthusiastically appreciative of the homes, and of the Christmas Boutique and Café set up in the school’s cafeteria

This year, five homes were featured, each reflecting a distinctly different holiday esthetic.

Lead designer Don Sherwood of Haus Home Décor was in attendance at the Majestic Prairie (1924) home of Margo and Rick Brown. From the welcoming front porch to the beautiful back patio, the house was filled with a marvelous collection of blown glass ornaments in fantastic whimsies of fruit, birds, cheeses, and pastries intertwined with garlands of greenery and magnolia branches.

Majestic Prairie

The Colonial Revival house was decorated by the owner, Dianne Kawamura, and reflected the warmth and comfort of a truly beloved home. The family heirlooms and personal collections evoked a genuine love for the fruits, vegetables, and flowers which were representative of the family’s agricultural heritage. From the beautiful California landscapes gracing the staircase to the whimsical glass vegetable ornaments on the tree, no room was without reference to the bounty of the land. The magnificent outdoor kitchen and entertainment area, designed by Michael Glassman, has been honored on HGTV and was enhanced by the artistry of the hardworking team from Beyond the Garden Gate in Davis.

Colonial Revival

The Quintessential Craftsman (circa 1920’s) is a delight of inlaid floors, lush mahogany wainscoting and built-in cabinetry, and a surprisingly bright and modern kitchen. Tara Sorenson of Inspired Interiors is the owner and designer.

Quintessential Craftsman

Anne Evans of Impressions Design transformed the Contemporary Cottage (1929) into an elegant Art Deco statement. Particularly notable are the mercury-glass pendant lights in the kitchen, and the outsized white peacock gracing the elegant tree.

Contemporary Cottage

Designer Philip Rice of East Sac Florist filled the Craftsman Cottage (1935) with a mindboggling array of floral artistry. From the live orchids on the enormous tree in the living room to the spectacular bird-of-paradise arrangements, the entire home was filled with rare and aromatic blooms. Even some of the cushions on the cushy sofa were made of tightly spaced fresh blooms. The limestone-matrix kitchen countertops with embedded fossils were a lovely feature, as were the delicate etched panels hanging in the windows overlooking the garden.

Craftsman Cottage

Etched plexiglass panel by artist Maren Conrad-Miniger taken from pen and ink illustrations by Nancy Ekholm Burkert, a relative of the homeowner, from The Fir Tree by Hans Christian Andersen, published by Harper and Row, 1970.

The Sacred Heart Holiday Home Tour reflects countless hours of volunteer effort, from the hosts in the various homes to the cleaning and lighting crews. It’s a monumental effort which yields a great return for Sacred Heart, and a sense of pride and enjoyment for the whole community.

The Holiday Home Tour will return next December—don’t miss it.

SacPress Photos | Kati Garner

The French Hen to close

2010-10-29T22:42:11Z

After seven years on Folsom Boulevard in East Sacramento, The French Hen will be shutting its doors.

In an e-mail message sent to patrons, Owner Nicole Turner said that her lease is up at the end of the year, and she is moving out her wares. She also wrote that all items – with the exception of consignment items – will be priced at 25- to 50-percent off.

The store is located at 3200 Folsom Blvd.

Turner’s statement in full:

I wanted to let everyone know that I have decided to close The French Hen.
It has been an amazing seven years. I have enjoyed being able to explore my creative side and I hope I have been an inspiration. I am going to miss seeing all of the friends I have made but I feel I am making the right choice for myself and my family. My lease is up at the end of year so I must begin moving out my merchandise. The store is very full so come down soon for the best selection. All items excluding consignment will be 25% to 50% off. I want to thank all of you that have been faithful customers all these years. I really truly appreciate getting to know and working with all of you.

Brandon Darnell is a staff reporter for The Sacramento Press.

Icing on the Cupcake

2010-10-29T07:08:31Z

If you think a cupcake is a special treat – and that a business selling them might be considered a luxury in tight times – you’d be wrong.

Individual cupcake prices at Icing on the Cupcake, 1121 Alhambra Blvd., range from $2.75 to $3, and co-owner Christee Owens characterized them as being “small indulgences that make people smile.”

