Newest articles on The Sacramento Press tagged as "food"

Sacramento's Patrick Mulvaney to Serve as Celebrity Chef at California Nut Festival in Chico - 4/21

2012-02-08T18:23:45Z

Get your taste buds ready! With a focus on locally grown foods from the North Valley, the third annual California Nut Festival is scheduled for Saturday, April 21, 2012, from 11 a.m. to 4 p.m. Each year, this popular culinary event showcases plentiful gourmet food offerings, wine and beer sampling, nut-inspired cooking demonstrations, live musical entertainment on two outdoor stages, an inspiring art show featuring talented local artists and much, much more. Tickets go on sale March 1 for the 2012 California Nut Festival that takes place outdoors on the historic grounds of the Patrick Ranch Museum in Chico, California.

Locally grown nuts such as almonds, walnuts, pecans and pistachios take center stage during crowd-pleasing cooking demonstrations happening throughout the day. To showcase the locally grown edible treasures, the organizers of the California Nut Festival are proud to host two celebrity chefs at the festival this year -- nationally recognized chef and “healthy eating” cookbook author Holly Clegg from Louisiana and highly acclaimed chef Patrick Mulvaney whose Sacramento restaurant Mulvaney’s B&L was recently highlighted in the Zagat Survey annual guidebook as one of the country's top places to eat.

The goal of the vibrant, entertaining and fun annual festival is to celebrate the culinary delights grown and produced in California while paying tribute to the region’s strong farming heritage and providing festival guests with an opportunity to connect with local farmers and growers.

“With exciting new offerings and returning favorites, we look forward to dazzling, delighting and impressing both the local community and guests from near and far during the festival this year,” explains Kathy Chance, lead organizer of the 2012 California Nut Festival. “In addition, we take great pride in supporting the Patrick Ranch Museum, which is dedicated to preserving and interpreting the rich agricultural history of the area.”

Located in Sacramento’s North Valley 90 miles north of Sacramento, Chico boasts a rich agricultural history. To make the festival a weekend getaway, guests can fly directly into Chico via a short 45-minute flight from San Francisco. Sacramento International Airport is the closest major airport and offers shuttle services and rental car options. Visit the Chico Chamber of Commerce at www.ChicoChamber.com (click on Visitor Information/Places to Stay) for numerous local hotel and bed and breakfast accommodations.

A dedicated committee of local volunteers -- that include many farmers and local business people -- coordinate the vibrant one-day festival, which benefits the Patrick Ranch Museum, a newly restored mansion and working farm managed by the Far West Heritage Association.

The California Nut Festival is presented by the Butte County Farm Bureau, Tri Counties Bank and the Farmer’s Circle, and is sponsored by Enloe Medical Center, PG&E and various other farmers and local businesses.

For more information about the California Nut Festival, visit the official website at www.CaliforniaNutFestival.com or call 530-519-1882.

Disclosure: Traci Rockefeller Cusack represents a number of businesses and organizations throughout Northern California including the California Nut Festival.

Willie's Burgers launches food truck

2012-02-07T08:04:11Z

The locally owned Willie’s Burgers plans to launch a food truck – the Willie Wagon – in Sacramento this week, carrying burgers, chili burgers and fries.

“We’ve always thought a food truck was a good way to get the product and what we do out to people,” said Bill Taylor, owner of Willie’s Burgers. “I’d started developing the idea of a Willie Wagon since 1995, but it’s been in the back of my mind.”

Willie’s Burgers opened at 16th and Broadway in 1991, and a second location opened in Carmichael in 2004. Now, taking the burgers to offices and events with the food truck is proving a good addition to the business, Taylor said Friday.

“It’s been terrific,” he said. “We follow basically the same menu we have downtown, and we will be bringing in shakes once we get the milkshake machine.”

The original idea behind Willie’s Burgers was to bring some of the burger culture from Los Angeles to Sacramento, including staying open late, Taylor said. Currently, Sacramento’s mobile food ordinance requires the trucks to finish serving at 6 p.m., but it is moving to 8 p.m. in April, and Taylor said getting the laws changed is a priority.

“Having a downtown food truck roundup would bring more people downtown, and to the streets, and that would make the streets safer,” he said.

Another benefit to the food trucks, he added, includes giving some local chefs the chance to start small with a cheaper venture to showcase their creations – making a name for themselves without having to open a brick-and-mortar restaurant.

Prices at the Willie Wagon will be between $7 and $10 for a burger, drink and fries, and a few dollars more with a milkshake or chili fries.

Managing the food truck is J.J. Wakamiya, who said Monday that he wants to use the truck to encourage more people to explore the diverse areas of Sacramento.

“I want to encourage people to get out and try new foods and look for new things,” he said.

Final inspections with the city of Sacramento were scheduled for Tuesday morning, and Wakamiya said he planned to start running a downtown route this week.

Currently, the truck is licensed to operate in Rancho Cordova and Sacramento County.

“We’ve done a few events, like a rugby tournament and some office gatherings in Rancho Cordova,” he said. “We’d like to do more events like SactoMoFo 4 on April 21.”

He said that while the main goal is to sell burgers and spread the Willie’s Burgers name, the truck is part of a campaign to change the controversial ordinance that constricts food trucks to operating for only 30 minutes at a time within city limits.

“We want to support the mobile food industry and enhance it from a generic taco truck or roach coach to a branded truck with specialized menu,” he said.

To find out where the Willie Wagon will be, check the truck’s Facebook page.

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

The Red Rabbit opens on J Street

2012-02-07T01:47:39Z

The Red Rabbit Kitchen & Bar is now open in the space that used to hold Red Lotus in Midtown, and a grand opening is scheduled for Friday.

The restaurant and bar aims to bring affordable food and drinks with an international flair to the block and see the same successes that other businesses – Harlow’s, BarWest Burgers & Wings and Centro Cocina Mexicana – have seen, said co-owners Matt Nurge and John Bays.

“We’re going with the globally inspired concept,” said Bays, who is the restaurant’s chef. “We’ve got a little Vietnamese, a little American – a lot of braising going on, and we’ve got some Hawaiian.”

An assortment of cheeses – including Spanish Manchego – will be on the menu, and while those come from overseas, much of the rest of the food is locally sourced.

“We try to get everything from local suppliers whenever we can,” Bays said.

Bays said the food prices are still being tweaked, but he plans on offering salads for around $5 - $7, and entrées range from around $11 - $15, with appetizers falling in between.

The menu itself is still being finalized, but some items, such as the “Bastard Banh Mi” – a Vietnamese banh mi sandwich with lemon chicken, pickled vegetables and chillies on grilled bread – are essentially finalized.

Vegetarian items are included as well, and Bays said it was important to build them from scratch, not just have them as an afterthought.

“These are vegetarian and vegan meals,” he said. “They’re more than just a side of vegetables.”

One of the vegetarian items is the “Earth Burger,” which has beans, rice, almonds, carrots, zucchini, onions and a goat cheese spread on an egg bun.

Brunch – including a Bloody Mary bar – will be held Saturdays and Sundays starting Feb. 18.

Nurge said house cocktails will be about $7, and well drinks such as a gin and tonic will be $4.

Currently, the restaurant is waiting on its liquor license, but all draft beers will be California brews.

“The ABC doesn’t tell businesses when they will get their licenses, but we’re hoping it’s soon,” he said.

“Everything we’re doing is simplified, but with high-quality ingredients,” Nurge said.

The theme of simplification is carried through with the décor of the restaurant, which is markedly different from Red Lotus, but those familiar with the former business will notice some of the same features, including the circular bar inside the doorway and the back patio.

“We were looking at the space, and a lot of it was really nice,” Nurge said. “On the patio, we took out the bamboo, and we really liked what we had left.”

The back patio is an all-weather patio with a roof, gas heaters for the winter and water misters for the summer. A front patio also runs along J Street, and Nurge said the whole restaurant can hold about 150 people comfortably.

One facet of the restaurant that pertains more to the approximately 30 employees than customers is a monetary incentive. A percentage of the restaurant’s profits will be doled out to the workers each quarter, and they will share in the profitability of the business.

“We open the books to them, and they can see exactly how we’re doing financially,” Nurge said. “It’s absolutely transparent, and we want them to feel like they’re more than just workers. We want them to feel like they’re a part of our success, because they are.”

The Red Rabbit Kitchen & Bar is located at 2718 J St. It is scheduled to be open from 11 a.m. - midnight Sunday through Thursday, until 2 a.m. on weekends, Nurge said. When brunch begins later this month, the restaurant will open at 10 a.m. Saturday and Sunday. For now until Thursday, it will open at 6 p.m., and then will follow normal business hours.

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

Love means never having to say your sorry, but just in case...

2012-02-06T18:23:51Z

When it comes to the most romantic day of the year, traditional gifts of roses and heart shaped boxes of candy still dominate the market, but for those ladies and gentlemen looking for a more unique way to show their affection, consider the gift of food and fun by giving your special someone tickets to the Sacramento Chef Challenge.

Tickets are only $25 each and include:
• Chef Challenge competition
• Gourmet food sampling
• Wine and Beer tasting
• Cake War presented by Cakegrrl.com
• Live Music
• Raffle and Silent Auction Prizes

“When you’ve celebrated 30 Valentine’s Days together it can be difficult to find a really special gift,” says Rancho Cordova resident Linda Allen, “I was truly surprised when I received tickets to the Chef Challenge from my husband last year for Valentine’s Day– it was such a unique gift. It was actually like getting two gifts, because I got to attend the event and spend time with him!”

Valentine’s Day is a chance for everyone to spread the love, which includes friends and co-workers. Even business owners can show their employees and VIP customers how much they care by giving the gift of culinary excellence. Sacramento Chef Challenge tickets make it simple to express appreciation for customer loyalty or employees’ hard work, and there is the added benefit of community support, because 100% of proceeds from the event go to benefit programs for people with developmental disabilities.

For tickets and more visit www.chefevent.com or call 916-381-1300 x170.

Chocolate melts and roses wither, but memories remain. So, make some great ones at the 1oth Annual Sacramento Chef Challenge!

The Sacramento Chef Challenge is the annual benefit for INALLIANCE, a nonprofit organization that provides support to people with developmental disabilities. This event would not be possible without the support of our sponsors: AtMyTable.com, Cakegrrl.com, CC Myers Inc. Charitable Foundation, Cuisine Noir Magazine, Downtown Grid, EarthSmart, GFBB Benefits, Preferred Meats, Yelp, and 101.9 The Wolf.

Disclosure: Jessica Bean is an employee of INALLIANCE.

The Republic opens

2012-02-04T08:07:30Z

The Republic Featuring Drewski’s opened downtown Friday, bringing a combination lounge, sports bar, video arcade, pool hall and food truck menu to one location.

“I’m excited we pulled it off,” said Andrew “Drewski” Blaskovich, owner of the popular food truck Drewski’s Hot Rod Kitchen. “I’m 100 percent confident in our staff here, and I know our kitchen crew, wait staff, bartenders and everyone will help make this happen.”

The 6,500-square-foot space opened at 5 p.m. Friday, and it is scheduled to stay open until 3 - 4 a.m. on the weekend nights.

Customers filtered in the doors – including a glass-paneled garage door that opens onto a patio – from 5 p.m. onward Friday, and they quickly took to the arcade games even as workers were on the other side of the building putting the finishing touches on an elevated stage that will be used for live music.

“It’s great. I see this place taking off,” said 37-year-old Scott Abraham of Sacramento. “I love the garage door. It’s one of those concepts that’s really taken off lately, and it reminds me a little of how they do things in Hawaii, with the sliding doors. It’s perfect for Sacramento in the summer.”

One of the anticipated features in the space is a pair of skee ball games.

“It’s huge on the East Coast,” said Andy Duong, a marketer for the establishment. “We also have four pool tables, eight video games, and we brought in some board games – Jenga, Connect Four and Battleship.”

TVs will show sporting events, including mixed martial arts on Saturday and the Super Bowl on Sunday.

Duong said the space doesn’t fit the mold of a sports bar, lounge, restaurant or pool hall, and he referred to it as a “party bar.”

“We’re going to start with some small music acts, and then maybe expand to larger ones,” he said. “We’re here across from Memorial Auditorium, and it’s going to be a great location.”

In addition to entertainment, the space will see the expansion of the menu Sacramentans are familiar with from Drewski’s Hot Rod Kitchen.

“We’re going to be doing a lot more with the food,” Blaskovich said.

A buffalo chicken melt called the Roadrunner will be added to the menu, and another one will be the Chevelle, which features tri-tip, bell peppers, onions, sauce and provolone cheese on flatbread.

The Republic Featuring Drewski’s is located at 908 15th St.

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

Corti Keeps Tradition of Balsamic Vinegar Alive

2012-02-01T04:04:25Z

Darrell Corti, owner of Sacramento’s beloved Corti Brothers, is an old fashioned and trusted shopkeeper. He is an expert in the production and history of the food and beverages he sells in his artisanal grocery and ensures that his staff is well trained to carry that knowledge to the customer.

Corti handpicks the majority of his specialty products in his extensive travels and during biweekly wine tastings. He also utilizes his relationships with local artisans.

Sebastian Bariani, co-owner of Bariani Olive Oil, is an artisan producer in Sacramento who has known Corti for 19 years.

"We have a long relationship with Mr. Corti. Corti Brothers was the first retailer to buy our olive oil," said Bariani, "he was an influential factor for us to keep producing. We could not wish for a better friend to represent my family's olive oil."

Corti is not just any local shopkeeper. Rick Mindermann, store director and personal assistant to Corti, explained that Corti is world renowned for his contributions to the food world. Such accomplishments include the introduction of Aceto Balsamico Tradizionale (Traditional Balsamic Vinegar) to the United States.

Corti was able to find a producer in the late 70’s after selling Mr. Mossimo Violi, a collector of rare spirits, a prescription bottle of prohibition era whiskey. Massimo turned out to be a hobbyist and maker of traditional Balsamic Vinegar and Corti began importing the Violi family vinegar in 1982.

The type of balsamic vinegar that the majority of Americans buy today began emerging on the market in the mid to late 1970's and is known as industrial balsamic vinegar. This vinegar is made by combining grape must (crushed grapes), wine vinegar and often times, sugar. Although these vinegars have a purpose in the modern American kitchen, they are all an imitation of true balsamic vinegar.

Traditional balsamic vinegar has been produced since ancient civilizations. It is remarkably different from industrial vinegar and is identified by its thick syrupy density, caramel flavor and balance of sweet and sharp acidity.

Today the product is made largely by hobbyists under strict monitoring by the Consortium of Producers of Traditional Balsamic Vinegar. The product is made in only two geographical regions - Modena and Reggio Emilia, according to the Consortium’s website.

Due to the intensity and long production time required to make traditional balsamic vinegar, an estimated equivalent of between 2,482 and 2,758 wine bottles are distributed each year in 3.5 oz. bottles, according to Mindermann. These bottles sell for anywhere from $100 to $500 and beyond.

The vinegar is made by boiling down grape must to about 50 percent of the original bulk. It is then aged in a series of barrels constructed from a variety of woods. At the end of each one-year cycle, the emerging vinegar has reduced, and a portion is distributed to the next consecutive barrel until a small amount is removed from the final barrel after a minimum of 12 years, the minimum time of production for certification.

On the production of the vinegar, Mindermann notes, “The most important age is the age of the barrels. It is a blending of old and new material, imparting flavor to the product that is passing through.”

The final vinegar is bottled in consortium owned glass so that the product is protected from fraud. When consumers buy the vinegar in these bottles with the certification seal, they know it is the real product.

By educating the consumer and selling this precious elixir, Corti Brothers has played a pivotal role in the protection of this product and many others, earning Corti the Cavaliere Ordine al Merito della Repubblica Italiana by the Italian Government in 1992, the Italian version of knighthood.

The vital factor in the protection from fraud for both the consumer and the product is having a shopkeeper like Corti making the delivery. Not only do many consumers trust the verification of the products, there are opportunities to experience alternative trusted products without the high cost.

The Violi family also makes three vinegars named "Paseone," which is constructed in the traditional manner. It is not certified, but there is a clear option to trust that the product is a close sibling to the certified version that they produce because Corti himself has personally inspected the manner of production and the barrels themselves.

“We are shopkeepers; we want to teach if our customers are interested in learning... A shopkeeper knows the realm of his business. It is something that has kept us in business for a long time,” said Mindermann.

After tasting the 12 year vinegar made by the Violi family, it is abundantly clear that it is a unique privilege to have this knowledge in our city.

Below is the complete interview with Rick Mindermann.

Click here for audio.

Disclosure: Jillena Hernandez is the author behind Eat Well, Live Free (www.eatwelllivefree.com) a Sacramento based vegetarian food blog.

Co-op eyes new grocery store location

2012-02-01T01:45:33Z

The Sacramento Natural Foods Co-op is looking at the possibility of moving its store from the current site at 1900 Alhambra Blvd. to a larger location with more than double the parking at the block that borders R, S, 28th and 29th streets ~~24th and S streets~~ .

Members will vote on the potential move toward the end of March or early April, and if approved, the new store could open in 2014, said Wendy Hoyt, an urban planer who works for the new site’s developer, Separovich/Domich Real Estate Development. Ravel Rasmussen Properties is also part of the development team.

Co-op General Manager Paul Cultrera said Tuesday that the proposed move would be advantageous for a number of reasons.

“Our current site is too small, the retail space is cramped and parking is inadequate,” he said. “I’ve been talking about this for a number of years.”

He added that the co-op board and management began seriously looking for a new site about two and a half years ago, and they wanted it to be close to the current store and have more parking.

“Parking is a major complaint we get from our customers,” Cultrera said. “We have 56 spaces for about 2,800 customers coming in every day.”

If approved, the new site will include 61 parking spaces in front of the store and another 55 on the ground floor of a four-story parking garage. Currently, the site is a parking lot, and for the building to be constructed, will need to be moved, as they are used by state workers. The other three floors of the garage would be for them, but open to co-op shoppers on nights and weekends.

The store itself will be able to carry more products, and Cultrera said more space would be added to adequately stock them, though not likely bring in entirely new product lines.

“We certainly could expand the produce market,” he said. “We’d like to feature more local farmers.”

Other areas for expansion include the cheese department and, most notably, the meat department, which was added about five or six years ago.

“The deli is also very busy, and when it was laid out 14 years ago, it was doing $20,000 per week in sales. Now it’s doing about $50,000,” Cultrera said, adding that all the deli products are produced in a small kitchen behind the deli area, and a larger one is needed to keep up with demand.

Another asset to the proposed new space would be consolidating the co-op’s five buildings into one, allowing management offices, administrative departments, the learning center and the grocery store to all be together.

Hoyt said the administrative portion would be on a second-floor mezzanine, and the overall retail space would – under the current preliminary plans – grow about 38 percent from 16,000 square feet to 22,000 square feet. The total building will be about 40,000 square feet.

The developers are planning to spend approximately $15 million up front, and the co-op will spend an additional $6 million on improvements such as refrigeration units, and will then sign a long-term lease for the building, Hoyt said.

~~The total project cost is estimated to be about $15 million, Hoyt said, meaning it will have to be approved by the co-op’s membership.~~

Since the money needed to be borrowed is more than the company’s net worth, co-op members will need to OK it with a simple majority.

Cultrera said that members – who are also owners – will vote on a ballot that will be sent out to the entire membership.

Hoyt said informational meetings will be held with the members and the neighbors starting in March.

The move will not be the first for the co-op, which had its first major store on Freeport Boulevard and moved to the current location in the late 1980s. A second store opened in Elk Grove in 2005, but it shut down in early 2007.

If the membership approves the move to the new site, Cultrera said, the building will be done as sustainably as possibly, but it is not likely that the co-op will seek certification by Leadership in Energy and Environmental Design (LEED).

“Everyone knows the standards, and we want to build it to meet the standards, but the certification is $70,000 or $80,000,” he said.

The former Elk Grove store was built to be energy efficient, and the electric bills were about 50 percent less per cubic foot than the current co-op site, Cultrera said.

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

Editorial Note: Corrections were made to this story after it was published. The incorrect information was struck out and the correct information added.

City Farm uses waste as an opportunity to grow

2012-01-31T21:39:14Z

The growing season is over.

In the California capital, dead autumn leaves lay heavy on the damp, manicured lawns of Sacramento City College as students learn that through death, something else will eat.

City Farm, Sacramento City College’s organic urban farm, concluded its first semester cultivating students into stewards of the land outside of Lillard Hall on Dec. 2 with an experiential learning experience—naturally recycling organic waste to create healthy, valuable, nutrient-rich compost for the next growing season.

“It's also called ecologically intelligent design,” says Robyn Waxman, City Farm faculty coordinator and graphic communication instructor. “Instead of taking, making and wasting, we are creating new and useful materials.”

According to a 2009 study by the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA), U.S. landfills account for 20 percent of the methane emission in the world—a potent green house gas 21 times the global warming potential of carbon dioxide. Over 34 million tons of food waste goes to U.S. landfills annually—more than any other kind of waste. Only 2 percent is composted.

“The human waste problem is a reality we will have to face in our future,” says guest lecturer Derek Downey, co-founder of the Davis Farmers’ Market Zero Waste Program.

Downey grabs a piece of soil from one of the City Farm plots and looks at it closely as he breaks it apart with his fingers—it is dry, sandy and does not contain any life.

City Farm did not flourish as Waxman had hoped—swiss chard, brocolli and other leafy greens appear dwarfed.

“Even plants have better immune systems with compost,” says Downey, a UC Davis biological systems engineering graduate.
Compost is nature’s way to rejuvenate soil by decomposing organic matter (food waste and yard trimmings) into living soil providing colorful, delicious, micronutrient-rich food.

Waxman and Downey developed and distributed a seven-step pictorial guide to composting to over 20 City Farmers.

“Dead things equal food,” says Downey as he demonstrates layering branches and leaves to form the base of the pile—allowing air to circulate.

Waxman brought a container filled with compostable kitchen waste from her home to demonstrate suitable compost—egg shells, coffee grounds and vegetables.

A few students enquire on where to get worms to start a worm bin for at-home composting.

“I’ve got worms!” says Ryan Thalken, City Farm President, biology major and gardener.

According to Downey, worm poop produces more microbes and pasteurizes the soil. Worms love coffee grounds—a perfect ingredient for compost piles and gardens where worms reside. Downey recommends asking neighborhood cafes for their coffee grounds.

“It’s one way of taking responsibility for your community’s waste,” says Downey.

Waxman explains that classes would like to work together for a common goal or shared learning experience.

“While City Farm does have a club who act as the stewards of the space, City Farm is primarily a place for classes to experiment and test theory learned in the classroom,” says Waxman. “It's a multi-disciplinary, academic garden.”

The Science Math and Engineering Club are sharing the plant biology plot for a water-saving hydroponics experiment. Next semester, the art and chemistry class hopes to include a African history class studying the European indigo plantations to demonstrate making indigo dye for fabrics.

“People crave reconnecting with things that are real,” Waxman says.

Students shovel a thin layer of soil over the pile to prevent flies and odors before covering the pile with a tarp to retain heat and moisture.

With over 10 other classes and clubs waitlisted to use one of the four plots, Waxman feels very positively about City Farm’s potential growth with participatory learning and taking personal responsibility of our futures.

Several other lecture opportunities contributed to City Farm’s success. Secretary of Sustainability and plant biology major Michael Viscuso facilitated workshops on amending soil with natural fertilizers. California Food Literacy Center co-founder and ‘Awake at the Wisk’ blogger Amber Stott discussed natural pest control—more than 60 people attended.

“Most students don't realize how much power they wield,” says Waxman.

In October, City Farm students hosted a documentary film festival for National Food Day focusing on genetically modified food, fair labor practices and sustainable food production—over 100 attended.

“City Farm allows you to take it upon yourself to learn and make with it [the farm] what you want,” says Waxman.

By Monday afternoon following Friday’s composting party, Waxman had emailed City Farm students—per administration, the compost pile must be dismantled.

While clearing the pile, students discussed other ways to increase City Farm yields with compost.

A student passing by the deconstruction of the compost pile stops to ask if the compost pile would smell badly.

“It should smell like the forest floor—like the good stuff,” Waxman says smiling.

Disclosure: Matthew Blackburn is a journalism student at Sacramento City College

Stuck In The Middle

2012-01-31T21:15:09Z

Recently there have been many restaurants closing in Sacramento for different reasons, most due to the down economy. Somewhat new to the scene is Blue Prynt Restaurant and Bar located at 815 11th street in the downtown area of Sacramento. Blue Prynt occupies the space formerly known as Sofia, one of the culinary casualties of our area. While this restaurant has its own entrance it is unfortunately connected to a Best Western Motel.

Upon entering I was excited to see the grand transformation that had taken place. I noticed new paint, furniture and light fixtures. The carpets seemed the same but I could be mistaken. I don’t judge restaurants by how beautiful or tacky they look (not 100% anyway), I take into account food and service.

Upon peering over the menu I thought I might start with an appetizer but the section consisted of five items. I was looking at things like shrimp cocktail and calamari which honestly bored me to tears and frankly seems somewhat lazy. Don’t get me wrong, I like shrimp cocktail, I like calamari, but in order for items like these to stand out there has to be something with an essence of culinary creativity in the menu item description. Horseradish and cocktail sauce can only be so good.

Moving on to the entrees - things looked promising. Items like quail stuffed with a chorizo chicken mousse and king salmon with basmati and wild rice pilaf gave me hope. My guest and I both ended up ordering the special which was a steak sandwich with mushrooms and feta cheese. I asked our server Hannah if the kitchen was asking for temperatures for the steak. When she told me no temps were being taken I asked how the steak was cooked and was told it would be somewhere in the neighborhood of medium. When we got the sandwiches the mushroom and cheese went nicely with the steak but the meat was cooked to a disappointing medium well to well done.

I will go back and visit Blue Prynt again on a weekend for dinner to see how the experience is. If there is a significant difference complete with wow factor I will post an actual review of the restaurant. At this point what I see is a tremendous opportunity being missed by a restaurant which I feel has the potential to do great things.

As a place that moved into the space of a former restaurant which was somewhat dated I would think the owners at Blue Prynt would want to work hard to make people forget about what was there and died. I think Sacramento as a whole has too many restaurants in the realm of being just okay. With expendable income being limited these days for many people, dining out has become an amenity. Our community will only frequent eateries that leave a strong and positive impression. Whether the impact is made on the food or service side, it still needs to be there. Restaurants need to treat every day as if everything is at stake because quite frankly it is. Those who do not make their mark and stand out with an impressive and more importantly consistent product are doomed to fail. This is the part of my article where I cut it short. I could easily go on and describe everything not being done at Blue Prynt. The fact is I would just be reapeating myself and at some point be perceived as being unnessesarily cruel and anyone who has read my articles will tell you I am nothing if not fair.

Andy Soto

A Sweet Challenge

2012-01-31T01:00:00Z

Cakegrrl.com challenges local bakers to a sweet video competition!

This year’s Cake War at the 10th Annual Sacramento Chef Challenge is “Battle Cupcakes,” and organizer's are looking for three amateur contestants to duke it out against three cupcake pros!

Amateur baker’s from the greater Sacramento area are invited to join the battle by creating a three to five minute video that shows “why you and your cupcakes are the best!”

The challenge is presented by Cakegrrl.com, a local blog that explores and promotes restaurants, activities and fundraisers from across the Sacramento Valley. Kristy DeVaney, the sugarplum behind Cakegrrl.com is excited to see what her fellow bakers have to offer.

Submissions will be accepted now through April 1, 2012. The following day, ten videos will be posted online, and the public will decide which lucky bakers have what it takes to compete live at the Sacramento Chef Challenge on Saturday, June 23, 2012.

The Rules are Simple:
• You must be 21 or older to compete.
• The Video must be 3-5 minutes long, uploaded to YouTube and submitted to Cakegrrl.com by April 1, 2012.
• Finalists will be notified by June 1st.
• The three finalists will create a themed cupcake display alongside professional bakers and in front of a live audience. Guests will sample the cupcakes and vote for their favorite!

"We are looking for great bakers with amazing personalities, so now is the time to pull out all the stops," says DeVaney.

Want to submit a video, but don’t know where to begin? Sample videos and complete rules are posted online at at www.cakegrrl.com and www.chefevent.com. For more information email cakegrrl2007@gmail.com or call 916-381-1300 x170.

The 10th Annual Sacramento Chef Challenge will be held on Saturday, June 23, 2012 from 4pm-9pm at 6950 21st Ave, Sacramento, CA 95820. Tickets are $25 in advance and $35 at the door. For more information visit www.chefevent.com.

Disclosure: Jessica Bean is an employee of INALLIANCE, host of the Sacramento Chef Challenge.

Blackbird to open by end of February

2012-01-28T01:37:16Z

Replacement of a gas line is postponing the opening of the downtown seafood restaurant Blackbird Kitchen & Bar from Valentine’s Day to Feb. 21, but the restaurateurs are still able to work inside, and the iconic graphic on the front is complete.

“The buildout is being done right now, and the menu will be available in a couple of weeks,” said General Manager Shayne “7evin” Iles.

“We’re going to open when PG&E finishes the work, so hopefully it’s sooner, or at least on time,” he said.

Officials from Pacific Gas and Electric did not return messages left on Friday.

Blackbird Kitchen & Bar is located at 1013-1015 Ninth St.

Mediterranean food coming to K Street

2012-01-27T01:07:29Z

Influences from the Andalusia region of Spain such as Moorish arches and water features will be the architectural highlights of a Mediterranean/American restaurant coming to 925 K St.

The restaurant does not yet have a name and won’t be open until at least June, but Gene Hopkins, the superintendent in charge of the buildout, said it will be a combination buffet and full-service restaurant that will feature Mediterranean cuisine as well as some American dishes.

Formerly Farley’s Soup and Salad, the building has been vacant for about six years, and work began on the new business at the end of last year, Hopkins said.

Customers entering the 4,200-square-foot ground floor will be greeted by a waterfall on the right side, recalling the Moorish architecture prevalent throughout Spain. Two more waterfalls are planned to divide the buffet area with the seating area, and Moorish arches will serve as accents.

“It’s definitely going to be classy,” Hopkins said. “It’s going to fit in with some of the other businesses that are here or going in around here. We’ve got the restaurant and bars down the street (Dive Bar, District 30 and Pizza Rock), and we have Sharif Jewelers coming in across from us.”

While it will likely come after the restaurant opens, a facelift of the façade is planned. At the least, it will be repainted, but if plans are approved, one option is to carry the arch theme to the front of the restaurant and add pillars to accent the doorway.

The menu is still in the early stages, but Hopkins said it will include traditional Mediterranean fare such as hummus and pita sandwiches. No pork will be served, and it’s not yet determined whether alcohol will be served.

The owner, Sam Abukhdair, is from Palestine, Hopkins said, adding that he is bringing the inspiration for the cuisine.

The building itself is historic, and Hopkins said he sees it as a blend of 1820s and 1970s design.

As part of the city that was originally at a lower level, what is currently the basement used to be at street level.

“The entrance to the shop was set back, and if you go down there, you can see where the doorways and windows used to be,” Hopkins said. “They’re concreted over now, but the hinges are still there.”

At one point, the building served as a bank, and a heavy vault door Hopkins estimated to weigh at least a ton will be the new entryway to the walk-in refrigerator.

“There’s no way we can move that out of here,” he said with a laugh.

Despite the historic elements, the interior design will be more modern.

“The wall behind the buffet is going to glow,” Hopkins said, adding that LEDs will be placed behind frosted Plexiglas. The bathrooms are walled and floored in marble tile, and granite countertops will be installed.

A removable stage might be incorporated into the back end of the restaurant to allow for live music, and exterior seating along K Street will be built if plans are approved, Hopkins said.

The second floor of the building is being renovated as well, and it might be used to house events, while the third floor is being built out as offices.

The business, when it opens, will be another in a recent wave of businesses opening along the once-dreary K Street.

“It’s been a huge change here over the past six months, even,” Hopkins said, noting that new businesses and other changes to K Street have brought increased foot traffic to the area. “This is totally turning around.”

Esther Son, who opened Estelle’s Patisserie at the other end of the 900 block about a month ago, said she is happy to be on K Street, and added that she thinks another business will only add to the success she is seeing.

“It’s definitely an aid,” she said. “It’s synergy. I want neighbors. That will bring more people down here, and we’re building a community.”

Son said she wants to see more retail stores open as well as restaurants, but she has gotten support from local workers and customers that she said she is happy for.

“I enjoy being there,” she said. “I’m doing really well, and we get pretty busy during lunchtime. People come in, and they say they’re happy to have more businesses, and they want us to succeed. It’s been really good, and I think more (businesses) need to open up.”

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

Best Doughnuts in Sacramento

2012-01-26T04:21:04Z

Chocolate frosted. Glazed old-fashioned. Powdered jelly. Maple iced.

Just naming doughnut flavors triggers thoughts of warm, comforting, yeasty smells. Doughnuts are well-known as “one of the best comfort foods around,” according to the Perishables Group, a food consulting firm.

The executive chef for Dunkin’ Donuts says a doughnut “puts you in a calm place, if even for a short time.”

Clearly, the humble doughnut warrants further attention, and I made it my mission to discover the best doughnut shops in Sacramento.

Sacramento has many doughnut shops, so I needed to narrow the field. I explored multiple websites for their “best doughnut” listings and I consulted friends and family. From these sources, I identified the best of the best for my firsthand research.

For the survey, I enlisted the expert help of Brian and Alice Bunch, who were in the doughnut business for 40 years, including many years in their own Bay Area store, World’s Fare Doughnuts. If anyone knows a good doughnut, it’s them.

I asked for their advice on the type of doughnut I should sample to get the best shop-to-shop comparison. Brian said raised glazed are the best choice because they take the most technique to make. Raised doughnuts must be kneaded and allowed to rise before cooking, similar to bread-making. In contrast, cake doughnuts are made from a batter mix and poured out for cooking, like pancakes.

Raised glazed refers to yeast doughnuts coated in a crackly sugar icing.

Baking Management magazine reports that glazed donuts are the most popular, “Glazed still tops among donuts.” Nearly 74 percent of grocery store yeast doughnut sales are glazed, according to a study sponsored by Dawn Food Products.

In addition to raised glazed, I chose devil’s food cake doughnuts (with chocolate frosting) for the survey. Brian informed me that devil’s food was a “poor choice” because anyone can make them. He says most shops use the same packaged mix. Although the quality of the mixes can vary, the variations are small. However, devil’s food are my favorite, so I blithely overrode his objections.

The “hard” part came next. A doughnut tasting companion and I traveled and tasted our way through 11 shops. We then whittled the number down to the top six shops and brought samples to the doughnut experts for the final test. We considered taste, texture and appearance in our evaluation.

Months of research (and 11,500 calories) later, I can finally share the survey results with you.

As it turns out, there is not one overall winner. No single shop scored highest in both the raised glazed and devil’s food categories. Even a tiebreaker chocolate-frosted old-fashioned did not help establish a clear winner. Rather, we identified winners for each of the two sampled doughnuts.

Best raised glazed: Baker Ben’s Donuts (3465 Watt Ave.)
Baker Ben’s raised glazed had a nice yeasty smell and pleasing taste. The texture was soft and tender but held up well when eaten. Although the glaze was a little too white, the doughnut was overall a crowd pleaser.

Best devil’s food: Sweet Dozen (5207 Madison Ave.)
At all shops, the devil’s food doughnuts were a bit disappointing. The cakes had very little chocolate flavor and they all tasted similar. I guess my expert Brian was right. In most cases, it turned out to be the quality of the icing that made the difference.

Nevertheless, we found that Sweet Dozen had the best devil’s food. The doughnut’s appearance generated “ooh’s” and “aah’s” and “that’s a beauty” from the judges. The cake had the perfect amount of crispy crunchiness on the outside and tenderness inside. Sweet Dozen’s chocolate icing was thick, dark and flavorful and elevated their devil's food to the top of the list.

Sweet Dozen also scored highest among the finalist shops with its chocolate-frosted old-fashioned.

In addition to Baker Ben’s and Sweet Dozen, we visited Marie’s Donuts, Donuts Plus, Broadway Donuts, Stanely’s Donuts, Golden Doughnuts, Donut King, Donut Star, CK’s Donuts and Yum Yum Donuts.

If your favorite shop didn't make it to the top, don't despair. An important finding of our study was that most doughnuts tasted pretty darn good and that it was only when we did side-by-side comparisons that the subtle differences were exposed.

Disclosure: personal relationship with the Bunch family

Mikuni celebrates 25 years

2012-01-26T01:12:52Z

Mikuni Japanese Restaurant and Sushi Bar will celebrate a quarter century in business May 15, and co-owner Taro Arai said that after the touch-and-go nature of the first five years, the business has come a long way.

“The first five years, the more we worked, the more money we lost,” he said. “I still cannot believe it’s been 25 years. We’re so lucky to have all the support we’ve had.”

Now with nine restaurants in the greater Sacramento area, Arai said the business will be expanding in 2012, and while more brick-and-mortar restaurants are likely in store, the next thing people will see is a food truck.

There is no set timeline for rolling out the food truck yet, but Arai said he and his family have already started shopping for a truck.

“If it takes a year, I’ll be pretty upset,” he said.

“We’re working on the menu,” he added. “That’s the exciting part. I think we’re going to change the menu every week to see what people want and what works out there.”

Fitting the menu to be something the customers want and come back for has been key to staying in business for the past 25 years, he added.

When the first restaurant opened in Fair Oaks in 1987, it was due to a miracle, Arai said.

Working in a family member’s Japanese restaurant, Arai’s father was approached by a man who asked for his bank account information. Trusting the man, Arai’s father gave him the information.

A few days later, $300,000 was deposited into the account, and the man said to pay it back whenever it was possible.

“He gave us a no-contract loan,” Arai said Wednesday. “It was crazy.”

That loan enabled the family to open Mikuni, which translates as “kingdom of God.” The family planned to feature sushi, but there was one problem – Arai didn’t know how to make sushi. To remedy that, his father sent him to the bookstore.

“I needed, like, ‘Making Sushi for Dummies,’ ” he said with a laugh. “I learned how to do it, and we kept making new rolls for the people. My father told us to never stop making new rolls.”

Starting as a family of five who arrived from Japan with little more than a dream and the earnings from Arai’s paper route, there are now 17 family members involved in the restaurant, with Arai’s four children working during the summers and for special events.

