Newest articles on The Sacramento Press tagged as "hot italian"

Sacramento velodrome project: Pedal fast, turn left

2012-01-08T22:40:58Z

For anyone who ever wanted to take cycling to a new level in Sacramento – or see some exciting bicycle track races – a local group has the answer: build a velodrome.

A velodrome, for those not yet immersed in the world of bicycle racing, is a stadium with a 250-meter oval race track – banked at 25 to 45 degrees – where cyclists race at speeds up to 50 miles per hour in front of nearly 1,000 spectators in the stands.

Most velodromes have track lengths between 150 and 500 meters, according to local cycling coach and bicycle mechanic Dean Alleger.

And, since there are only four velodromes in California (Carson, Encino, San Jose and Los Angeles) – and 22 in the nation – Alleger and a group of cycling enthusiasts want to build one for the Sacramento region.

“I would like to see a place for kids to learn and train,” Alleger said Friday, “and where people can go to see some great races and to ride in some great races.”

Alleger started the Sacramento Valley Velodrome Association in 2010 as a nonprofit organization with the goal of raising $4 million to construct and operate a velodrome for local cyclists of all ages and abilities.

A location has already been found – Granite Park near Power Inn Road – and Alleger has raised more than $20,000 for the project. He has even started collecting race bikes to use as rentals for racing in the future velodrome.

Alleger said he sees the project as the start of something big in Sacramento, and a way to get young people into a sport that could – one day – take them to the Olympics.

“We’d host racers from beginners all the way to world class,” Alleger said. “It would be a chance to get kids who really don’t have much to do to learn something exciting and develop skills in a great sport.”

Alleger said, in cycling, the peak age for a professional cycling racer is between 25 to 35 years old, but anyone can learn to ride – and race.

“There would be beginner sessions (at the velodrome) for people to get oriented with the track,” Alleger said, “and there would be sessions for racing. Anyone can do it that wants to give it a try.”

The Sacramento Valley Velodrome Association wants to capitalize on enthusiasm for cycling by hosting national cycling competitions, training adults and youths in track cycling and educating the public about bicycling and fitness, according to a press release Thursday.

As part of the effort to promote the idea of a velodrome, Alleger’s Savage Sprints – an organization that provides cycling coaching and training – has hosted a series of stationary bike races at local bicycle shops and at Hot Italian restaurant at 16th and Q streets.

According to the release, about 1,500 cyclists belong to the more than 50 cycling clubs in the Sacramento valley, and more than 6,700 people in the Sacramento area rode 1.35 million miles during “May is Bike Month.”

“People here ride bicycles – lots of people, lots of bicycles,” Alleger said. “A velodrome would be a big draw here.”

The board of directors at the Sacramento Valley Velodrome Association includes Kevin Hedahl, a senior accountant with the American Red Cross who was a collegiate national track champion; Carrie Lo, an investment analyst at a state agency who raced for McGuire Real Estate; Michael Sayers, a two-time member of the U.S. World Championship cycling team; and Larry Wolff, a local cardiologist who has two national track cycling titles and a third-place finish in a world championship race to his credit.

Lo said an important factor in having a velodrome is the focus on fitness.

“Cycling draws people of all ages, shapes and sizes,” Lo said Friday. “A velodrome provides a way to challenge ourselves and our youths to become better in many ways. It’s about getting kids to channel their energy in a new way, or learning something new or just challenging ourselves to get better at something.”

Lo said there have been efforts to get a velodrome in Sacramento in the past, but a variety of hurdles and red tape prevented the idea from getting anywhere.

“One thing different this time is (we are) developing interest at the grassroots level,” Lo said. “We want corporate sponsors, but we also want it to be built from the ground up so we have plenty of community support.”

Hedahl said having a velodrome is also about community.

“People enjoy coming together and watching velodrome racing,” Hedahl said. “We’re kind of like NASCAR – we go in circles and turn left, and it appeals to everyone. If you like cycling, you get to see some great races. If you don’t like cycling, you get to see some fantastic wrecks. Everyone wins.”

Hedahl said the track racing bikes are fixed-gear bikes – that means no brakes – so a sudden stop means a wreck.

“We can’t just stop pedaling after the race,” Hedahl said. “We pedal slower.”

Hedahl said it’s not an expensive sport to get into – but cost is relative.

“I had a friend that built up a bike to race for about $400,” Hedahl said, “and GT makes some cheap track frames that you can pick up used for about $75. Just add wheels and you’re ready to go.”

But, as with anything in cycling, Hedahl said, the price can get steep if you let it.