According to Area Manager Kristina Johnson, the store – which has been open for two weeks – has already garnered a loyal following.

“We have every-day customers,” she said. “It makes you feel good to see them coming in each day.”

The new location is the third one for the chain, which was founded three years ago in Rocklin.

Cupcakes are baked fresh each day from scratch, following family recipes, at a central kitchen. Workers arrive at 1 a.m. and bake between 2,500 and 3,000 cupcakes to be distributed to the three stores.

“My mother taught me to bake when I was really little, and it was always a tradition,” said Owens, who owns the business with Chuck Meridith and her mother, Shirley Nagasawa.

Flavors include the most-popular red velvet, confetti cake, German chocolate, maple bacon, chocolate mint and pistachio.

“The German chocolate is my great-grandmother’s recipe,” Owens said, adding that her favorite is caramel apple.

She described her cupcakes as being like old-fashioned, dense cakes.

Not all 34 flavors are available each day, but Johnson said she looks forward to Thursdays and Saturdays, when her favorite flavor – the lemony “Pucker Up” – is available.

In an effort to keep customers coming back and keep empty boxes out of the landfill, Icing on the Cupcake has developed a rewards policy that doesn’t include carrying around a punch card.

Johnson explained that customers who buy four-, six- or eight-cupcake boxes and come back to refill them, they will get an extra cupcake for free.

And before long, Sacramentans will have more locations to snag their cupcakes.

“We have a couple more Sacramento locations in the works,” Owens said. She didn’t specify the locations, but said they would be considered suburban.

Despite opening on the eve of the recession, Owens said the business has done well and was profitable within the fourth month in Rocklin.

As for the newest addition to the chain, which sits at the border of Midtown and East Sacramento, Owens said the welcoming from the community was “like a great big hug.”

The building was empty for about a year, and had previously been Sargent’s Coffee, open for about a year.

On the grand opening, she said, she was struck by the number of people coming by from the nearby neighborhoods to welcome the store.

Jess LeClerc visited the bakery for the first time Thursday, and though she hadn’t had a chance to taste any of the cakes, she said the selection was amazing.

Kristen Knerr, on the other hand, is one of the cadre of regulars happy the bakery is now open.

“I think it’s a really cute idea,” Knerr said. “My fiancé and I are not huge cake or cupcake fans, but we loved them, and they’ve got me coming back.”

Knerr said her favorite flavor is October’s monthly special: caramel corn.

“It’s not too sweet...it’s just right,” she said.

Icing on the Cupcake is open 10 a.m. - 7 p.m. Monday through Saturday and 11 a.m. - 4 p.m. Sundays. For more information, visit the company’s website.

Brandon Darnell is a staff reporter for The Sacramento Press.

Incredible Pets opens in East Sac

2010-04-01T21:18:16Z

The unfinished side of a new sign showing that Incredible Pets is open gets installed at the chain's newest location in East Sac. The pet store offers products for dogs, cats, birds, fish, reptiles, and small mammals, a wide selection of healthy tropical fish, birds reptiles and small mammals as well as live and frozen fish food, many varieties of live worms, and three sizes of crickets. They participate in fundraising efforts for local schools and animal welfare organizations such as animal adoption agencies and breed rescue groups. Anesthesia-free teeth vleaning is be done at the Carmichael and Auburn stores once a month. Low cost vaccination and microchipping clinics will be done at several locations every Sunday. Other stores are in Auburn, Grass Valley and Carmichael. Sac Press Photo | Kati Garner

Holiday Lights | East Sac

2009-12-15T07:12:26Z

SacPress Photos | Kati Garner

Traces of Italy in Sacramento

2009-08-01T03:17:50Z

Sacramento's Italian community is known to produce gourmet food, but there's much more to the community than Biba, Sofia's and Hot Italian.

With this weekend's Festa Italian opening Saturday and running through Sunday at The Croatian Culture Center, we take a look back at the role Italian immigrants and their descendants played in Sacramento's history.

Italian Americans have a long history in the Sacramento area. Agriculture and food processing are just some of the many successes of Italian Americans who settled in the area in the early 1850s, but their successes are hardly limited to that.