“Its nice that it’s still a family business,” he said.

Despite success, the restaurant was not immune to the financial troubles brought about during the recession.

“We did struggle from 2007-2009,” Arai said. “My brother-in-law took over as CEO, and he’s just turned everything around, and we’re coming back strong now. He’s done a great job, and my brother is executive chef, and my sister is working in marketing.”

The Sacramento restaurant, located at 1530 J St., was part of the revitalization of the area when it was developed in 2003, said Downtown Sacramento Partnership spokeswoman Lisa Martinez.

“That was a historic renovation of a building that was not the best site before then,” Martinez said Wednesday. “Mikuni and P.F. Chang’s moved in, and it was kind of a turning point for the district. That year and the following year saw a big transformation in a lot of places downtown, and they were on the cutting edge.”

Martinez added that since the restaurant is on the border of downtown and Midtown, it helped create a bridge between the two districts and aided in making the area become more pedestrian-friendly.

“It’s been nine or 10 years since that development, and now downtown is known as a great location to go out and eat,” Martinez said. “Downtown really is the hub, and I think Mikuni and that development really strengthened the district.”

Arai said that being in business to make money is important for the 650 employees and their families, but it isn’t the end goal for the company.

“We’re committed to give back,” he said. “We’ve just reached $1 million in donations to breast cancer research, and we want to make a difference. We want to continue to help the charities in town. That’s another goal we have, and we keep pushing it.”

As part of the anniversary celebration, Mikuni is having contests and promotions that include a trip for two to Las Vegas, and someone will win a Honda Fit. For more information, click here.

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

The Little Things

2012-01-21T00:13:13Z

In search of a place to watch some of the last championship NFL games, the wife and I set out to Bisla’s Sports Lounge. It was incredible that I wanted to leave the house at all knowing The Steeler’s weren’t in the championships but I suppose life goes on. We have frequented Bisla’s on days when the bar has been less busy which seems to be the case when there is not a professional sporting event taking place. Bisla’s was empty when we arrived for the first game but as we suspected, the crowd poured in as the day went on.

Sports bars are generally known for having rowdy crowds, mediocre food and nonexistent service. I am happy to say this does not describe Bisla’s. This is a conclusion reached after several visits. My last two visits were made very enjoyable by a young server named Giovanni. This place has good energy which is key for a successful sports bar.

Good service can be defined in many ways but Giovanni knows the basics and beyond. The attention to detail we experienced was magnificent. Our glasses were never empty, nothing had to be repeated and he stayed a step ahead the entire time. When my wife ordered a burger, it was cooked to perfection. She wanted a side of mayonnaise and the lettuce was more of a chopped salad instead of a leaf, two things our server fixed immediately. She took her first bite, and the bacon was as hard as beef jerky. We informed Giovanni and he offered to have a new burger prepared with softer bacon on it.

When her new plate arrived, the meat was again prepared beautifully. The bacon was spot on and remembering that my wife originally wanted more mayonnaise, he had some extra put on the bun. In addition- he also remembered the original sub par lettuce and was sure to put a large, crisp piece in the sandwich for her. I remembered a prior visit where I was having a meeting at Bisla’s and again Giovanni was my server. My guest and I ordered some Happy Hour sliders and I removed the pickles. When we ordered a second set of sliders mine came without pickles. Out of curiosity I asked Giovanni about this and was told he noticed that I had piled them on my plate previously and took it upon himself to leave them off the next set.

Many of those reading this might say “so what?”- It’s simple, the behavior demonstrated by my server was a testament to the fact he was vividly aware of his surroundings. There have been fine dining restaurants I’ve visited where the service staff dropped the ball in areas where they clearly should not. Almost like the zombies in one of my son’s video games.
I don’t go to sports bars to be impressed with culinary creativity, although the food at Bisla’s is better than most. I go to sports bars hoping to find a good Happy Hour and service I can put in the attentive category.

Sometime during our visit Giovanni was done with his shift. The other staff we came into contact with seemed much less focused on guest service as they truly ignored us. Once again, Giovanni noticed this before leaving the building and fixed it. You will notice I mention Giovanni’s name repeatedly throughout this article and not the names of the Bisla’s staff that let us down. The reason is simple. Most restaurants and bars are fully aware of whom their slow performers are but few fully recognize their stars. I am also not trying to embarrass anyone here as I do like Bisla’s and taking into account 6 prior visits this was the only time anything like this had happened.
It’s a terrible shame the visit didn’t remain perfect throughout. I’ve been told I have high expectations of people who serve me and I suppose that’s true- if that means getting things right and checking to make sure I am alive every few minutes.

Overall I will go out on a limb and say Bisla’s is one of the best sports bars in Sacramento. Apparently the community agrees- Bisla’s took first place as Sacramento’s Best Sports Bar 2011 on “KCRA 3’s A-list”. They certainly have the best Happy Hour I have come into contact with in the past year. You will usually find me there on a Tueday when you get $1 sliders, $2 well drinks and $2 domestic beers from 3p–12a. There are different themes for every night as far as Happy Hour goes. Also worth mentioning is the fact that Bisla’s has a breakfast menu and serves $9 bottomless mimosas on Sunday’s. These are not your mother’s Sunday brunch mimosa’s kids- they are served up in pint glasses. You can learn more about Bisla’s at http://www.bislas.net . Parking is available on site and all major cards are accepted.

As always, please know I am in no way affiliated with this or any restaurant I review. My goal is to go out and slowly experience different aspects of the Sacramento dining scene then share those experiences with you.

Andy Soto

Paula Deen to do live show at Community Center Theater

2012-01-20T04:20:43Z

Paula Deen – best known for her traditional southern cooking on the Food Network – is coming to Sacramento for a live show on Feb. 3.

While Deen will cook at the Community Center Theater that evening, she’ll focus on what she said she cherishes most about fame – meeting people she never would have met in her life as a bank teller.

“I’ll just visit with people,” Deen said. “It’s kinda like coming into my living room, us getting to know each other. People come in and forget everything that irks them.”

Deen will appear on stage with her husband, Michael Groover, whom she describes as shy, funny and a great cook.

“He has got the keenest sense of humor,” Deen said. “He’s one of the funniest men I’ve ever met.”

She said she’s looking forward to the trip to Sacramento, but her schedule will force the visit to be brief.

The appearance coincides with a donation made by the show sponsors, Smithfield and Safeway, as well as the United Food and Commercial Workers Union, to the Sacramento Emergency Foodlink. Deen’s live show is part of a nationwide tour during which donations will be made to several organizations.

Pork will be on the menu for the evening, but fans shouldn’t expect her live show to mirror the cooking shows for which Deen has become famous.

“If you are expecting to come away with a Julia Child cooking degree, you’ll be disappointed,” Deen said.

In addition to three television shows featured on the Food Network (“Paula’s Best Dishes,” “Paula’s Home Cooking” and “Paula’s Party”), Deen is a restaurateur and cookbook author. It’s a family business, Deen said, and she often collaborates with her two sons, Jamie and Bobby Deen.

“The best part of a family business is working with family,” Deen said. “And the worst part is working with family.”

Sure to be a topic of conversation is Deen’s recent revelation that she has diabetes. While her website promises new, diabetes-friendly recipes in the future, Deen said the six weeks during which her shows are shot are not a snapshot of her daily fare.

“We don’t eat in the south like people think. We eat a lot of vegetables,” Deen said, adding that she uses a lot less butter in her cooking than people commonly believe.

Deen recently topped Maxim magazine's list of television’s sexiest chefs, a title that she said she thought was a joke, initially.

“My breath was knocked out of me,” Deen said. “I was shocked. I loved it!”

As for what’s ahead for Deen, she said she’s working on many projects, but isn’t able to discuss them yet.

“The biggest is yet to come in my career. That’s all I can say,” Deen said.

Deen will personally make the delivery of pork products at 10:30 a.m. on Feb. 3, said Mary Meagher, director of public relations and development at the Sacramento Emergency Foodlink.

“Our food closets will greatly appreciate the protein items,” Meagher said. “Through 140 partner agencies, we serve 100,000 people each month. We’re very happy that Sacramento is one of the stops.”

Tickets are still available to Paula Deen’s live show at 7 p.m. on Friday, Feb. 3 at the Sacramento Community Center Theater.

Local businesses collaborate on coffee-infused beer

2012-01-19T02:02:34Z

A small-batch, coffee-infused India pale ale is the result of the collaboration of Old Soul Co. and Rubicon Brewing Company. The month it’s spent on the taps at both businesses has brought good reviews, the business owners said.

“We’ve done coffee beers before, but they tended to be darker beers – the stouts and the porters,” said Rubicon Brewing Company Brewer Aldred Griffin. “We almost scoffed at the idea of doing an IPA, but after trying it the first time, it surprised us, and it was really pleasing.”

Griffin said the bitterness and hops in the IPA complemented the roastiness of the coffee.

Old Soul Co. co-owner Tim Jordan said the coffee used in the beer is Ethiopian Beloya, which is one of the rare reserve coffees.

Griffin agreed, saying, “It’s almost kind of a trick when you’re drinking it and smelling these aromas and seeing the color not really matching up with what you’re drinking.”

“We cold-brewed it, and we picked it because it had a little bit of floral character we thought would complement the hops,” Jordan said. “We’ll do this IPA as long as it makes sense for them to have time to do it in their fermenting tanks.”

He said the beer has a little bit of richness to it. The scent of coffee gives the drinker the impression of a sense of warmth inside.

The beer is offered at Rubicon and the Old Soul locations with beer taps: Weatherstone at 812 21st St. and 40 Acres at 3434 Broadway.

A pint runs $4.50, and Jordan said Old Soul pours legitimate 16-oz pints.

“We’re a cafe and coffeehouse first and foremost,” he said. “We’re not trying to make a bunch of money off alcohol. We like to carry artisanal and craft brews.”

Rubicon Brewing Company owner Glynn Phillips said he enjoys working with Old Soul Co.

“They are a great account of ours that has a very local spin on it,” he said. “We buy a fair amount of their coffee and serve it here at Rubicon. I like the way they run their business.”

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

Eateries and "Drinkeries" wanted for Sacramento Chef Challenge

2012-01-18T19:00:41Z

2012 marks the tenth anniversary of our region’s premier culinary competition the Sacramento Chef Challenge, and organizers are inviting local restaurants, wineries, breweries and specialty shops to showcase their fare at the June 23rd event.

The Sacramento Chef Challenge is a culinary extravaganza featuring two live cooking competitions, lavish food, wine and beer sampling, live music, raffle prizes and more. The event is expected to draw a crowd of over 1000 guests in celebration of INALLIANCE, a local nonprofit that has provided support to people with developmental disabilities for 60 years.

“Our vendors draw a huge crowd each year by providing a variety of samples to our guests,” says INALLIANCE Executive Director Diana DeRodeff, "It is a great way for both fledgling and established companies to connect with community members, while supporting the organization.” Most event booths are free of charge, and vendors have the opportunity to win prizes.

The Sacramento Chef Challenge will see some exciting changes for 2012, including live entertainment and a new venue. The event will be held outdoors at INALLIANCE, where both vendors and guests will have a little more room to move. “We have just outgrown our old venue,” says DeRodeff, “And, we are eager to share our beautiful campus with the community.”

INALLIANCE has been in the Sacramento area since 1952, but few people know about the nonprofit’s work, because they tend stay in the background promoting the abilities of their participants. The programs INALLIANCE provides to people in the community focus on independence, quality of life and choice. “People with developmental disabilities are very capable. When given the opportunity they flourish, and that makes for a happier and a healthier community,” says DeRodeff.

The Sacramento Chef Challenge will be held on Saturday, June 23, 2012 beginning at 4:30pm, and tickets are only $25. If you are interested in becoming a vendor or purchasing tickets, visit www.chefevent.com or call 916-381-1300 x 170.

Disclosure: Jessica Bean is an employee of INALLIANCE

Drewski's combines food truck fare, sports bar

2012-01-17T01:24:21Z

After less than a year on Sacramento’s streets, local food truck Drewski’s Hot Rod Kitchen is adding a brick-and-mortar establishment at 908 15th St. that blurs the line between sports bar and food truck.

The Republic Featuring Drewski’s is set to open the week before the Super Bowl (Feb. 5), and Drewski’s owner Andrew “Drewski” Blaskovich said he’s excited to be part of the growth in downtown Sacramento and to offer a late-night food and entertainment spot, closing around 3-4 a.m. on the weekends.

“It’s going to be a sports bar,” Blaskovich said. “We’re going to have 12-15 TVs, pool tables, video games and – we’re hoping – skee ball.”

The four pool tables will complement old-school video games such as Pac-Man and Donkey Kong, and entertainment will be provided by live bands as well as DJs.

Moving to add a traditional restaurant and bar is something many food truck owners aspire to, but Blaskovich said he has no plans to rein in the food truck aspect of the business.

“The trucks are my babies,” he said.

And that is trucks – plural.

“We’re going to be adding another truck, and we’re shooting for about two months,” he said.

One of the biggest problems that comes with operating the trucks is solved by opening the brick-and-mortar establishment, Blaskovich said.

“For the truck, I don’t have any storage, so I have to shop every day,” he said. “Now, I have a place to prep all the food, take deliveries and store it so I have to shop only once a week, plus I can save money by getting discounts on things in bulk.”

Blaskovich is partnering with a bar operator, whose name he is not yet releasing, and he will focus on the food.

The cuisine will include the menu from the food truck, but the full kitchen will allow an expanded menu.

“We’re going to have some street tacos, and we’re doing a variety of burgers, different hot wings, chicken sandwiches and all kinds of good stuff,” he said.

Meals will run about $10, he added.

Appetizers, including garlic rosemary tater tots, will be included, as well as salads and other sandwiches. A variety of sauces such as Thai peanut sauce, a tangy barbecue sauce and others will accentuate the dishes.

Plates won’t be used, with all the food served in the cardboard boats with paper linings that those who frequent the food truck are familiar with.

Those who want to challenge themselves will have the option of facing down a massive burger, getting their photo on the wall and a T-shirt if they’re up to the challenge.

The 18-Wheeler will be a 4- or 5-pound burger that Blaskovich said will be a meal for about three people, but anyone who finishes it in a set time, possibly 20 minutes, will earn a spot on the wall.

Formerly Dream Ultra Lounge & Restaurant, The Republic Featuring Drewski’s is getting a facelift with black ceilings, a roll-up door facing Memorial Auditorium that leads to one of two patios, and interior décor of faux brick and wood molding with either mirrors or stained glass artwork.

Downtown Sacramento Partnership Marketing Director Lisa Martinez said it’s unique to see a food truck open a brick-and-mortar establishment in Sacramento, and the location should be a successful one.

“They’re in the middle of an entertainment district, and it’s a great amenity,” she said. “I think the beauty of it is they already have a successful following, so the business is coming in with an established clientele.”

Across the street from Memorial Auditorium, the business is close to the Torch Club and not far from the Wells Fargo Pavilion, the newly opened Maydestone apartment building and the future site of Coyote Tap House.

Blaskovich said he is looking to appeal to the after-work happy hour crowd, opening around 4 or 5 p.m., as well as anyone looking for late-night eats and entertainment, or people leaving Memorial Auditorium after a concert. Sunday brunch will be served and will likely feature a dish of waffles and fried chicken, which is growing in popularity.

“I’m from Sacramento, and I’ve always been a big supporter of downtown Sacramento and the growth we’ve experienced in the past,” Blaskovich said. “I want to be a part of that, and this gives people downtown the chance to have Drewski’s if the truck is out in Roseville or Elk Grove or something.”

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

"Live With the Chef" Cooking Class at Arden Hills This Wednesday!

2012-01-16T17:03:00Z

With the start of the New Year, it's likely you're trying to find ways to keep that resolution to eat better and lose weight, right? Arden Hills Resort Club & Spa can help you pave the way to a delicious and nutritious approach to cooking during the next "Live With the Chef" cooking class on Wednesday evening, January 18, at 6 p.m.

The talented chef will demonstrate special cooking techniques and share secrets to low calorie but high impact recipes that maximize the flavor and nutrition of every meal. This special monthly cooking class is focused on incorporating fresh ingredients designed to maximize the nutrients for a healthy and well balanced diet. You're invited to join this ongoing and popular adult cooking series - couples are welcome, too!

Space is limited, so reserve yours today. For more information, call 916-482-6111 or visit www.ardenhills.net.

Disclosure: Traci Rockefeller Cusack represents a number of businesses and organizations throughout the greater Sacramento area including Arden Hills Resort Club & Spa.

J Street Yummy Yogurt Cafe on hiatus

2012-01-14T00:06:57Z

The Yummy Yogurt Cafe at 19th and J streets closed Dec. 1, and though it was expected to reopen by the end of the year, owner Jason Yee said it will remain in hiatus for a while longer.

“Right now, we’re working on a new plan, and we just really haven’t gotten to the point to expose the plan yet,” Yee said Thursday, adding that he is still looking for ideas or anyone who wants to partner with him for a new concept.

The idea is to have the space up and running again in a couple of months.

Yee said he didn’t shut down the space because of lack of sales, but because he wants to revamp the store itself to provide something more than frozen yogurt.

“It’s a great location, and that’s part of why we decided to close,” he said. “The location is great, so we want something greater in there. We want something more unique.”

The original Yummy Yogurt Cafe in Westfield Downtown Plaza remains open, and there are no plans to close it, Yee said.

Coyote Tap House to take old Brew it Up! spot

2012-01-13T00:27:46Z

Coyote Tap House, a new bar and restaurant serving Asian cuisine complemented by 50-60 beers on tap, is in the works to take the spot at 14th and H streets vacated by Brew it Up! last year.

“It’s going to have a full bar and live entertainment,” said Valerie Mamone-Werder, business recruitment manager for the Downtown Sacramento Partnership.

The owners, brothers Ken and Ming Le, own and have run Oshima Sushi and Fugu Lounge in Natomas since 2004, Mamone-Werder said.

“They’re really good operators,” she added. “We met with them when the news came out that Brew it Up! was leaving the space. It didn’t take long to have a lot of interest. They’re going to be a fantastic addition for that area.”

The Music Circus is located nearby, and Mamone-Werder said the new tap house will complement the area by providing a place where she expects a crowd of those in their late 20s to their 40s will frequent.

“We want everybody to continue to succeed in that area, and having someone come into the vacant space helps,” Mamone-Werder said.

The Le brothers were not available for comment Thursday afternoon. Mamone-Werder said she expects that the pair will make improvements to the interior, and possibly the exterior of the space, and that she hopes to see the business open by spring or summer, depending on how long it takes to make the improvements.

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

Work finishes on The Porch

2012-01-11T01:28:25Z

The namesake of The Porch, a southern-style restaurant and bar that replaced Celestin’s Island Eats & Cajun Cuisine, is now finished.

Completed last week, the front patio area seats 16, and a back porch is planned, though construction likely won’t begin for at least a month, said Olivia Pinto, a host at The Porch.

The restaurant, located at 1815 K St., opened in December. To read more about the restaurant, click here.

Mongo Mongo Mongolian BBQ opens in Midtown

2012-01-10T06:52:12Z

Mongo Mongo Mongolian BBQ restaurant at 19th and J streets opened Saturday, and owner Jonathan Ng said he is pleased with the customer turnout.

“It’s been good, we’re really excited to be open,” Ng said Monday.

Much of the interior design still needs to be finished, Ng said, but getting the restaurant open and focusing on the food was the top priority.

“It’s kind of barren, but we’re working on it,” Ng said, adding that interior décor details are being worked out.

In order to keep the garage doors installed when the business was Garlic Shack – which shut down after only three months – Ng said a unique setup had to be made to meet health department regulations that stipulate the kitchen can’t be open-air.

Customers walk in along the left side of the restaurant, go through sliding glass doors and prepare their bowls for the chef. The chef then cooks the food on the Mongolian barbecue – a circular device originating from the shields used by Ghengis Khan’s army – and customers can go to their tables, to have the food delivered when it is completed.

Dinner bowls cost $10.95, and lunch bowls – weekdays until 4 p.m. – are $7.95. The restaurant takes cash only, but an ATM is inside.

The enclosed kitchen allows the garage doors to be opened when weather permits, and customers can sit on the patio once the furniture is installed.

Jenifer Estrada, a 20-year-old Sacramentan who works in retail, said Monday that she enjoyed the food, and it stacked up well against other Mongolian barbecue restaurants she has tried.

“It’s my first time here, and I really liked it,” she said. “The food was very good, and I hope they stay around longer than the last places that were here.”

Estrada said she had pork with noodles, vegetables and teriyaki sauce.

Another Sacramentan, 35-year-old construction worker and musician Chris Orozco, agreed with Estrada’s take on the restaurant.

“It’s pretty good, and I think the fact that they stay open late is nice,” he said, referencing the 3 a.m. closing time for Friday and Saturday nights.

“It’s fresh, and everything was crisp,” he added. “People need to make it out here and support the new local eateries.”

Mongo Mongo, located at 19th and J streets, is open from 11 a.m. - 10 p.m. Sunday through Thursday and 11 a.m. - 3 a.m. Friday and Saturday.

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

Favorite sandwiches star in new food truck

2012-01-10T03:09:38Z

Coast to Coast Sandwiches – Sacramento’s newest food truck – brings what the owners say are some of their favorite sandwiches from across the country, including a South Philly cheesesteak and a Reuben.

Co-owners Robert Ramos and Sean Figueroa – not able to find an exact match of their favorite sandwiches from east of the Mississippi – decided they had a niche, and they looked to open a business.

Both graduated from culinary school, where they initially came up with the broad strokes of the Coast to Coast Sandwiches idea. Ramos was born in New York and lived in Florida, while Figueroa’s family is from Louisiana, and the Louisiana po’boy sandwich is his mother’s recipe.

“The Reubens here don’t compare to the ones in New York, and the cheesesteaks aren’t the real thing, not that we’ve found,” Ramos said. “We had both lived in different parts of the U.S. and loved the foods from those areas but could never find an exact match out here.”

Initially, the plan was to open a restaurant, but Ramos said lenders weren’t willing to take a chance on loaning money to a couple of chefs without restaurant ownership experience.

“I went four to five months looking for a location,” Ramos said. “It was pretty frustrating.”

Finally, the pair decided to focus on an idea that was originally an offshoot of the brick-and-mortar store: a food truck.

“We found a truck, went through the hurdles the city and county like to put in front of you, and in November, we started doing small engagements and gatherings,” Ramos said. “We started going out on the streets right before Christmas.”

As the name implies, the fare focuses on sandwiches. There are five types, and each is $7.

Sandwich types include a South Philly cheesesteak, Louisiana catfish po’boy, NorCal BLT, New York City pastrami and a Reuben.

The sandwiches are served on rolls or sliced breads, and both hot and cold options are offered.

Two sides are available – sweet potato fries and bacon macaroni and cheese – and a combo meal includes a sandwich, a side and a drink for $10.

“I really like the staff,” said Angela Marbay, a 42-year-old Sacramentan who is a manager for the state. “They’re very nice and personable.”

Marbay bought a Reuben sandwich on Monday near the DMV offices, saying that the quality of the food the first time the truck came by brought her back, and she is happy to have the food truck option in the area.

“The South Philly cheesesteak is really, really good, too,” she said. “I like when the food trucks come by, and I think people should support the small businesses.”

John Glaeser, a 48-year-old association manager from Sacramento, said Monday that he recently took an interest in local food trucks and wanted to try Coast to Coast Sandwiches.

“I like that you can get in and out fast at lunch,” he said.

Ramos said the ultimate goal is still to build a traditional restaurant, with a much-expanded menu.

“We don’t have the space on the truck to do everything we want to, and there’s a lot more we’d like to offer,” he said. “Right now, we’re hoping to build our brand, and the truck is a great moving billboard for it.”

The side of the truck is decorated with graphics of the Golden Gate Bridge meeting the Brooklyn Bridge above the Gateway Arch from St. Louis. Ramos said it shows some of the different parts of the country that the food comes from.

To keep up with Coast to Coast Sandwiches’ whereabouts, check its website, which has a schedule of appearances as well as a live Twitter feed.

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

Midtown gets its long-awaited Squeeze Inn

2012-01-04T01:43:01Z

A long line of eager Sacramentans arrived at 17th and K streets Tuesday looking for the perfect skirt. But it wasn’t apparel they were after – it was the “cheese skirt” that cloaks the meat patties on burgers at The Squeeze Inn.

Owner Sabrina Nicola said this is the eighth Squeeze Inn location, and the first day of business went well.

“Everyone seems to be really happy,” she said Tuesday afternoon. “I think we had about 150 people for the lunch rush, and they’re a lot of locals and nearby workers who are happy to see us.”

Nicola, who previously worked at the original Squeeze Inn on Fruitridge Road, said she wanted to bring the feel of the original space and combine it with contemporary artwork.

To read more about Nicola's efforts to open the restaurant, click here.

Pricing is about the same as the other locations, but varies slightly due to taxes being included in the list price. Single burgers range from $6.25 to $8.75.

Customers eating lunch on Tuesday said the new location measures up to their expectations.

“I’ve been to the old one, and I’m happy this one is here,” said Ann Monson, a 58-year-old state worker from Sacramento. “My office is right next door.”

She said she’s been anticipating its opening for the past few months and described the cheeseburger as “outrageous cheesy goodness.”

Another local happy to see the restaurant open was 29-year-old KC Caitano, who works at the Artistic Edge art gallery, 1880 Fulton Ave.

“I couldn’t be happier that they’re in Midtown,” he said, adding that he lives nearby. “To finally have one here and close to home – I’ll probably be in here every day.”

He said he was happy to see an option on the menu that appealed to his Hawaiian roots: a Squeeze with Cheese with spam.

“If you’ve never tried (The Squeeze Inn) before, you’ve got to,” he said. “It’s one of the things you should do before you die.”

The restaurant can seat about 55 people at a combination of tables and a counter, and a railed-off front patio will be added to the seating area when the weather warms up, Nicola said.

Midtown’s Squeeze Inn is located at 1630 K St. It is open from 11 a.m. - 9 p.m. Tuesday through Thursday, 11 a.m. - 11 p.m. Friday and Saturday, and 11 a.m. - 6 p.m. Sunday. It is closed Monday.

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

The Sacramento Press on 'Insight'

2012-01-04T01:10:43Z

On Capital Public Radio’s “Insight” program on Tuesday, host David Watts Barton and I talked about new laws in effect for the new year, businesses scheduled to open in the near future, the upcoming elections and other local issues.

The beginning of the year typically brings in a number of new laws, and 2012 is no different. Some of the notable changes include mandatory child booster seats in cars for kids under age 8 or shorter than 4 feet 9 inches, the banning of openly carrying unloaded handguns and a new law that states police can no longer impound a vehicle at a DUI checkpoint if the only offense is the driver not having a license.

Click here to read about those and other laws that went into effect Sunday.

Also new this year will be several businesses. A sports-themed restaurant and bar, Mongolian food’s arrival on the grid and a new bicycle share program have all been covered by The Sacramento Press in the past and will soon be open for business in the central city.

To read about some of the new businesses coming in the next few weeks and months, click here.

If the mayor’s office has its way, it won’t be business as usual in Sacramento’s political future. A charter reform proposal could be on this summer’s ballot, and it would reshape the way Sacramento’s government works. An executive – or “strong” – mayor, an independent redistricting commission and an ethical review process are all parts of the reform measure being discussed at City Hall.

It’s a big year for Mayor Kevin Johnson, as he and the City Council members from even-numbered districts campaign to keep their seats in this year’s elections. While some districts – including District 4, which covers the central city – are full of competition, others currently only have a couple candidates, and Kevin McCarty currently has no challengers to his District 6 seat. But the deadline to enter the political race isn’t until March, so the competition could heat up even more.

One of those in the running for a City Council seat is Rob Kerth, former executive director of the Midtown Business Association. The MBA position was filled by Elizabeth Studebaker on Monday, and The Sacramento Press will follow up with her to learn what plans she has in store for Midtown.

The California Supreme Court’s upholding of Gov. Jerry Brown’s plan to eliminate redevelopment agencies – and its dismissal of legislation that would allow them to continue with significant payments to the state – mean many projects in blighted areas of Sacramento won’t get done, and those that haven’t been finished might be in jeopardy too. Look for Sacramento Press reporter Melissa Corker’s latest update on redevelopment Wednesday.

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

New businesses coming in 2012

2011-12-30T04:51:12Z

As 2012 approaches, there are several new businesses preparing to open, from much-anticipated restaurants to a privately funded bicycle share program. Below is a list of some of the new businesses Sacramentans can expect to see in the new year.

Those who frequent the downtown area will have a new place to eat and drink in late February or early March as the Firestone Public House opens with 60 beer taps in what the owners said will be a new take on the sports bar theme.

The Wong family – which runs Mix Downtown, Cafeteria 15L and the Park Ultra Lounge – is teaming up with the de Vere White family – of de Vere’s Irish Pub – for the new business that will replace the old California Pizza Kitchen spot at 16th and L streets.

Midtown will be getting a Mongolian barbecue restaurant, with Mongo Mongo Mongolian Barbecue due to open in the next few weeks. Previously the home of the ill-fated Garlic Shack, owner Jonathan Ng said he plans to stay open for the late-night crowd that frequents the area.

Also in Midtown is a restaurant that will be replacing Hangar 17, at 17th and S streets, which closed earlier this year. The owners of The Golden Bear restaurant and bar are opening Hook & Ladder Manufacturing Co., which co-owner Kimio Bazett said will be a “grown-up” version of The Golden Bear.

Brian Mizner, formerly of Hot Italian and L Wine Lounge, will be the chef at the restaurant, and Chris Tucker, from The Golden Bear and Shady Lady Saloon, will be the beverage manager, Bazett said Wednesday.

The restaurant is expected to open in late March or early April.

Red Lotus Kitchen and Bar, an Asian restaurant at 2718 J St., closed in September, allowing Shady Lady Saloon bartender Matt Nurge and his business partners to open their own space, which will serve peasant-style food from multiple cultures.

Named Red Rabbit – partly inspired by the new artwork at the airport – the restaurant will share profits with its employees. That aspect is something Nurge said he believes will help show the workers they are valued as well as give them an incentive to keep working there, saving costs on training new staff in an industry that has high turnover.

City Hall Garage will be getting a new restaurant: Big Joe’s BBQ, which will replace Fog Mountain Cafe at the corner of 10th and J streets. Fog Mountain Cafe closed in April, and Big Joe’s is expected to open early next year.

The beer business in Sacramento will have a fresh face next year as well, with the New Helvetia Brewing Company expected to open in late February or early March on Broadway.

Owner David Gull said he will initially open as a brewery and tasting room, and a restaurant may be added to the space about six months later, though there is no set timeline on it.

Bicycle enthusiasts won’t need to bring their own set of wheels to Midtown once The Last Mile launches in the first quarter of 2012. The Last Mile is a privately funded bicycle share program owned by Aaron Zeff, who also owns Priority Parking.

With the new business, cyclists will be able to rent bicycles by the hour for a little more than $1. Zeff, a board member for the Midtown Business Association, said that most programs of the kind are funded with public dollars, and The Last Mile won’t have its bills footed by taxpayers.

Are there more businesses opening next year that you know about? Share them in the conversation below.

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

Editorial Note: A spelling correction was made to this article after it was published.

Year in review: Food vs. government

2011-12-29T02:23:45Z

Two city ordinances regulating food were the subject of debate in Sacramento in 2011, and while backyard keeping of egg-laying hens was allowed, the other, more volatile issue rages on – the controversial ordinance governing food trucks.

The ordinance limiting food truck operation within city limits to 30-minute intervals has been a source of contention for more than a year, but it heated up in 2011 with the inaugural SactoMoFo mobile food festival in April.

At the festival, Fremont Park was occupied by thousands of foodies who dropped by for a taste of gourmet on the go, and it achieved its goal of bringing widespread awareness to the issue.

Owners of “brick-and-mortar” restaurants were split on the issue, prompting a series of talks between them, restaurant advocacy groups, city officials and mobile food vendors.

The issue came before the City Council’s Law and Legislation Committee most recently in November, but the issue was postponed.

City Councilman Jay Schenirer, chairman of the Law and Legislation Committee, said Wednesday that while the issue will be on the agenda in 2012 – and he hopes it will be in the first quarter, there are no firm plans on when that will be.

In the meantime, regular food truck gatherings are held outside the city limits, because the county has no ordinance limiting operators to 30 minutes.

Backyard chicken keeping was allowed in the city in 2011 after a long discussion and series of public meetings, with advocates writing about it on The Sacramento Press as far back as 2009.

Those in favor of keeping chickens for egg-laying purposes argued that they wanted to have control of their food supply, ensuring food to their standards, and they pointed out that numerous other cities already allowed chicken keeping.

People opposed to allowing backyard chicken keeping said they feared the chickens would be noisy and possibly be conduits for avian flu.

The issue was almost killed in 2010, but City Councilman Steve Cohn walked out of a meeting to prevent what would likely have been a vote to end it.

The ordinance, which went into effect Nov. 1, did not please everyone, as it placed several restrictions on keeping chickens in backyards, including limiting the number to three and keeping them at least 20 feet from an adjacent residence.

The ordinance only allows the keeping of hens – as roosters don’t lay eggs and also crow, and it remains illegal to slaughter chickens in backyards. A $15 licensing fee per chicken is collected to pay for enforcement of the ordinance.

Gina Knepp, manager of the city’s animal shelter, said Wednesday that only about 20 chickens have been licensed in the past two months, but far more than that live in the city.

“We just cited a gentleman who had 30 chickens in his yard,” she said, adding that there has been no decrease or increase in calls since the ordinance passed.

“It’s still premature to tell,” she said. “I plan to go back to the council after six months and recommend some changes to the ordinance.”

Some of the recommendations she said she is considering include a flat licensing fee so owners don’t license each chicken as well as the ability to pay licensing fees online, which she said is probably discouraging some people from licensing their chickens.

Another change in food laws was the state-mandated food handler card, which requires most restaurant workers to pass a state test on food safety before being allowed to work.

The law went into effect July 1, though enforcement was delayed to allow time for restaurants and their workers to get the cards and come into compliance.

The state government got involved in funding garden boxes this year, with the local nonprofit organization Ubuntu Green working with low-income families to build boxes where they can grow healthy foods.

Community gardens were also a part of Schenirer’s WayUp Sacramento program, which promotes healthy living. It was launched in Oak Park in October.

Even schools got involved in small-scale farming this year, as Sacramento City College started a city farm project to “teach with dirt.”

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

Year in review: Business comings and goings

2011-12-29T02:18:58Z

The past year saw quite a bit of businesses come, go and expand in the central city area, and The Sacramento Press covered many of those happenings. Below are some of the major expansions and changes as well as some of the most-viewed stories on businesses closing.

A favorite Sacramento lunch spot changed hands this year as Chef Daniel Pont handed over ownership of La Bonne Soupe Café in late April. The 72-year-old chef said he still enjoys cooking, but running the one-man shop by himself was too much. He has since opened another restaurant, this time in Folsom, where he has a staff to help run it.

New owners Ed Stoddard and Leah Brown reopened the restaurant in the same location in May.

The popular Bows & Arrows vintage clothing store closed its spot at 17th and L streets in April and moved across from Safeway on 19th Street. As part of the move, owners Olivia Coelho and Trisha Rhomberg partnered with Davis-based Fat Face Cafe to add food and drinks to the new spot as well as art shows and musical performances.

Curtis Park’s Pangaea Two Brews Cafe expanded its business from being a taphouse and cafe to include a bottle shop. Owner Rob Archie said he wanted to offer locals the chance to grab individual bottles of less-common brews at to-go prices.

The Downtown 24 Hour Fitness club completed an extensive remodel in October, a $10 million project that added 31,000 square feet to bring the total to 50,000, which now includes a basketball court, a racquetball court and new cardio machines.

A couple who started a donut business called Doughbot Donuts from home in May 2010 added a Southside Park storefront in September. Owners Bryan Widener and Dannah O’Donnell said they sold 700 donuts on the first day and 1,000 the next.

Temple Coffee was a fixture in an old bookstore on 10th Street between J and K streets since 2005, but it moved a block east in September, reopening in a larger location. Owner Sean Kohmescher said the new, more open space allows for more conversation and personal engagement.

The owners of Tuli Bistro opted for a downtown location, opening Restaurant Thirteen on the ground floor of the Sterling Hotel at 1300 H St. in March. The new restaurant is intended to have an atmosphere similar to a fine-dining establishment, but without the stigma, said Chef Adam Pechal.

Shoki Ramen House also opened a second location in May, this time bringing the Japanese noodles to R Street. The ramen is all made from scratch in-house.

Despite many restaurants doing well in 2011, there were some that closed – with closures due to retirements, a bad economy or any number of other reasons.

Newsbeat, a newsstand that stocked a wide range of hard-to-find magazines, closed its doors in the MARRS Building in Midtown in November. Co-owner Terrence Lott attributed the closure to high rents and the decreasing demand for print media as digital media continue to grow in popularity.

Perhaps the biggest flop in central city business in 2011 was Garlic Shack, which was much-anticipated and kept delaying its opening date. When it did open in July, it was to mixed reviews, and by mid-October, it was gone, with no word from the owners.

The unique Hangar 17, a restaurant in a Quonset hut in Midtown, shut down in March. Owner Joey Madrid said the economy cost the business its viability, and workers left with a bitter taste in their mouths, saying their final checks bounced.

Next-door Midtown businesses Aura and Red Lotus also closed in 2011, and Aura was replaced by BarWest Burgers & Wings, while Red Lotus will be replaced by another restaurant, Red Rabbit, in 2012. Aura closed in March, and Red Lotus closed in September.

Despite the popularity of bicycles in Midtown, the bicycle-themed Spin Burger Bar at 16th and K streets wasn’t able to make it, closing in July. The closure, however, opened the space for a new Indian restaurant, which was up and running in December.

The 52-year-old Capitol Aquarium also closed in 2011, calling it quits in July as the owners were unable to find a buyer for the business.

Another veteran business, Brew it Up!, wasn’t able to make it at the corner of 14th and H streets, shutting down in late July. Owner Mike Costello said debt piled up and not enough customers came in to pay the bills, so he had to call it quits.

