For Sacramentans who have ever pondered the mystery of what makes a cocktail special and want to sample new, classic, exotic and experimental cocktails, then they will have the opportunity beginning Monday. Midtown Cocktail Week is coming back to Sacramento for the fourth year, and for seven nights, 15 designated Midtown or downtown bars and restaurants will be featuring specialty cocktail events. For more information and a full list of events, click here.  “It’s good for business, (but) not in the monetary sense,” said Jason Boggs, co-owner of Shady Lady Saloon. “It lets people in Sacramento know they can drink better, and that makes quality of life better for everyone.” Midtown Cockt

Big Brothers Big Sisters has partnered with eleven celebrated Sacramento restaurants for “Cocktails for a Cause” in July. These eateries are lending their best mixologists to create refreshing, innovative cocktails to generate funds for Big Brothers Big Sisters of Greater Sacramento throughout the entire month of July. Beginning Friday, July 1st and continuing throughout the entire month, DeVere’s Irish Pub, District 30, Dive Bar, Ella Dining Room and Bar, Grange, L Wine Lounge, Lounge on 20, Mulvaney’s, Pizza Rock, Red Lotus and Zocalo will be serving a delicious cocktail, aptly named the "Big Brother/Big Sister" or something similar. Every one of these eleven Sacramento hot spots will c

Bourbon was the business at downtown’s Grange Restaurant and Bar Wednesday night as chefs Michael Tuohy and Brad Cecchi presented a four-course dinner accompanied by bourbon cocktails. “The biggest thing for us is the fun,” said Grange General Manager Troy Christian. “It also fills up the restaurant.” Christian said about 75 people took part in the dinner. It was one of about four that Grange hosts each year, with the next one being a tequila-themed dinner for Cinco de Mayo. The bourbon being paired was Grange’s unique brand, crafted by Woodford Reserve of Versailles, Ky. Though the Woodford Reserve brand has only been produced since the mid-1990s, the distillery is the oldest in the c

To celebrate Grange Month, Orangevale Grange presents The Orangevale Grange Family Fair for the 6th year and extends an invitation to the families in and around the community to come to their Grange and have some fun. Admission is FREE for this community event. Offered is a diverse collection of activities so that each member of the family can find something to do, something to watch, something to intrigue them. There will be many vendors, performers, animals, crafts, games, and activities, along with food, live music, public service displays and much more. There will be other local not-for-profit organizations and businesses on hand demonstrating or exhibiting as well. The Grange, the

Grange has a reputation for its fine dining experience. With the tall windows, dim lighting, and big chairs you certainly get that, but the food doesn’t quite match up. There are some good points to the food, and my meal at Grange started off with some velvety corn soup which was probably the best part of the entire meal. It was sweet, tangy, and seasoned beautifully. However the entrée was an interesting combination of a big juicy pork chop with some bbq sauce, grits, and a misleading side of roasted jalapeno peppers. Reading this on the menu seemed as if they were mixed into the grits, so beware. It seemed a bit careless to give someone something so abrasive to stand alone. Despite this

  Local chefs Kurt Spataro, Michael Tuohy and others joined forces to create an 1850s-inspired four-course meal for “A Taste of History” at Sutter’s Fort. The fundraiser will benefit Friends of Sutter’s Fort, a group that continues to keep the historic monument open to the public. The menu, taken from John Sutter’s era, has been adapted using local ingredients. Honey and olive oil samples will be served as well as beverages from local wineries and breweries. Lisa Mealoy, event coordinator with Friends of Sutter’s Fort, said the dinner is meant to “emulate the community-oriented” traits of Sutter, who established Sutter’s Fort in 1839. She said he was a hospitable, generous man who trea

Ever wonder if its possible to shop exclusively at farmers’ markets and eat nutritiously? Deliciously? The answer is yes, and Joanne Neft and Laura Kenny are making it easy for you. The duo spent every Monday night in 2009 hosting dinner parties where they treated guests to dishes prepared with local, seasonal ingredients purchased at farmers’ markets in Placer County. They recorded the menus they created and compiled them into a book with 360 recipes. "Placer County Real Food: Recipes and Menus for Every Week of the Year” is the finished product and Neft and Kenny were at Grange Restaurant and Bar Wednesday night signing copies, meeting readers and foodies, and eating. The $45, four-