Early Italian Americans

Many of the earliest Gold Rush settlers who migrated in the "Mother Lode" area surrounding Sacramento were from the Liguria region of Italy -- specifically the city of Genoa. That was followed by a second wave of Italian immigrants from other areas such as the Veneto region.

By 1880 an estimated 10,000 people from the area around Genoa began to dominate the farming industries to meet the demands of the local population. The people are known as "The Genovese," which also refers to the regional Italian dialect they speak.

By the end of the century, Italians were one of the largest groups of immigrants working in the deep gold mines. But they were also masons, woodcutters and ranchers.

The Italians continued to thrive after the Gold Rush, Italian farmers produced large amounts wine, olive oil and other crops. Italian fishermen established themselves on the Northern California coast.

After the Gold Rush, Ligurians Antonio Cerruti and Marco Fantana founded the Del Monte canned food label. Giovanni Lombardo built the Lombardo Winery in El Dorado County, which is now the award-winning Boeger Winery.

Domenico Ghiradelli, who had traveled through the Gold Rush towns selling chocolate and candy, settled in San Francisco and built a chocolate empire. Many local Italian Americans shared similar stories of success.

"Italians in Sacramento had a concentrated community," said Bill Cerruti, founder and executive director of the Italian Cultural Society. "Many had farms and lived in East Sacramento near East Portal Park."

By the mid-1900s, the community, now unofficially referred to by elders as "Little Italy," had a weekly newspaper called La Capitale, which ran from 1906 to 1945, as well as festivals and dinners.

Men were known to play bocce ball in East Portal Park. The group is now the East Portal Bocce Club.

Italian American Internment

As America’s involvement in World War II became imminent, many Japanese, German and Italian immigrants in Sacramento were detained and forced to relocate. Italians, who were at the time the largest immigrant group in the United States, were interned, restricted and taken from their homes.

"Ten thousand were forced to relocate," Cerruti said. "The Exclusion Act used on Italian Americans destroyed the [Northern California coastal] fishing industry."

After the end of the war, Italians built East Sacramento's St. Mary's Catholic Church in 1948. This was the "golden era" of the community, according to Cerruti.

Italians from other areas in the city moved to East Sacramento, and the community reached new heights. But in the 1960s, Cerruti explained, many second generation Italian Americans looked to drop their "foreign" identity to assimilate into a more "American" identity. The next generation, in the '70s and '80s, wanted to learn about their Italian roots again.

Italian Cultural Society

In 1981 Cerruti created the Italian Cultural Society (ICS) with several goals in mind. His dream was to create a newsletter, have a location where Italians could gather and learn to speak Italian and hold a cultural festival. All of these dreams were realized in the first five years of the ICS' operation, which was originally headquartered in a room at the Sierra 2 Community Center in Curtis Park.

As the ICS grew, so did the need for new facilities. The group used a second classroom in the Sierra Center and other facilities such as Cal Expo and the Croatian Cultural Center, for its festivals.

Then, in 2007, the ICS moved into a building in Carmichael, near Carmichael Park.

Complete with custom marble flooring, a library, four classrooms, a full kitchen, a ballroom with multimedia equipment and alabaster chandeliers and a patio overlooking Carmichael Park, the Italian Cultural Center is a sight to behold.

Cerruti took out a mortgage for the center, located at 6821 Fair Oaks Blvd. The biggest question is how to pay it off.

"Basically we figured to pay it off in 10 years," Cerruti said. That was before the economy tanked. Now the ICS must cut costs and hold more fund-raising efforts, he said.

Currently the ICS has more than 1,000 members, and its monthly newsletter Altre Voci (other voices) is sent to nearly 11,000 households. Annually, more than 1,000 students attend 13 levels of Italian language classes at the center.

The original location in the Sierra 2 Community Center still holds half of the ICS' language classes.

Lately, Cerruti said, traditional dinner dances have become less popular. In order to increase community involvement, a youth group named Gioventú formed to bring together a younger 18- to 40-year-old Italian American crowd.