Not all restaurant closures were due to the economy, with Celestin’s Island Eats & Cajun Cuisine being one example. The 28-year-old business closed when owners Patrick and Phoebe Celestin decided to retire. They said they didn’t want to sell it, and the space reopened in December as The Porch, a Southern-themed restaurant run by the owners of nearby Capitol Garage.

Do you have a favorite business that expanded or closed in 2011? Let us know in the conversation below.

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

Year in review: Business milestones

2011-12-27T05:29:55Z

The Sacramento Press covered many stories in 2011 of businesses coming and going, but there are a number of Sacramento businesses that celebrated milestones, withstanding the test of time and recessions big and small.

Midtown Italian restaurant Paesanos – Italian for “friends” – has been in business for 15 years, since April 1996. Director of Operations Dana Scarpulla told The Sacramento Press that Midtown has undergone major changes since the restaurant’s founding, and most have been positive.

Pastas, pizzas and salads top the list of favorites at the restaurant, which has since expanded to Paesanos Pronto and a couple other locations. There’s also word of another location opening in 2012.

The Kitchen, owned by husband and wife Randall Selland and Nancy Zimmer, has been in business for 20 years, starting in May of 1991.

Known for its presentation dinners that are highly interactive, The Kitchen caters to an upscale crowd with $125 four-course demonstration meals. Selland is expanding as well, opening another restaurant in El Dorado Hills in mid-January.

Another restaurant in business for 20 years is Ernesto’s Mexican Food. The Midtown eatery weathered recessions by focusing on quality and service, said owner Pauline Jiménez.

It opened in November 1991, and top dishes at the restaurant include tortilla soup, chile rellenos and carnitas. Of course, the margaritas play a big role in the restaurant and bar as well.

Biba Restaurant celebrated its 25th birthday with a reopening and makeover in July.

"Just like a beautiful woman, you don't stay beautiful forever unless you do something," owner Biba Caggiano told The Sacramento Press. "This place needed something: color, other things. I'm very, very, very happy."

Caggiano ws born in Italy, and the name might be familiar to those who watch The Discovery Channel and The Learning Channel, as she hosted more than 100 episodes of “Biba’s Italian Kitchen” on the networks.

The nonprofit cable TV Access Sacramento turned 25 in March, marking a quarter century of covering local life, including entertainment and cultural events as well as high school sports.

Local officials including Assemblyman Roger Dickinson and City Councilman Steve Cohn attended the organization’s birthday party, and Sacramento Press Community Contributor Kati Garner was there to take photos.

Locally owned Lofings Lighting sits in an unobtrusive spot on J Street most noticeable when driving by at night, and the business marked its 50th year in November.

Over the past half-century, the Lofing family has become renowned in the industry for expertise in lighting fixtures and technology, serving both residential and commercial clients across the country. The Lofings routinely test new technology and give input to manufacturers before the products go to market.

The American River Parkway is often called “the jewel” of the region, and for the past 50 years, the Save American River Parkway Association has been working to preserve it and encourage its use by local residents and tourists alike.

The nonprofit group has more than 600 members and keeps tabs on the 23-mile stretch of parkway, which hosts 5 million visitors each year doing everything from bicycling and running to boating.

Are there any other businesses that celebrated milestones this year? Let us know in the conversation below.

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

Hot Italian hosts second series of Savage Sprints

2011-12-27T01:04:37Z

For anyone wanting an energizing bike ride in January that won’t take them into the freezing winter cold, Hot Italian on 16th and Q streets has just the thing: Savage Sprints.

For the second year in a row, the Midtown restaurant is hosting a series of stationary bike races free to anyone who wants to show up and ride. The next racing event will be Jan. 8.

“They are small interval races of about 10 to 12 seconds (each),” Alisa Kuwabara, a supervisor at Hot Italian, said Friday. “It sounds short, but it’s really intense and gets your heart racing like crazy.”

The head-to-head races start with little kids on smaller bikes, and progress to adult races on larger bikes, Kuwabara said.

According to the Savage Sprints website, two or more competitors race side by side with a computer that calculates and displays the leader, the distance traveled, and the speed of each rider. The race distance is a simulated 250 meters and the fastest rider to the end of the distance wins.

The first races are for timing only – called “seeding” – to determine time brackets, the website states. Then the times are collected and the top 16 men and top 16 women advance to a normal bracket of eighth, quarter, semis and then to a final pair of racers to determine a winner.

All of the winners move on to championship brackets for the finale at the end of the season.

Steve Rex, owner of Rex Cycles in Sacramento, provides the stationary bikes for the races, and the series is set up in a bracket tournament schedule.

Kuwabara said racers of all ages are welcome to participate, and there are typically 40 to 50 riders racing each night of the series.

Participants really get into the race, Kuwabara said – some show up in their full cycling gear, and some even dress in costume for the occasion.

“We’ve had superheroes, nurses and all sorts of themes show up,” Kuwabara said. “People really have fun with it.”

According to Hot Italian co-owner Andrea Lepore, the races started after she saw a similar event at Rex Cycles a couple of years ago.

“I called (Rex) up and told him I thought having the races at our place would be great,” Lepore said. “He builds amazing bikes, and it looked like something people would really like to do.”

Winners are eligible for prizes such as T-shirts and other merchandise from Hot Italian, Lepore said, and Rex Cycles offers some merchandise prizes also.

“The Savage Sprints series are being held to raise awareness for the building of a velodrome here in Sacramento,” Lepore said.

A velodrome is a racing arena specifically for bicycles. The only other velodrome in northern California is in San Jose, Lepore said.

Representatives from the Sacramento Velodrome Association – a local nonprofit that initiated the project – were not immediately available for comment on this story.

“This is the second season we’ve had (Savage Sprints) at the restaurant, and it’s just gotten bigger and bigger,” Lepore said.

The number of competitors for each race is limited, Lepore said, and there are sometimes upwards of 150 to 200 spectators for each night of the series.

The next Savage Sprints will be Jan. 8 at Hot Italian. Signup for the races online at TimeYourRace.com, or on race day starting at 4 p.m. Racing will be from 5 - 7:30 p.m.

Hot Italian is sponsoring the races so no entry fee is required, however donations toward the velodrome project are welcome.

The remaining races will be held Jan. 22 and Feb. 5, and the tournament finale will be Feb. 19.

For more information about Savage Sprints and to pre-register for a racing spot, go to the race website.

More information about the velodrome project can be found here.

Melissa Corker is a staff reporter with The Sacramento Press. follow her on Twitter @MelissaCorker.

Seven recipes for holiday treats

2011-12-24T00:54:13Z

The holidays are a time for family gatherings, but let’s face it – sometimes dealing with Awkward Uncle Andrew is best done with something sweet in-hand.

The Sacramento Press talked to local bloggers and pastry chefs about their favorite holiday desserts and compiled the following recipes.

Ginger Elizabeth Fudge Brownies – Ginger Elizabeth Chocolates

“It’s one of the first recipes I learned to make in restaurants when I was younger, and throughout all the different bakeries and schools and everywhere I’ve been, it’s still my favorite brownie recipe,” said Ginger Elizabeth, owner of the Midtown chocolate shop. “I think it’s the perfect blend of cakiness and fudginess.”

The following recipe will make about two dozen brownies

1 1/4 cups + 1 tbsp. butter
3 cups sugar
1 tsp. vanilla extract
5 eggs
1/2 tsp. salt
2 1/4 cups all-purpose flour, sifted
1 pound Ginger Elizabeth Chocolates Bulk Chocolate

Preheat oven to 350°F (325°F for convection ovens). Grease a 9-inch by 13-inch casserole pan and set aside.

1. Melt Ginger Elizabeth Chocolates Bulk Chocolate and butter over a double boiler on low heat.
2. Using a Kitchen-Aid mixer with a paddle attachment or by hand, mix the eggs, sugar and vanilla extract. Mix for 1-2 minutes until a little frothy. Add the melted chocolate and butter and mix to combine.
3. Add the sifted flour and mix until just combined. Pour the batter into the prepared casserole pan.
4. Bake the brownies for 35-40 minutes.
5. The brownies will cut best if allowed to cool overnight.

Chocolate Chocolate Chip Cookies – Selland’s Market-Café

“This is one of our favorite cookies,” said owner Randall Selland. “It’s really kind of fudgy in the middle and crispy on the outside.”

Selland said all cookies and desserts at the East Sacramento business are made fresh daily, and it’s a recipe that’s working, with a new location scheduled to open in El Dorado Hills in mid-January.

Pastry Chef Kristine Bertram shared the following recipe:

1 pound of bittersweet or semisweet chocolate
1/4 cup of unsalted butter
4 eggs
1 3/4 cup of granulated sugar
1/2 teaspoon of vanilla extract
1/2 cup flour
1/2 teaspoon of baking powder
1/4 teaspoon of salt
2 cups of semisweet chocolate chips
1 cup of white chocolate chips

In a large bowl, place the bittersweet chips and butter. Place bowl over a pan of simmering water and heat until melted, stirring occasionally. In the meantime, in a mixing bowl of a stand mixer, using the whisk attachment, combine the eggs, vanilla and sugar. Whisk until a ribbon forms. Add the melted chocolate mixture and mix until combined. Mix in flour, baking powder and salt until just incorporated. Add in chocolate chips and white chocolate chips.

Using a small scoop, scoop onto baking pan. Bake at 325°F for approximately 18-22 minutes.

Chocolate Chunk Cookies – Poor Girl Eats Well

Kimberly Morales, the voice behind the Poor Girl Eats Well blog, said her chocolate chunk cookies have been in her recipe binder for 15 years, but she recently rediscovered them.

“They’re a chocoholic’s cookie, basically,” she said. “It’s almost a cross between a cookie and a brownie. Because they’re so decadent, I feel they’re perfect for gift-giving.”

Her blog focuses on eating well on a budget – taking into account everything from the actual cooking to shopping for ingredients on a budget. She said the cookie recipe below can be prepared for $2.75 per dozen, and the recipe makes about two and a half dozen cookies.

“I started writing because people knew I was broke, and they saw I had better meals than they did, and I figured I’d write about how I did it,” she said.

One thing to note, she said, is that the dough will have a runny consistency similar to brownie batter, and that’s normal.

8 oz. semisweet or bittersweet chocolate, cut into chunks
½ stick (4 Tbsp.) butter
2/3 cup of flour
¼ tsp. baking powder
Pinch of sea salt
¼ tsp. cayenne pepper
2 large eggs
¾ cup brown sugar (firmly packed)
1 tsp vanilla extract
6 oz. semisweet or bittersweet chocolate morsels

1. Preheat oven to 350°F and prepare a cookie sheet with parchment paper or a silpat (nonstick baking mat). Combine the flour, baking powder and salt in a bowl. Mix well and set aside.
2. In a small saucepan, combine the first 8 oz. of chocolate with the butter and cayenne pepper. Melt slowly over low heat, stirring occasionally until smooth. Do not overcook.
3. Combine the eggs, brown sugar and vanilla in a large bowl and beat with an electric mixer (or a whisk) until light and fluffy. Slowly mix in the melted chocolate. Then, working in small batches, fold in the flour gently, until the mixture thickens to a thick, batter-like consistency. Lastly, mix in the chocolate chips until completely incorporated into the batter.
4. Using a teaspoon, drop spoonfuls of batter onto the prepared cookie sheet (make sure they’re a couple inches apart). Bake until glossy and crackly on top and soft in the center, about 10-12 minutes (do not over-bake!).
5. Cool on a rack for 5-10 minutes, serve with a tall glass of ice-cold milk, and enjoy!

Chipotle Gingerbread Cookies – Vanilla Garlic: Stories from my Life in Food

Blogger Garrett McCord said the recipe for chipotle gingerbread cookies is based on one given to him by Kate Washington, former restaurant reviewer for Sacramento News & Review and contributor to other local publications such as Sactown Magazine, who got it from a woman she met in a grocery store.

“The chipotle adds a nice, warm spice at the end,” he said. “It acts the same way as ginger and adds a little bit of smoke flavor to the cookie.”

McCord’s blog focuses mainly on food essays and stories, and he said he is currently working on a cookbook featuring macaroni and cheese recipes using artisan cheese. In January and February, he will be teaching food writing and cheese tasting classes at Whole Foods Market. For more information on the classes, check the Whole Foods Facebook page.

The following recipe makes 4-6 dozen, depending on size of the cookies.

1/2 cup unsalted butter
1 cup brown sugar
2/3 cup molasses
1 egg, beaten to blend
2 3/4 cups all-purpose flour
1 Tbsp baking powder
1 tsp ground cloves
1 tsp ground ginger
1 tsp ground cinnamon
1/2 tsp chipotle powder
1/4 tsp baking soda
1/2 tsp salt

1. In a stand mixer, cream the butter and sugar until light and fluffy. Beat in molasses and egg, being sure to scrape down the sides and bottom, until light and uniform.

2. Sift together the flour, baking soda, baking powder, salt and spices. Mix in the dry ingredients to the butter mixture until the entire thing comes together in one uniform batter.

3. Divide the dough into two equal parts and put them on a swath of plastic wrap. Roughly form each piece into a disc. Wrap well in plastic wrap and chill in the refrigerator for three or more hours. The dough will still be somewhat soft for a chilled dough.

4. Preheat oven to 325°F. Generously flour a flat work surface and the dough and roll out the dough to 1/4-inch thick; cut into shapes and place on a cookie sheet, preferably lined with parchment paper. Bake for 12-15 minutes. Do not let brown. Cool on the sheets for a minute or two before transferring to a wire rack to cool completely.

Gluten- and Sugar-Free Ginger Cookies – Cakegrrl

Kristy DeVaney said she switched to the gluten-free Paleo diet in March, and doesn’t think processed flours and sugars are needed to eat tasty foods. The Paleo diet emphasizes organic foods and lean meats to mimic what humans’ hunter-gatherer ancestors ate, according to the diet’s website.

“This is a modified ginger snap recipe,” she said. “I really enjoy them because they’re not too sweet. Around Christmas, there’s always an overload of fudge and overly sweetened things.”

DeVaney began blogging in 2005, when she used to bake on the side and used it to showcase some of her creations. Since then, it has morphed into a food, wine, entertainment and travel blog, and she said it now has numerous Paleo diet-friendly recipes.

She recommends baking the following recipe, then dipping it in melted organic dark chocolate. Though the chocolate has sugar, she said the small amount, and the fact that it’s organic, fit within her diet, but it is also possible to use sugar-free chocolate.

3 cups blanched almond flour
2 Tbsp ground ginger
1/2 tsp cinnamon
1/4 tsp nutmeg
1/4 tsp clove
1 tsp baking soda
1 tsp salt
1/8 tsp cracked black pepper
1 Tbsp lemon zest
1 Tbsp fresh ginger or ginger paste

2 Omega 3 eggs
1/2 cup honey
1 tsp vanilla extract
¼ cup molasses

1/4 cup unrefined coconut oil
1/4 cup unsalted organic butter

Preheat oven to 375°F.
In a medium-sized mixing bowl, combine dry ingredients (including lemon zest).
In a small mixing bowl, beat eggs, honey, molasses and vanilla extract with a hand mixer.
Pour wet ingredients into dry and beat with hand mixer until combined.
Add coconut oil and butter into batter, and continue to blend until combined.

Drop balls of dough on a parchment-lined baking sheet, about a tablespoon in size.
Bake cookies for 15 minutes at 375°F.
Let cool completely. To dress them up, you can melt some organic dark chocolate and dip half the cookies into the chocolate. Line on parchment and allow chocolate to set up.

Nana’s Tea Tossies – Undercover Caterer

Writer, blogger and foodie Sarah Singleton said her grandmother’s tea tossie recipe is a family favorite, and the treats resemble miniature pecan pies.

“This is probably a recipe from the mid-’40s,” she said. “I have probably 10 copies of it because it was copied so many times, so this was obviously a very well-loved recipe.”

She said the tea tossies are not hard to make, and her blog stresses the fact that anyone can bake or cook anything, even complicated 30-step recipes for French pates.

Armed with her grandmother’s recipes, she makes a weekly post centered on one of them, explaining that her grandmother and her father were her first teachers when it came to cooking and baking.

3 oz cream cheese
1/2 cup butter
1 cup sifted flour

Soften cream cheese and butter to room temperature and blend. Stir in flour. (I do this in a stand mixer and sometimes double the amount for a thicker crust). Wrap in plastic and chill slightly. Shape in 3/4-inch balls. Place in small (1 3/4") mini-muffin tins (ungreased). Press the dough into the bottom and sides of the tins. Fill with the following:

1 egg
3/4 cup brown sugar
Dash of salt
1 Tbsp butter
1 tsp vanilla
2/3 cup broken pecans

Beat the egg, sugar, salt, butter and vanilla until just smooth. Divide half of the pecans among the muffin cups. Fill with sugar and egg mixture. Top with remaining pecans. Bake at 325°F for 25 minutes.

Nana says this recipe freezes well, though Singleton said she never has any left over to freeze.

Cinnamon Rolls with Cream Cheese Frosting – Pretty Yummy Foods

Melissa Vanni said she started blogging about eight months ago because she was always being asked for recipes, and her husband suggested a blog would be easier than emailing them, but it went beyond recipes.

“It kind of became almost like a diary,” she said. “It includes the story behind why I came up with the recipe. I discovered there was more to the food than just the food itself.”

Her cinnamon roll recipe came from a cookbook she discovered in an antique shop, and she said she thinks it’s perfect for a family gathering.

“I like to make them with family on Christmas,” she said. “They’re something that takes a little bit of time to make, and that’s the fun part of it. It makes them really special, and I look forward to them every year.”

1/2 cup of milk
1/2 cup of sugar
1/4 stick of butter
1/2 cup of warm water
2 packages of dry active yeast
2 eggs beaten
4 1/2 cups flour

In a pot heat up 1/2 cup of milk and stir in 1/2 cup of sugar and 1/4 cup of butter.
Cool to lukewarm.
In a large bowl measure in 1/2 cup of warm (not too warm!) water, and sprinkle in 2 packages of active dry yeast.
After the yeast has dissolved add lukewarm milk mixture to the bowl.
Now add two beaten eggs to the bowl and 2 cups of flour and stir before adding the remaining 1 1/2 cups of flour.
Stir it until it becomes a slightly stiff dough.
Turn dough out on a lightly floured surface and kneed it until it becomes smooth and elastic.
Now place dough in a greased (Pam or butter) bowl. Cover and let your dough rise in a warm place for about an hour.
When dough is done rising it should be double in bulk and if you poke it with your finger the dent should remain. If the dent disappears give it another 10 minutes to rise.
Now punch dough down and fold the edges of dough to the center to make another ball.
Separate dough into two and turn it out on a lightly floured surface and roll into a rectangle.
Grab a stick of room-temperature butter and slather half of it on dough.
Now sprinkle a few handfuls of brown sugar over the butter and top it with a few shakes cinnamon and top with a handful of pecans.
Carefully roll and slice into 1 1/2-inch-thick slices
Place rolls in a greased 9-inch by 12-inch baking dish. Cover and let these rise and double in size for about an hour.
Bake for 25 minutes at 375°F.

To make the frosting:
In a bowl combine 4 ounces of cream cheese with 1/4 cup of melted butter and 1 1/2 cups of powdered sugar, 2 teaspoons of milk and 1/2 teaspoon of vanilla, mix well and spread on top of the cinnamon rolls.

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

New Texas barbecue spot on Broadway

2011-12-22T08:57:49Z

T & R Taste of Texas opened on Broadway near 36th Street in late October, and Chef Rodney Ray said he thinks the barbecue restaurant will be able to last in the spot that has seen several businesses come and go in past years.

“It’s simple, good, home-cooked food,” he said Wednesday. “It’s great barbecue, and we don’t grill it – we smoke it.”

All meats are smoked a minimum of five hours in an on-site smoker, and four types of wood are used: apple, hickory, mesquite and cherry, Ray said. Meats and other ingredients come from local restaurant suppliers, and he added that he wants to work with farmers markets to bring in local produce during harvest season.

Ray, who is a longtime friend of owner Clarence Pughsley Jr., said he got much of his experience with barbecue cooking as a freelance chef – including time on cruise ships.

“I travel all over, and Sacramento has been my home base for the past 10 years,” he said. “I really like going to the Caribbean. They’ve got a lot of great barbecue there.”

Both Pughsley and Ray have Texas roots, and Ray said he likes the Texas style of barbecuing, with a heavy emphasis on ribs.

“Our pork ribs are our most popular,” he said. “We’re working on a boneless beef rib, too, and tri tip is really popular here.”

The 1,300-square-foot restaurant holds 30 people, and there are plans to build a patio starting in March or April. Prices range from $6 - $10 for meals, with a combination platter of two meat types with two sides for $7.99 available from 11 a.m. - 1 p.m.

Before T & R, the space was briefly Johnny Broadway’s, another barbecue restaurant, Ray said.

Sides include coleslaw, barbecue beans, potato salad and tater tots.

In addition to walk-in dining, T & R also caters, and Ray said he can cook a multitude of types of food – not limited to barbecue.

“We’re a barbecue restaurant, but we can do a lot more,” he said.

Sandra VanHook, owner of the Images & Beyond sign-making and silk-screening business a block away, said she has eaten at T & R several times since its opening nine weeks ago.

“When I tasted their pulled-pork sandwich for the first time, it was really good,” she said. “I think it’s the first time I’ve tasted it done right, with coleslaw on top.”

She said she has liked all the food she has tried, including the pulled pork, fried wings and hot links.

“The hot-link sandwich is unusual, but delicious,” she said.

She added that the restaurant is a good addition to the area, with food options predominantly being fast food.

Norma Henderson, owner of the Norma J’s Place beauty salon less than a block away, said she thinks that once the restaurant gets established, it will help draw business to the area.

“It’s very good, and the hospitality is really nice,” she said. “I’m glad to see a business there.”

T & R Taste of Texas is located at 3621 Broadway. It is open from 11 a.m. - 9 p.m. Monday through Saturday and on Sunday from noon until the customers stop coming in, Ray said.

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

Photo essay: Estelle's Patisserie

2011-12-21T08:39:56Z

French pastries arrived on the corner of Ninth and K streets Dec. 8 when Estelle’s Patisserie opened without fanfare to gauge the market before adjusting and doing a grand opening sometime in January.

“The customers have been so supportive,” said owner Esther Son, whose first name translates to Estelle in French. “I’ve owned other businesses, and this group down here is just so dynamic and supportive.”

The staff of about 12 starts baking as early as 3 a.m., and the bakery offers about 35 items – from fruit tarts, puff pastries and croissants to soups, sandwiches and baguettes.

Cream-filled puff pastries, raspberry and blueberry tarts, buttery croissants and Madeleines in various flavors from chocolate to poppyseed top the pastry selection. Also available are shortbread cookies, caprese sandwiches – tomato, mozzarella and basil on a baguette – and a host of soups and quiches.

All items are made in-house, including sauces.

The most popular items so far have been the croissant sandwiches and the puff pastries, Son said.

Danielle Blacet, a 35-year-old Folsom resident who works across the street from the bakery at a political trade association, said the tomato bisque soup was excellent and reason enough to go back.

“I’m glad to have something here again,” she said, noting that the space previously housed Danielle’s Creperie and La Bou. “People in our office like to try new things, and having this on K Street is great.”

Sacramento real estate developer Kipp Blewett, 46, said he had Estelle’s Patisserie cater an event for him, and he was pleased with the pastries, returning Tuesday afternoon for lunch.

“What Temple is to coffee, Esther (Son) is to pastries,” he said. “We have little pieces of Paris on K Street. Who would have thought?”

Teo Judal, a 65-year-old retired Woodland resident, said he came to the pastry shop looking for a rum baba – a pastry he said is hard to find in Sacramento – but wasn’t able to get one at Estelle’s Patisserie.

“I had the almond tart instead,” he said. “It was good, and I think they have a good location.”

Linda Anderson, a 63-year-old Sacramentan who works with Blacet, has been to the pastry shop multiple times.

“The potato leek soup was the best I’ve ever had, and I make it at home,” she said. “I also had the vegetable quiche, and the crust was impeccable. The quiche was a perfect consistency.”

She said the prices aren’t the cheapest – they range from $1 for a Madeleine cookie to about $4.50 for a fruit tart – but they are a good value for the quality.

“I had the shortbread cookie, and it was the perfect mix of flour, butter and sugar,” she said. “It’s really good, and you can tell they pay a lot of attention to detail.”

Son said she is building up a following for the catering side of the business, with free deliveries throughout downtown Sacramento for orders of $80 or more, and a fee of about $10 for orders less than $80.

The pastry shop is located at Ninth and K streets and is open from 7 a.m. - 6 p.m. Monday through Friday.

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

A Unique Gift that Supports the Community

2011-12-19T19:12:40Z

For anyone who is still looking for unique holiday gift ideas, the Northern California nonprofit INALLIANCE may have just the solution- tickets to the "Sacramento Chef Challenge" at 4:00 p.m. Saturday ~~Friday~~ , June 23, 2012.

The well known culinary extravaganza features two live culinary competitions, food sampling, wine and beer tasting, live music, raffle prizes and more! But, the best part is-100% of proceeds go to programs that support people with developmental disabilities!

"2012 marks the 10th anniversary of the Sacramento Chef Challenge, which means we will be pulling out all the stops and slashing ticket prices,” says INALLIANCE Executive Director Diana DeRodeff.

INALLIANCE provides work and life skills training, supported employment services and assistive communication for people with developmental disabilities. “Our mission supports the belief that people with developmental disabilities have an absolute right and responsibility to be fully participating members of the community, and the Sacramento Chef Challenge is a way for us to raise vital funds for our programs while connecting with the community in a fun and positive way,” continues DeRodeff.

Rancho Cordova resident Anthony Paradiso has attended the event for the past four years and says, “I look forward to the Chef Challenge every year. It is exciting and offers a huge variety of food, wine and beer! I love a good competition and the chefs put on a great show.” Tickets are $25 each and can be purchased online at www.chefevent.com or by calling INALLIANCE at 916-381-1300 x170.

“There are many food events out there, but I support the Sacramento Chef Challenge because it is a quality event that benefits a great cause,” adds Paradiso. To learn more about the Sacramento Chef Challenge, purchase tickets and see photos from past years visit www.chefevent.com today!

Disclosure: Jessica Bean is an employee of INALLIANCE

Indian restaurant opens on K Street in Midtown

2011-12-15T02:30:48Z

Indian cuisine arrived at the corner of 16th and K streets last week when Monsoon Indian Bar & Grill opened Dec. 8, and the response has been positive, co-owner Paul Singh said.

“I go to Yelp, and we’re getting reallygood reviews,” Singh said. “I think it’s a good barometer, and it also gives you feedback. People take the time to go and write, and I take them seriously, even though it’s only about 10 or so so far.”

Some of the most popular dishes so far, Singh said, are thechicken tikka masala, lamb Vindaloo and the samosa pakora appetizers – vegetarian-friendly pastry wraps of peas and rice.

“People are coming back for additional visits, and that gives me confidence,” Singh said.

Many of the nearby buildings house state offices, and some of those employees were in the restaurant for lunch on Wednesday.

“This is my first time trying Indian food,” said Nadine Jordan, a 50-year-old state employee from Sacramento. “It was an awesome experience. I’ve never tried it in my life, and it was absolutely good.”

Farzana Buksh, a 27-year-old state worker from Sacramento, is from an Indian background and said she thinks the food is authentic, though not necessarily what her mother would make at home.

“The food was really delicious,” she said. “I had the chicken tikka masala, and it was good.”

Erik Sweeting, a 28-year-old state worker from Rocklin, said he tried the mango prawns and enjoyed them as well as the naan.

“The service was very friendly,” he added. “I’ll definitely come back.”

Those unfamiliar with Indian cuisine are given samples of the food, Singh said. A new dish is in the works that will provide three samples of three different foods during lunchtime.

“We currently have a lunch deal that is very popular,” Singh said. “We call it the two for 20, and you get an appetizer, two meals of your choice, rice and naan bread for $20.”

Though the soft opening was last week, Singh said the grand opening will likely be the first week in January.

“We wanted to wait until after the holidays since everyone is so busy,” he said.

The interior décor, which Singh said he originally envisioned as being more traditional, is more modern – a result of the restaurant’s large window space.

Stockton-based interior designer Kathleen Jennison worked with Singh and his business partners.

“They wanted it to be Indian but also contemporary,” she said. “They were looking for a nightclub feel, but also a family-friendly atmosphere.”

Jennison said she wanted to evoke a sense of rain, given the restaurant’s name, and the gray and blue walls are accented by crystal light fixtures to give a feel of cloudiness with lightning. The concrete floors were polished to give a sense of shiny water.

One wall is red, which Jennison said is an homage to the colors of Indian spices.

Monsoon is open from 11 a.m. - 10 p.m. Sunday through Thursday and 11 a.m. - 2 a.m. Friday and Saturday.

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

The Porch opens in old Celestin's spot

2011-12-14T02:21:24Z

The Porch, a southern-style restaurant, opened Thursday and is celebrating its grand opening this week in the space built to hold the popular Celestin’s Island Eats & Cajun Cuisine, which closed in September.

“We’ve had a really nice response,” said co-owner John Lopez. “Everyone has said good things so far, and we have several people who have been back multiple times.”

Popular food items include shrimp and grits, fried chicken, homemade brisket and a shrimp purloo – andouille sausage, bell peppers, onions, shrimp, rice, blue crab gravy and grilled chicken.

Customers familiar with the layout of Celestin’s will notice several differences in the remodeled space. The floor-to-ceiling walls have been chopped to much lower heights, giving the restaurant a more open, less-compartmentalized feel. Bamboo floors cover the entire dining area, and a faux fireplace on a wall adjacent to several faux windows looking out to a Charleston plantation’s grounds give the feeling of being in a southern home.

“We wanted to open it up and make it feel welcoming,” Lopez said. “We took one of the server stations and turned it into a 12-foot family table that people can reserve now.”

The restaurant can seat about 110 people inside, and the namesake front porch is still under construction, with work expected to wrap up within the next week.

“We have gas lamps, and it’s going to look like a porch with white pickets along the railing,” Lopez said.

Grand opening events with drink specials will be continuing through Friday, with representatives from vendors such as Sudwerk, Lagunitas and Big Sky Brewing Co. coming.

A cocktail menu was devised by a bartender the owners met on a research trip to Charleston, and there are 12 beers on tap.

The custom-built wooden back bar area is designed to show off the restaurant’s whiskey and bourbon selections, and Lopez said he plans to add tastings with several flights – multiple small samples – of the spirits in the coming weeks, as well as with beer and wine.

Much of the ingredients in the menu items are locally supplied, with fish coming from farms in Sloughouse, sandwich bread from Old Soul Bakery in Sacramento and cornmeal from Grass Valley Grains of Wheatland.

Lopez, who also co-owns the nearby Capitol Garage, said brunch will be added to The Porch in January, featuring southern fare, though the menu is still being determined.

Approximately 30 employees work at the new restaurant, including four of the employees from Celestin’s. When Celestin’s closed in September and the co-owner Phoebe Celestin agreed to lease the space to The Porch, she said the new restaurateurs’ willingness to interview her former staffers made her happy.

Gregg Hill, a 47-year-old software developer from Rocklin, said during lunchtime Tuesday that the barbecue pork sandwich was good.

“The restaurant is big, and it’s nice and clean,” he said.

Another diner who stopped in for lunch was 32-year-old state worker Bentley Jorgenson of Sacramento.

“I liked to eat at Celestin’s, and I was sad to see it go,” he said. “(The Porch) is great. I was amazed with how they redid this place. It looks great.”

The Porch is located at 1815 K St. and is open from 11 a.m. - 11 p.m. Sunday through Wednesday and from 11 a.m. - midnight Thursday through Saturday. The “social hour” is from 3 - 6 p.m. daily and includes $1-off drink specials.

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

Baking with heart, one cookie at a time

2011-12-12T05:34:07Z

For the holidays, Plates Cafe and Catering is serving Christmas cookies, baked and prepared by the women in St. John's Shelter Program for Women and Children.

St. John's provides shelter, education and childcare to homeless women with children.
As part of the shelter's six- to 12-month training program, Plates Cafe and Catering, located at 14 Business Parkway, serves as an on-the-job training site for the shelter, where the women perform restaurant positions such as cooks, waitresses and hostesses, Stuart Edgcombe, 46, Chef at Plates Cafe and Catering, said.

"It's more than just cooking," Edgcombe said. "It's teaching them life lessons."

Teresa Kamekona, 39, said her experience at Plates Cafe and Catering taught her to be accountable, manage her time better and work with other people again, but most of all regain her self-esteem.

"It felt good to be needed," Kamekona, a recent graduate of the training program, said. She said, people depended on her, which pushed her to do her best.

"You can see the joy in the women's eyes as they learn cooking skills from Chef Stu," Pasta Queen owner Susan Korec, 52, said. While renting space for her pasta business at Plates, she has seen how the women work on various kitchen tasks, Korec said.

Pasta Queen's products are also sold at the store, with parts of the proceeds going back to the training program.

Edgcombe said he and trainee Monica Ward, 37, came out with a list of different cookies that remind them of their childhood Christmas memories.

"It's a great experience for the girls to make all these different cookies," Edgcombe said. "It's another activity they can be exposed to, be responsible for and be a part of."

The Christmas cookies featured are Mexican wedding, ginger snap, chewy sugar, thumb print and chocolate chip. He said their chocolate cookie is available year-round, and is one the bestselling items in the store.

"It's the All-American cookie," Edgcombe said. "It does not matter if it is Christmas, Easter or Thanksgiving."

He said they included the ginger snap cookie because, like cinnamon, nutmeg and cloves, it is associated with and the holidays.

"The bite of molasses and ginger says Christmas to me," Edgcombe said. He said that these cookies, because of their “snap” or crisp, are best paired with coffee, tea or hot chocolate.

Out of the five Christmas cookies, the chewy sugar cookie, he said, is the most Christmas-styled with its red, green and white sugar sprinkles.

"What makes our cookies special goes beyond the dough, sugar, chocolate chips, ginger or any of the other ingredients," Edgcombe said. "It represents memories of Christmas past."

All of the proceeds from the Christmas cookie sale, like their other products at Plates Cafe and Catering, go toward the St. John's Shelter Program for Women and Children.

The Christmas cookies, can be ordered through their website, and will be available for pickup starting Dec. 19.

Prices for the cookies are still to be determined and will be posted on their site.

Plates Cafe and Catering, which opened June last year, also serves lunch Monday through Friday from 11 a.m. to 2 p.m.

The Sacramento Press on 'Insight'

2011-12-07T02:02:03Z

City Council election drama, a potential swap of high school campuses, new businesses and two Sacramento Press contests were all topics I discussed with Jeffrey Callison Tuesday morning on Capital Public Radio’s “Insight” program.

Elections are quite a ways away, but the District 2 City Council race is already heating up as some accuse candidate Kim Mack of using an email list from her time working on the Obama campaign to push for a Strong Mayor initiative for Mayor Kevin Johnson. Mack denies sharing the email list with the Strong Mayor backers. Read more by clicking here.

Another contentious issue in the city right now has to do with education – more specifically education facilities. The Sacramento City Unified School District board floated the idea of swapping Sacramento Charter High School and West Campus – two high schools that sit about two miles apart. Proponents say moving the public West Campus school to the old Sacramento High School facility – which now houses the charter school – would provide a pedestrian-friendly comprehensive school for the area. Opponents say there is no reason to swap them, and moving schools will only put a different set of students in an inadequate facility.

As the ongoing Occupy Sacramento movement stays in the news, one Sacramento Press reader asked Sacramento Police Officer Michelle Lazark in her weekly column about the difference between camping in Cesar Chavez Plaza and in front of stores for deals. Lazark replied that police enforce the no-camping ordinance on public property, but typically don’t do so on private property unless business owners ask them to or there are “No Loitering” signs posted.

A pair of coffee roasters with about a decade of experience each are opening Insight Coffee Roasters, a new coffee bar and roasting house in Southside Park. The duo plans to focus on sustainable coffee, working directly with growers in Latin America and selling only organic milk and sugar in their drinks.

The old Fog Mountain Cafe business in the City Hall Garage will soon be replaced by a barbecue eatery: Big Joe’s BBQ. Fog Mountain closed in April, and the city forgave some of the lease in order to bring Big Joe’s on as soon as possible.

Bringing as much comedy as drama, Sacra-Melo – a musical theater parody group – opened on the Delta King in Old Sacramento in late September. Actors don’t stay strictly to the script, but interact with the audience and work with piano accompaniment to give a show the owners say is unique in the area.

Finally, a pair of contests on The Sacramento Press gives readers the chance to be more interactive with the site and earn some prizes at the same time. “To Catch an Error” is in its second month and gives readers the chance to help us improve the quality of content on the site. For more information on how you can take part – and win a meal at Zócalo – click here. The second contest is the third annual Journalism Open, which runs for the month of January. Is there something you think should be in the news? You have the chance to put it there and win prizes – with the first place winner taking home $600. For more details and rules, click here.

Man on the Street: business after cars on K

2011-12-07T01:50:25Z

It’s been almost one month since cars returned to K Street between Eighth and 12th streets, and The Sacramento Press asked business owners and managers on the former pedestrian mall if they have observed any differences as a result.

To read about the reopening of the K Street Mall to vehicular traffic, click here.

Larry Bethune, 25-year-old shift leader at Quiznos, 902 K St.

“I think it allows a lot more people to know about the different restaurants on K Street,” Bethune said. “It hasn’t increased business yet because there’s nowhere to park. There’s a lot about a block from here with purple fence around it. If they turned that into a parking lot, then having cars on the street would turn into a really great idea.”

Veni Sharma, 63-year-old co-owner of DeRow & Sharma Clothier & Tailors, 916 K St.

“It’s too early to tell, but it’s improved a little bit,” Sharma said. “People are still learning they can drive down here. It’s a positive thing.”

Chuck Karajeh, 51-year-old owner of Midtown Market, 1026 K St.

“There’s been no change so far,” Karajeh said. “I don’t think it’s going to change anything. To me, well, I’ve been here a long time. I don’t think people are going to stop, and there’s no parking. If they had street parking, it would help.”

Chris Dooley, 32-year-old bar manager at Ella Dining Room & Bar, 1131 K St.