With more than 10 local farmer's markets open weekly starting this month, it's difficult to navigate all the options and choose something you can easily prepare. Enter Michael Tuohy, Grange Restaurant's executive chef and leading proponent of the Slow Food Movement, whose mission is to "understand the importance of caring where their food comes from, who makes it and how it’s made," according to its website. Tuohy holds a weekly "Follow the Chef" lunch at the Grange, located on the corner of 10th and J streets inside the Citizen Hotel. At 11 a.m. every Wednesday between May and October, he meets with a group of 15 people or less at the Grange and leads them through a tour of the farmer's

In this day of Food Network stars and celebrity chefs, one culinary icon (BAM!) has been singing the praises of the pig for nearly as long as he's been mugging for the camera:   "Pork fat rules, baby".   Apparently, the man has never been to a Duck Off. Thursday night marked a unique culinary experience at Grange Restaurant: to my knowledge, Sacramento's first-ever Duck Off.  The five-course, prix fixe dinner benefitting the California Waterfowl Association, was preceded by an Iron Chef style competition between Grange executive chef Michael Tuohy and food writer Hank Shaw.  The cook-off was judged by a veritable who's-who of Sacramento Foodie Glitterati, including Darrel Corti and Rick

Saturday morning I contemplated whether or not I should eat breakfast. My stomach was inexperienced with grub crawls, the Eat Your Art Out Crawl would be my very first. I settled on eating something small. Luckily I lived close enough to walk to the captain meeting place and by the time I had gathered my team's bags and badges, my stomach was growling. Of the 18 restaurants and dining establishments in the Crawl, I had eaten at all of them but five.  My team, Team Snuffleupagus, started at Brew It Up! where a fruit platter and blue cheese kettle chips awaited. This was a good warmup for the digestive system, not too heavy, and easy to eat. Lucca was one of the restaurants I hadn't tri

Mark Miller admitted being flattered when Life magazine named him one of America's most influential chefs of the 1980s alongside Alice Waters, Wolfgang Puck and Paul Prudhomme. But he isn't comfortable with his celebrity chef status. Miller is most famous for popularizing the southwest cooking style worldwide. He's written 10 cookbooks altogether, and seven of them deal with southwestern-style cooking, including The Great Chile Book and Coyote Café, named after his famous Santa Fe café. However, what Miller really wants is to inspire people to cook. "Sometimes we watch too much television, and we are preordaining what the [culinary] experience is," Miller said. "People should really de

This will be a big, varied book week in Sacramento, with events ranging from a volunteer chapbook-making workshop to a Second Saturday reception for local art-book author Doug Biggert.  Monday, July 6, 8:00 p.m. The Moody Blues Poetry Series. A Taste of Laguna Southern Cuisine. Weekly poetry reading hosted by Ms. La-Rue, with music by DJ Barney B. $5. A Taste of Laguna. 9080 Laguna, Elk Grove 95758, (916) 691-663 Tuesday, July 7, 7:30 p.m Poets’ Workshop. Sacramento Poetry Center. Weekly workshop moderated by Danyen Powell. Bring 15 copies of your one page poem to be read and critiqued. Free. Hart Senior Center. 915 27th Street, Sacramento 95816, (916) 264-5462 or (530) 756-6228. Wednes

ORANGEVALE, CALIFORNIA, June 22, 2009 --- In the summer of 1969, five hundred thousand young people converged on a dairy farm in rural New York for "three days of peace and music". "Woodstock" defined a generation. In celebration of the 40th anniversary, Grangestock will be presented July 11, an outdoor festival of fun, food & music at the Orangevale Grange's beautiful natural amphitheatre. Grangestock will begin at 11:00am and feature more than a dozen “far out” bands and entertainers from across the state, providing music and laughs for a day-long spoof of Woodstock and an era that brought us hippies, hot pants & Hubert Humphrey. The festivities will last until “whenever, man”, ending

Foodies and wine enthusiasts united Saturday at Cesar Chavez Park for Raley's and Seventh Annual Grape Escape, presented by Raley's and Bel Air for an evening of drinking and munching. For $40 in advance and $50 at the door, ticket-holders took part in a three-hour taste marathon, sampling cabs, chards and merlots from more than 50 top wineries from six counties in Northern California and gourmet appetizers from Sacramento’s favorite eateries. Award-winning wineries like San Joaquin’s Van Ruiten winery (voted Wall Street Journal’s Best Zin) and Calaveras County’s Twisted Oak winery (Gold Medal winner from the Riverside International Wine Competition) set up shop along with brewery favori