"I'm amazed at the activity in the Italian American community," Cerruti said. "Right now there's more activity than ever before, due to a revitalization in Italian American culture."

A "Hot" Italian

Igor De Angelis is one young Italian immigrant from Milan who wants to bring an authentic Italian flavor to the community. Currently working as a waiter at Hot Italian, Igor's dream is to be a successful rapper.

"It was an obsession," De Angelis said of his love of hip hop. "My dream was always to make my music."

As a teenager, he became a member of a graffiti team, break danced and studied the lyrics of American emcees. After moving to the United States to pursue his dream, he bought a laptop and began making beats.

By chance, De Angelis ran into an old friend of 2Pac's, who listened to his music. She told De Angelis that his beats were better than many other musicians’ who had been in the industry for years.

This motivated him to find a recording studio, and he eventually record an album. In 2008, De Angelis was finally able to achieve his dream of creating his own album, called La Nona - The Ninth District of Milan, rapped almost entirely in Italian. It was recorded under the stage name "Rigo of Di Casa Nostra."

"Rigo" was his nickname name back in Milan, when he was in a graffiti crew called Di Casa Nostra, or DCN for short. It means "our house."

A single from the album, "Grand Prix," was recently played on Yuba City's KRYC 105.9. Having a friend tell him, "I heard your song on the radio," De Angelis said, was a great moment.

Festa Italiana

This weekend, everyone is Italian at Festa Italiana. The ICS' 24th annual celebration of all things Italian will be held Aug. 1-2 at the Croatian Cultural Center at 3730 Auburn Blvd. (The Italian Cultural Center would hardly hold the estimated 3,500 attendees)

The highlights include an Italian marketplace, car show, children’s activities, festival queen pageant, bocce ball, music and dancing. The festival features food from Northern California's Italian restaurants and caterers. On the menu is calamari from Monterey Bay Calamari, lasagna from La Famiglia and Gelato from Hot Italian, among other dishes. The ICS describes the festival as "like attending two-day wedding reception."

Festa Italiana will take place from 11 a.m. to 10 p.m. Saturday, and 11 a.m.- 6 p.m. Sunday. Admission is $10. Visit italiancenter.net for more information.

East Sac Fourth of July celebration | Photos

2009-07-05T01:18:08Z

This old Dodge truck is like the one used in 1922 when Rex Moore Electrical Contractors did business out of their basement at 616 San Antonio Way in East Sac. The business is now owned/operated by David Moore (grandson) and Brock Littlejohn.

Kadea Metara and Merlin Ghostwoof, an 11-1/2 year old Siberian Husky made a grand appearance (left) as did Diane Tempest and Hudson on wheels.

Twins Talullah and Matilda McKinzie waved their flags as the parade breezed by.

The Pledge of Allegiance and the Star Spangled Banner called for moments of respect before the parade. Brigadier General Emory Hagen and Dr. Sharon Hagen were acknowledged for their sons serving in the Marine Corps; 1st LT Marshall Pagaling in Afghanistan and Capt. Michael Pagaling a 46 Pilot on the US Boxer.

Some enjoyed the water slides. Some didn't!

Photos | Kati Garner

it's looking like July 4th!

2009-07-03T19:16:52Z

Tom Ford and his daughter Kennedy prepare their front yard anticipating the July 4th parade that goes down their East Sac street. The block party along 41st St. starts at 10am. Ford built a 400 sq. ft stage in front of his front porch which will host the band Q-Balls. Behind the red, white and blue post is a cantina which will serve drinks. Parade begins at 11am.

Ford's neighbor Joe Riehl delivers the signs for Tom's cantina. In the bed of the pickup is a ping-pong table for tournaments after the parade.

A taco eating contest will take place nearby. Riehl says he and Ford are the "unofficial" co-chairs of the parade.

East Sac's 4th of July parade begins on 41st St., under this banner which is halfway between J and M Streets.

Neighbors across the street from Ford and Riehl prepare also by putting up canopies for food and drinks.

Photos | Kati Garner

For more July 4th events, please see Sonia Lucyga article:

http://www.sacramentopress.com/headline/10142/Red_White_and_Blue_Agenda_What_to_do_this_4th_of_July