“We’re still doing the same, but we have always had a street with cars on it, since we’re on the corner (of 12th and K streets),” Dooley said. “For some, I’m sure bringing cars back has increased business. It definitely makes the street more approachable to pedestrians and families, so it’s more accessible now.”

Jesse Lua, 29-year-old manager of Blimpie Subs & Salads, 1023 K St.

“There’s been no change,” Lua said. “It really hasn’t gotten any traffic at all. I don’t think it’ll do anything without parking. The only traffic I’ve seen is maybe some cabs, but there hasn’t been an accident yet.”

Sid Garcia-Heberger, 46-year-old general manager of the Crest Theatre, 1013 K St.

“I’m seeing increased activity on the street,” Garcia-Heberger said. “Most of the increased activity is on the weekends and at night. I think people are still getting used to it. Once more people know about it, I think it will really help.”

What is your perception of the changes to K Street over the past month, since cars were allowed. Have you driven down the former pedestrian mall? Let us know in the conversation below.

Sacramento City College politics go Green

2011-12-01T03:07:46Z

As Earth welcomed its 7 billionth child Nov. 1, international concern for diminishing world resources and mounting pollution are on the rise. This concern not only stems from the number of people on the planet, but how those people consume and dispose of their resources. However, depending upon how the international community prepares for that challenge, it could serve as an opportunity for positive change.

The Sacramento City College’s Student Associated Council has recognized the international concern for its impact on the planet by creating a new position to help facilitate the campus’ desire to reduce its waste by welcoming plant biology major Michael Viscuso to the newly created position of secretary of Sustainability.

“When we created the new constitution, we put in the secretary of Sustainability so that someone can always be available for that position,” says Vice President of the Student Associated Council, EloHim Cofield. “Hopefully this one [constitution] will stay in place the next 10, 15, 20 years and hopefully by that time the school will be completely green.”

Before Viscuso had considered running unopposed for the position, Cofield had to convince the Connecticut-backwood native he was the right student for the job.

“We need someone that’s green and he has knowledge about being green. He’s already done this kind of work outside the school, so he would be a perfect candidate,” says Cofield, an administration of justice and political science major.

Viscuso, who intends to transfer to UC Davis, would not strike you as the type of candidate to run for a student government position. His calm, deep voice and demeanor is accented by his dark beard and curly hair that sands on end.

When Viscuso realized that his many years of experience working on sustainability projects would work to his benefit as secretary of Sustainability, potentially having far-reaching effects with other schools in the Los Rios District, he knew he had to run for the position.

“I realized I could actually do something good throughout the whole district,” says Viscuso who moved to Sacramento in January.

“Burning Man is one of the things that definitely got me into the [sustainability] scene,” says Viscuso who has attended or volunteered at Burning Man almost every year since 2000. “That’s where I met a lot of people that are deep in the scene in California.”

Viscuso, a 40-year-old vegan, assisted with coordinating solar projects at Burning Man that allowed patrons to charge their phones and cameras at the event despite being isolated in the Nevadan desert. Later the solar structure was dismantled and installed on public structures in Gerlach and Lovelock, Nev., reducing their energy usage.

“I was really blessed and stoked we helped facilitate all that in a way,” says Viscuso with his laid-back tone.

Viscuso is also a member of Freedom Farms, a community garden in Oak Park that has proposed a garden next to Jedediah Smith Elementary School.

“Hopefully it will come to fruition,” says Viscuso. “There is a 6-acre plot right next to it that is owned by the Sacramento School District and we’ve proposed in a two year span to turn that area into a community garden for the whole community as well as to produce food for the school. It’s a great plot too! It will be like a little eco-village. The principal and vice principal are really into it too.”

Viscuso is also a volunteer at City Farm, Sacramento City College’s organic urban-gardening pilot-project on campus.

“Michael's energy around sustainable agriculture goes well beyond City Farm,” says Robyn Waxman, Sacramento City College graphic communication professor and faculty coordinator of City Farm. “Most of his contributions to City Farm have been directly related to our garden parties every other Friday at noon.”

“He donated seeds, trained students in how to transplant seedlings, he offered advice regarding irrigation, and he keeps ideas about compost and how to be most sustainable at the front of everyone's minds,” says Waxman. “He's truly a gift.”

Since the beginning of fall semester, Viscuso has been collecting signatures for two petitions he has written. As San Francisco has done, he has proposed the composting of organic waste from the campus cafeteria to divert waste from landfills and create usable soil for future use.

“It is a commodity,” says Viscuso with conviction. “It’s the one way to revitalize the soil that we need.”

Viscuso’s second petition proposes that the campus cafeteria take steps to become more sustainable: offering healthier snack and meal alternatives produced by local, environmentally sustainable farms that practice fair labor and the humane treatment of animals.

“It would encompass safe farming practices—all the way from how you take care of your soil, to your workers, to the end result of it ending up on your plate,” Viscuso says.

Faculty at Sacramento City College are supportive of Viscuso’s vision of generating less waste on campus.

“What we are doing on the planet, where we are going with this kind of stuff, with the population and with all the things that come into food security, how can it hurt to maybe create a system that is a little more holistic or sustainable versus one that is not?” says Craig Davis, geography professor at Sacramento City College who was involved with coordinating the current recycling program on campus 10 years ago.

“Maybe it isn’t just about composting, it’s also about the front end of the food service; the materials we use in the cafeteria as a whole,” says Davis, a City Farm supporter.

One of Viscuso’s first priorities as secretary of Sustainability will be to form a sustainability committee think-tank to come up with different ideas on how to create a sustainable campus and minimize the waste created.

With the rewriting of the constitution to include a secretary of Sustainability, the Associated Student Council is an example of how world governments could restructure themselves to include the interests of future generations—having Viscuso’s vision and experience is just an added perk for the student government.

Disclosure: This article was featured in the Sac City Express Nov. 22, 2011. Matthew Blackburn is a journalism student and City Farm volunteer at Sacramento City College.

SactoMoFo 3 - Saturday, December 3rd, 11am-6pm

2011-11-29T19:29:44Z

Foodies! You are invited to SactoMoFo #3 on Saturday, December 3rd, from 11am-6pm
facebook.com/SactoMoFo

Say what?? SactoMoFo (the Sacramento Mobile Food organization) has rounded up 7 Bay Area and over a dozen local food trucks, carts and other vendors for SactoMoFo #3, to be held Saturday, December 3rd, 11 am - 6 pm rain or shine at the Downtown weekend Farmer’s Market location (6th & W Streets, under the freeway). Stop by for lunch and stay for dinner! No tickets, no fees, just lots of great food and drink!

How much?? Admission is 100% free! Just dress warm, bring small bills, a big appetite, and get your snack on!

I can win what?? Stitches ‘n Dishes will be raffling away a Wii and game bundle pack just for stopping by!

Where?? At 6th & W Streets (Sunday Farmer’s Market location) directly across the street from Southside Park. Bring the family and make a day of it!

Why?? The December 3rd event is a winter food drive for the Sacramento Food Bank and the U.S.MC. Reserve's Toys for Tots, so please bring canned or packaged dry goods and new unwrapped toys to donate. That, plus we like to eat and showcase the great food in our area!

Give-aways too?? We will be giving away AWESOME prizes from local businesses, including Ginger Elizabeth, Art Feast, and more! Anyone who brings a donation will get entered into a drawing. We will be picking winners at least once an hour!

Who?? List of trucks and vendors attending:
Sacramento:
Aloha Diner, Big Joe’s BBQ, Cajun Wagon, Chando's Tacos, Coast to Coast, Drewski's Hot Rod Kitchen, Emma’s Tamales, Fuzion Eatz, Heavenly Dogs, It's Corn Cake, La Piedad, Leila's Lumpia, Miniburger Truck, Smoothie Patrol, Volkswaffle, and Wicked 'Wich.

Bay Area:
An the Go, Bacon Bacon, Chairman Bao, El Porteno, Hapa SF, Japa Curry, and Seoul on Wheels

What else?? Other entertainment at the event include:
- Willie’s Woodshop: A hands-on woodshop INSIDE a mobile truck designed for kids to cut, screw, nail, glue, saw and build their own toys to take home for a small price.
- Photos with Santa Claus
- Face painting and balloon twisters
- Certified masseuses
- Live DJ music

Please see our Facebook event page for details through out the week and to let us know you are coming!

About SactoMoFo: SactoMoFo is a group of Sacramento residents that advocate for bringing more and better food options to the Sacramento area. The group is focused on changing the current 30-minute city ordinance, and raising awareness through organized events. SactoMoFo also coordinates food vendors to serve at business, community, charity, and personal events. Contact info@sactomofo.com for more information.

Media Inquiries: please contact Joshua Lurie Terrell at info@sactomofo.com for more information.

Disclosure: The author is responsible for media outreach for SactoMoFo.

City Hall Garage to get new eatery: Big Joe's BBQ

2011-11-29T03:42:36Z

Flavorful barbecue and hearty sandwiches will be at the top of the menu at Big Joe’s BBQ when it opens its doors in January at the former Fog Mountain Café space at the City Hall Garage.

The City Council is set to grant a five-year lease Tuesday for Big Joe’s BBQ to open at 1000 I St.

According to the city staff report on the new lease, Big Joe’s currently has a successful catering business and plans to offer a variety of BBQ sandwiches – including pork, grilled chicken and tri-tip – with side dishes, and the restaurant will have an outdoor grill.

For five years, Joe “Big Joe” Dunlap operated Big Joe’s BBQ in Citrus Heights, and Dunlap’s partner, Angelo Negrete, has owned Fuddruckers, a family restaurant in Citrus Heights for the past eight years.

Big Joe’s has had a presence at the farmers market at Roosevelt Park at Ninth and Q streets on Tuesdays for more than a year, as well as at the farmers market at Capitol Mall on Thursdays.

This will be a new partnership venture for Negrete and Dunlap, who have known each other for close to eight years.

“We used to eat at each other’s (restaurants),” Dunlap said Monday, “and we became friends. I said I’d never (open another place again), but I guess I allowed him to talk me into it.”

Dunlap said he and Negrete wanted to be downtown where there are a lot of offices – and hungry workers at lunchtime looking for good food.

“We are big on lunch, and our target market is businesspeople,” Dunlap said.

Lunch at Big Joe’s will start with either a half-pound sandwich for $7.99, or $9.99 if a side dish and soda are added.

A 1-pound sandwich will cost $12.99, Dunlap said, and he expects some people will order the larger sandwich and split it to share with a friend.

Sandwiches at Big Joe’s are “just meat, bread and sauce,” Dunlap said. “It’s all about barbecue here.”

Side dishes such as macaroni and cheese, barbecue beans, potato salad or coleslaw will be available for $1.69 each.

Big Joe’s will also offer a portobello mushroom burger for what Dunlap calls “BBQ sinners” – vegetarians.

Dunlap said he expects to be able to open sometime in January if the needed build-up of the storefront can be completed in time. The restaurant will have a soft opening as soon as possible, followed by a larger grand opening later in the month.

Dunlap said a wrought iron fence will be installed around the storefront on both sides to enclose a patio seating area on one side of the door and a large outdoor grill on the other.

In addition to flavorful barbecue fare, fast service is a cornerstone of the operation, Dunlap said.

“We hope to set new standards for lunchtime sandwiches,” Dunlap said. “Everything will be smoked or wood-grilled, and a system (will be) set up to serve as many people as possible in an hour. We have to have fast service.”

At the farmers markets on Tuesdays and Thursdays, Dunlap said he regularly serves 300 to 400 people in three hours.

Dunlap said Negrete’s role in the operation will essentially be management and marketing, while Big Joe is the front man and grill master.

“I don’t know anyone that’s going to be doing what we do down there,” Dunlap said. “There’s going to be some good eating.”

In April 2008, James and Judy Harnish opened Fog Mountain Café in the space at City Hall Garage, and three years later, Harnish closed the business – still owing the city more than $133,000 in outstanding rent.

The Harnishes negotiated with the city to surrender all of the equipment in the restaurant to the city – valued at approximately $52,000 – in exchange for the city forgiving the remaining $84,000 of their back rent.

If the city elected to end the Fog Mountain Café lease through litigation, it could take a long time to resolve – time lost for another tenant to take over the space and begin paying rent to the city.

Instead, the city ended the lease and plans to immediately enter into a new lease agreement with Big Joe’s BBQ, Inc.

The city will write off the remaining amount owed from the Harnishes – roughly $84,000 – from the city’s parking fund.

Howard Chan, parking services manager for the city, said negotiating a lease termination that includes accepting equipment in exchange for writing off a remaining amount owed is not a typical situation for the city.

“This is the first time we’ve done this that I’m aware of,” Chan said.

In typical cases where tenants can’t make rent, the city would simply say, “Pay rent or move out,” Chan said.

But in the case of Fog Mountain Café, the state of the economy played a large part, and the city didn’t have a new tenant lined up to move in.

Chan said city representatives from the Economic Development Department and the Downtown Sacramento Partnership worked with Fog Mountain Café to restructure their business plan and to find a way to stay in business and maintain rent payments to the city.

“In the end, it just wasn’t possible,” Chan said. “It just wouldn’t work, and they had to throw in the towel.”

So, the city decided to negotiate the lease termination to free the space as quickly as possible.

“The benefits of having an open, viable business far exceeded letting (a retail space) go dark and not collecting any rent at all,” Chan said.

Fog Mountain Café was paying rent of $2.40 per square foot – the market rate at the time the Harnish family entered into the lease with the city.

Big Joe’s BBQ will pay the current market rent of $1.65 per square foot, making the annual rent to the city just over $40,000.

Chan said the decision to lease to Big Joe’s BBQ is a good one because the restaurant concept has a broad appeal, and it already has a following from the presence in local farmers markets.

“We are excited to get (Dunlap and Negrete),” Chan said. “They have worked well with us to get through the typical hurdles of opening a business.”

Chan said the equipment that the city will receive from Fog Mountain Café will stay on-site for Big Joe’s BBQ to use.

Chan said there had been one other offer for tenancy at the I Street location, but that business’ finance didn’t work out.

“One of the cool things (with Big Joe’s BBQ),” Chan said, “is that, during the lunch hour, he’ll have the BBQ going. It’ll be a pretty good draw. The more variety, the better.”

Melissa Corker is a staff reporter for The Sacramento Press. Follow her on Twitter @MelissaCorker.

Freshii closes, reopens as Fresca Deli

2011-11-29T01:52:06Z

Freshii, a health-conscious walk-up eatery located at 400 Q St., morphed into Fresca Deli over the holiday weekend in a move the owner said is meant to appeal more to the people who dine in the area.

“Ultimately, that concept didn’t suit the demographic of this area,” said co-owner Eric Heffel, explaining that the adjacent cafeteria in the CalPERS building is always full.

“What we’ve started doing is more sandwiches and hearty soups, but we still have healthy options here,” he added.

The interior looks similar, although Freshii signage has been removed.

At Freshii, customers filled out menu cards to make custom food items, or they could choose from a list. Fresca Deli uses a more standard menu.

The same staff is making the food, and some items, such as the pozole soup and a quesadilla, are their creations. The rest of the recipes came from Heffel’s co-owner, Larry Shield.

“He’s kind of a Texas boy,” Heffel said. “He went back to his roots.”

Grilled cheese with a choice of meats, chicken salad sandwiches, roast beef sandwiches and even a hot meatloaf sandwich are all on the menu. Sandwiches range in price from $4.50 to $8.50, and all are offered as combo meals with soup or sides such as potato salad and coleslaw.

“Nothing on the menu is over 10 bucks, even the combos,” Heffel said. “We had to be really conscious of competing with the cafeteria. We want to provide better food for the same or better price.”

Wraps, grilled burritos, salads and soups are also available, and all the food is purchased from local wholesalers. The Yogurtagogo frozen yogurt is still available.

Soups include pozole – a traditional Mexican soup, cream of tomato basil, Asian lemongrass, and shrimp and corn chowder.

Freshii was open for about eight months, and Heffel said the revenue projections have shown for some time that the concept didn’t work out for the location.

Customers entering the new space, he said, will see a completely different menu, but if they look closer, they will see influences from Freshii.

“We still use brown rice for all of our bowls and our wraps, and we have a number of salads available,” Heffel said.

Monday was the first day the rebranded business was open, and Heffel said it was too soon to determine its success.

“We won’t know until people start coming back,” he said. “Most of our business is to-go orders, so we will see what the feedback is.”

In addition to serving the largely state-employed lunch crowd, Heffel said he wants to make Fresca Deli a local hangout.

With that goal in mind, he brought in a Foosball table, is showing the American Film Institute’s Top 100 films on a TV and, like he did when it was Freshii, will be featuring live local music on the patio.

“When the weather was warmer, we had blues jam sessions every Thursday night for about four months,” he said. “We will be bringing back more local music once it warms up again.”

Heffel said the break from Freshii was straightforward, with no major problems. For a time, catering will not be available, but he said that will change once the deli gets up and running.

The work done over the weekend largely consisted of reorganizing the kitchen area and making sure that the new food being offered could be produced efficiently.

People eating at the restaurant on Monday afternoon said they found it to be convenient and affordable.

“I haven’t tried (Freshii) for a long time, but I like this,” said Amil Chandrasekara, a 40-year-old CalPERS employee. “The price is good, and the food is good.”

Roxane Divol, a 39-year-old consultant from San Francisco, said the prices are good, and the deli is another option for those looking to eat in the area.

“It’s a regular deli,” she said. “It’s nothing fantastic, but the prices are good and it’s convenient.”

Fresca Deli, located at 400 Q St., is open from 7 a.m. - 9 p.m. Monday through Friday and from 10 a.m. - 9 p.m. Saturday and Sunday.

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

Monsoon to bring Indian cuisine to 16th and K

2011-11-28T05:41:56Z

Monsoon Indian Bar & Grill is scheduled to open the first week of December in the building at 16th and K streets that formerly housed Spin Burger Bar and Bistro 33.

“It’s going to be fresh food, prepared daily,” said co-owner Chan Singh. “This is Indian food where we use spices to enhance the flavors of the food, not overkill it.”

Singh, originally from Delhi, India, came to North America in the 1990s, getting into the restaurant business in Toronto, Canada, opening his original Monsoon location.

Singh said his business in Toronto is well-run by his managers, allowing him to come to Sacramento and focus on the new venture.

In India, the monsoon season typically lasts from June to September, and it’s a special time, according to Singh.

“It’s considered to be kind of a romantic time in India,” he said. “You have five to six months of 100-plus temperatures, and then the monsoon comes, and it really brings everything to life and cools down. People love to go out and have fun and eat.”

The restaurant, which will be open seven days per week, will serve lunch and dinner and have a full bar. A limited late-night menu will be available after about 10 p.m., and Indian-themed cocktails will be available as well, Singh said.

The food will be traditional Indian, served to Singh’s specifications.

“It’s going to be the kind of food I like to eat,” he said. “If I wouldn’t want to eat it, why would I serve it?”

Chicken Vindaloo, a spicy dish from the Goa region; Kerala fish, a fish topped with coconut sauce, peppercorns and curry leaves; chicken tikka masala, roasted chicken in a curry sauce; and numerous other dishes including shrimp and salmon will be available.

In addition, there will be a variety of what Singh said are more modern dishes in India, including a dish with chicken atop a coconut chickpea sauce and lamp chops in a creamy curry sauce.

A range of vegetarian items will be available as well.

Full menu details are still being worked out, as is the cocktail selection. Prices for food will range from around $10 for vegetarian items to $12 - $15 for non-vegetarian items. The lunch menu will be less-expensive, with food running from about $8 - $10.

The 2,800-square-foot restaurant will seat about 95 people inside, and the existing patio will be retained.

Most recently, the space held Spin Burger Bar, which evolved from Bistro 33.

“We originally wanted to decorate it in a traditional Indian way, but when we saw the building, it’s very modern, so we will have a more modern influence,” Singh said.

Some of the décor will be paintings imported from India.

While Singh is not a Sacramentan, he said he will be living here for the foreseeable future as the restaurant gets started, and he has two local partners.

“We were looking in Roseville, but when we saw that this space was available, we knew we had to come here. I don’t think there is anything else like this around here.”

Jennifer Young, a 41-year-old state worker from Sacramento who works in the area, said the restaurant will be a nice complement to the area.

“I like curry,” she said Wednesday afternoon. “I’ll definitely try it out.”

Young said that, with numerous state office buildings in the area, affordable food will likely be key to staying in business.

Another nearby state worker, 27-year-old Abby Eddy of Sacramento, said she thinks the corner location is the perfect spot for a restaurant, and it will be successful if it provides a good late-night option for diners and those looking for drinks.

“I’ll definitely give it a shot,” she said.

Monsoon Indian Bar & Grill, 1020 16th St., is scheduled to be open from 11 a.m. - 11 p.m. Monday through Thursday, 11 a.m. - 2 a.m. Friday and Saturday, and 11 a.m. - 10 p.m. Sunday.

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

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.

Man on the street: If given $100 to spend on a locally owned business in Sacramento, how would you spend it?

2011-11-17T07:11:12Z

Mom-and-pop stores and locally owned businesses are often the ones that suffer when consumers tighten up their budget during tough economic times. With the local economy in mind, The Sacramento Press asked locals if they were given $100 to spend on a locally owned business in Sacramento, how would they spend it?

"I support a lot of the small businesses throughout Sacramento, or mom-and-pop (stores), because they are the bread and butter of today's economy,” Financial Analyst Soua Lee, 27, said.

Lee, a Rosemont resident, said that he would spend it on groceries at Vang’s Market, a grocery store.

"I have to say, I would spend my $100 on a place called Crimson and Clover. It's a really really small store on 16th Street," Barista Terra Lopez, 26, said. "I have a hard time buying stuff for myself, so I would probably buy my girlfriend something."

She said that she would buy her girlfriend some jewelry or nice dresses. With the cheap prices, she said that she could buy a couple pairs of shoes and two dresses and still have some left for jewelry.

"A lot of places have closed – unfortunately – that I really loved," Lopez said.

Lopez, a Midtown resident, said that she loved UnitedState Clothing Boutique – a clothing store on J Street that is now out of business.

"I really like the Toyroom on K Street, but they don't exist anymore," Zoo Fabrication Designer Kevin Holmes, 25, said. "They had an art gallery for local artists, (the clothing brand) Obey got in there a couple of times, and they sell really sick T-shirts."

Holmes, a resident of East Sacramento, said he would spend his money on a local art place. Unfortunately, he said, his favorite closed down.

"I like supporting local art and music," Holmes said. "I would either go to five different rock shows at local bars, or go buy one badass painting."

"I'd probably take a bunch of friends to Pizza Rock for pizza and beer," Downtown Guide Gary Mclaughlan, 57, said.

He added that $100 would probably only go as far as pizza and a couple pitchers of beer.

"(My boyfriend and I) would spend the $100 at G Spot, it's the adult store next to the Hot Rod’s in the Lavender district," Sacramento City College Student Rainie Costello, 21, said.

Costello, a North Highlands resident, said that she would buy some adult toys and clothes and a pair of stripper shoes.

If you were given $100 to spend on a locally owned business in Sacramento, how would you spend it? Share your response in the comment section below.

Ruhstaller beer makes Sacramento comeback

2011-11-16T05:49:27Z

A Sacramento entrepreneur is looking to bridge past and present with the resurrection of one of Sacramento’s most-recognized names in beer: Ruhstaller.

J-E Paino, a native San Franciscan who grew up in Houston before moving to Davis for college, settled on the idea of marketing new, California-grown and brewed beer under the classic Ruhstaller name about two years ago, and he officially launched the product Tuesday night at Mulvaney’s B&L, 1215 19th St.

“As I researched Sacramento’s brewing history, the guy that kept coming up over and over again was Ruhstaller,” Paino said Monday.

Frank Ruhstaller left Switzerland for the United States in the mid-1800s, and he made his way to Sacramento, setting up his brewery in the old City Brewery in 1881, Paino said. Shortly after, he became a partner in the Buffalo Brewery.

William Burg, a member of the Sacramento Heritage Board of Directors and other local historical societies, said the Buffalo Brewery was a virtual “Who’s Who” of prominent Sacramento brewers.

“Ruhstaller’s son took over his business and may have run (the Buffalo Brewery) for a while,” Burg said. He added that Ruhstaller was adept at marketing – producing numerous novelty items, plates, mugs and other beer-related merchandise that remain highly collectible today.

Paino said Sacramento was a natural site for brewing around the turn of the century, with hops growing from the area of Campus Commons out to Sloughouse, and the rivers provided ready access to ship all over the region as well as Asia.

Under Paino’s ownership, Ruhstaller is produced in two varieties – the Ruhstaller 1881 and Hop Sac ’11.

“The 1881 is a California red ale,” Paino said, explaining that all the hops are grown in California near the Oregon border. Without any malting houses in California, the undried hops are shipped to Vancouver, Wash., malted, and returned to Sacramento for brewing.

According to Paino, using the hops without drying them gives the beer a unique flavor. Much like wine, in which the drinker can taste the variation in each vintage based on weather conditions, soil and a number of other factors, the 1881 ale gets a unique flavor from California.

The Hop Sac ’11 is an orange-colored ale also made with California hops. Paino said the name is an homage to Sacramento’s history of harvesting hops, which were placed in burlap sacks.

The recipes are not the same as the originals, Paino said, since the original recipes were far different from what is popular today.

Paino said he has been producing the beer for about four months, and he has had to brew it at local breweries – including Hoppy Brewing Co. – when they have space, as he does not yet have a commercial facility.

Patrick Mulvaney, owner of Mulvaney’s B&L restaurant, said Ruhstaller beers have been the most-asked-for brews he carries at the restaurant.

The beers, so far only available on tap, can be found at several local eateries. For a complete list, click here.

Tyler Zurcher, a 31-year-old Sacramento filmmaker, said he was well aware of the Ruhstaller name, having studied Sacramento’s brewing history.

“J-E said he was going to bring back Ruhstaller, and I said, ‘Great, can I try it?’ and it was really good,” Zurcher said. “It’s a unique name that these guys brought back, and I think it’s awesome that they’re doing that.”

Burg said that, from a historian’s standpoint, he is happy to see more interest in an era of Sacramento history that is often overlooked.

“There were 17 or so breweries within the grid, total, before Prohibition,” he said. “People are realizing our history is marketable. For a long time, people assumed no one would have any interest after the Gold Rush and the Transcontinental Railroad, but there is a rich industrial history here.”

Rob Robertson, a 35-year-old software developer from Sacramento, said he isn’t familiar with the history, but he found it interesting after reading a little bit about it on the Ruhstaller website.

“So far, this beer has been at really all the premium places, and it’s really tasty and hoppy,” he said. “It’s hoppalicious.”

Paino said he is happy with the popularity of the beer, with demand outpacing supply. He plans to begin offering the beer in a bottle, possibly in 2012, in addition to kegs.

“When Ruhstaller came to Sacramento, it was a place where you didn’t need to be someone to become someone,” Paino said. “And that’s something that hasn’t changed.”

For more information about Sacramento’s brewing history, Paino and Burg said Ed Carroll’s book, “Sacramento’s Breweries” is a good read.

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

Alchemist CDC’s EBT/CalFresh Project supports local farmers

2011-11-15T15:19:09Z

Editor's Note: Edits have been made to this article after publication.

The crisp morning air fills with the aroma of California grown fruits and vegetables as farmers unload trucks filled with their freshly picked bounty.

Locally produced meat, egg and cheese vendors join the seasonal varieties of colorful produce.

Alongside local farmers, the Alchemist Community Development Corporation (CDC), sets up shop to bridge two communities—an EBT (Electronic Benefits Transfer)/CalFresh (formerly known as Food Stamps) project for qualifying low-income individuals.

Since early autumn, the Alchemist CDC’s EBT/CalFresh project has enabled recipients of SNAP (Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program) to access healthy, locally produced food and support local farmers with the swipe of an EBT card at Sacramento area farmers’ markets.

Over 40 vendors have chosen to accept SNAP payments at three area farmers’ markets—over 260 EBT transactions have already taken place.

“The Florin Market is exceeding our expectations,” says Davida Douglas, Executive Director of Alchemist CDC.

The Florin Sears Store Farmers’ Market at Florin Road and 65th Street has completed its sixth week averaging about 30-60 transactions per week.

The State Parking Lot Farmers’ Market on Eighth and W streets downtown completed its second week averaging a dozen transactions per week.

With assistance from Soil Born Farms Urban Agriculture and Education Project, promotional postcards were distributed to SNAP recipients who reside within the neighborhoods of local farmers’ markets.

Douglas expects the popularity of the program to grow as more outreach is implemented within the local community.

The Alchemist CDC program is easy for SNAP recipients to use. At the Alchemist CDC booth, credit from EBT Cards is exchanged for paper scrip. Dollar for dollar, patrons exchange their scrip for purchases with participating vendors.

“Some farmers are really excited about the program and have been waiting for it,” says Douglas, the only full-time employee of the nonprofit organization.

After the farmers’ market has closed, the farm vendors return their earned scrip to Alchemist CDC and are reimbursed later for their sales at a 10 percent fee to cover administrative costs.

~~Douglas recognizes the challenge for small growers to receive payment for their produce late due to the program’s current reliance on grant funds.~~

"By reducing the frequency of the administrative work, check writing and accounting, Alchemist CDC is attempting to make the program financially self-sustaining."

Rather than relying on funding which delays payment to the vendors, the goal of the program is to become financially self-sustaining—having more SNAP recipients attend the farmers’ market to cover the administrative expenses.

Douglas says that Alchemist CDC is open to adjustment, and may lower farmer’s fees as the program gains popularity and proves to be financially sustainable.

With the growing interest in community health and strengthening local economies by supporting farmers, demand for Alchemist CDC’s EBT/CalFresh project continues to grow.

EBT processing is also planned for the Laguna Farmers' Market in Elk Grove and the Sunrise Farmers' Market in Rancho Cordova once more EBT machines arrive.

Disclosure: Matthew Blackburn is a student journalist at Sacramento City College.

Local blog tracks restaurants, happy hours

2011-11-11T19:23:33Z

When Darrel Ng moved to Sacramento from San Francisco in 2003, he made it a point to learn where the best happy hour deals were, and as he took more and more interest in the local restaurant scene, he decided to share his findings, launching the blog Cowtown Eats in 2009.

“I used to work at the Capitol, and we were always asking each other who had the best happy hours,” Ng said. “Most of us were from out of town, and it was frustrating trying to find the best value.”

Now a public relations professional for the health industry, Ng said his blog isn’t so much a source of income as a passion for the local dining scene, but he did say it helps fund his happy hour research trips.

Cowtown Eats, which now has about 35,000 page views per month and close to 8,000 unique visitors, has continually updated information about the local restaurant scene, be it Ng’s original writing, posting of daily deal coupons for restaurants or links to stories covered by various local media outlets.

“I post twice a day, and I spend about 45 minutes each night working on those, then I just schedule them for the next day,” Ng said.

As for the name, Ng said he wanted to take the traditionally negative connotation of Sacramento as a “cow town” and turn it into something positive.

One 23-year-old Sacramentan, Chris Odneal, took a path similar to Ng’s, moving to Sacramento from the Bay Area about a year ago to work in the Capitol.

“Most of us move up here from all over the state, and we were looking for places to go,” Odneal said. “Someone suggested Cowtown Eats to me, and we found it to be one of the most useful spots for compiling where all the happy hours are in Sacramento.”

Odneal said he uses it to find happy hours with good value when it comes time to celebrate birthdays or other events.

“It’s a great tool for folks moving into Sacramento and trying to figure out where the best places are,” he said. “You can click on a day of the week and find the best deals out there.”

Ng said he thinks the success of his blog – which lists between 100 and 150 happy hours – is due to the level of detail he provides.

“Some other blogs might have numbers, like they say a certain place carries domestic drafts for $2, but I say exactly which beers they have,” Ng said. “They might do it as a business, but I have a real passion for it, and I think that comes through.”

He added that he focuses on value. While a $2 happy hour deal might sound good, sometimes the food isn’t necessarily worth it, and maybe a $30 meal special at a place that’s traditionally more expensive is a much higher value for the dollar.

Reviewing restaurants is something he does rarely.

“Not everyone has the same palate, and besides, food review sites are a dime a dozen,” Ng said. “If I find something amazing, I’ll post about it, like maybe a seasonal burger at the Mini Burger Truck or something.”

Ng said he learns about new events in a variety of ways, be it simply walking around the city, talking to restaurant owners and workers, or, in some cases, hearing directly from restaurants themselves.

“Some of the ones with more sophisticated marketing teams send me emails when they have something new,” Ng said.

One of those is the Paragary Restaurant Group.

“I think he has a really good readership of kind of that foodie community,” said Callista Wengler, marketing director for the Paragary Restaurant Group. “For us, that’s the ultimate in terms of customers, because if you can get the foodies, there’s a whole network you want to reach out to.”

In addition to sharing ideas with Ng on a professional level, Wengler said she frequently reads Cowtown Eats when she’s looking for something new, as well as to learn about other restaurants.

In the future, Ng said, he plans to create a more permanent logo and updated design for the blog, but he has no specific timeframe for that.

“I’m still kind of surprised so many people read it,” he said with a laugh. “I never knew it would grow like it did, but I’m really enjoying it.”

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

French pastry shop coming to K Street downtown

2011-11-11T01:20:54Z

French desserts will once again be available at the corner of Ninth and K streets downtown as the owner of a popular East Sacramento cupcake shop plans to open Estelle’s Patisserie on Dec. 1 in the building that formerly housed Danielle’s Creperie.

“This has been my lifelong passion,” said owner Esther Son. “I’ve always dreamed of owning a bakery, ever since I was a little girl.”

Though not traditionally trained as a baker, Son said she considers herself self-taught, and she has extensive experience in coming up with recipes and tweaking them until they’re perfect.

Her cupcake shop, Esther’s Cupcakes, has been in business at 2600 Fair Oaks Blvd. for two years.

“We were always coming downtown because we had a lot of clients at the Capitol,” she said. “The politicians and the lobbyists would bring in our cupcakes for gifts at fundraisers, and Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger used to order from us.”

The pastry shop, however, will have a much broader set of goods. Some of the menu items include French macarons, croissants, green tea madeleines, fresh strawberry cakes, puff pastries, French baguettes and even sandwiches such as ham and cheese on a croissant.

Fruit tarts and quiches loaded with vegetables will also be available, and coffee from Temple Coffee will be sold.

Most desserts will be in the $3-$4 range, and Son said customers will be able to get lunch and a drink for about $8.

Though Son is Korean-American, she said she chose to focus on French desserts, starting at the roots, and then modifying them with Asian and American influences.

“The root of all dessert and pastry making is French,” Son said. “Not that American, Asian or Italian styles aren’t as good, but I wanted to go back to the roots and then improvise.”

The name Estelle, she said, is the French version of Esther, so it was a natural choice.

A self-described perfectionist, Son said she and her staff – the patisserie will employ about 10 workers – spent six months perfecting the croissant.

“We boast of our butter croissants,” she said. “We don’t buy pre-mixed or frozen croissants. It’s 100 percent homemade, and there are not many of those in town. It’s really flaky and buttery.”

With a husband who is a physician, Son said that even though her business has a variety of desserts, being health-conscious is still important.

“We need to educate people on what good dessert is,” she said. “Some people are used to Twinkies, and they are so unnaturally sweet and oily, but a dessert doesn’t have to be overwhelming.”

To get away from processed foods and make even a buttery croissant more healthy than the alternative, Son said she focuses on using high-quality ingredients bought from local sources whenever possible.

“We avoid shortening and corn syrup,” she said. “It’s hard to say dessert is healthy, but you can work on it by reducing those kinds of ingredients.”

Also available will be diabetic-friendly and vegan items. There will also be “almost-gluten-free” items, and Son explained that to legally call something gluten-free, it must be produced on separate equipment, which is something she isn’t set up to do.

One of the clients of her other business, Esther’s Cupcakes, is the J. Crew store in Arden Fair Mall.

“We use Esther for her cupcakes for special events for our store clients,” said Manager Sophie Pena. “Her cupcakes are a special, unique treat. They look amazing; they taste amazing. You just look at them, and you can tell they’re hers.”

Pena said she is looking forward to going down to the patisserie and trying Son’s other baked goods once it opens.

The building, at 901 K St., was formerly Danielle’s Creperie. At 3,000 square feet, it has a seating area of about 1,000 square feet that can hold 25-30 people. A few more tables will be put on the fenced-in patio that fronts K Street.

K Street will open to vehicular traffic for the first time since the 1960s on Saturday, and Son said that was one of the reasons she chose to open a downtown location.

“I’m really excited to see the city and urban life turn around, and I want to be a part of this,” she said. “If I can make a little change to the downtown lifestyle, I’ll be so honored.”

That sentiment, according to Downtown Sacramento Partnership Business Recruitment Director Valerie Mamone-Werder, is key to turning around the blighted K Street area that has seen improvement over the past year with the opening of numerous new businesses, including Tequila Museo Myahuel and the nightlife trio of Pizza Rock, District 30 and Dive Bar.

“I think that getting these tenants, these merchants and retailers that really get downtown is refreshing,” she said. “We have a lot of naysayers, but we have people who see downtown for what it is and can be, and she sees what we do have, and what’s coming.”

Having lived in Sacramento for the past 10 years, Son, 34, said she plans to raise her two children, ages 5 and 6, in the area.

Also scheduled for late winter and early spring openings are another cupcake shop in the Westfield Galleria at Roseville Mall and another Estelle’s Patisserie in the Arden area.

“I’m not here to come in and then go out of business in five years,” Son said. “I plan on being here for the long haul.”

Estelle’s Patisserie, 901 K St., will initially be open from 6 a.m. - 7 p.m. on weekdays. If business warrants, Son said, she will stay open on weekends.

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

Ernesto's Mexican Food celebrates 20 years

2011-11-08T02:17:30Z

Despite challenging times, Ernesto’s Mexican Food in Midtown will celebrate 20 years in business next week, and owner Pauline Jiménez said the key to success has been focusing on quality food and service.

“We’re a neighborhood restaurant,” Jiménez said. “I’ve lived in the community for 50 years, and I think for the past 20 years we have been a staple here, and we are still going strong.”

For 13 of the past 20 years, Jiménez said, Ernesto’s – located at 1901 16th St. – has been listed as best Mexican restaurant in Sacramento Magazine and has received other recognition in local contests.

The business opened Nov. 18, 1991 in a space that was best-known for a Chinese restaurant, The Golden Buddha, which operated for 40 years. A pizza restaurant was there for three years in between.

To celebrate the milestone, the restaurant is preparing a $20 prix-fixe menu for two people, which will include an appetizer, two entrées and dessert. The special menu will be available Nov. 17-19 starting at 6 p.m.

The local Mariachi Mi Tierra Mariachi band will perform each night starting at 6:30.

Tequila tastings will also be held during the celebration, with Jose Cuervo Tradicional tequila being used in all margaritas – without a price change.

“We partnered with Jose Cuervo, so people are getting the premium tequila for the same price for our anniversary,” Jiménez said.

The menu items have not yet been set, said Director of Operations Dani Jiménez-Pareja, granddaughter of Jiménez, adding that it will include several of the restaurant’s most popular items.

“Our carnitas are one of our most popular dishes,” she said. “A lot of people really like our tortilla soup, and the chili rellenos are good, too.”

Jiménez said that while the industrial section of the nearby neighborhood hasn’t changed too much, restaurants in the nearby blocks have come and gone.

“These times are tough,” Jiménez said. “We have had to look at places where we can save, but we don’t jeopardize the quality of our food, and we haven’t raised our prices in four or five years.”

Jiménez added that of the changes seen over the past two decades, most of them have had to do with the day-to-day running of the business, from remodeling the building after the first year to the advent of touch-screen computers for sending orders to the kitchen.

“We also made our food more healthy,” she said.

Jiménez-Pareja said eliminating trans fat and offering more healthy options with kids meals – such as fruit and vegetables – have all been recent changes in a trend toward more healthy eating, and more is coming.

“We’re working to have less sodium in the food,” she said. “That’s probably the next thing the health departments will focus on, and it just masks the flavor anyway. We’d rather have the natural flavor of the food come through.”

Jiménez said the natural flavors are key to the flavor palate of Mexican cuisine, and she only buys fresh ingredients, from local markets whenever possible.

“You get better food. It’s a healthier food when you get it fresh from the market,” Jiménez said.

Another change when vegetarianism became more widespread shortly after the restaurant’s opening was switching soup bases from chicken broth to vegetable broth.

Alyssa Bressen, a 23-year-old from Las Vegas, ate at the restaurant for the first time Monday afternoon. She came to Sacramento to visit relatives.

“These are seriously the best carnitas I’ve ever had,” she said. “They know how to do them right here.”

Sophie Bressem, a 49-year-old Sacramentan, said she thinks the chile verde is the best dish on the menu, and the restaurant is a place she takes family members and friends when they come to visit.

“I’ve been coming here for years,” she said. “I eat here at least once a month, if not more. It’s great food, a great atmosphere and it’s got great music.”

Jiménez said she enjoys the business, and even at age 74, she is happy to continue coming in to work every day, and she has done all the jobs except dishwashing and serving.

“I’ve been in the kitchen, I’ve bussed tables and I’ve hosted. In the early years, I had to do quite a bit, but now I don’t,” she said.

“It’s a tough business,” she added. “When people come to me and tell me they want to open a restaurant, I think they must be mad, but if you have the patience and the will, you can do it. I love coming to work every day, and I’ll keep doing it as long as I can.”

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

Gourmet seafood restaurant coming to downtown Sacramento

2011-11-05T02:01:20Z

Two historical downtown buildings are being refurbished, and they will soon house Blackbird Kitchen & Bar, a seafood restaurant that owner Carina Lampkin said will serve “gourmet food at hipster prices” and is expected to open in December.

The approximately 3,500-square-foot building was formerly two separate buildings, 1013 and 1015 Ninth St., and both date back to the 1930s.

“Blackbird is a compilation of all of my experience so far,” said the 30-year-old Lampkin. “I grew up on the East Coast and spent every summer in Maine. In 2003, I moved to San Francisco and went to culinary school.”

After spending almost a decade cooking at restaurants in San Francisco, Lampkin made the move to Sacramento and partnered with Rachel Kelley, a 27-year-old pastry chef who spent the past four years working at Ella, and Shayne “7evin” Iles, a graphic designer, marketer and DJ who will be the general manager.

While Lampkin isn’t sharing too many details of what the menu will hold, she said the restaurant will feature a variety of fish, including salmon, cod, halibut and mahi-mahi. She said she also loves working with dungeness crab and lobster.

Both Lampkin and Kelley will work in the kitchen, along with other local talent they have recruited.

Oysters – both raw and cooked – will also be on the menu, and non-seafood items such as steak, chicken and pork will be available.

“Our kitchen is basically the same size as our dining room,” Lampkin said. “We have a lot of space to make a lot of different types of food.”

Before Blackbird, the space housed a Thai restaurant.

When it comes to dessert creations, Kelley said she will be using fresh, seasonal ingredients, and her double-chocolate ice cream is one of her favorite dishes.

Prices have not been set, but Lampkin said she wants to provide excellent, affordable food.

“None of us is looking to get rich off of this,” she said. “We know times are hard, and if we break even on our high-cost items like fish, I’ll be happy.”

The owners said they are happy to be in historical buildings.

“The building on the left was Skagg’s Cash Store, the predecessor to Safeway,” 7evin said. “The other one, at 1015 (Ninth St.), was built by the Dean brothers in 1933, the same people who built Memorial Auditorium.”

Setting up in historical buildings at first seemed challenging, as the restaurateurs realized there were restrictions on what they could and could not demolish inside, but in the end, it turned out for the better, Lampkin said.

“When we’re done with the interior, it’s going to be amazing,” she said. “And we’re not three kids coming from the Bay Area with money – we’re doing a lot of the work ourselves. I never expected to be scraping paint, but that’s what we’ve been doing.”

Work on the interior is still under way, and the three partners said they are enjoying designing it but look forward to its completion.

“The great thing about (Lampkin, Kelley and 7evin) is that they have a vision, and yet even with their vision and artistic abilities, they are still willing to listen to the preservation department, and they have truly partnered to make that space pop,” said Valerie Mamone-Werder, business recruitment manager for the Downtown Sacramento Partnership.

She added that that section of the city is an important area for economic development, with nearby K Street readying to open to vehicular traffic.

“I think we’ve seen a lot of success from 12th (Street) to 10th Street, and this feels like a natural progression down the street and around the corner, and that’s very exciting,” she said.

For those looking for a preview of the food to come at Blackbird, the restaurant will be participating in a celebration for bringing cars back to K Street scheduled for 4 p.m. Nov. 12 at 12th and K streets.

“We’ll be out there with our fish tacos and a few other things,” Lampkin said.

Looking to do more with the space than simply serve food, Lampkin said a large cocktail selection will be available as well, and art will feature prominently in the space.

“I feel like Sacramento is a true artists’ community,” Lampkin said. “In San Francisco, rent is too expensive to really foster that community, but Sacramento’s arts community is amazing.”

7evin, who works in graphic design and marketing but is also a DJ, said the restaurant will not have any dance space, but DJs will be brought in to perform for the diners.

“It’s not going to just be people with two turntables and a mixer,” he said. “It’s people who are really performers, who are mixing live and really creating art.”

The most noticeable artwork displayed by the restaurant won’t actually be inside. The exterior space will feature a wall painting of 7evin’s graphic rendition of Lampkin’s idea to showcase a flock of blackbirds taking flight from a tree.

Lampkin said that when she woke up after being in a car accident in 2005, she heard the Beatles’ song “Blackbird,” and it stuck with her. Sadly, her close friend did not survive the collision, and Lampkin said she has since learned that many cultures believe the dead communicate with the living through blackbirds.

“I didn’t even know that until after I named the restaurant, but it’s really fitting,” she said.

Initially, the restaurant will be able to seat 50 people, and Lampkin said that after six months of being open, she plans to add another 25 seats.

Sean Kohmescher, owner of Temple Coffee, which has a location across the street, said he is happy to see Blackbird opening.

“I’ve met them quite a few times, and they seem like great people,” he said. “I’ve had their food, and the food was amazing. There’s been so many changes going on downtown, mostly in the last few years with places closing, it’s good to see places opening up.”

Blackbird Kitchen & Bar is located at 1015 Ninth St.

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

Cultures of food around the city: ethnic grocery store roundup

2011-11-02T08:48:35Z

Trying a new dish or exotic cuisine for dinner doesn’t have to mean a trip out to a restaurant. In the greater Sacramento area, many grocery stores and small, often family-owned shops offer all the authentic, hard-to-find ingredients needed to make anything from Italian to Japanese to Mediterranean foods for dinner.

The Sacramento Press hit the streets to round up some of these ethnic grocery stores here in the city.

Sampino’s Towne Foods
1607 F St.
441-2372

Hours:
Monday through Friday 10 a.m. - 4 p.m.
Saturday 11 a.m. - 4 p.m.

Sampino’s Towne Foods carries the essential items needed to make an authentic Italian dinner at home as well as foods made from family recipes accumulated throughout the years, said Bill Sampino, the father of owner Michael Sampino who has had many years of experience as a butcher in Sacramento.

For 17 years, Bill Sampino managed the meat department at a Corti Brothers and then moved on to work for David Berkeley Fine Wines/Foods for 19 years before retiring and deciding to open up the small store with his son and daughter-in-law Gabi Sampino.

They hand-make all of their fresh pastas, including ravioli, tortellini and agioloti throughout the day. There are 52 flavors of freshly made pastas with doughs flavored from tomato, basil and spinach to a chocolate dessert pasta.

The glass counters in the store display delicacies such as homemade meatballs, lasagna and timbale – an eye-catching Sicilian dish made with puff pastry filled with penne pasta, meatballs, hard-boiled eggs, salami, provolone, Parmesan cheese and mushrooms. They make a variety of sausages, including Calabrese and Sicilian styles, Bill Sampino said.

The cheeses, sandwich meats and desserts are imported weekly from Italy. Bill Sampino said that 90 percent of the desserts – such as their tiramisu, cannoli filled with authentic mascarpone cheese, frutti di bosco and a chocolate fudge cake – are imported weekly from Italy.

Carmen and Jose Chiapa from Natomas said they have been going to Sampino’s Towne Foods for a couple of years, and they raved about all of the foods they have eaten there.

“They make the best sandwiches,” said Carmen Chiapa, whose favorite sandwich is the Sampanini – a popular sandwich with slices of mortadella, coppa and salami meats and provolone and cheddar cheese on a ciabatta roll.

“The bread is so crispy, and the meat is delicious. It’s not a heavy meal – it’s a very light sandwich.”

Mediterranean Market
1547 Fulton Ave.
972-1237

Hours:
Monday through Saturday 10 a.m. - 9 p.m.
Sunday 10 a.m. - 6 p.m.

Since 1991, the family-owned Mediterranean Market has been providing customers with a variety of Arabic, Greek, Armenian, Turkish, Persian and other Mediterranean food products, said owner Sam Abughazaleh. Ninety-five percent of the products are imported from places such as Turkey, Iraq, Jordan, Lebanon, Morocco, France, Belgium, Russia and Ukraine.

The Mediterranean Market carries more than 10 types of imported feta cheeses – including Greek, Armenian, Bulgarian, Jordanian and Russian – a large selection of extra-virgin olive oils imported from all over the Mediterranean and many different fresh olives.

An entire shelf is dedicated to different types of halva – a sweet candy made from sesame seeds – and tahini, a sesame product used to make hummus. An aisle is dedicated to different herbal teas and coffees, and there is a refrigerator filled will different types of cheeses. Rose water and pomegranate molasses used a lot in Mediterranean food and drinks can be found as well, Abughazaleh said. There are more than 100 different spices, both in bulk and in small amounts.

The butcher and meat section of the store carries all halal meats because the market caters to many people of Muslim religion that are required to eat halal meat, Abughazaleh said. Halal ensures that there is no torture for the animals when they are butchered by slitting the throat only once and allowing the blood to drain, he explained.

The meat selection includes naturally fed chicken, goat, lamb, veal and beef that are delivered every morning from Dixon Farms. Rice plates with meat and tabouleh salad are also made daily and typically sell out by 3 p.m., Abughazaleh said. Freshly made baklava is shipped to the store every day from Shatila Food Products, a bakery in Michigan.

Kaveri Indian Groceries
1148 Fulton Ave. Suite D
489-1558

Hours:
Monday through Thursday 11 a.m. - 9:30 p.m.
Friday through Sunday 11 a.m - 10 p.m.

Reena Suresh and her husband run Kaveri Indian Groceries, which opened in 2003. Suresh said the items at the store cater toward Indian, Sri Lankan and Pakistani foods.

Cumin, tumeric, garam masala and curry powder – the popular spices in Indian cuisine, according to Suresh – are just a few of the products that can be found in the aromatic shelves of spices. Suresh said they also carry 25 to 30 different kinds of lentils, a common staple in Indian cuisine. There is a wide variety of different rices, from Basmati to a red rice that Suresh said is lower in sugar and popular for those with diabetes.

Hard-to-find products such as ghee – a lightly flavored version of butter used in many Indian dishes – tamarind, chutney, relish and various kinds of pickles can be purchased at Kaveri Indian Grocery. Suresh said a popular item is the canned mango pulp that can be blended with yogurt to make the mango lassi drink found at Indian restaurants.

Frozen meals, curries and restaurant-style samosas are also available. Products are delivered twice a week from distributors in the Bay Area, which receive them from Pakistan, Afghanistan, Australia, Canada and other places overseas.

Suresh said the store carries fresh fruits and vegetables, including lychee, guava, okra, Thai chili, coconut and bittermelon whenever they are in season.

Corti Brothers
5810 Folsom Blvd.
736-3800

Hours:
Monday through Saturday 9 a.m. - 7 p.m.
Sunday 10 a.m. - 6 p.m.

Corti Brothers started in 1947 downtown and over the years had different locations in Sacramento, and it is now a single store in East Sacramento.

Corti Brothers Corporation President Darrell Corti writes a newsletter that has gone out to customers nationally for almost 40 years. Through the store's website, customers from all over the country can view and order their products, according to Store Director Rick Mindermann, 51.

Prime rib roast, corned beef, lamb and veal are some of the items that can be purchased from the Corti Brothers meat section.

"We are a true butcher shop," Mindermann said. "Our veal is well-known because of the quality of the product that we have and the quality of the way it's butchered."

The store is also famous for the ravioli that they have been making since 1947, Mindermann said.

Corti brought and introduced real balsamic vinegar to the U.S. in 1982 and it is sold at the store, he added.

A full-service grocer and wine merchant, the store offers more than 1,000 different wines from all over the world, including the country of Georgia, Thailand and China, said Corti.

Occasionally, the store offers its own label of wine, which Corti selects. The store under its own label offers an early landed cognac from the 1970s. These cognacs are bought young in France, and the barrel is sent to England to mature in a government warehouse for decades and then are bottled and shipped to the US, Mindermann said.

"It's a long drive, but it’s worth it," said Kye Phelps, a regular customer from Volcano, Calif. Phelps comes to shop at Corti Brothers monthly, and she said that she used to come weekly when she was still attending a church in Sacramento.

Oto's Markeplace
4900 Freeport Blvd.
424-2398

Hours:
Monday through Saturday 9 a.m. - 7 p.m.
Sunday 10 a.m. - 6 p.m.

Oto's Marketplace is a family-owned Japanese specialty grocery store that has been in business for 35 years. After outgrowing their two previous locations the store has relocated to Freeport Boulevard. The grocery was started by Ted Oto in 1979. His wife, Mollie, runs the kitchen operations, his son Michael manages the meat and fish department and his other son, Russell, serves as the general manager. Ted's daughter, Florence Oto-Wong, helps out with kitchen operations, and his other daughter, Cheryl Inouye, assists with finances of the business, according to the Oto's Marketplace website.

"There are other Asian groceries that has Japanese products, but not as extensive as ours,"Oto said.

A wide variety of fresh seafood products such as shrimp, albacore, yellowfin tuna, bigeye tuna and even octopus are offered in the store.

"We emphasize on the freshness of our fish, so you can eat it raw," General Manager Russell Oto, 53, said, describing the store's sushi-grade seafood selections, which are cut into blocks to be easily sliced into sushi or sashimi pieces.

The store's kitchen offers Japanese bentos – lunchbox-style packaging that has portions of chicken, rice and pickles, Oto said.

At the sushi bar, they offer nine different styles of freshly packed sushi rolls, such as the spider roll, California roll, spicy tuna roll and Unaten roll. Oto’s sushi Chef Ray Yamamoto said that his California rolls – though they may have the same name as the ones offered in other Japanese restaurants and groceries – are different because his are made of 100 percent snow crab, others might use imitation snow crab.

The sushi bar also has an Oto’s roll, an exclusive-to-the-store roll made of tuna, hamachi, salmon, albacore and crab stick roll topped with tobiko and green onions, Yamamoto said.

Specialized meat such as Kobe-style beef and Kurobuta pork are some of the rare items they sell in the store, Oto added.

"The mileage is not too important,” said Fred Furukawa, a customer born and raised in Hawaii who now lives in North Sacramento. “It’s getting what you want so that you can enjoy food and things. Oto's has the kinds of food and things that I grew up with."

Seafood City Supermarket
6051 Mack Road
393-8900

Hours:
Daily 8 a.m. - 9 p.m.

Philippine-imported shirts and bags, health and beauty products and handicrafts such as the Parol – a Filipino Christmas lantern – are some of the unique items sold at Seafood City, an Asian supermarket that specializes in Filipino ethnic goods.

The Sacramento store opened in November 2003 and is one in a chain of 22 stores in the U.S., said Store Manager Bernard Reyes.

Tilapia, pampano, salmon heads,mahi-mahi and milkfish are some of the fish they clean and fry for free, Reyes said. The seafood is delivered fresh to the store from the distribution center in Pomona, Calif. They also buy from local vendors specially for fresh meat and produce, he added.

Last year, the store opened Grill City, its own restaurant offering Filipino dishes including palabok noodles, lumpia (egg rolls), grilled salmon, grilled mahi-mahi, and even traditional Filipino lechon – roast pig – on the weekends, Reyes said.

Crispy pata – fried pork knuckles, chicken inasal and chicharon bulaklak are some of their ready-to-go hot foods, Reyes added.

Native Filipino condiments such as bagoong – a condiment made of salt and fermented fish or shrimp – and banana ketchup can be found on the aisles of the condiment section with other Asian ethnic condiments from wasabi to teriyaki sauces.

South Sacramento resident Lina Labra, 64, said that she goes to Seafood City to do her grocery shopping because it is the only place she can find all the ingredients she needs to cook her sinigang na bangus, a Filipino dish.

What are your favorite specialty ethnic grocery stores in Sacramento? Share you suggestions and experiences in the conversation below.

This article was co-written with Evelyn Santillan

Food truck ordinance talks postponed

2011-11-02T03:30:50Z

Any decision regarding Sacramento’s controversial food truck ordinance – which currently limits trucks to operating a maximum of 30 minutes in one spot – will have to wait, since a City Council Law and Legislation Committee meeting was canceled Tuesday.

“There’s a lot of stuff to look at in state law, and we’re trying to figure that out,” said Councilman Jay Schenirer, chairman of the committee. “A lot of it is whether it’s just legal or not.”

One of the legal issues is that California Vehicle Code protections on commercial vehicles can arguably be applied to mobile food vendor operations.

Operators of food trucks have been advocating changing the city ordinance for more than a year, saying that the 30-minute time limit keeps them from being able to reasonably do business in city limits.

The inaugural SactoMoFo, a mobile food festival held in Fremont Park in April, was by all accounts a successful event, and since then, a serious push has been under way to revise Sacramento’s ordinance.

But it’s not as easy as doing away with the existing laws.

Some “brick-and-mortar” restaurateurs said they are afraid that allowing food trucks to operate within the city without proper regulation will pose serious threats to their businesses.

“What it comes down to is very real, very human issues,” said Daniel Conway, spokesman for the California Restaurant Association. “It’s a challenging economic time, and all business owners are as acutely aware of their balance sheet as ever.”

He added that he believes mobile food vendors and traditional restaurants can easily coexist.

The Law and Legislation meeting planned for Tuesday could have addressed that, but city officials said they want to make sure any new ordinance has legal merit.

“We’re still moving forward on it,” said Councilman Darrell Fong. “There’s a lot of interest from the different parties involved in this, and it’s going to take all those groups working together: restaurant owners, mobile food trucks and us as a city.”

Conway said the legality of local governments regulating commercial vehicles is murky at best.

“There is some existing case law and appellate law that has found the state vehicle code preempts local ordinances, and therefore local governments are pretty limited in what they can do to regulate commercial vehicles,” he said.

The answer to that question is what stalled the issue in Sacramento Tuesday.

“They really want to make sure they get this right, and I think they really are sincere about setting a model and giving citizens a chance to experience both types of food,” Conway said. “They’re digging deeper than most jurisdictions have.”

According to the staff report for the meeting, the revisions to the ordinance will be addressed in four areas: vending on public right-of-ways; vending on private property and any related zoning issues; hours of operation and/or time limitations; and permitting and operating requirements for mobile food vendors.

Conway added that he doesn’t think the City Council is being complacent and pushing the issue aside, but rather that it has been very busy since April, dealing with issues such as medical marijuana, Occupy Sacramento, backyard chicken coops and the budget.

“I always say, it was being awfully hopeful that we could be able to get it done by the year’s end,” said Catherine Enfield, who operates the Munchie Musings blog and aTwitter account covering Sacramento food trucks.

“Basically, it’s just frustrating,” she said, “but it’s just a setback in the timeline. I’m still very encouraged by what I hear out of City Hall. I’m still very hopeful, you just have to be patient.”

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

Mongolian barbecue coming to Midtown

2011-11-01T02:10:41Z

A Mongolian barbecue restaurant will be moving into the building at 1830 J St., with owners saying they will bring cuisine with about 1,000 years of tradition to a spot that has recently seen two businesses close.

Co-owner Jonathan Ng, 24, said Monday that he plans to open Mongo Mongo Mongolian BBQ with three business partners by early December, bringing to Midtown a restaurant type popular in Sacramento’s suburbs.

“Once Garlic Shack fell through, I just jumped at it,” said Ng, who formerly co-owned Tamarind – a Vietnamese restaurant at 25th and J streets – and was a manager at Plum Blossom, the restaurant that occupied the space before Garlic Shack.

Key to making the new business work will be selling quality food at good prices, Ng said, adding that he wants to keep the average meal at less than $10.

Offering a variety of meats, sauces and vegetables, Mongolian barbecue allows patrons to create their own custom meals and then have them cooked on a circular grill by a chef.

Meat choices will include beef, chicken, pork and lamb. Sauces will range from teriyaki to more custom sauces, including some fusion sauces mixing traditional Asian flavors with Italian and Spanish spices and sauces. Another sauce Ng said he anticipates being popular is an orange-flavored sauce similar to that used on orange chicken at some restaurants.

“The sauce makes the meal in Mongolian barbecue,” Ng said. “We’re going to really focus on good food and good service.”

Customers will be able to create their own combinations of items or choose from a prepared menu. Rather than standing in line and waiting for their food to be cooked, diners can sit while a server brings the cooked meals to their table.

The Mongolian barbecue cooking style dates back at least as far as the Middle Ages, when the warlord Genghis Khan led a nomadic army conquering and plundering throughout Asia.

“Cooking on a circular grill comes from the way they would cook their food on their shields,” Ng said. “They’d put whatever vegetables they stole and meat they poached on them and cook it over fires.”

Moving into the space with its newly installed roll-up garage doors fronting J Street presented Ng and his business partners with a problem: Mongolian barbecue restaurants typically have kitchens out where customers can see them, but health code requires kitchens be enclosed, so either the garage doors had to go, or another solution devised.

“We decided to take out the (existing) wall separating the kitchen from the restaurant and make it out of glass with sliding glass doors,” Ng said.

With that plan, customers can still walk in and out of the garage doors onto a patio, and the kitchen is easily seen as the chef cooks the food, moving it over the grill surface with two large chopstick-like tongs.

A separate griddle will allow the restaurant to offer vegetarian and vegan options.

The patio fronting J Street will be accented with plants, and cushioned chairs with low tables will give it a lounge-like feel, Ng said.

Currently, there are no plans to pursue a full liquor license, but Ng said beer and wine will be available. The beer selection will be broad, with some pan-Pacific selections such as Tsing Tao (from China) and Tiger Beer (from Thailand). Sake and the plum wine known as sojo will be served, and they might also find their way into sauces.

The restaurant will focus on lunch and dinner, but hours have not yet been set, Ng said. It will stay open until 3 a.m. for the Thursday through Saturday night crowd, which he said is a top priority.

“We don’t have that many late-night places in Sacramento where you can actually get good food,” he said. “That’s something we need here.”

Matt Burden, a 41-year-old entertainment industry worker, said he agrees with the need for late-night food variety.

“If it’s open late, they’re going to make a fortune,” he said.

Originally from Australia, Burden now lives in Vancouver, Canada, and travels to Sacramento on business.

“Mongolian barbecue is so good,” he said. “I like that you get your bits and your bobs and then have them grill it up. I would do some chicken, soy, teriyaki and peppers. That’ll do well.”

Amanda Moore, a 23-year-old Sacramentan who works for a nearby nonprofit health care organization, said she hopes to see the business do well.

“I wish them the best of luck. I’ve been here since July, and this is the third business that will be in there,” she said. “I hope they can make it work.”

Amber Schmaeling, program director for the Midtown Business Association, said that the area is one of the prime business blocks in Midtown, and while Garlic Shack did not last long – opening in July and closing in September – Plum Blossom lasted “quite a while.”

“In close proximity, you’ve got Starbucks and several nightlife establishments,” she said. “If I was opening a business, I would see that as a key space with a lot of potential.”

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

Burgers & Brew expands beer selection, restaurant space

2011-10-28T05:12:55Z

Burgers & Brew more than doubled its draft beer selection with the addition of 16 new taps Wednesday, and the R Street restaurant will be debuting its own beer recipes brewed by Sudwerk Brewing in Davis as early as next month.

“It’s a very exciting time to be in the beer industry,” said co-owner Philippe Masoud. “Beer has become the main thing people are drinking, and it is getting as popular as wine has been.”

He said that when he emigrated from Jordan in the early 1980s, the only beers that were widely available in California were the traditional American brews such as Coors and Budweiser, and he has gradually seen the selection grow over the past decades to the current explosion of microbrew and international varieties.

At 1409 R St., the restaurant is in the middle of one of Sacramento’s liveliest nightlife areas, with the block anchored by popular Shady Lady Saloon, R15 and the recently opened Ace of Spades music venue.

For the past two years, Burgers & Brew operated with 12 beer taps, and weekly specials were rotated. Masoud said customers frequently asked for the special beers to be made available longer, but a lack of storage and refrigerator space made that impossible.

“Pliny the Elder is nice to have in stock, since that really has quite a following,” Masoud said.

When the next-door Top This Frozen Yogurt – also owned by Masoud – closed in mid-August, it gave him the opportunity to expand Burgers & Brew, adding a couple hundred square feet and a spacing the tables out and, more importantly, cold storage for enough beer kegs to supply 16 new tap handles.

Seating remains the same, with space for roughly 65-70 people inside.

The new beers on tap are mostly ones that have been featured over the past two years as specials, and they include a number of Belgian beers.

“Most people who really know beer agree that Belgium makes the best beers in the world,” Masoud said. “Our emphasis right now is to focus on the high-end beers.”

New draft beers will include Brother Thelonious, Czechvar, Leffe, Old Rasputin, Karmeliet and Delirium. Prices range from $4.50 - $6 per glass, and the glasses vary in size from 10 ounces to 1 pint.

“We serve them in the glasses they are meant to come in,” Masoud said. “We will also sell the glasses, since those are collectible, and people always ask us about them.”

Previously, glasses were ordered one by one, but with the added, space Masoud said he can order by the case, and even sell them at cost to customers who like to take them home.

Customers who came in for lunch on Thursday – the first day people were seated in the new space – said they were happy to see the expansion.

Melissa Eidson, a Sacramento resident who works for the state, said the restaurant feels more open and well-lit than it previously did.

“I think it’s really good,” she said. “I’ve been here before for lunch, and it’s always been really crowded. It feels more spacious now.”

Crystal Myers, another Sacramento resident and state worker, said she thinks the added selection of beers will make the 1400 block of R Street even more of a destination for nightlife.

“It’s always packed down here, and the more options people have, the better,” she said.

In about a month, the restaurant will be rolling out beers made to its own specifications by Sudwerk Brewing in Davis, where the original Burgers & Brew is located.

Five varieties will eventually be offered: Voodoo Porter, Imperial IPA, Sacrament Abbey Ale, Rapture Imperial Brown and a seasonal selection.

Also beginning next month will be a series of regular beer tastings in the restaurant, made possible with the added space.

“I’d like to do them weekly, so hopefully there is enough demand for that,” Masoud said. “I’ll be putting out fliers when we get ready for that.”

A few menu items have been added over the past year, most notably a lamb burger, but Masoud said that for now the emphasis is on the beer selection, and in addition to the 28 taps, there are roughly 70 bottled beers available.

Thomas Gutchens, production manager for Ace of Spades, said he is happy to see the business doing well.

“I believe that as it expands, more people will obviously show up to the place,” he said. “The restaurant has become a major destination.”

When booking touring bands, Gutchens said, he and his staff always direct them to the various eateries on the block, but Burgers & Brew tends to be the musicians’ favorite.

“They always go to Burgers & Brew, and when they come back through here again, they say they want to go to ‘that burger place,’ and they hurry up and finish their sound checks early so they can go next door,” he added.

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

Local chefs open new eatery in Natomas

2011-10-25T01:03:18Z

A group of central city restaurateurs is teaming up to branch out into Natomas, but in a more casual setting than their full-service Midtown and East Sacramento locations.

Pork Belly Grub Shack is scheduled to open this week and is a collaboration between the owners of Kru, a Japanese restaurant at 2516 J St., and Formoli’s Bistro, which recently moved to 3839 J St.

“It’s going to be really casual – burgers, sandwiches, soups and salads,” said Billy Ngo, owner of Kru. “It’s going to be simple, good food, and it’s going to be cheap.”

Menu items will feature a lot of pork, with a pork belly grilled cheese, sandwiches built around pork, and burgers such as the Notorious P.I.G., a 10-ounce beef patty with a slab of braised pork belly and pork rinds on a bun.

Suzanne Ricci, wife of Formoli’s Bistro Chef Aimal Formoli and one of the partners along with Formoli and Ngo, said pork was the obvious focus because all of them enjoy it so much.

“Everyone’s had bacon, but best part of the pig is the belly,” Ricci said, explaining that the savory area will be the restaurant’s focus.

“It’s super-basic, super-simple stuff,” she said. “It’s got lots of pork belly, which is really the best part of the pig, and it’s heavier, comfort food with competitive prices.”

Also on the menu will be some Asian-inspired dishes, most notably banh-mi sandwiches with meat selections.

Pork Belly Grub Shack, located at 4261 Truxel Road, will have items ranging from $4 - $9 and will primarily be a lunch place and sell take-out for early dinner. Hours are planned to be from about 11 a.m. - 6 p.m., though they may change.

Ngo said he, Ricci and Formoli thought the deal on the space it was too good to pass up and decided to bring a local independent eatery to an area dominated by larger chain businesses.

“There’s a lot of chain restaurants out there, so we want to bring some Midtown-style cooking to the area,” Ngo said.

Ricci said that while they all have traditionally operated full-service restaurants, the new place, which is looking to do a lot of catering and takeout as well as counter service inside, is more appealing in a down economy.

The approximately 1,600-square-foot space can seat about 30 people and used to be a specialty chocolate shop, so food-service necessities such as floor drains were already installed, Ricci said.

Outdoor seating is planned for the future, once the restaurant gets up and running.

Interior décor will feature pig paintings by locals Liz Miller and Matthew Byrd.

“We want to bring some of a Midtown artistic, creative feel to (the restaurant),” Ricci said.

Opening amid fears of a second recession, Ricci said the economy is always a consideration, but she believes the restaurant will do well.

“With Billy (Ngo) and Aimal (Formoli), I know the food is going to be good,” she said. “If the product is good and the pricing is reasonable, then it’s definitely going to be a place people can bring their families.”

General Manager David West was previously a bartender at Red Lotus, and he said he sees the restaurant growing in popularity and turning into a small chain if it does as well as he expects.

“There’s two amazing chefs behind it,” he said. “It’s gonna be good.”

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

Firestone Public House to open in February

2011-10-22T07:20:07Z

More details are emerging about Firestone Public House, the restaurant and bar that will replace the old California Pizza Kitchen in the Firestone Building at 15th and L streets downtown.

Featuring American-style cuisine and a hefty beer selection with 60 on tap, the business will be a family-friendly restaurant that will also serve as a place to watch sports and have a brew – not a typical sports bar, according to co-owner Mason Wong.

“It’s definitely going to be a full restaurant with a full menu,” Wong said. “We’ll do lunch and dinner, and possibly brunch on Sundays. It will be focused on sports, with a lot of TVs, but it’s not going to have a sports bar look to it.”

The target opening date is sometime in February, and construction is scheduled to start in the next few weeks.

Customers looking for jerseys and sports equipment on the walls won’t find it at Firestone Public House, but Wong said he wants to work out partnerships with the Kings, River Cats and other sports teams and organizations in the area for events.

“We want to have a unique variety of food and some fun appetizers,” he added.

One example of the food is an original-style Philly cheesesteak sandwich, which will be served with the meat on the bun, but the cheese on top of a spatula, which the diner will spread on the sandwich.

Pizzas will also be featured, as the oven from when the space was California Pizza Kitchen is still in place. The popular Korean tacos sold at GoGi’s Korean BBQ will be available as well.

The beer selection will include something for everyone, said co-owner Henry de Vere White.

“It’s going to be everything from American craft brews to Belgian-style beers, the popular domestics, German and English beers,” he said. “There’s 60 tap handles, so there’s lots of room.”

Wong described the interior space as having a San Francisco feel with high ceilings, a rustic stain on the concrete floors and wood elements in the décor.

Wong, who co-owns Mix Downtown and Cafeteria 15L, among others, said that though he and his brothers come from a club background, Firestone Public House won’t be a dance club, and there are no plans for a stage for live entertainment.

“We will have some elements of a club in it,” he said, “mainly with the sound. The sound is going to be really high-quality, and we will turn the music up as the night goes on and we’ll have a more vibrant atmosphere.”

Lisa Martinez, marketing director for the Downtown Sacramento Partnership, said the block around 15th and L streets is one of the strongest areas downtown, and it will be good to have the open space once again filled with a business.

“This sounds like the kind of place you can bring a date and watch a game,” Martinez said. “It’ll fit in really well.”

Other sports bars nearby include MVP Sports Grill, at 2110 L St., and Shenanigans, 705 J St.

Martinez added that without a sports-themed business right around 15th and L, Firestone Public House will add diversity to the corner.

Wong is partnering with his brothers, Curtis and Alan, and the de Vere White brothers – Henry, Simon and Mark.

“It’s been a good working relationship,” Mason Wong said. “We’ve got three Wongs and three de Veres, and we’ve all been around in Sacramento.”

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

De Vere's in Davis nears completion

2011-10-21T02:44:45Z

Construction on de Vere’s Irish Pub in Davis is about two weeks from being finished, and as the bar, which was custom-built in Ireland and then shipped to California, nears completion, Davis residents said they are excited to see a business fill a long-troubled space.

The pub is a new location spawned off the successful de Vere’s Irish Pub at 1521 L St. in Sacramento.

“It seems like it’s going to be a pretty good business,” said Matt Johnson, a 25-year-old bartender from Davis. “I’m excited, and I hope they’re successful.”

Johnson said the space at 217 E St. in Davis has long been something of a revolving door for businesses, which have had trouble staying open much longer than a year.

The space previously housed several restaurants, including Soga’s, Chaat Cafe and Agave.

“I did some research on the company, and I think it totally fits down here,” Johnson said. “It’s always crowded in the other bars, so a new one is always exciting.”

Pub co-owner Henry de Vere White said Wednesday that he wants the pub to be a community gathering place.

“There’s a saying in Ireland that when you’re born, everyone goes to the pub; when you have your first communion, everyone goes to the pub; when you get married, everyone goes to the pub; and when you die, everyone else goes to the pub,” de Vere White said.

He added that the pub concept is more about sharing life experiences than going to a club.

Johnson said he thinks a pub with that atmosphere will be a good fit for Davis.

“We need a place you can sit down and have a drink and not have your ears blown out by loud music,” he said.

Another Davis resident, 25-year-old Marc Meadows, a scientist, said he is happy to see another bar where people can relax, and that has a good beer selection.

“As long as there’s not too many bros, I’ll go there,” he said.

Danielle Orosco, a 22-year-old Davis resident who attends Sacramento City College, said the downtown Davis location is perfect, as it’s walking distance from the UC Davis campus and many homes and workplaces.

“They picked a good town, because Davis is so small that everyone goes out in groups,” she said. “I’m excited. I’ve been living here for two years, and having a new bar to go to will be nice. It looks bigger than some of the other bars, where you just feel squished.”

De Vere White said he looks forward to having the space – which will offer a large selection of food in addition to drinks – be filled with all types of people, from families having lunch and dinner to students coming by in the afternoon to study or dropping by for happy hour.

The building that houses the pub was gutted at the start of construction to allow for the parts constructed in Ireland to be fitted, said Shawn Eldredge of Capitol Painting and Construction, the firm handling the build.

“De Vere’s is a very intense buildout,” Eldredge said. “It’s a lot of material not only from Ireland, but locally.”

He added that the construction has gone well, but many parts needed to be custom-fitted. In the end, he said, he thinks the finished project will be more than worth the effort.

“I believe it’s going to be prettier than the one in Sacramento,” he said, adding that he was involved in construction of the Sacramento location as well.

De Vere White said that 65 employees have been hired, and most have already completed training.

Pre-opening parties will be held, and those interested can sign up by clicking here.

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

Albie Ribbin' BBQ Cook-Off Fundraiser for Albie Aware Breast Cancer Foundation

2011-10-19T23:33:11Z

Annual Rib CooQue-Off Fundraiser
Answers the Age Old Question…
Where’s the PorQue?

We Ain’t Ribbin’…. We’re Ribbin.

Seems like a contradiction in terms, right?

Very WeaQue Translation: We’re not Quidding… we’re Q-ing.

It’s the 3rd Annual Albie Ribbin’ BBQ Cook-off to benefit the Albie Aware Breast Cancer Foundation.

Saturday, October 29th, from noon to 6pm, at the Hilltop Tavern (4757 Folsom Boulevard, Sacramento) …. 15 Q-teams, comprised of everyone from local bars and restaurants to open competitors, will be “slathering slabs” of St. Louis style ribs in hopes of winning first ribbon for best ribbin’.

And if you were thinking we’d run out of puns and wordplay…not so fast…for who better to play live music at a Q-off than Sacramento’s favorite good time party band…the Q-Balls. (Ok, we didn’t make that one up…that really is their name, and this band roQues!!)

This is an all age event, fun for the whole family, with Quiller barbeque (St. Louis style ribs, Q’d by the folks at the Round Corner Bar) , Quollasal silent auction and a remarQable raffle with great prizes. Admission is just $20. Quite a smoquin’ deal!

Lunch served from 1pm to 4pm. Q-Balls play from 2pm to 5pm.

For advance tickets, call 927-1592

You’d be Qrazy not to attend this event!!

albieaware.org

Your mother, your sister, your daughter, your best friend.....Who Cares?
Albie Aware.
Albie Aware sounds Like "I'll Be Aware" and that's our purpose: To encourage self-examination and a follow-up doctor's appointment for early detection of a recurrrence. To make others aware of the diagnostic testing available to determine the best treatment of a recurrence. To provide financial assistance when these tests are not covered by the insurance provider.

Disclosure: Steve LaRosa is the Media Director for Albie Aware Breast Cancer Foundation

The Sacramento Press on 'Insight'

2011-10-19T01:22:09Z

During The Sacramento Press’ spot on Capital Public Radio’s “Insight” Tuesday morning, host Jeffrey Callison and I discussed the Occupy Sacramento movement, early turns in the upcoming City Council elections, a design competition for Capitol Mall and the arrival of a sailing vessel in Old Sacramento.

With the Occupy Sacramento demonstration well into its second week, protesters are upset that Cesar Chavez Plaza is closed from 11 p.m. - 5 a.m. due to a city ordinance. Sacramento Police Department spokeswoman Laura Peck said Monday that 58 arrests have been made, and the City Council plans to decide whether to allow the protesters to stay in the park after hours, after they went to City Hall last week.

More city politics have been in the news lately, with City Councilman Rob Fong announcing last week that he will not seek another term, instead pursuing a career as a lobbyist. Shortly after the announcement, Steve Hansen, a local activist, announced he will run for the District 4 seat. This will be the first election since District 4 took over most of the central city, which was previously split between three districts.

The former Red Lotus spot on J Street in Midtown has a new tenant, with January being the earliest possible opening date. The currently unnamed business will be a 50/50 mix of restaurant and bar, and it has a special incentive for employees: They will be given a share of the profits.

A few blocks down J Street, the owner of Thai Basil and the upstairs Level Up Lounge wants to add a second-floor deck area so people in the lounge will not have to go down to the street level to smoke, and the deck will also serve as a more permanent roof over the patio seating at Thai Basil. Neighbors raised concerns about added noise, but the Planning Commission approved the project on Thursday.

Federal prosecutors in Southern California have announced that they will go after print, TV and radio advertising for medicinal marijuana, and some Sacramento publications, notably Sacramento News & Review and The Sacramento Bee, have carried those advertisements. SN&R was able to hire more reporters within the past year due to the ads even as general advertising revenues fell across the industry. The Sacramento Bee recently announced its decision to start carrying them. The Sacramento Press has previously reached out to medical marijuana dispensaries for advertising but did not run any advertisements from them. For a timeline on medical marijuana issues in California, click here.

Sacramento received 48 submissions that met the criteria for its Catalyst Capitol Mall Design Competition, which was held to bring international attention to the section of Capitol Mall between Tower Bridge and 10th Street as the city looks for a “big idea” for the space after the state relinquished control of it in 2006. A jury selected the winners, which will be announced Nov. 9. The public can weigh in on the designs as well by clicking here and following the link to the voting page.

Anyone wanting insight into merchant sailing in the 18th century can visit the tall ship Hawaiian Chieftain, docked in Old Sacramento near Tower Bridge until mid-December. Visitors can tour the ship, where crew members will be standing by to answer questions and give history of an era gone by.

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

New food blog aims to promote vegetarian lifestyle in Sacramento

2011-10-16T19:54:41Z

The new vegetarian food blog, “Eat Well, Live Free,” launched earlier this month in Sacramento. Since it went online, the site has garnered more than 400 unique visitors, said co-creator Marcos Hernández.

Jillena and Marcos Hernández, the married duo that created the blog, said the idea behind the blog is to provide local vegetarians with information about recipes and restaurants that cater to vegetarian and vegan lifestyles.

“We’re just trying to spread awareness and make it easier for vegetarians,” Marcos Hernández said.

Jillena Hernández is a vegetarian, while Marcos Hernández is a meat-eater. While the two differ in that respect, they work well together in combining their skills for the blog.

Jillena Hernández is the writer and chef while her husband takes the photos and builds the website.

Jillena Hernández said that she and her husband came up with the idea for the blog one day while they were food shopping. Later that day, they purchased the domain name and began setting up the blog.

“I spend so much time utilizing food blogs and cooking, so it wasn’t that much of a leap,” she said.

Jillena Hernandez said that the blog has two features that distinguish it from other food blogs, vegetarian or otherwise.

“I try to choose recipes based on at least one item that comes straight from our garden,” she said. She added that it is important to eat locally and seasonally.

The second feature, Jillena Hernández said, is the blog’s emphasis on recipes that are related to her and her husband’s family and culture. She has a Jewish background, and Marcos Hernández is Mexican.

She said that the blog’s charm will stem from her and her husband’s relationship with their families and the way it will incorporate food from their cultures.

“We’re growing personally in our hobbies and in our understanding of where food comes from,” Jillena Hernández said.

The recipes featured on the site range from what she described as easy to moderately difficult to make.

While cooking The Whole Bowl, Jillena Hernández gathered tomatoes grown in her garden along with other ingredients, including organic brown rice, sliced olives and avocado. She and her husband worked together to mix those and other ingredients together.

Once finished, Marcos and Jillena Hernández took the food outside to find an ideal location to photograph it.

“I like to take recipes that feature meat and modify them for vegetarians and vegans,” Jillena Hernández said. She added that she also recreates meals that she eats at restaurants for the blog.

She said that the blog will include recipes for everything from dinners to desserts.

Jillena Hernández said that writing for the site requires a certain amount of knowledge regarding the food being featured on the blog. Because of this, the couple will interview various chefs and include these interviews on the blog.

Marcos Hernández said that this aspect of the blog gives them the opportunity to talk with noteworthy chefs and vegetarians.

“It has enabled us connect with more people,” he said, referring to the couple’s recent interview with blogger and chef Mark Bitterman, author of the book “Salted.”

Jillena Hernández said she credits social networks like Facebook and the desire of vegetarians to know good restaurants to the site’s quickly growing Internet presence.

“I think it’s filling a niche in Sacramento,” she said. “As a vegetarian, I have a hard time finding food and restaurants.” She added that it is all too common to “order a salad (that) comes with nothing but lettuce and shaved carrots.”

She said that she and Marcos Hernández love eating out at restaurants, and she hopes the blog will make it easier for vegetarians and vegans to find restaurants that won’t exclude their lifestyle.

Marcos Hernández added that they won’t be doing any bad reviews.

“We want to promote restaurants that we like,” he said.

Jillena Hernández said that one of her goals with the blog is to have a wide array of recipes that anyone can enjoy. She said that she aims to have enough content so someone could cook an entire Thanksgiving dinner using only recipes from the site.

While Jillena and Marcos Hernández still have their day jobs downtown, they both said they plan on the blog playing a large part in their lives in the future.

“We’re just trying to promote whole natural foods,” Marcos Hernández said.

Local business emphasizes the need to play

2011-10-15T01:14:25Z

A pair of Sacramento entrepreneurs are building a business centered around what they say adults are missing in their lives – play.

Jeff Louie and Chris Chu, both 30, founded Asobuyo in April as a way for like-minded locals to get together, play games, sample food from local businesses and get to know one another.

“We’re all about using play as a mechanism for life change,” Chu said. “When people play, they have better quality of life and less stress.”

Asobuyo is a Japanese word that roughly translates as “let’s play,” Chu said, adding that weekly meetings of Asobuyo members are centered around playing games in groups of four in a fun way to get to know people.

The first event was held at Capsity Offices, 2321 P St., which is a co-working space Louie co-founded. The game was several video clips of Midtown set up in a trivia game similar to “Scene It?” but that proved too difficult to facilitate, with the amount of time involved in producing the video and developing questions.

Now, game evenings are typically spent at local restaurants so the members can bond over food, and some of the restaurants Asobuyo has partnered with are Kupros Bistro, Cafe Lumiere and Old Soul Co.

One game they play is called Superstar, and in it, one member of the group is the superstar, and team members collect myriad facts about the superstar – everything from how many keys he or she has on a key ring to where he or she was born. They then must memorize the facts.

Throughout the night, different questions are asked, and the superstar’s teammates – or “fans” – have to answer correctly, racking up the most correct answers to beat the other teams.

“It’s a good game to play early on so maybe some of the more quiet people get to tell more about themselves,” Louie said.

“We plan our games strategically so they build on each other,” Chu said, adding that over the course of the night, the team that wins the most games is declared the overall winner and receives prizes – which have ranged from cakes and food to gift cards from hosting businesses.

Wendy Duncan, 27, said she enjoyed playing Urban Dictionary Balderdash, in which a definition from the popular website and book “Urban Dictionary” was read, and participants had to guess the word it described.

“I think (Asobuyo) is just a good combination of everything: food, socializing and fun,” she said.

She added that, for her, the biggest benefit has been meeting like-minded people who are interested in having fun and exploring the city.

“I’ve grown up in Sacramento, and I feel like a lot of the locals have a poor image of the city and talk trash about it,” she said. “They say there’s nothing fun to do, but Asobuyo lets us have a lot of fun and get to know the area.”

The business makes its money through some paid events as well as marketing for local businesses.

One upcoming event, scheduled for 2 - 7 p.m. on Oct. 23, is a spy-themed grub crawl and scavenger hunt, Chu said.

“Each spy team will go to each place and complete a mission, then sample some food and meet the owners,” Chu said.

While most events are free, the food crawl and scavenger hunt will cost $35, with $10 being donated to the charity Asian Resources, Inc., a nonprofit organization providing social services in Sacramento, especially to youths with limited English-speaking abilities.

Khonnie Lattasima, 29, said she found out about Asobuyo through the website Yelp while browsing events.

“I emailed them, and it sounded interesting,” she said. “I didn’t really know what it was, and I think it’s something you actually have to experience.”

She added that she enjoys the positive attitudes of everyone involved.

“It breaks down a lot of barriers, and you get to know a lot of people,” she said. “They’ve done a great job. It’s basically a play movement, and they’re building something really positive in the community.”

Louie said he and Chu want to eventually expand beyond Sacramento and create a movement where people see that taking time to play and have fun actually adds to productivity and quality of life.

Future plans involve an option of a paid premium membership and more integration with technology, including some form of mobile app.

“We wanted to start in Sacramento,” he said. “We’re both from Sacramento, and we want people to be proud that there are businesses that want to start up here.”

To contact Asobuyo, visit the company’s website or Facebook page.

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

Red Lotus space might be filled by January

2011-10-14T01:12:14Z

A pair of restaurateurs are opening a restaurant and bar in the space that formerly housed Red Lotus in Midtown, which closed last month, and employees are being given a special incentive to do quality work – a share of the profits.

“It’s going to be a simple, affordable neighborhood spot where families can come for a meal, and it’s welcoming of everyone,” said co-owner Matt Nurge. “It’s going to be rustic – a little like peasant food, and a little like street food.”

While still in the early stages with a possible opening date of sometime in January, the as-yet-unnamed restaurant and bar at 2718 J St. will have its food planned by Executive Chef and co-owner John Bays.

Both grew up in Sacramento, working in various restaurants and bars. Nurge said he knew Bays casually for years, and about six months ago, mutual friends helped them connect as business partners.

“It’s fun food, not uptight – just simple,” Bays said. “I have a braised short rib patty melt I'd like to do, maybe a ramen pot pie, just some different stuff.”

Other menu possibilities include Vietnamese chicken sandwiches, burgers with fried eggs, stir fry dishes made on the existing wok grill and a number of sandwiches.

“We want to really be busy at lunch as well as dinner and after,” Nurge said. “We have the Sutter building that’s opening up, and there will be 4,000 people in the area, and we want to deliver good food at a reasonable price.”

The Sutter building will house the hospital’s Anderson Lucchetti Women’s and Children’s Center.

He added that lunch dishes will likely range from $7 to $10, and dinner dishes will go for around $10 to $15.

Currently, the restaurant seats about 120 people, but the seating will be redone, with a distinct bar area up front and restaurant seating in the rear, Nurge said. Front and back patio seating will be a major part of the restaurant’s draw, he added, with more-permanent tables and chairs fronting J Street.

Nurge described the operation as half restaurant and half bar, and said he will draw on his experience as a bartender – most recently his three-year stint at Shady Lady Saloon – to create craft cocktails that will be on a regularly rotating menu.

“I want to keep the cocktail menu small so it’s simple, and I’ll rotate drinks like we will the food, providing whatever is in season locally,” Nurge said, adding that the restaurant’s six beer taps will likely be rotated with California selections.

In an industry that sees high turnover rates among staff – and the expenses that go along with training new employees – Bays and Nurge said they want to make employees a top priority, designating a percentage of the restaurant’s profits to them.

“It’s something to set us apart from other restaurants,” Bays said. “It lets them know they’re valued, that they’re working toward something that gives back to them, not just working for the man.”

Nurge said employees will not be asked to contribute any money to the business, and the plan is to have all of them included, with possible extra benefits for long-term employees, though nothing has yet been finalized.

“Mainly, we want to share our success with the people who help make us successful,” Nurge said. “My mom was a server for 25 years, and (the employees) carried the business on their backs, and people sat back and counted the money.”

He added that he intends to make money, but he wants to do it in a way that includes everyone.

If someone cares about what they do, they’ll stay longer, he said.

Bays added that the shared profits will incentivize employees to come up with cost-saving ideas and keep an eye toward cutting down on waste.

Both owners have histories in the restaurant industry. Nurge worked at numerous restaurants and bars, and Bays currently works for the Sacramento City Unified School District and owned a restaurant called Grapes at 11th and H streets in the late 1990s.

Alex Origoni, co-owner of Shady Lady Saloon – where Nurge currently works – said that extensive experience is one of the most important assets to becoming a successful restaurant operator.

“So many people get into the industry because they think it’s cool or because people tell them they have a great potatoes au gratin recipe and they should open one,” Origoni said. “Having a good menu is maybe about 5 percent of operating a restaurant business.”

Origoni said Nurge has a certain style to his cocktail creations gleaned from a career working for varied restaurants and bars, giving him experience in catering to many types of customers.

“That’s a huge advantage,” Origoni said.

Another advantage is being a part of what Origoni described as the tight-nit fraternity of restaurateurs in Sacramento who consider themselves friends and help each other out whenever possible.

Already, Nurge said, Shady Lady Saloon and other restaurant owners have offered their help.

“We see it as a team effort to build the industry and make the community even more interesting,” Origoni said. “Getting into that is the best advice I can give him, and it’s advice he already knows.”

Nurge and Bays said they are looking forward to joining the successful block of J Street anchored by Centro Cocina Mexican and Harlow’s.

“Success breeds success,” Nurge said. “That was one of the things that really attracted us to this space.”

Nearby residents have previously raised concerns about businesses selling alcohol on the block, and Nurge said he intends to work with the neighborhood associations in the area, and he currently has no plans to apply for an entertainment permit, which is required for amplified music in the city.

“We’re not a nightclub,” he said. “We’re more of a low-key restaurant and bar, and we want to be a local spot and still draw people from Midtown, families from East Sac, and people from the other areas as well.”

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

Garlic Shack gone?

2011-10-13T01:58:15Z

Garlic Shack, a Midtown restaurant that opened in in early July on the corner of 19th and J streets, appeared closed Wednesday afternoon and evening, with chairs stacked on tables and the vinyl “We’re Open” sign removed.

Owner Ken Powers did not return phone calls left by The Sacramento Press Wednesday, and workers at nearby businesses were not able to confirm whether the restaurant was closed for good or just on hiatus.

Gluten-free brown rice was the basis for the restaurant’s signature rice bowls, and most menu items featured garlic, with garlic fries being a favorite, as previously reported by The Sacramento Press.

Before Garlic Shack, the space housed Plum Blossom, an Asian-food restaurant.

The Sacramento Press will post updates as more information becomes available.

Thai Basil and Level Up Lounge owner pursues second-floor patio

2011-10-12T01:02:48Z

A Midtown business owner is looking to add a second-floor patio area to her combination restaurant and lounge, but as the plans go to the Planning Commission for review Thursday, some neighbors say it will present a noise problem.

Suleka Sun-Lindley owns Thai Basil and Level Up Lounge at 2431 J St., and with the lounge – which opened in 2007 – not making money, she said she hopes the addition of an open-air balcony will help it become profitable.

“Thai Basil is doing well, but Level Up has been costing us money,” she said Tuesday afternoon. “I’m hoping that adding an area where people can go outside and smoke will make more people want to come.”

The Thai restaurant, which opened in May 2002, is a successful branch of a family business begun by Sun-Lindley, her mother and sister in Roseville in 1996. Sun-Lindley, who moved from Thailand in 1989, was an architect before going into the restaurant business.

After being granted a liquor license in a lottery in 2006, the upstairs portion of the building was turned into Level Up Lounge.

Building an upper deck or patio was the logical solution to two problems, Sun-Lindley said.

“We like to have our outdoor seating at Thai Basil, but the awning leaks in the rain, and I wanted to build a permanent covering over it,” she said. “I thought it would be perfect to make it a deck for Level Up so people could use it to go outside and smoke, instead of going downstairs to the street.”

The design involves extending the front and rear walls of the building 8 feet and putting a floor and new awning in place to allow lower-level seating in all weather as well as upper-level open space.

In all, 300 square feet will be added to the 4,000 square feet the building already occupies, but the capacity of Level Up Lounge – 50 people – will not increase.

Some neighbors, however, are concerned about added noise from the business, which stays open until midnight on weeknights and 2 a.m. Thursday through Sunday.

“My worries are that if that went in, then I might not be able to sleep,” said nearby resident Joe Diaz. “The DJs already play loud music, and I hear it. It goes right through my double-pane windows and insulated walls.”

He added that he is concerned people will step outside and have loud conversations on the balcony that will keep him awake, and parking will be more scarce.

Another nearby building owner, Brent Johnson, said he has four residential tenants for whom noise is a problem, though he acknowledged noise as a reality in a mixed-use area such as Midtown.

“It’s mostly just the noise,” he said. “I’m all for local businesses succeeding, but the noise went up when the bar came in, and I think instead of it being an open-air patio, it could be closed to keep in the sound.”

He added that he sees a benefit to the patio as well.

Currently, smokers on the street level toss cigarette butts onto his property, he said, adding that he thinks having an upstairs area where they can smoke will cut down on the problem.

Sun-Lindley held an informal meeting at the lounge Monday night, with staff passing out about 40 fliers inviting neighbors to give input. Modifications were made to the design to completely enclose the rearward wall – which faces homes – after the comments of the four people who came, with two supporting and two opposing. It was originally designed as a half-wall.

Others familiar with the space said the addition will make the lounge more attractive.

“I love the expansion idea just to get people out to have some fresh air,” said local artist John Krempel, who has had about 20 art shows in the lounge.

“During my art shows, people want to get outside and get some fresh air, but they have to go downstairs, and a lot of the time, they just leave,” he said. “It would be such a better experience if you had (the patio) up there.”

Sun-Lindley said she enjoys having art shows in Level Up as a way of staying involved in the community.

“The nearby neighbors are the ones we want to have coming in,” she said. “We want to run a business, but we also want to be good neighbors.”

Fully enclosing the outdoor space, she said, “would kill the ambiance.”

Adding to the building has been a continual process since the restaurant’s opening, with a permanent storage area, new flooring, new paint, revised lighting, courtyard seating and the building of the lounge all being done over the years as money was available.

“We want to put the money we make back into the business,” she said.

Planning the patio cost about $19,000, with a $9,000 non-refundable permit fee added to $10,000 in planning and architectural renderings. If approved, the estimated cost of the addition, as designed, is about $150,000.

“I really want it for a better outdoor dining experience, but it’s also something we want to see at Level Up, since having an outdoor area is so Sacramento,” she said.

The design will be reviewed by the Planning Commission at 5:30 p.m. Thursday in the City Council Chambers at 915 I St.

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

Alchemist CDC to assist with implementing EBT in 3 Sacramento Farmers' Markets

2011-10-11T16:06:28Z

SACRAMENTO, CA – It was a beautiful fall day at the Inderkum Farmers’ Market last weekend: the weather was sunny, cool, and calm, and vendors from local farms were offering everything from heirloom tomatoes to locally-produced meat. But what made the day especially bright was the knowledge that the market was now accessible to a larger part of Sacramento’s population. Anna Jensen, a graduate student with UC Davis’ Community and Regional Development program and intern with Alchemist CDC, was staffing the Electronic Benefits Transfer (EBT) table, where customers with Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program (SNAP) benefits could swipe their cards and use their benefits to buy produce at the market. One woman came by just to pick up okra to top off her planned meal for the evening; another customer came to do all of her produce shopping for the week.

This experience will be possible for more Sacramento residents this fall as recipients of EBT assistance can begin using their benefits to buy fresh fruits and vegetables at local farmers’ markets. Vendors at three area markets will begin accepting SNAP payments this fall. Alchemist Community Development Corporation will be assisting with implementing EBT payment processing at three Sacramento area Farmers' Markets utilizing a scrip system. The EBT/CalFresh program (previously known as food stamps) offers qualifying lower income individuals financial assistance in purchasing food for themselves and their families. EBT recipients can begin using their benefits to pay for produce at these markets.

EBT acceptance will be added to the following Certified Farmers' Markets of Sacramento in fall 2011:

• Beginning September 24: Inderkum H.S. Farmers' Market: Operating Saturdays May through Oct., 9:00am - noon, at 2500 New Market Dr, Sacramento
• Beginning October 6: Florin Sears Farmers' Market: Operating Thursdays year round, 8am-noon at the Florin Sears Store, Florin Rd. and 65th St. - front parking lot, Sacramento
• Beginning November 6: Downtown State Parking Lot Farmers' Market: Operating Sundays year round, 8am-noon, at 8th & W Streets, Sacramento

By providing for the ability to use EBT at these markets, Alchemist hopes to make fresh produce more accessible to low-income individuals in these areas. This effort is in keeping with Alchemist CDC's vision of a vibrant, equitable and diverse urban Sacramento. Farmers' markets are an asset to communities, and can lead to improved health for area residents. By making it easier for low-income populations to purchase food at farmers' markets, implementation of EBT acceptance makes these community assets more equitable and accessible to all individuals.

Alchemist CDC hopes to continue to grow the number of farmers' markets in Sacramento accepting EBT payment in the coming years. Look for the addition of EBT processing at Laguna Farmers' Market in Elk Grove and Sunrise Farmers' Market in Rancho Cordova this winter.

Disclosure: Anna Jensen works as an intern with Alchemist CDC.

New restaurant to embrace Southern fare

2011-10-06T00:55:22Z

The owners of Midtown’s Capitol Garage are bringing Southern-style cooking to the spot recently vacated by Celestin’s Island Eats and Cajun Cuisine, with a projected opening in mid- to late November.

The Porch, located at 1815 K St., will feature items such as fried green tomatoes, catfish and corn hushpuppies, a soft shell crab po’ boy and other Southern favorites, said Chef and co-owner Jon Clemons.

He added that he wants to keep entrées priced below $20.

“We’ve been trying to do a second place for about a year and a half,” said co-owner John Lopez, adding that The Porch will be a dedicated restaurant, unlike Capitol Garage, which mixes a bar, restaurant and entertainment venue.

After looking at a variety of locations around Sacramento, Lopez said, he, Clemons and co-owner Jerry Mitchell began working with the owners of Celestin’s at the end of June to figure out a leasing agreement.

“It was really attractive because it was a turnkey operation,” Lopez said. “The only real changes we need to make are cosmetic.”

The two businesses will be about three blocks apart, with Capitol Garage located at 1500 K St.

The interior décor of The Porch will give customers the feeling of a home, and the exterior will be changed to embody the restaurant’s name, with the back patio opened up for seating, augmenting existing front patio seating.

The idea for the restaurant came on a trip to Portland, where the owners dined at a Southern restaurant, Lopez said.

“We thought that type of cuisine is really missing from Sacramento, and we wanted to bring that here,” he said.

Next up was a trip to Charleston, S.C., to get more ideas and inspiration for the menu.

“Charleston is such a great city for food,” Clemons said. “We’re going to focus on the coastal Southern food, with a lot of seafood. We’re also going to branch out into Creole and Cajun food.”

But for those wondering if some of the menu items from Celestin’s will return to the new restaurant, it’s unlikely.

“We might do a gumbo (soup) or something,” Clemons said, “but it would be our own recipe.”

The food will not be a copy of the fare at Capitol Garage, but some of the future menu items from The Porch are currently being offered on the specials menu at Capitol Garage.

“It’s kind of a way people can come in and preview the menu,” Clemons said.

The Porch will have a full liquor license, with wine pairings for some of the meals as well as bourbon drinks and cocktails that the owners are working with a bartender from Charleston to create.

They are also working to stock some beers common in the South but hard to find on the West Coast, such as Yuengling.

Open for lunch and dinner, Lopez said he wants to add Saturday and Sunday brunch around the beginning of the year.

Lopez said the prospect of a deeper recession is worrisome, but he thinks the proximity of the Convention Center and the foot traffic in the area will let the new restaurant thrive.

About 25 people will staff the restaurant, and Lopez said about half of the Celestin’s staff will be retained, with several already working shifts at Capitol Garage.

Celestin’s owners Patrick and Phoebe Celestin previously told The Sacramento Press that the new owners’ agreeing to interview the existing staff was a good gesture as they took over the location, which the Celestins had built in 2001.

The building has yet to be altered, but Lopez said passers-by should see changes starting in the next week or two as construction gets under way.

“Just keep driving by,” he said. “You’ll be surprised at the difference.”

The Porch’s website is under construction and will be reachable via the Capitol Garage website.

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

Blues for Life 2011

2011-09-30T09:04:07Z

October is Breast Cancer Awareness month. In Sacramento, the festivities kick off with Blues for Life at The Torch Club , a live music festival & pasta cook-off from 1pm to 7pm on October 2.

Ten bands, 10 restaurants, and a five-year Sac town tradition, this event is the primary fundraiser for Albie Aware, a foundation that brings preventive care, support, and education for those with breast cancer or seeking assistance for early detection and treatment.

“If treated early, cancer fatality can diminish with the proper care,” commented Doug Carson. In 2002, his wife Albie Carson, a 50 year resident of Sacramento, lost the battle with cancer because the tumor was caught too late.

This loss prompted him to build a legacy to help others stay alive.

Albie Aware as in I’ll be Aware provides the social, educational, and in many ways, financial support for those who otherwise would not be able to afford adequate health coverage essential for breast cancer survival like MRI, PET scan, medicines, or even a simple insurance co-pay.

Last year, more than 1,500 people in Northern California were recipients of some kind of care from the organization.

In 2010, according to the American Cancer Society, there will be 209,060 new cases of breast cancer in the United States. 40,230 of those discovered will result in death of which 4,230 will be in California.

So think of it. For only $20, you will not only be able to get your blues on, grub on, early Christmas shopping on, but you will a join a movement to help save thousands of lives of men and women affected by cancer.

Now, that is a great deal.

Bands include: The Nibblers, Mercy Me, Walking Spanish, Kaye Bohler, Ron Hacker, Gino Matteo, Bone MacDonald, Sista Monica, Trubaduo Pailer, and Adams & Joyce.

The Competing Pasta Cook-off Restaurants are Blue Prynt Restaurant & Bar, Clark’s Corner, Evan’s Kitchen, House Kitchen & Bar, Lucca Restaurant & Bar, Mama Susanna’s, Ristorante Italiano, Michelangelo’s Italian Restaurant, and Rio City Café.

There will also be a silent auction with over fifty raffle items complete with a Flat screen TV, signed art works, exotic trips, local restaurant entertainment, gift certificates, and so much more.

Buy your tickets early by clicking HERE or at Torch Club on Sunday.

Celebrate Sacramento Community Festival This Saturday

2011-09-26T22:35:15Z

On Saturday, October 1, Assemblymember Roger Dickinson is hosting a free community festival, Celebrate Sacramento, at the Florin Light Rail Station. The diverse festival will feature performances from local children’s groups and cultural and musical talent from the southern region of Sacramento, kids’ activities including bounce houses, and carnival games.

Visitors will learn about all that Sacramento has to offer from over 100 informational booths. The arts, entertainment and cuisine available at the festival will showcase the diversity that makes the southern region of Sacramento special for the whole family.

Attendees can mingle with their neighbors while enjoying delicious local food, great atmosphere, games for the kids and live music.

For more information, visit the event’s website at celebratesacramentofestivals.org

Who:
Assemblymember Roger Dickinson (D-Sacramento)
Sacramento Vice Mayor Bonnie Pannell
Local bands, community and cultural performers, local food vendors, retailers, community organizations, etc.

When:
Saturday, October 1
11 a.m. – 4 p.m.

Where:
Florin Light Rail Station (west of Franklin Blvd.)
Sacramento, CA

Disclosure: Taryn Kinney is Communications Director for Assemblymember Roger Dickinson.

New ownership at longtime coffee bar near Broadway

2011-09-19T07:23:15Z

Lifelong Sacramento resident Matt Crummy, 21, recently purchased Off Broadway Bean coffee bar and renamed it Crum’s Place, fulfilling his dream of owning his own business.

“It was just sort of perfect timing,” he said. “I was looking to get into business, and I saw an ad on Craigslist, and it all just worked out.”

Crummy took ownership on June 17, and he said the business has been going well.

Before Off Broadway Bean, the 1,400-square-foot space was tha home of Java Lounge.

“My dad owns a hot dog cart at 14th and I (streets), and I always wanted to run a business, too,” Crummy said. “I don’t want to have a boss. I want it to be my own.”

Many of the facets of the former coffee bar have remained the same, as Crummy purchased the business complete with furniture and fixtures.

“The challenges have been finding the right employees and keeping everything stocked,” he added.

The coffee bar offers free wireless Internet and use of several computers. A library at the front counter is open to all, with a “take a book and leave one” policy.

His only employee is one who previously worked at Off Broadway Bean, who Crummy said has been helpful with her knowledge of the day-to-day operations of the shop.

Not having much experience making coffee, Crummy said he was trained by the previous owners in how to make all the different drinks and food items. Now, he said, he is bringing even more food and hoping to make it a place for numerous nearby workers and residents to stop by for breakfast and lunches.

Hot and cold sandwiches are made to order, and paninis are available. Grilled burritos were added to the mix, and he said they have been popular.

“I’m trying to give people an affordable place to come by,” he said, noting that sandwiches are $6, and grilled burritos are $4.

Also being added to the menu are more baked goods, including house-made banana bread and cookies.

“We’re really going to be making more of that,” he said. “We’ll be bringing in pear bread pretty soon.”

He said he wanted to incorporate hot dogs, but those require having an expensive range hood, which isn’t in the budget at the moment.

Isabel Gallus, 22, said she has visited the coffee bar several times since the change in ownership, and she was a patron of Off Broadway Bean beforehand.

“I like that it’s right off Broadway,” she said. “It’s easy for a lot of people to get to, especially by bike.”

She added that she’d like to see it become more lively, with evening music shows on weekend nights.

“It’s good to see a business staying in here,” she said. “I’d like to come down for some live music.”

Live music is something Crummy said he is actively working on, with an acoustic show featuring Brian Hanover and Brian McPherson Saturday and another show scheduled for the following weekend.

Saturday’s show will be $7 in advance and $10 at the door, with those ages 17 and under getting in for free.

Music Promoter Sean Hills is working with Crummy and said he used to book shows at the location when it was Java Lounge and 16th Street Cafe.

“It’s a good all-ages spot, which is attractive for doing shows since we don’t have many of them in the city,” Hills said. “I’m excited that it’s open, and I hope it stays open a long time.”

Currently, only acoustic music can be played, but Hills said he is working with Crummy to get permits for amplified music.

“He’s really interested in opening his doors to local musicians and artists,” Hills said.

A mural by a Sacramento artist known as Skinner on the exterior wall in the alley, which was thought to be at risk in the past, will remain, Crummy said.

The business, located at 2416 16th St., is open daily from 6 a.m. - 5 p.m., but Crummy said he is still working with the hours and will stay open later on Fridays and Saturdays if business levels warrant it.

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

Blues Festival and Pasta Cook-Off Fundraiser-October 2nd

2011-09-15T22:27:11Z

10 Bands…10 Restaurants…5 years.

We did the math…it adds up to big fun at the…

5th Annual Blues for Life, which takes place on Sunday, October 2nd, from 1pm to 7pm, at the Torch Club, 904 15th Street. (inside and out in the parking lot…two stages)

This popular fundraiser, described in this news release, which has grown every year, benefits Albie Aware Breast Cancer Foundation, which raises money for expensive diagnostic breast cancer tests such as PET scans and mammograms for women in need.

At Albie, we like to say, “Your mother, your sister, your daughter, your best friend... Who Cares?…..Albie Aware!

Besides performances by the area’s leading blues bands, the popular Pasta Cook-Off featuring 10 top Sacramento restaurants, will be featured. Attendees will be able to taste them all for a mere $10. Doing the math again…we think you get it…

All Star Line-Up of Bands:

The Nibblers
Mercy Me!
Walking Spanish
Kaye Bohler
Ron Hacker
Gino Matteo
Bone MacDonald
Sista Monica
Trubaduo
Pailer, Adams & Joyce

Participating Pugilistic Potentates of Pasta
(aka: Competing Pasta Cook-off Restaurants)

Blue Prynt Restaurant & Bar
Clark’s Corner
Evan’s Kitchen
House Kitchen & Bar
Lucca Restaurant & Bar
Mama Susanna’s Ristorante Italiano
Michelangelo’s Italian Restaurant
Rio City Café
(2 restauarants TBA)

Silent auction items:
Flat screen TV
Signed art works
Trips and much more

50 Raffle Items
Including restaurants & local entertainment certificates

For more information, please visit: www.albieaware.org

Tickets available now at eventbrite.com

Disclosure: Steve LaRosa is the Media Director for Albie Aware Breast Cancer Foundation

The Best Food Comes From the Heart

2011-09-15T20:14:12Z

The best food in world does not come from five-star restaurants that take months to get a reservation and a month's salary when you finally get one. No, the best food comes from treasured family recipes lovingly handed down from one generation to the next. That beautiful tradition will be celebrated at the upcoming Jewish Food Faire sponsored by Carmichael's Congregation Beth Shalom on Sunday, October 16th, from 9 am to 3 pm. Savor stuffed cabbage, corned beef on rye, chopped liver and a dizzying array of Jewish style baked goods, among other iconic Jewish foods.

"The best food comes from the heart," said Sheila Wolfe, Jewish Food Faire Chair. "That's what we want to convey with this year's Faire theme, 'From Generation to Generation.'" "What says love more than a steaming bowl of chicken soup, for instance," said Wolfe. "Sacramentans eager to surround themselves with wonderful, nurturing and delicious food will have a very special experience," she added. "Much of the food for sale at the Faire is lovingly made by hand by members of our congregation using their own treasured family recipes which were handed down to them by a mother or grandparent."

Embrace tradition at the Jewish Food Faire on October 16th at Congregation Beth Shalom, 4746 El Camino Avenue, Carmichael. For more information, visit www.cbshalom.org.

Disclosure: I am a unabashed foodie and a member of Congregation Beth Shalom.

Co-op lawsuit dismissed

2011-09-09T23:35:50Z

A lawsuit against the Sacramento Natural Foods Co-op has been dismissed at the request of those who filed it, members of the co-op who earlier this year sought to ban the sale of Israeli-made products at the grocery store.

“We, the petitioners, chose to dismiss this case,” said Sharon Adams, Berkeley-based attorney for Maggie Coulter and Robin Kristufek.

The lawsuit, filed June 30, alleged that the co-op’s board was violating its bylaws by not allowing a ballot initiative to ban Israeli-made products to go to a vote by the full membership.

The Sacramento County Superior Court denied a request to expedite the case on July 28, which could have brought a resolution in advance of ballots going out in August.

Adams said Friday that the purpose of the lawsuit was to get the measure put on the ballot, and there is no purpose now that the ballots have been mailed and will be counted over the weekend.

“We chose to dismiss the case,” she said. “It was just strategic.”

The case, however, was dismissed “with prejudice,” meaning the same lawsuit cannot be filed again at a later date.

“When you dismiss with prejudice, it is just this particular narrow issue.” Adams said, “I think the strategy is to go forward politically rather than (with) litigation.”

Two people supportive of the boycott on Israeli products ran for election to the co-op board, voicing their intentions at a candidates forum Aug. 2.

Co-op Board President Steven Maviglio said in an email Friday that he is pleased with the dismissal.

“While the Board is pleased to have this burdensome litigation behind it, certain members of the Boycott, Divest, and Sanctions (BDS) group continue to threaten continued litigation,” he wrote. “The Board will continue to oppose these and other efforts that violate the Cooperative Principles, our Bylaws, and the law.”

One of Maviglio’s earlier concerns with the lawsuit was spending co-op funds in a costly legal battle, but he wrote in the email Friday that the co-op received pro-bono legal services from the Pillsbury law firm in Sacramento.

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

A Community Celebration of Art: CurtisFest, Tomorrow, Sept. 10, 2011 at William Curtis Park!

2011-09-09T21:45:53Z

Join us for a day of art, music, and fun for the whole family, Saturday, September 10, 2011!

Creations in all art forms, domestic and exotic animals who allow you to pet them, a fairy who paints a glittering swan on your face, and musicians whose songs are brand new each time they perform. These are only some of the imaginative artists and activities that await kids and adults at the 5th Annual CurtisFest on Saturday, September 10th. Presented by the Sierra Curtis Neighborhood Association (SCNA), Curtis Fest will be held from 10am until 4pm in William Curtis Park, an eighteen-acre parcel of ground surrounded by quaint bungalows and shaded by renown heritage trees.

CurtisFest was established in 2007 to give local artists a venue at which to exhibit and sell their work. This free fall event will feature almost sixty artists and artisans who will present samples of their creations, great food from local vendors, and live music. Ceramicists, watercolorists, jewelry artists, photographers, potters, portraitists, fabric and giclee artists, and many more will be on hand to provide a fall feast of visual delight.

There will be lots more for attendees to do as they delight in the work of the visual artists. Offering their musical take on the richly creative atmosphereof CurtisFest will be the improvisational project band Instagon. Begun in 1993 as a musical experiment in the unexpectedly compelling sounds that can be created from everyday objects and situations, Instagon formed when a number of local musicians began incorporating this “noise” into a fusion of progressive rock, jazz, and drunge punk. Different musicians join Instagon for each performance, keeping the vibe crisp, intoxicating, and very much alive.

In 2007 a trio of musicians from Instagon developed the idea of creating a band with a solid lineup of jazz cover-versions of popular songs and riffs. The idea caught on with fans, and Garage Jazz Architects was born. Now on indie label TIF Recordings, Garage Jazz Architects will bring their spontaneous garage-jazz covers to CurtisFest to share with all.

The third musical group on board for CurtisFest is The Mike Justis Band. After performing together throughout northern California for twenty-five years with the popular band, Poetic Justis, Steve Mc Iane, Kathy Barwick and Mike Justis formed a trio to bring their mix of country rock and blues to venues in and around Sacramento.

Children are perhaps the most special part of CurtisFest, and this year’s festival offers two events that have proven to captivate children of all ages. Voted 2010 Family Favorite by the Bay Area Parent magazine, Happily Ever Laughter is an ensemble of specially-trained performers who’ve created a cast of singular characters to entertain at all sorts of children’s events. These professional “faeries” are known to enthrall children with not only their extraordinary face-painting, singing, magic, and balloon art, but also their genuine connection to the children with whom they “play.”

After conversing with the fairy from Happily Ever Laughter, kids can wind their way over to visit the animals of Pony Ranch Parties. The law firm of Soluri Meserve is sponsoring the return of the CurtisFest petting zoo. Expert at providing a safe and fun experience for both children and animals, Pony Ranch Parties introduces children to a variety of domestic and exotic animals. The adult staff members of Pony Ranch Parties go the extra mile to share and teach in this memorable interactive experience.

For more information on the Sierra Curtis Neighborhood Associations 5th Annual CurtisFest, call (916) 452-3005 or email faith@sierra2.org.

The Sierra Curtis Neighborhood Association (SCNA) formed in the 1970’s to rescue the old Sierra School from demolition. Since then, SCNA has brought neighbors together for a diverse slate of year-round events, and has offered a cohesive voice for community concerns. The restored Sierra 2 Center serves as a focal point for artists, teachers, students, parents, children, and seniors, who rely upon its dance studios, gardens, performance spaces, meeting halls and class rooms to provide a secure, charming home. Curtis Park is a neighborhood of approximately 2500 homes, a patchwork of diverse architectural styles situated around a quaint park.

Owners of Celestin's reflect on 28 years in business

2011-09-09T01:11:23Z

When it opened at 25th and J streets on a December morning almost 28 years ago, Celestin’s Island Eats & Cajun Cuisine was an instant success in the area, long before it was widely known as Midtown.

The restaurant, now located at 1815 K St., will close for the final time Sept. 30 as the Celestin family looks to relax and take a vacation.

“It’s the right time,” co-owner Phoebe Celestin said. She and her husband are looking to get out of the business, and they will now rent the space to a Southern-themed restaurant called The Porch.

She added that the closure is not financial. They handed it off to their son and his wife in 2006, but took it back in June, as the younger couple wanted to spend evenings together with their child. From that point on, they were looking to lease the space.

Selling Celestin’s wasn’t really an option, she said, since it had always been a family business and wouldn’t be the same otherwise.

Celestin said she and her husband are happy to see that Midtown has grown and prospered, getting to the point they dreamed of it becoming almost three decades ago.

“It’s bittersweet to leave it now, since the area is what we wanted it to be all that time,” Celestin said. “We were popular from day one, and we’ve been really fortunate. We had a strong beginning, middle and end. Every story should have that.”

Celestin added that several things were memorable over the years. She said customers always commented on how the windows on the original J Street location constantly steamed over, and she also remembers high-profile politicians stopping in for lunch.

But there’s one aspect of running the business that she said she will especially miss.

“My favorite was always being in a rush and working really hard and then pulling it off,” she said. “That was always a great feeling of satisfaction.”

With news of the restaurant’s impending closure coming out on Wednesday, Thursday’s lunch was very busy, and when the rush was past, co-owner Patrick Celestin, Phoebe Celestin’s husband, was wiping down patio tables.

“It’s what I do,” he said. “It’s important to have a good work ethic. I really like serving the folks and cooking the food. I’m going to miss the people and the hustle and bustle.”

Born in Port au Prince, Haiti, Patrick Celestin was in Sacramento visiting a friend from the Peace Corps when he met Phoebe, who had moved to the city from Seattle, and the two were later married.

Opening a restaurant seemed the natural thing to do for Patrick Celestin, who came from a family of chefs, caterers and restaurateurs.

“It’s in my blood,” he said Thursday. “What pleased me the most about owning this restaurant is that we maintained the quality of our food the whole time.”

The move from J Street to K Street came in 2001, after a fire burned a beauty salon on the space, and the Celestins were able to have a building constructed to their specifications.

At that time, they upgraded from a beer and wine license to a full liquor license and added mojitos and sangria to the menu, which have been some of the restaurant’s best-selling items since.

When it comes to food, the gumbo soup has remained a staple, as well as Haitian dishes.

“I have my favorite dishes,” Phoebe Celestin said. “I never tired of the gumbo, and I always loved the poulet blanchi, which is chicken in cream sauce with peas and onions.”

She added that another popular item is Haiti’s national dish, grio, which is twice-cooked pork with a sauce called Ti-Malice made of shallots, lime juice, chilies and thyme.

On Sept. 30, an auction of Haitian voodoo flags that grace the establishment’s walls will be held, with 15 percent of the proceeds donated to a charity the restaurant has partnered with for years, the Haitian Education and Leadership Program.

Customers packed the restaurant Thursday, and one of them was Nebrisa Novello, who came to celebrate her 28th birthday.

“I’ve come here on and off for the past 10 years,” she said. “It’s one of those Sacramento institutions. I like to keep going to them and help keep them around.”

She said she is happy that Celestin’s isn’t the victim of the economy and that The Porch will open in November to keep it from becoming an empty space.

Phoebe Celestin said the owners of The Porch, who also own nearby Capitol Garage, agreed to interview the entire staff of Celestin’s.

“That was very important to us,” she said.

Terry Sidie, who owns the Faces nightclub at 20th and K streets, ate at Celestin’s Thursday and said he is sad to see it go.

“They’re absolutely great,” he said. “There’s nothing else like it in town. There’s nothing I can say about Patrick and Phoebe that isn’t good.”

With the restaurant’s final three weeks approaching, the Celestins are making plans for what to do in the future.

Phoebe Celestin said she wants to return to Paris on a European vacation that might also include Spain and Switzerland to visit friends and family.

Patrick Celestin said he wants to relax, work around the house and clean out the garage.

Down the line, the couple might start a small product line of some of the restaurant’s favorites, including the gumbo soup and Ti-Malice Haitian hot sauce. They would then look to sell it at local markets.

But that’s in the more distant future. On Thursday, Patrick Celestin said he was focusing on the last weeks, where he hopes to see a lot of familiar faces so he can thank them for coming in over the years.

“Thank you. Thank you, Sacramento,” he said. “I am so grateful for the 28 years of support. I can’t emphasize my gratitude enough.”

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

Pirate Festival & Seafarers’ Marketplace

2011-09-08T18:53:18Z

FREE FAMILY EVENT with a canned food donation to the Sacramento Food Bank.

The Seafarer’s Marketplace & Pirate Festival captures the essence of a caribbean seaport in the 1800s. This family festival features live music, entertainment, contests, games, cannon battles, sword fights and other seafaring activities. Multicultural food and drinks will be available (Portion of food and beverage sales go to the A.T. Valdez Foundation).

The Rio Ramaza RV Park and Marina, and the entertainers, vendors and musicians have all have come together to help collect canned food and donations for the Sacramento Food Bank & Family Services while offering a fun filled adventure on the banks of the Sacramento River. Children ok but please, no pets.

The event is held outdoors on the Sacramento River, with plenty of shade trees and misters; and a wooden dance floor. Rio Ramaza Park, 10000 Garden Hwy. between Riego Rd. & Elverta Rd.. Parking is on Riego Rd. with free shuttle service to the venue. Parking fee is $5. Detailed directions are on the Web site.

You’ll see all kinds of Characters: Pirates, Sinbad the Sailor, Gypsies, Vikings, Mermaids, Jean Lafitte, Andrew Jackson, Blackbeard, Captain Jack and MORE !

Visit the Pirate Library and Book Store with local author Pamela Johnson “Heart of a Pirate”
See the river boat once owned by John Wayne and featured in the movie “Blood Alley.
Play in the Kids’ fun area

Musical Entertainment by:

The Black Irish Band
Skip Henderson & John Blakemore (playing some of the music featured in the first Pirates of Caribbean film)
Zydeco On Our Mind aka Z.O.O.M
Mz Myrna with Bobby Q & the Hot Licks
Vicious Groove (playing down home Louisiana R & B)

Celestin's to close this month

2011-09-08T00:45:30Z

After 28 years, Celestin’s Island Eats and Cajun Cuisine is closing its doors Sept. 30, according to owner Phoebe Celestin.

The Midtown restaurant will be replaced by a new venture from the owners of Capitol Garage, called The Porch Restaurant & Bar, which will feature Southern-style cuisine, according to a Wednesday press release.

The business was handed down to Celestin's son and his wife several years ago, she said, but once they had a child, they wanted to spend evenings together – something not conducive to running a restaurant.

"My husband and I came back and were considering offers that have been made," Celestin said. "We talked to several people and have a really good connection with the guys from Capitol Garage."

She added that there are currently no plans for her and her husband to open another restaurant, but that might be a possibility down the line.

"My husband loves to cook for people and will probably do it until he is no longer able to," she said. "He may look for something similar as a labor of love, but it's not in the plans at this moment."

Celestin’s, currently located at 1815 K St., originally opened on J Street in 1983 before moving to the current space in 2001, according to the restaurant’s website.

The Celestin family, originally from Port au Prince, Haiti, will auction off the Haitian Voodoo flags that hang on the walls of the restaurant on the last night of business, Sept. 30.

Celestin’s is known for its Caribbean- and Cajun-inspired food, including hamburgers with jerk seasoning, chicken curry and the popular gumbo soup.

The Sacramento Press will provide a more detailed article on Thursday.

To read a previous review of the restaurant by a Sacramento Press contributor, click here.

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

SacPress on Insight: Arena financing, gelato and chickens!

2011-09-06T23:43:33Z

On Tuesday’s regular visit with Jeffrey Callison on Capital Public Radio’s “Insight,” we discussed this week’s unveiling of the arena financing deal, the long-awaited passage of the backyard chicken ordinance and the opening of a new gelato shop in Midtown.

The highly anticipated report by Mayor Kevin Johnson’s Think Big Sacramento committee should give Sacramentans a better idea of possibilities for financing the entertainment and sports complex the mayor has been pursuing for more than a year. It will be unveiled at a luncheon at the Sacramento Press Club on Thursday, and we will be there. Meanwhile, here’s our most recent story on the subject.

On a much less grand scale, after two years of discussion, the City Council finally got around to passing the so-called “chicken ordinance,” which will take effect Nov. 1 and will allow people within the city limits to raise as many as three hens (but not roosters) in their backyards.

We also discussed Tuesday night’s City Council meeting, which was scheduled to be the last in the long, drawn-out redistricting process, with passions still running high concerning the move by Councilmembers Steve Cohn and Kevin McCarty to remove the UC Davis Medical Center from its traditional place in District 5 into McCarty’s District 6, a proposal that has drawn an ongoing public outcry.

Still being largely ignored is the move to incorporate the downtown railyards into Cohn’s East Sacramento District 3, removing it from its connection to next-door downtown, which is moving from District 1 to District 4. The Old Sacramento City Association is against this land grab, and the Alkali Flat neighborhood nearest the railyards will be heavily impacted, but the area’s representative, Rob Fong of District 4, will not be representing the railyards.

Fans of gelato got a boost last week when a new gelateria opened in Midtown in the spot on 19th Street near Capitol Avenue that was previously occupied by Le Petit Paris.

We also discussed a recent photo essay on GRAS (Green Restaurant Alliance of Sacramento), a consortium of local restaurants including Mulvaney’s, OneSpeed, Grange, Ella and others, who recycle their kitchen scraps into compost.

To listen to the audio, click here.

Local catering business keeps it in the family

2011-09-03T01:31:13Z

After working in the restaurant industry for more than 20 years, Mark Mitchell decided it was time to stop working for other people – so he opened a catering business last summer.

Mitchell and Sons Mobile Eatery came to life after friends who own Kasbah Lounge at 22nd and J streets offered to rent their kitchen to him. He has been building his business since then, catering events and regularly supplying food to Midtown and downtown businesses.

“The idea was essentially that I really like cooking food, but I didn’t want to work for anyone else,” he said Friday. “I like the creative side of cooking. I like to play music and experiment with it.”

Whether he’s listening to The Clash, Tom Petty or whatever else strikes his mood, he said he likes to cook and takes pride in knowing that his food will be a central part of a family or group of friends sitting down together for a good time.

He sells goods regularly to a food cart called Le Petite Pedlar on the 500 block of Capitol Mall and to Devine Gelateria in Midtown, but he also caters for lunches and events such as bridal showers, baby showers and weddings.

A menu is available, but he said he will make custom meals as well.

His favorite dish to prepare is anything having to do with pork, but a growing trend in party dishes is something else he said he loves to prepare – Timpano.

“It’s like a huge Italian pastry in a 12-quart bowl,” he said. “Mine has pasta, meatballs, sausage, salami, peppers, herbs, marinara and hard-boiled eggs. It’s all layered, and it looks really cool when you bring it out.”

Much of his business revolves around making lunches, whether it be for a single person or an entire office.

Lunch sandwiches run $6-$7, and salads with meats are available in the same range. Soups are popular in the colder weather as well, he said.

One of Mitchell’s repeat clients is Resources Law Group near Fifth Street and Capitol Avenue downtown.

“We have lunch meetings all the time,” said Executive Assistant Carolyn Fisher. “We see a lot of people, and I always like trying new vendors.”

Earlier this year, she said she called Mitchell and asked him to tweak his menu to offer vegetarian options for the law firm, and she asked him to make a few things that weren’t on the menu.

“It’s definitely not what you would get from your standard deli,” she said. “He cooks with some flair, and he’s a really fun young guy. I imagine he really likes what he does, and he’s nimble and not afraid to go rogue from his menu.”

The shaky economy is something of a concern with starting the new business, Mitchell said, but he added that he feels confident with the year-old enterprise.

“The one solid (thing) I have is that people still want to eat, to have someone else cook for them,” he said. “I learned long ago that the most important part of the business is service. I know my food’s good, and I want to do everything I can to make sure the service is, too.”

Early in his career he helped start the East Sacramento Italian restaurant called Cafe Milazza, where he spent 10 years as a chef. The restaurant has since closed, and the space is now the home of OneSpeed Pizza.

“After that, I spent five years at Nugget Market, and then I worked at Sampino’s (Towne Foods) on 16th Street,” he said.
Though he now works on his own, he said he gets a lot of help from his four sons, ages 8, 10, 12 and 15.

“They all help me in some way,” he said. “To varying degrees, they’re all into it.”

His 12-year-old son, Micah, has become something of an understudy, and Mitchell said his goal is to one day become a professional soccer player or a chef.

“I’d be happy if he did either one,” Mitchell said with a laugh.

Mitchell and Sons Mobile Eatery can be reached by phone at 267-3261 or online by clicking here once the site is updated.

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

Gelateria opens at 19th and Capitol

2011-09-01T07:31:33Z

For weeks, a sign saying “so close you can almost taste it” hung in the window of the storefront vacated by Le Petit Paris last year, and on Tuesday, Sacramentans got their chance to go in and sample authentic Italian gelato in Midtown when Devine Gelateria & Cafe opened.

“The opening went really well,” owner Elizabeth McCleary said Wednesday morning as she prepared to make gelato and sorbetto from scratch for the upcoming day.

Originally planning to close at 8 p.m. on the opening day, there was a line of people as late as 7:45 p.m., and McCleary said she might adjust her hours to stay open another hour if the trend continues.

Flavors include roasted almond, pistachio, dulce de leche, biscotti, stracciatella (chocolate chip), dark rich chocolate, hazelnut and marscapone.

Other flavors are being created as well, including blackberry sorbet and chocolate peanut butter.

“There’ll be more as time goes on and things start to run a little more smoothly,” she said. “I’ll even be doing some flavors from wine around the holidays, a champagne gelato or something.”

Sorbetto flavors include blueberry, lemon, Bartlett pear, cantaloupe, kiwi banana and caramelized pineapple.

Prices are $2.50 for a 2.7-oz mini, $3.50 for a 4.5-oz small, $4.25 for a 5.75-oz medium and $5 for a 7.1-oz large.

After working in advertising for more than 15 years, McCleary jetted off to Italy to learn the art of making gelato from scratch.

Unlike ice cream, gelato is denser and creamier, and McCleary said it is lower in fat as well.

“People have been blown away (by the gelato), which is the reaction I was hoping for,” McCleary said.

One of the people who was blown away by the taste and authenticity of the gelato was Curtis Park resident Patricia Moses, 53.

“It’s the real thing,” she said. “I don’t need to buy a plane ticket (to Italy).”

Eating a roasted hazelnut and chocolate-flavored scoop Wednesday afternoon, Moses said she’s glad the shop opened.

A longtime lover of authentic gelato, Moses said gelato is differentiated from ice cream by the intensity and precision of its flavoring.

“She’s making it the way you’re supposed to,” Moses said.

McCleary said she had to get a pasteurization license to be able to work with the materials in the way she learned when she studied the process in Italy.

“The Milk and Dairy board was here for five hours on Friday,” McCleary said, adding that she had to pass a written test as well as a practical test and show that she knew how to properly use the machinery.

That certification allows McCleary to make her own gelato base from scratch, so she is not relying on anyone else and can work with the flavors to make it consistent every time.

Once the business hits its stride, McCleary said, she plans on rolling out a mobile cart to sell gelato at farmers markets and also wants to find restaurant customers.

Also on offer at the gelateria and cafe are paninis for $6.99, which are prepared by local caterer Mark Mitchell, owner of Mitchell and Sons Mobile Eatery.

McCleary said she knew Mitchell from a restaurant he worked at, and it was during a chance meeting at Mulvaney’s B&L when she learned he was catering and could provide her with paninis.

Panini options include chicken, turkey, roast beef, prosciutto and a vegetable option. Different combinations of cheese and vegetables are available on each sandwich.

“They’re made on a couple of different types of focaccia bread,” Mitchell said. “They’re fresh every day. We’re not wrapping them holding them in the fridge for several days.”

He added that he enjoys gelato, and he is happy to have Devine Gelateria & Cafe as a place to eat as well as a client.

McCleary said she buys local products, from her dairy products to the Temple Coffee she uses to make lattes, Americanos and espressos.

Roz Nice, a 57-year-old Auburn resident, said the opening of the gelateria and cafe is part of a trend she is seeing in Sacramento.

“Sacramento is really coming of age with its gourmet restaurants and cafes,” she said Wednesday.

A fan of Italian gelato as well as traditional ice cream, Nice said she feels satisfied by a smaller amount of gelato than ice cream.

“It’s delicious here,” she said. “It’s just like the gelato I had in Italy.”

Devine Gelateria & Cafe is located at 1221 19th St. Hours are 11 a.m. - 8 p.m. Tuesday through Thursday, 11 a.m. - 9 p.m. on Friday and Saturday, and noon - 6 p.m. on Sunday. The business is closed on Mondays.

To read more about McCleary and the differences between gelato, sorbetto and ice cream, click here.

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

Fresh & Easy Neighborhood Market breaks ground in Oak Park

2011-08-31T23:00:26Z

Sacramento, CA | Tim Mason, CEO of California based Fresh & Easy Neighborhood Market, with Mayor Kevin Johnson, Councilman Jay Schenirer and other community memberrs broke ground Wednesday morning in a well attended ceremony in Oak Park.

The market will be built on the north west corner of Broadway and 34th Street. Mayor Kevin Johnson stated that when he came back from college he said "what can we do with this piece of property? As a year or two went by, you realize that properites this size get into the wrong hands." Johnson bought the land in 2002 and just held it "till the right person came in or the right company said 'we want to do something that will be an assest to the community.'" Prior to Fresh & Easy, Johnson stated that "they wanted to put a used appliance store there..." Johnson stated that this (Fresh & Easy) is the right business.

“I’m excited to welcome Fresh & Easy to our neighborhood,” said Johnson. “Fresh & Easy is not only bringing more good jobs to Sacramento, but also high-quality, healthy food at affordable prices to neighborhoods that don’t always have access to such foods.”

Johnson thanked Chris Brown who worked tirelessly and handled the real estate transaction, making sure the properety fell into the right hands.

In his opening remarks, Mason stated, "We hope to continue to be part of the solution in providing greater food access and help give food options to all types of communities... at a price they can afford right where they live."

Mason stated they have opened 137 stores since they opened in 2007, invested over two billion dollars and created more than 4500 jobs. In Oak Park, the new store will create 300 construction jobs and when it is finished it will create 30 retail jobs for the community.

"We have worked very hard to create a thoughtful business and a business that can make a difference in the community" Mason stated.

In a press release, Fresh & Easy noted the locations opening in greater Sacramento in 2012

Watt Ave. & El Camino Ave.- Sacramento
34th St. & Broadway- Sacramento
Mack Rd. & Franklin Blvd.- Sacramento
Lincoln & Sterling Rd.- Lincoln
Elk Grove Florin Rd. & Calvine Rd.- Elk Grove
E. Natoma St. & Blue Ravine Rd.- Folsom

"When you say Oak Park, when you put those two words together, people show up; people have been showing up for a long time. We are hitting our stride in this community; we are doing great things" Councilman Jay Schenierer stated.

"I know you said that you like to put your stores in all types of communities, so on behalf of Oak Park, I want to thank you for putting your store in the best and most engaged community that we have in Sacramento" Schenirer stated to Mason.

"When you look at Oak Park you see a diverse community, not just one sector of Sacramento" said Schenirer

Fresh & Easy has created nearly 5,000 jobs in California, Arizona and Nevada. Entry-level positions start at $10 an hour in California and provide room for employees to grow quickly. The company offers quarterly bonuses of up to 10% as well as a 401(k) with company match. Fresh & Easy believes everyone deserves access to affordable and comprehensive healthcare and provides all employees the opportunity to work at least 20 hours per week, which entitles everyone in the business to vision, prescription drug, dental and medical coverage with Fresh & Easy paying at least 75%.

In an impromptu open dialog, Mason committed to Johnson to install a solar roof and create space on the grounds for community members to sell their produce from the community gardens being developed. As a gesture and token of the commitment, Mason took his tie off and gave it to Johnson. Johnson holding the tie up stated that he would wear the tie at the ribbon cutting when the store opens.

"Fresh & Easy is going to open six stores in this area, that's a total of 150 jobs. We have double digit unemployment rates; that is a big deal." Johnson stated.

Fresh & Easy touts being a "green" company and you can learn more about them at their site>>>

Fresh & Easy invites community members to join their "Friends" to say in the know>>>

View more photos from this event>>>

Youngsters help to clean up Salvation Army playground

2011-08-30T23:59:35Z

“There was a lot of weed growing. It was really dirty.”

That is the way 16-year-old Brianna described the playground area at The Salvation Army Oak Park campus.

“Just didn’t look good,” she said.

But that changed on Saturday when Brianna and nearly 20 other youngsters from The Salvation Army youth, church and education programs volunteered to help spruce things up.

In a community event called “Together We Grow”, the kids, along with Salvation Army staff and other volunteers, worked collectively to take out the weeds, plant vegetable seeds and clean up all of the playground area.

“We’re giving young people a good example of working together,” Luisa Lose, Salvation Army community center coordinator. “It’s also great that they’re learning about growing plants in the garden and healthy eating, as well.”

In all, the project took more than three hours to finish, with the youth doing the lion’s share of the work.

“These kids were amazingly focused,” said Rosella Shapiro, master gardener from the Sacramento County UC Cooperative Extension Service. “I was stunned at how interested they were in pulling up weeds and (discovering) the bugs that came from the ground.”

For Brianna, however, this day was much more than just a volunteer project.

“This brought people together and kept them out of trouble. It was also very spiritual because it really brought us closer to God.”

Disclosure: Syd Fong is the public relations director for The Salvation Army of Sacramento County. For more information about The Salvation Army, log onto www.salarmysacto.org or join the facebook page www.facebook.com/salvationarmysacramento

Why am I running again for Co-op Board?

2011-08-29T00:08:46Z

I agree with mycologist Paul Stamets when he said ”We should be very concerned about our future,” in the film “DIRT! The movie.” While the movie focused on the dangers posed by global soil degradation, I find myself concerned about the state of our co-op. As a social worker, I see the recent events in the context of a time when we are faced with the large corporate buy outs of natural food companies and coincidentally higher interest in starting up co-ops than we’ve had since the 1970s, we have both an opportunity and a danger on our hands as co-op members.

Our movement is growing and it’s up to us to harness the energy and focus on ways to use that energy in ways that will advance the cooperative mission to meet the needs of its community. This is no small task, as both the rest of the Board and Paul Cultrera, our General Manger, will tell you. As a grocery store in the most diverse medium sized city in California, our shoppers and members reflect that diversity. The advantage of the co-op is that instead of satisfying the whims of stockholders, co-ops only answer to their membership. That’s why I take very seriously the responsibility of representing the interest of our collective membership, rather than the cause of a minority of people seeking to redress the wrong doings of the Israeli government.

What is the Board’s imperative? To seek social justice internationally or to ensure the future of this bulwark against the massive industrial agricultural complex about which books like The Omnivore’s Dilemma and movies like “The Last Crop” and “Dirt!” have warned us. I say it’s the latter. The value of the co-op is that as a local, independent, membership owned business, we can easily respond to the needs of the greater Sacramento community, including distributing the food from the local family farms to this community.

In “DIRT!” Green Belt Movement founder Wangari Maathai tells a Kenyan folktale about a hummingbird fighting an enormous forest fire. While the other animals stand by, overwhelmed by the size of the fire, the hummingbird did “the best I can” to fight the fire drop by drop. This story reminds me of the effort to save organic, sustainable farm land with the One Farm at a Time program, started by our Co-op and Annie and Jeff Maine of Good Humus Produce in the Capay Valley and supported by the Sacramento and Davis Co-ops.

Here at the Co-op, keeping our money in the local community, and fighting the mass industrialization of farm land and participating in the governance of our membership owned grocery business is critical to the strength of our community. Members can help by joining the Boards committees, including the newly forming Education committee to spread the word about cooperatives. Let’s start where we are and work together to make our co-op and our community the best it can be.

Disclosure: Alicia Dienst is a current member of the Sacramento Natural Foods Co-op Board of Directors.

Hot Italian temporarily a car showroom?

2011-08-27T00:43:06Z

People headed to Midtown’s Hot Italian for a pizza or gelato might be surprised to see two new additions to restaurant – a pair of cars from Italian manufacturer Fiat, which returned to the United States this year after a 27-year hiatus.

“We’ve been looking for new pop-up concepts, and they’re stylish, they’re Italian, and they’re a great fit,” said Andrea Lepore, managing partner of Hot Italian, located at 16th and Q streets.

A “pop-up,” she explained, is a temporary display that sometimes has retail components to it.

“It kind of pops up, and you have to catch it while it’s here,” she said. “It will be up for at least three months.”

The two cars, a Fiat 500 and a Fiat 500C Cabriolet – with a retractable roof – can’t be purchased at the restaurant, but they fit the restaurant, in more ways than one.

“The most common thing people ask us is how we got them in here,” Lepore said. “It was a little tight, and on one, we had to back it up and then fold the mirrors in. We had about an inch of clearance on either side.”

FIAT Pop-Up Shop Launch from HOT ITALIAN on Vimeo.

Joey Gonzalez, general manager of Fiat of Sacramento, 2329 B Fulton Ave., said he thinks the cars will appeal to Hot Italian’s clientele.

“We found that a lot of Italian-Americans have a fond memory of or feel comfortable with the Fiat brand,” he said. “Also, the lifestyle that Hot Italian promotes is very similar to what our buyers are looking for.”

He said the Fiat vehicles fit an urban lifestyle that emphasizes compactness and fuel economy over larger sedans or SUVs. With Hot Italian being a destination for bicyclists and being located in Midtown, he said he thinks the vehicles will be exposed to people who might not otherwise know about the Fulton Avenue dealership.

Perry Harris, a Fair Oaks resident, went into the restaurant Friday with his family and said he was surprised to see the cars in the space.

“They look great. They kind of look fun to drive,” he said. “It looks like I need a coast highway, to tell you the truth. It looks like a reason to get out and drive.”

Perry said having them there brings attention to them.

“You don’t really see Fiats too often,” he said. “I wish more cars looked like this.”

Another diner at Hot Italian Friday, Valeria Morrow, is originally from Argentina and spent time living in Italy, with her Italian husband.

“I think it’s cool,” she said. “It adds a nice vibe to the place.”

She added that in Italy and Argentina, she saw some restaurants with vehicles in them like the Fiats in Hot Italian, but it wasn’t common.

“For us, this is a great brand to associate with,” Lepore said. “The convertible is really fun to drive.”

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

Jewish Food Faire to Celebrate Culture's Rich Traditions

2011-08-25T14:48:37Z

Foodies and those who just love good food in a festive atmosphere will gather at Carmichael's Congregation Beth Shalom on Sunday, October 16th, for the 35th Annual Jewish Food Faire, featuring iconic Jewish deli items such as authentic corned beef on rye, bagels and lox and noodle kugel, plus a dizzying array of Jewish style baked goods.

The Faire, located at 4746 El Camino Avenue (Mission), will be held from 9 am to 3 pm, but come early because the food does tend to go fast.

This year's Food Faire theme is "Generation to Generation," recognizing the rich tradition practiced by many cultures in the Sacramento area of passing down family recipes from one generation to the next.

Join us for wonderful food that cannot be found anywhere else in the area, local arts and crafts and music. For more information, contact www.cbshalom.org.

Disclosure: I am a unabashed foodie and a member of Congregation Beth Shalom.

BarWest opens on J Street

2011-08-23T03:58:37Z

BarWest Burgers & Wings on J Street opened Thursday after a soft opening the previous weekend, filling a space that previously housed Aura ~~and G.V. Hurley’s~~ .

“We were really busy (on Thursday),” said co-owner Trevor Shults. “You can tell people in this area were really looking for something like this.”

The restaurant and bar located at 2724 J St. features a menu heavy on burgers and wings, with some salads and other items, such as deep-fried Ding-Dongs and buffalo fries as well.

Burgers include a variety of types, with the Capitol Classic (a step up from the BarWest burger with the addition of the “secret sauce”) and the J Street Bleu (a burger with bleu cheese).

Shults said the main focus for him at the moment is working with the staff to improve customer service in response to Yelp! reviews that complained of slow service.

“It’s like any new restaurant,” he said. “We need to work the kinks out before we really hit our stride.”

One change coming this week that’s a direct result of customer feedback is including French fries with every burger purchase.

Shults said that, originally, burgers by themselves started at $3.95, and fries were added separately. Customers, however, were upset that the burgers didn’t come with fries, so the menu is being adjusted so all burgers come with fries and start at about $5.

Drinks are another main feature of the restaurant and bar, with 16 beers on tap and about 40 craft beers available in bottles, Shults said.

“We also have drinks in fishbowls,” he said. “In fact, they’ve been so popular that I’ve got to order some more fishbowls.”

He said serving the 64-ounce fishbowl drinks allows people to share, and the popularity caused him to order another 50 of them to augment the 25 bowls he started with.

The mixed drinks served in fishbowls have four straws in them, and cost about $27.

The ground-floor restaurant area, including a patio, seats 102. The décor uses the brick walls of the buildings as well as padded wall coverings and beach hut-style grass over the bar area. A few surf boards serve as accents in the space.

An upstairs area is available for private gatherings, holding 48 people seated and 70 standing.

Shults said the idea is that it can be used for anything from corporate events to fantasy football drafts and birthday parties.

Some of the amenities upstairs include a private bar, four flatscreen TVs and a 15-foot projector.

“If people want to have corporate events, it’s $20 a head, and we have a $500 minimum,” Shults said.

Flatscreen TVs dominate the area above the bar and are also in other parts of the restaurant and the patio with 20 in all.

“We will have NFL Sunday Ticket from DirecTV, and we’ll be showing all the important games,” Shults said.

There won’t be any live music at BarWest, as one of the agreements with local neighbors included not filing for an entertainment permit. To read more about the restaurant and its workings with neighbors – who stood firm against the previous operators – click here.

Midtown resident George Raya, who has been involved with local neighborhood groups, said Monday that the restaurant and bar is not turning out to have the same types of problems that previous restaurants had.

“The crowd here seems to be social drinkers,” he said. “They aren’t drinking to get drunk. I’ve talked to a lot of the neighbors, and they all say it’s not a problem.”

He said there is noise associated with the restaurant and bar, but it’s the noise of a party, not the louder noise of a nightclub.

And Raya said he has been to BarWest every day it’s been open, and that it’s a convenient spot to get a drink near his home.

Tara Dodson, 37, lives in East Sacramento and likened BarWest to a Sacramento version of “Cheers.”

“The food is really good,” she said. “This is definitely a great local neighborhood bar.”

Johnny Davis, 33, said he’s tried most of the menu items and likes them all, but one stands above the rest.

“The deep-fried Ding Dong is amazing,” he said. “I’ve had one every day.”

He also said he tried the wings with the “death sauce.”

“If you were here, you would have seen a grown man crying,” he said with a laugh.

A touch-screen jukebox sits in the back of the restaurant, and music videos will be shown weekend nights.

BarWest Burgers & Wings serves food from 11 a.m. - 10 p.m. Monday through Friday, with the bar open until 2 a.m. Food service starts at 9 a.m. with brunch on weekends, and food service continues until 10 p.m., with the bar open until 2 a.m.

The BarWest menu can be found online by clicking here.

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

Editorial Note: A correction has been made after this story was published. The incorrect information has been struck out.

Dad's Sandwiches owners buy J's Cafe

2011-08-18T00:59:05Z

The owners of Dad’s Sandwiches recently bought a longtime downtown eatery and plan to add some of their signature sandwiches and rename it Dad’s on J by the beginning of next year.

Mick Stevenson, co-owner of Dad’s Sandwiches at 13th and S streets, said he and his business partner, DJ Rogers, have been looking for a second location for several months. When J’s Cafe, 1004 J St., went up on Craigslist about four weeks ago, they had the keys within a few days.

“We bought Dad’s two years ago, and we made money on the first day we were open,” Stevenson said in J’s Cafe Wednesday morning. “It’s the same with this place. Those turnkey businesses are great in this economy.”

The J’s Cafe menu will remain intact with the same prices. Stevenson said he brought in a higher-quality meat for the cheeseburgers and a higher-quality fish for the fish and chips, but he kept the same two-person staff, so customers should notice little difference.

The cafe features breakfast and lunch, including egg, hash brown and sausage platters as well as several types of burgers and sandwiches. Fish and chips are another popular option.

Around Jan. 1, Stevenson said some of the more popular items from Dad’s Sandwiches – between seven and 10 sandwiches and probably a couple of salads – will be added to the menu.

Customer Brittan Jones said Wednesday that the vegetable burger tastes slightly different, but it’s good.

“Having some salads will be nice,” said Jones, who goes to the cafe about once a week and added that healthier options would be welcomed. “I know I shouldn’t eat fried food as much as I do.”

Stevenson, who worked at the Fourth Street Grill for four years, said he bought Dad’s Sandwiches two years ago so he could follow his passion for food without working to make someone else rich.

“I’m living my dream right now,” he said.

Despite Fog Mountain Cafe – a block away – closing earlier this year, Stevenson said the economy didn’t discourage him.

“This is 10th and J,” he said. “This place looks like New York City at lunchtime. There’s tons of people, and they’ve always gotta eat. I ain’t scared.”

He said Thursdays and Fridays are the busiest days, but he averages about 75 customers through the restaurant from 9 a.m. - 3 p.m. on weekdays.

When the cafe re-brands as Dad’s on J, along with new paint and added menu options, he will open earlier, around 7 or 8 a.m., to bring in more customers for breakfast.

It is closed on weekends.

“At Dad’s (Sandwiches), we have our regulars who come in for early coffee at 7 a.m.,” he said.

He added that having a full grill at J’s Cafe will allow him to cater more than he currently can with the electric-only equipment at Dad’s Sandwiches.

“We can really add some hot items,” he said. “Right now, we only do meat-and-cheese trays.”

Deena Smith said she has been patronizing J’s Cafe for five or six years, and she picked up some food to go Wednesday morning.

“I was concerned it wasn’t going to be the same,” she said. “The food is really good and reasonably priced, and the people were really nice.”

She added that she enjoys the food under the new ownership.

“He seems like a really nice guy,” she said. “I hope he does well.”

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

Stellar restaurants and wineries, Belgian Beer Garden, and Experience packages to bid on make this an event you don’t want to miss!

2011-08-17T22:17:35Z

This October, returning as reliably as the falling leaves, is one of the most popular events in the area--Sierra Curtis Neighborhood Association’s 21st Annual Wine Tasting & Silent Auction presented by Cook Realty, benefitting Sierra 2 Center for the Arts & Community, Sacramento Children’s Home, and Bret Harte Elementary School.

Last year we celebrated the 20th year milestone of the Curtis Park Wine Tasting & Silent Auction, bringing in the beer garden, a new raffle program, a focus on experience packages in the silent auction, and a broader offering of private dinners hosted by neighbors. This year, we’ve taken all of that to an even higher level! This annual event is always the talk of the neighborhood, bringing people together for a decadent three hours of food samplings from the area’s finest restaurants, wine from more than fifty different wineries, silent auction and raffle items that encourage friendly competition and beginning last year, a Belgian Beer garden. The event is the largest fundraising event each year for SCNA and this year will include two other organizations at the heart of the neighborhood, Bret Harte Elementary School and Sacramento Children’s Home

We are on pace to exceed 25 restaurants! Returning as long-standing event favorites are restaurants such as Chops Steakhouse, Aioli Bodega, Taylor’s Market, Freeport Bakery, American River College’s Oak Café, Mighty Kong Café, and Tower Café. Newcomers last year, Casa Garden, Mama Susanna, Sushi Café, and Dad’s Kitchen will also return with their culinary delights. In addition, we have some exciting new participants joining us this year: Lucca, Matteo’s/The Supper Club, Enotria, Tapa the World, Scott’s Seafood and Hot Italian. Restaurant committee co-chairs, Sherry Sherry and Carrie Sage, have been working hard to bring in a super strong line-up that will impress attendees, showing off the unbelievable food scene we are so fortunate to have at our disposal! As if the line-up were not enough, we are introducing the first ever recipe book for this event—a cookbook containing recipes from each of the participating and supporting restaurants along with suggested wine pairings. This cookbook will be given away throughout the event and will be available for purchase throughout the year at the Sierra 2 Center office.

On the beverage side of the evening, Dick Ebert, wine guru at Taylor’s Market, is again coordinating the more than fifty wineries to bring the palate to a perfect state of seduction. There will be no shortage of ways to pair the food options with the beverages flowing from table to table, with representatives on hand to answer questions and provide suggestions. For the beer drinkers in the crowd, the Belgian Beer Garden is returning bigger and better than ever. Rob Archie, owner of Pangaea Two Brews & Bottleshop on Franklin Boulevard, is bringing his worldly insight of the Belgian Beer market back to the event as the sponsor and coordinator of the beer garden.

For the silent auction and raffle drawings, we are again lining up ‘Experience Packages’ that encourage competitive bidding: educational and cultural outings, culinary and gustatory adventures, and outdoor recreation experiences. In addition to the art, entertainment, and service donations, we have lined up such things as Date Night for a Year, Private wine tastings in Napa, Cut your own organic Christmas Tree outing, Create the flavor of the month at Gunther’s and more. We are still in need of auction and raffle donation items to round out the selection so we ask neighbors and businesses to consider donating—we especially encourage donation of experiences: ex. cooking, art, dance, or photography lessons, share your favorite cookbooks, travel books, or children’s books by bundling two or three together. These donations make the event even more special and contribute to the event’s success. All donations are tax-deductible.

One of the most fun and unique aspects of the Curtis Park Wine Tasting & Silent Auction event is the ‘neighborhood dinners’—privately hosted, themed events for six or more people, donated to SCNA for purchase by neighbors. This year we anticipate more than a dozen of these ‘dinners’, to include themes such as Running of the Bulls with food from Spain, southern-style Kentucky Derby Day brunch, a Backyard Pizza Party, French and Indian cuisine and more. Seats at these dinners will be sold during the event, separate from the auction and raffle, on a first-come first-serve basis, and tend to sell quickly.

Of course, this event would not be possible without the support of generous sponsors in the community. Cook Realty has once again stepped in as the Presenting Sponsor. Cook Realty, provider of outstanding real estate services in the Sacramento area since 1974, has been supporting this event at a high level for nearly all of the 21 years and continues to give back to the community through events such as the Curtis Park Wine Tasting & Silent Auction and with the activities of the Cook Realty Charitable Foundation. www.cookrealty.net.

Additional presenting sponsor is Pangaea Two Brews and Bottleshop, a neighborhood gathering place in Curtis Park, sponsor and coordinator of the Belgian Beer Garden. Founded in 2008, Pangaea’s Two Brews and Bottleshop prides itself on serving the finest brewed coffees and beers in the world, as well as tasty eats that complement each other.

We would also like to thank our supporting sponsors, Capitol Mechanical, Air conditioning, Heating and Sheetmetal specialists in Citrus Heights, and Joseph F. Eschelman, CIMA, Managing Director—Investment Officer with Wells Fargo Advisors, LLC.

Event Info: Saturday, October 1, 2011
                      4pm-7pm
                      2791 24th Street, Sacramento, CA 95818
                      (916) 452-3005

Tickets: Click here (thru 9/27) or go to www.sierra2.org or purchase at the Sierra 2 Center office (thru 9/30)
$30 SCNA members, $40 non-members thru 9/27
$45 everyone after 9/27

Disclosure: Written by the Executive Director of SCNA/Sierra 2 Center

Longtime pastry shop continues to please

2011-08-13T00:47:31Z

Snow cones are a seasonal favorite of the Osaka-Ya pastry shop and market, but it’s taken more than snow cones to keep the shop in business for almost 100 years.

A vestige of Sacramento’s former Japantown, which sat in the area around L, N, Third and Fourth streets, Osaka-Ya still provides traditional Japanese sweets, hot food and other edibles near the corner of 10th and V streets downtown.

“My mom and dad took over this business in 1963,” said owner Linda Nakatani. “A friend gave them the recipe for the snow cone syrup, and they used a hand-crank snow cone machine to shave the ice.”

Her father installed a motor, and the snow cones have been a summer favorite at the business ever since.

On sale from April 1 until whenever the weather gets too cold, there is a line most days at the walk-up window at 2215 V St.

Twelve traditional shaved ice flavors are offered, including cherry, strawberry, orange and vanilla, and a Japanese version is offered as well, which includes azuki beans layered in the shaved ice. If customers want, they can have azuki beans and syrup flavors.

Another popular variation is to have the shaved ice atop a scoop of ice cream.

“We make all of our own syrups here,” Nakatani said. “We have lots of sizes. Some people say our large is as big as a baby’s head.”

Prices range from $2 to $4.25, with four sizes available.

Daryl Leisey, 30, said he has been eating shaved ice from Osaka-Ya since he was about 8 years old.

“I’ve probably been eating those for 20 years, but last year, I really started venturing out into the other things,” he said, standing in line Friday holding a pair of watermelons.

“I get the raspberry mochi for my niece and nephew, too,” he added. “They love the fruit-flavored ones.”

Mochi is a rice cake pastry made from pounded sticky rice and filled with either azuki beans, lima beans or the more-popular peanut butter.

“We mainly specialize in those types of pastries,” Nakatani said. “I enjoy the art of making it and doing it in different styles.”

Special mochi pastries are made for traditional Japanese celebrations, including the Lunar New Year.

Other specialized pastries, such as omanju – a type of cake – are made on Girls’ Day (March 3) and Boys’ Day (May 5), Nakatani said.

Hot foods are served on Fridays and Saturdays, and they consist of Japanese favorites such as spare ribs, Teriyaki rice bowls and oden, a complicated-to-make fish cake.

“We make oden for a lot of the elderly single people who live around here,” Nakatani said. “And we have sushi every day except Sunday and Monday, and we make it here from scratch.”

Betty Nagano, 94, said she has been frequenting the shop for decades, since before Nakatani’s family took over the business.

The omanju drew her and her daughter in on Friday.

“I used to come here before the war, when it was in Japantown,” Nagano said.

Originally from Wyoming, Nagano grew up in Sacramento and kept going to the business through its various moves, including the current spot, where it has been for 14 years.

Japantown was in an upheaval during World War II, when it was illegal for people of Japanese descent to own businesses in many parts of California, said William Burg, president of the Sacramento County Historical Society.

“They were kicked out,” he said. “Essentially, the properties came up for sale during World War II, and they were fire sale prices. At the same time as the Japanese were sent to internment camps, African Americans working in waterfront industries bought the properties.”

After the war, the area around 10th and V streets became a sort of substitute for the old Japantown.

In the mid-1950s, the West End was the densest part of the city, but the residents had to move when the Capitol Mall area was reconstructed. The building of Interstate 5 wiped out the remains of the area in the 1960s.

“The Latinos went to Alkali Flat, the African Americans went to Oak Park and the rest of the Japanese went to Southside,” Burg said.

Over the years, Osaka-Ya has managed to stay in business under the same name.

Nakatani said the recession has made business tough, but she hopes to be able to keep going and possibly hand it over to her sons one day.

Her boys, ages 9 and 11, come into the pastry shop and help out from time to time, but after about 10 minutes, they get bored, she said with a laugh.

Leisey, who still buys snow cones at the street-front window after 22 years, said there’s a reason he keeps coming back.

“They’re always friendly,” he said. “It’s a great place to come, and they’ve got a lot of things for a small place.”

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

Old Ironsides has sound system, continues live music

2011-08-12T00:56:53Z

Quashing persistent rumors that Old Ironsides would stop playing live music, staff told The Sacramento Press Thursday that the bar now has its own sound system, and concerts are booked into November.

“For the record, we were never without a sound system,” said Mark “Gonzo” Gonzales, a manager for the establishment and also the man handling most of the booking for shows.

In late June, there were rumors that the iconic establishment at 10th and S streets would no longer be hosting live music, which has been a mainstay of the business for 21 years.

Gonzales said the old sound system, which had been leased, was taken out June 19, and a new sound system was being looked at, but in the meantime, a different sound system was being rented.

The new sound system went on line June 29, Gonzales said.

Bartender Art Rodriguez said having the sound system is an important aspect of the business.

“It means a lot to me to have a new one, because the owners don’t have to pay the rent on the old one,” he said. “When I found out how much money they were paying for the lease (on the old sound system), it was incredible.”

Rodriguez declined to give an exact amount, but characterized the lease as “quite a bit.”

He said the sound system, which consists of a Yamaha sound board, two bass speakers and several powered speakers, is smaller than the one that was leased, but anything more in the small space would be overkill.

“All the people who have come into the venue really like it,” he said.

Only one live band show had been held with the new sound system by Thursday afternoon, Gonzales said, though there had been a few open mic nights as well.

Local alternative/R&B/rock band Red Velvet Kiss played at the venue with the new sound system in place, playing on July 22.

“It was decent,” said Vincent Scola, lead guitarist for Red Velvet Kiss. “It’s not as good as the last sound system, but it still did the job. I was happy with it.”

Scola added that he would play at Old Ironsides again, and he said it’s valuable to have as a live music venue.

“You cant have too many live venues,” he said.

Mick Stevenson, owner of Dad’s Sandwiches at 13th and S streets, said he is glad Old Ironsides has a new sound system and will continue to provide live music.

“It’s crucial in this town,” he said. “It’s not always my neighborhood watering hole, but all three of my bands have played there a lot.”

Stevenson has played in the bands Nevada Backwards, Sam Sobriety and BLVD Park.

“(Old Ironsides is) definitely our competition as far as restaurants go,” he added. “But I know everyone in there, and having them here is a benefit to everyone. The Old Ironsides guys talk about us, and we let people know about them.”

Stevenson added that he thinks having Gonzales book bands for the venue is a good move as well.

“Bartenders know what bands bring in the money,” he said. “It should be good. I’m glad they’re up and running.”

Rodriguez said the live music has helped the restaurant and bar succeed in the current economy.

“It’s very important,” he said. “I’ve been here for 28 years, and I’ve seen Old Ironsides grow from not having any entertainment ... As far as nightlife, (the music) has really helped.”

Gonzales said that no one should worry about Old Ironsides going anywhere.

“We’ve been around a long time,” he said. “Come in and hear the new sound system and support the local bands.”

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

The Golden Bear expands its territory

2011-08-10T00:59:19Z

The space that formerly housed Hangar 17 in Midtown has been taken over by owners of The Golden Bear, who plan to bring a “grown-up” version of their neighborhood bar and restaurant to the area.

“We’ve been looking for a second location for quite a while,” said The Golden Bear co-owner Kimio Bazett. “It was preferably in Midtown and preferably a space that was built-out or established or had some unique architecture.”

Hangar 17 closed in March, and the space still had all of its restaurant equipment intact, which saved a huge expense, he said.

The approximately 4,000-square-foot building at 1630 S St. has about half of its space dedicated to the kitchen, an aspect Bazett said was important.

“A bar is what we know, but food will be an integral part of it,” he said. “One thing we were not really able to do (at The Golden Bear) is stretch our legs and show what we can do with the food.”

Bazett and his business partner, Jon Modrow, showed off their love of food with The Golden Bear’s inclusion on the Food Network show “Diners, Drive-ins and Dives” last fall.

Some crossover with the food at The Golden Bear can be expected, but no menus have been set for the new space, which does not yet have a name.

“It will be a fairly different business, but it’s nice to pay homage,” he said, referring to The Golden Bear, which opened about seven years ago.

The targeted opening date is sometime in February, and Bazett said there is still a lot of work that needs to be done.

“Aesthetically, we want to lighten up the space and really make it unique,” he said. “Nothing against Hangar 17, but it’s really important for us to differentiate ourselves for our own tastes.”

Designing the interior will be Whitney Johnson and Tina Ross, who are in the process of forming a design firm.

Johnson designed the interior of Shady Lady Saloon and said her experience lies mostly in restaurants.

“I think one of the biggest challenges is going to be differentiating (the building) from the street,” she said. “That space is pretty much tagged as Hangar 17. We need to change that.”

Though details and designs are still being worked out, large windows will front the street, opening up the space and bringing in more natural light. The patio area will become an indoor-outdoor space and will feature plants and a gardening aspect, Johnson said.

“We need a changed exterior look so people really notice it when they drive by,” she said.

In keeping with the theme of making the restaurant and bar a more mature “big brother” to The Golden Bear, Johnson said natural materials and history will be incorporated into the design.

While using wood accents is becoming more popular, she said the trend has been with refining the wood, and she wants to do something different, possibly using railroad ties and other rougher materials, but including more refined fabrics to “find the balance between femininity and masculinity.”

“Since Sacramento has so much railroad history, we want to use the railroad ties to show that off,” she said. “We don’t want to be Portland or San Francisco. We want to be Sacramento, and we want people drawn here for that.”

Bazett said the economy, though nagging, does not give him too many worries.

“Nothing’s foolproof, but we’ve put a lot of effort (at The Golden Bear), and we’ve never wanted to jump at the quick buck or claw over others,” he said. “We’ve been looking at this for several years, and maybe that’s why it’s taken so long. We’ve found what we want now.”

The timing is good, he said, as The Golden Bear gets a revamped kitchen, including a new hood and some other upgrades.

“This place can pretty much run itself, so we’ll have time to focus on the new place,” he said, adding that he won’t let The Golden Bear fall by the wayside.

Hours have not yet been set, Bazett said.

“That depends on whatever accord we can reach with the neighbors,” he said. “We are entirely different owners than the owners of Hangar 17.”

He added that he views The Golden Bear – and the new place – as a complement to the community.

“If we’re able to offer public space to meet people, socialize and offer high-quality food and drink and have minimal impact to the neighborhood, then that’s what we want,” he said. “It’s gotta be a win-win.”

Daniel Mueller, senior associate with Foursquare Commercial Inc. and broker on the Hangar 17 space deal, said he expects Bazett and Modrow will succeed.

“They’re young guys who have a good vision, and it’s not stagnant,” Mueller said. “I’m a restaurant broker, and I run into owners who have no vision for the future. That’s not what we need in this economy.”

He said he thinks The Golden Bear’s owners will provide a unique experience to the area.

“I think that when people walk in there, they’re going to be very impressed,” he said.

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

Spotlight Cakes offers cakes, Caribbean food

2011-08-04T00:54:21Z

A native of Trinidad and Tobago is bringing gourmet cakes and the taste of the Caribbean to Sacramento with the newly opened Spotlight Cakes on Stockton Boulevard.

Donna George, 54, learned the art of Caribbean cooking and cake baking at an early age from her family, and at 16, they moved to New York City, where she later began a career in nursing.

“I’ve always dreamed of opening my own restaurant and bakery,” she said Wednesday, adding that it opened July 21.

Her move to California from New York was prompted by the 9/11 terrorist attacks.

“I witnessed the first plane fly into the first tower on my way to work,” she said. “I have seven kids, and one of them was in college near the towers. I had no idea what was going on, and it took me seven hours to get home to Brooklyn.”

After that, she said she couldn’t live in New York City anymore, and she packed the kids and her belongings and drove to Sacramento, where she had previously traveled visiting friends.

Working as a nurse for Sutter, she got to know the community around Stockton Boulevard and Oak Park, and when an injury a few months ago kept her from being able to work, she decided it was time to fulfill her lifelong dream.

The cakes she makes can be anything from a standard New York-style cheesecake with a spongecake base to elaborate cakes with fondant and designs painted on them.

Other cakes include red velvet, buttery chocolate, tiramisu, lemon and fancier ones such as a nine-layer cake – yellow cake with vanilla buttercream frosting – and the bakery’s White Chocolate Cherry Bliss: yellow or chocolate cake with white chocolate moose filling.

And for those looking to have their own royal wedding, George said she can make British wedding cake.

“It’s basically a moist fruitcake with rum,” she said.

“Those crazy cakes are kind of the craze right now, like you see on the Food Network,” George said. “Last week, we made a birthday cake shaped like a race car.”

Cakes range from $60 to several hundred, depending on how “crazy” the client wants to make it, she said, adding that she also does wedding cakes, and any combination of cake flavors and fillings can be cooked up by her staff.

Pies will be carried in the fall, but can be made to order right now.

Rounding out the dessert menu is a variety of cookies and cupcakes, which George said have been popular with customers.

Victor Paz is one of George’s customers, and for his 49th birthday on Tuesday, he said he had to order one of George’s cheesecakes for the occasion.

“It’s delicious,” he said. “They’ve got a lot of really good things here.”

A designer cake business needs a fitting name, and it came naturally to George.

“I love Broadway, so the idea of calling it Spotlight Cakes just seemed right,” she said.

While the cakes take center stage at the establishment, George said she is also looking to bring more authentic Caribbean fare to Sacramento by selling Caribbean food for lunch, and it’s already developing a following.

“We had one woman come in (for lunch) Thursday, and she came back Friday, and then she came again on Saturday,” George said, adding that the Caribbean food won her over.

The food includes jerk chicken and jerk pork, curry chicken, and flatbread wraps called roti.

“Caribbean food is really spicy, but we put the spicy on the side,” George said, adding that the spiciness is in the sauces, and serving it on the side is a good way to keep it from overpowering those who aren’t familiar with the dishes.

The sauces include flavors like mango, chutney, oregano, thyme and rosemary, George said.

“There’s lots of curry, too, since we have an East Indian influence in the Caribbean,” she added. “We want to include more than just Trinidad and Tobago, so we have Cuban sandwiches and other dishes, too.”

Spotlight Cakes Executive Chef Todd Kingsbury, 26, is a graduate of the Le Cordon Bleu cooking school and lived in Barbados for a couple of years.

“Caribbean food gives you artistic freedom,” he said. “I’m a real creative kind of guy, and it’s always something different, depending on what you put into it and how you work with it.”

He said Caribbean food is very palatable, and most people who have tried it really enjoy it.

“We’re keeping it mostly authentic and putting a little bit of an Americanized twist on it,” he said.

The price of the roti wraps is about $7, and plates of jerk chicken with rice, beans and plantains can be had for $7.50. A smaller plate of the latter goes for $5, George said.

Caribbean food is not really expensive, and it’s healthy,” she said. “We don’t do a lot of fried stuff.”

Lauren Wakefield, George’s 21-year-old daughter, said she was surprised there weren’t many Caribbean places in Sacramento.

“We had them on every corner in Brooklyn,” Wakefield said. “I think it’s mostly because people here haven’t had it before. I don’t know how to explain the taste, but everyone who tastes it likes it.”

George’s mother, 83-year-old Mavis George, said she is proud of her daughter and excited for the business.

“I did some baking,” Mavis George said at the restaurant on Wednesday. “She learned a little from me and then did her own thing.”

Mavis George added that the Caribbean food in the restaurant reminds her of the food from her home in Port of Spain, Trinidad and Tobago.

Spotlight Cakes is open from 9 a.m. - 6 p.m. Monday through Saturday and from 11 a.m. - 3 p.m. for the after-church crowd on Sundays. It is located at 3751 Stockton Blvd.

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

Co-op candidate forum focuses on boycott

2011-08-03T07:23:21Z

Though the financial stability and the future expansion of the Sacramento Natural Foods Co-op factored into a board of directors candidates’ forum Tuesday night, it was dominated by another issue that has recently divided the co-op members.

The recent efforts to ban Israeli products from co-op shelves has led to discussion over whether a grocery store is the appropriate venue for a political boycott and the power the board of directors has over proposed boycotts. It has even spawned a lawsui t.

Five candidates are running for two open spots on the co-op board, and those elected will serve three-year terms.

Incumbent board members Alicia Dienst and Ann Richardson are up against Phyllis Ehlert, Cody Potter and Susan Bush. To read background on the candidates, click here.

Moderator Marcia Tennyson asked the candidates prepared questions that ranged from what they think are the values of the co-op to specific ones about the recent efforts to boycott Israel.

Candidates were asked what the most important responsibility of a co-op board member is, and they differed in their responses, with Ehlert saying the biggest responsibility is fiduciary.

She added that board members “should be above reproach and create trust among members.”

Richardson agreed that financial responsibility is priority No. 1.

“We clearly are a very successfully run business,” she said.

The co-op sells about $25 million worth of products annually, according to General Manager Paul Cultrera.

Bush focused on the need to represent the membership in its entirety.

“Except for one small part of the bylaws, this is not a direct democracy,” she said. “I am prepared to defend that part of the bylaws that says members have the right to petition and have that petition put on the ballot.”

Potter said he agreed with Bush, adding that it’s necessary to involve the members in the decision-making process.

“You’re representing them, and you have to put out surveys and ask them (questions), otherwise you’re only representing a fraction of the membership,” he said.

Dienst said she thinks the board is charged with developing a vision for the co-op to follow 10, 20 and 30 years down the road.

“In developing that vision, obviously board members have a substantial responsibility to connect to the membership,” she said.

The future of the co-op was hinted at, with mention of the lease on the current store expiring in two years. All candidates agreed that if the membership decides to relocate, it’s an issue that will need a lot of thought put into it.

The focus turned to the Israeli boycott issue on one of the questions about halfway through, and that topic dominated the rest of the debate.

Potter, bringing up the apartheid regime in South Africa, said boycotts are proven to have an effect, and he thinks the co-op should boycott Israeli goods to bring about change in what he thinks is an inhumane occupation in Palestine.

“I don’t think there’s anywhere in the bylaws that says we can’t boycott products (for political reasons),” he said.

Dienst and Richardson avoided commenting on the boycott directly, saying that their attorneys have advised them not to speak about it since the co-op is currently involved in a lawsuit on the issue.

Ehlert said she is opposed to the boycott.

“Our world is too complex for simple decisions,” she said, adding that any boycott should be done at the grassroots level, where members make their own purchasing decisions.

“Years ago, there was a grape boycott,” she said. “If you didn’t support them, you didn’t buy them.”

Bush disagreed, saying her view on the bylaws is that allowing members to petition the board to have a measure put on the annual ballot to the full membership is the only way members themselves have a direct representation in the store.

Throughout the debate, the approximately 45 people in the audience applauded, and some held up signs saying “No BDS,” referencing the group wishing to boycott, divest and sanction Israel. They were later told to only react when they agreed with something, with a silent thumbs-up, because the applause and noise was disruptive and took too much time away from the debate.

Ehlert said she thinks it is the role of the board of directors to filter some of the issues, since no set of bylaws can be written to anticipate every controversy that might come up.

Bush said the board should have a role in reviewing initiatives but anything over reviewing them is “usurping rights of the membership as they are enshrined in the bylaws.”

Questions from the audience also focused on the issues surrounding the boycott initiative, and Potter said he would support boycotting goods from other countries, such as China and Syria, that have human rights violation records.

He added that proposed boycotts of products from nations guilty of human rights violations “deserve serious discussion.”

Dienst said bringing the politics of foreign nations is “inside-out” from what the co-op is about.

“The co-op’s mission has been to provide natural food and sustainably produced food,” she said, adding that 80-90 percent of the products are locally produced.

Bush said the reason the focus has been on Israel is because the U.S. government supports the occupation of Palestine. She said that stance silences the voice of opposition in the United States.

Dienst disagreed, saying that their voices were being heard at the forum.

Richardson added to Dienst’s comments: “If we hadn’t been sued, you’d be hearing more about this issue tonight from us.”

Dienst urged co-op members to vote.

“Your involvement is critical,” she said. “It absolutely is.”

A video of the forum was recorded, and it will be available on YouTube through the Sacramento Natural Foods Co-op website later this week, according to Board Member Michelle Reynolds.

Ballots must be postmarked by Sept. 3, and votes will be counted by Sept. 10, with new board members taking office Oct. 4.

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

It takes two to tango – or Ten 22

2011-07-30T20:46:22Z

Hungry for tango?

Whether you are a tango dancer who loves to eat, connoisseur of South American cuisine or perhaps just a couple feeling romantic, this new Ten 22 and Tango by the River collaboration had something for you. A visit to Argentina without the airfare

Chef Jay Verregge prepared a three-course meal while dance studio owner Donna Williams, lined up the entertainment as Argentine tango singer Ernesto Rassi set the mood for couples on a night out this week.

Chef Jay Verregge’s authentic Argentine meal began with Chorizo empanadas, followed by plates of green salad drizzled in red wine vinaigrette. The main entrée was the highlight, Barbacoa with Salsa Criolla - - slices of steak and chicken marinated in lime seasoned with slivers of garlic paired with Chilean merlot. Rassi’s voice and tango intertwined with the meal. Finally, caramel dulche du leche with whipped crème served with black coffee savored the sweet tooth.

The meal, the music, and the lovely dancing provided just the romantic equation for a South American couple, Jorge and Susan Escobar, who were celebrating 38 years together

“Our favorite part of the meal was the empanadas. We missed them while living in Paraguay,” shares Susan Escobar, who was there with her husband Jorge.

A fairy tale South American romance.

The couple was thrilled with the experience. They’re new to tango dance but not to the romance of South America. Their fairy tale romance began in Stockton and included Chile, Argentina, and Paraguay.

The couple met at University of the Pacific in Stockton in the early 1970s. Jorge studied biology as an exchange student and Susan was completing her teaching credential.

We are interrupted by two women laughing and sipping their wine as they waive for attention for Ernesto Rassi to help demonstrate close embrace in tango. We hear the light clicking of their high heels and the bandoneons in the background as they sway to the sounds of an "orchestra tipica".

After graduation, Jorge returned to Paraguay. Susan on the other hand, taught English in a town in Chile called Temuco. After Jorge got a job with a bank in Paraguay, he decided to surprise Susan with a visit. What he didn’t know was that she was away on holiday in Santiago.

“We literally crossed paths. I stopped by Santiago to get to Temuco in Chile,” he smiles recalling the day. He recalls losing her address. He didn’t give up, instead knocked on all the doors in the neighborhood in Temuco until he met a family who knew Susan. One of the sisters phoned a relative in Santiago. Susan then returned to the village to meet her love.

Just then, Ernesto Rassi breaks out in the finale. Three couples dance in harmony around him, as he sings “Cambalache”. The song is about the life of unpredictability and disorder like the hustle and bustle of bazaars and open marketplaces in Argentina. Rassi’s wife, Cecilia, a Humphrey's scholar from UC Davis translates the final stanza,

Que es lo mismo el que labura
noche y dia, como un buey
que el que vive de los otros,
que el que mata o el que cura
o esta fuera de la ley.

In English,

It's the same the one who works,
day and night like an ox,
than the one who lives from the others,
than the one that kills or heals
or than the one who lives outside the law.

It's a Peace of Cake! serves up gourmet cake pops

2011-07-30T03:25:41Z

You’ve probably seen cake pops on food blogs or at bridal showers or even at Starbucks. The bite-sized treat is becoming a popular alternative to cupcakes.

South Sacramento resident Wendy Bell has made an online business out of her made-from-scratch cake pops called It’s a Peace of Cake!

After seeing a cake pop recipe online, she decided to make her own version using her five basic cake recipes: lemon, chocolate, vanilla, red velvet and coconut.

Bell crumbles the cake and combines it with frosting, rolling it into a ball and then dips it in a chocolate shell and finishes it off with her signature chocolate swirl.

Each cake pop has a different combination of cake and type of chocolate.

· The Decadent Double Fudge has a milk chocolate shell and a dark chocolate swirl.
· The Deeply Red Velvet (the most popular flavor) is dipped in white chocolate and topped with a chocolate swirl and rainbow sprinkles.
· The Luscious Lemon has a white chocolate shell and lemon swirl.
· The Very Vanilla is dipped in dark chocolate with a white chocolate swirl.
· The Crazy Coconut is dipped in milk chocolate and topped with toasted coconut swirl.

She made a batch of Luscious Lemon cake pops for Mother’s Day last year and shared them with her family.

Her niece Candi Fuller, who works as a sign language interpreter – unbeknownst to Bell – brought them to work the next day.

“Everyone just loved them,” Fuller, 33, said. “They thought it was a great idea – this was before Starbucks had come out with their cake pops, so it was a pretty new concept (then).”

Word of mouth has helped grow the business.

Bell made some for her friend who lives in Brentwood. Her friend brought them with her when she went wine tasting at McGrail Vineyards and Winery.

The owner tried the Decadent Double Fudge cake pop and invited Bell to be a vendor at one of the winery’s events.

Winery president Heather McGrail said a lot of customers kept telling her that the chocolate cake pops went really well with the wine, so the winery invited Bell to a Valentine’s Day event where desserts were paired with specific wines.

The Decadent Double Fudge pop was paired with the 2008 Cabernet Sauvignon Reserve.

“That specific wine you get a little chocolate flavor as well as dark cherry,” McGrail said. “It complements the moistness of the double fudge cake pop.”

McGrail said she really likes the presentation of the cake pops and plans to have them at future winery events.

“I think the biggest thing is you see them and they’re adorable and then you taste them and they’re even better than they look, which is hard to believe,” she added.

They were a hit with adults, and they were a big hit with kids, too, as Bell found out when she made 300 cake pops for a school function and every last one sold.

“I remember having to run home and get more – it was just crazy,” Bell said.

She officially began the business in September of last year when she got the license.

The name – It’s a Peace of Cake! – reflects the hippie in her, she said.

“I started looking up idioms for cake,” she said. “When ‘it’s a piece of cake’ came up I thought that was so perfect. That’s where I got it.”

But running the business has not been a piece of cake.

“I’ve learned that there are a lot of components that go into building a business – it’s not just the product,” she said.

However, Bell said she enjoys it, especially the baking.

“No matter how much work I put into it I still enjoy it,” she said. “When I can just sit and bake and dip and roll my cake balls … It’s therapeutic to me.”

All of the baking and assembly is done in a kitchen she rents on 16th street.

She makes about 300 cake pops at a time. She spends three-hour blocks in the kitchen and divides the work into three sessions: first, baking the cakes and making the frosting; then, rolling them into balls and dipping them in chocolate; and last, packaging and displays.

Whenever she can, she uses in-season ingredients such as eggs or lemons from the farmers market. She also uses recycled gift boxes.

Because of the chocolate coating (she uses Guittard melting chocolate), the cake pops should be kept refrigerated.

They last about two weeks in the refrigerator or a month in the freezer, she said.

Yummy Yogurt Cafe on J street recently started selling her cake pops.

Rod Avery, lead partner of the Yummy Yogurt Cafe J Street location, said that as a newly opened business, they were looking to carry other items like pastries in addition to their yogurt.

“It was a good fit for us,” he said. “I’m a small business owner (so) I support small business owners where I can.”

The cake pops are featured in the display case near the register. The cake pops are $2.50 each and come individually wrapped.

Yummy Yogurt Cafe General Manager Samanthia Warren said the cake pops are popular.

“You’re really getting the freshest cake pop around,” she said. “It’s a nice little treat (but it’s also) kind of health-conscious” because the portion is small.

“Not all of us ladies like to give up our cake,” she added.

For now Bell does not have a storefront and operates her business solely online. Cake pops can be ordered by the dozen for $2.50 each or in larger quantities for a discounted price.

She said lately she’s been getting orders for bridal showers, baby showers and birthday parties.

The cake pops can be customized with different flavors and different colors.

“(If) you’re having a baby shower and you’re having a boy we can customize to blue to fit your theme,” she said.

Bell also does cake towers – where multiple cake pops are arranged in the shape of a cake – which are popular for weddings.

“They’re designed to mimic a wedding cake,” she said. “(You) can add a cake on top or flowers.”

Bell does almost all of the baking herself but she said her family and her three children help out a lot.

She is experimenting with new recipes to incorporate liqueurs in her cake pops and she is also working on a gluten-free recipe.

“My hope is soon to have my own kitchen,” she said, adding that she would like to have one by the end of the year.

When asked if she ever thought she would have her own cake pop business, Bell said, “I knew I wanted to do something with food, I just didn’t know what.”

“It’s kind of taken on a life of its own and I’m going with it,” she added.

Bell did her first public event in Sacramento at the Sacramento Cyclefest Bicycle Show earlier this month. She and her cake pops will be at the 13th annual A Taste of Sacramento Oct. 14.

“I’m looking at that being my Sacramento launch,” she said.

Her niece Fuller said she has yet to meet anyone who doesn’t like her aunt’s cake pops.

“She has the potential to go far with it,” she said of the business. “Hopefully we’ll see it on Food Network one day.”

For more information about It’s a Peace of Cake! or to place an order, visit the website or Facebook page.

Entrepreneurs drop 'fight bar,' look to expand restaurant

2011-07-30T00:11:40Z

The owners of a contested bar with a mixed martial arts fighting concept withdrew their application earlier this month, but neighboring residents are still concerned that new plans for the Midtown space will be the same operation by another name.

The MMA Fight Bar concept was planned by the owners of Luck’s BBQ, which at 2502 J St. is next door to the vacant space the fight bar would have taken.

The application for an alcohol license for Fight Bar was withdrawn by owners in mid-July, and the Alcoholic Beverage Control office confirmed Friday that no new application has been filed yet.

“They’ve decided to change their format there,” said Midtown Business Association Executive Director Rob Kerth. “They’ve decided to expand Luck’s BBQ.”

Kerth said trying to shoehorn another restaurant into the space is difficult, and the new idea should allow the space to be put into use much sooner.

As a restaurant, Kerth said he thinks it’s great to see new investment and improvement in the Midtown area.

“The more we have to offer, the more we expect people will enjoy coming here and living here,” he said.

Kerth added that the fight bar theme wasn’t likely to appeal to nearby residents.

“If something shows up with the name ‘Fight Bar,’ it’s not starting out setting a great impression with neighborhood leaders,” he said. “They’ve decided to rethink that concept.”

City Councilman Steve Cohn said the owners did some outreach efforts in the community that weren’t well-received.

“It seemed this concept was going to be pretty problematic right across from a senior housing complex, so they decided to hold back on that idea,” he said.

A manager at Luck’s BBQ confirmed Wednesday that the owners would be expanding Luck’s BBQ in lieu of building the fight bar, but he did not return phone calls later in the week.

Nearby residents said Friday that they are still waiting to see what the expansion will bring.

In the past, the same group of neighbors has been influential with other nearby establishements, including G.V. Hurley’s and BarWest Burgers & Wings.

Dale Kooyman, a local resident, said that he is waiting to see which type of liquor license – if any – the business applies for.

Restaurant alcohol licenses are easier to get, but bar/nightclub licenses are more expensive and must be justified, he said, adding that he doesn’t want to see the owners apply for a restaurant license only to stay open until 1:30 or 2 a.m. and operate as a bar.

“We’ll see if it’s a better outcome,” he said. “We’ll see if they’re just changing the name or changing the operation. If you’ve got 15 or 20 screens showing fights, then it’s still a fight bar, even if you call it a restaurant.”

Kooyman added that the name is immaterial.

“We don’t want a business operation that fosters MMA/martial arts,” he said. “They’re in Chicago and various places, and the bouncers can’t control the fights.”

Karen Jacques, another area resident, said she is concerned that alcohol mixed with a fight-themed bar will cause spillover troubles in the nearby residential areas, where many patrons would likely park their vehicles.

“It seems like the more we become a regional destination that is known primarily for bars, the more there is spillover,” she said.

She added that bouncers and security at bars cannot control problems that might occur on nearby streets, and with reduced police and code enforcement staff, she is concerned.

“I’m still concerned about what may go in there,” she said.

Cohn acknowledged that there may still be concerns among local residents as the restaurant expansion goes forward, but he expects they can be worked through.

“I think certainly if all parties are willing to talk to each other, there’ll be ways to work out the restaurant expansion,” he said.

He added that he doesn’t know any timeline for the expansion permit to be filed, but he expects it to be sooner than later.

“I did get the impression it was not going to be a long time,” he said. “Probably in the next couple of weeks.”

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

You had me at Merlot!

2011-07-29T22:41:59Z

The Child Abuse Prevention Center will host their Pour for Prevention wine tasting benefit, supporting their mission to prevent child abuse, neglect and abandonment. This event showcases local wineries, restaurants, artists, and features live music for a full night of entertainment – and a chance drawing with some fabulous prizes available!

Pour for Prevention will take place in the heart of Sacramento’s historic district at a private estate.

What: Pour for Prevention Wine Tasting Benefit

When: Saturday, August 27 – 6:00 pm- 10:00 pm

Where: 1724 N Street, Sacramento, CA 95811

Who: The Child Abuse Prevention Center

Tickets: $35.00 in advance, $40.00 at the door

Visit www.thecapcenter.org/news.asp to purchase tickets. Must be 21 to attend.

Contact: For more information, contact Cathy Kauffman at (916) 244-1927 or email at ckauffman@thecapcenter.org

Disclosure: Alyson Willey is an account executive for McNally Temple Associates, assisting Child Abuse Prevention Center with "Pour for Prevention."