“You can get a custom Steve Rex frame and spend up to $3,000 or get a carbon fiber frame and spend up to $10,000,” Hedahl said. “Some pros out there spend $3,000 just on a wheel.”

But the price of the bike isn’t the point, Hedahl said. It’s about doing something fun and exciting.

Alleger said that, once financing is in place, the entire velodrome project could be up and ready for racing in about 120 days.

For more information about the velodrome project, visit the Sacramento Valley Velodrome Association website.

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

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.

Sacramento chefs take on the Vegan Chef Challenge

2011-10-01T06:08:31Z

Ten chefs in the Midtown and downtown area have agreed to take on the Vegan Chef Challenge starting Saturday. Throughout the month of October, each restaurant will feature special vegan items including soups, appetizers, entrées and desserts.

Cafe Capricho, 58 Degrees, Bombay Bar and Grill, Tower Bridge Bistro and Michelangelo’s are just a few of the participating restaurants.

Restaurant guests who order these specialty dishes will be asked to go online and vote for their favorite dishes. Those who vote will be entered in a drawing to win prizes. Diners who visit all 10 participating restaurants will be asked to score their overall favorites in each category and will be entered into a drawing with even larger prizes.

Each restaurant will be competing in categories for best appetizer, soup, main entrée, dessert, most creative and best presentation.

“There will also be a ‘Vegan Favorites’ and a ‘Heart Healthy’ category but these are special categories based on vegan voting participation and some of our local vegan nutrition/health-focused experts,” wrote Bethany Davis, an event organizer for the Sacramento Vegan Society who is in partnership with California Vegan Restaurants.

Each of the dishes at all10 restaurants have been specially crafted and prepared by the restaurants’ chefs.

Vegan cuisine contains absolutely no animal products so chefs have had to challenge themselves to think outside the box and get creative with their dishes.

The participating restaurants include:

1. Aioli Bodega Española: 1800 L St.

Aioli has a menu packed with Spanish/Basque items and Executive Chef Hernandez Pablo said the restaurant will remain consistent with those flavors in its new vegan fall menu. Serving vegan items is no new task for Pablo; he said he has been making vegan dishes for many years and is confident in his ability to cook with only vegan ingredients.

Chef Pablo is offering more than a dozen vegan options for this fall.

“I am most excited about serving the veggie paella,” said Chef Pablo.

Aioli is serving everything from Gazpacho – a classic Spanish cold tomato soup with cucumber, celery, red onion, cilantro and mint – to Pan Catala con garbanzo y higos, a Spanish-style bruschetta with garbanzo bean purée and caramelized black figs.

2. 58 Degrees: 1217 18th St.

58 Degrees is a wine bar and restaurant with a menu that includes dishes from around the world that pair well with its wines. The new vegan dishes are “Asian-inspired and bring new flavors to the restaurant,” said Executive Chef F.J Villalobos. “We are looking at this as an opportunity to challenge ourselves,” he added.

58 Degrees has never served Asian-flavored dishes before and with a sparkle in his eye, chef Villaloboslooked inspired as he talked about the upcoming challenge. He said the restaurant’s wine experts are working to see how they can best showcase the ingredients’ flavors and pair the dishes with wine from their wine collection.

“We are serving a pho for the soup, a trio of mushrooms as an appetizer, smoked tofu served with seaweed rice with Korean BBQ flavors for an entrée and for dessert we are making caramelized banana plantains, peanut butter gelato and chocolate mousse,” Chef Villalobos said.

3. Capitol Garage: 1500 K St.

Capitol Garage has an American menu that incorporates local and seasonal ingredients. The new vegan menu remains consistent with the restaurant’s traditional flavors, though the new vegan menu items will allow the restaurant to exhibit more creativity.

“Being vegan helps me have an edge in the competition. I know what flavors pair really well,” said Raphael Kendall, sous chef at Capitol Garage. He said that he makes vegan food for his family everyday and is excited to show people that vegan food can be delicious and also offer a well-balanced meal.

Capitol Garage is serving a black eyed pea hummus, Southwest barley risotto and a coconut chai chocolate cake for the competition. A variety of vegan truffles will also be served.

4. Tower Bridge Bistro: 100 Capitol Mall

The Tower Bistro serves a California-Tuscan cuisine and will expand the palate for the challenge to incorporate new flavors and explore new options.

According to California Vegan Restaurants’ website, Executive Chef Clay Purcell will be serving roasted pumpkin soup with zucchini ribbons and parsley oil, cous cous and vegetable “chili” with housemade harissa sauce, cilantro and pita chips; and buckwheat blini’s with raspberry coulis and chocolate dipping sauce.

5. Hot Italian: 1627 16th St.

Hot Italian is a pizza and panini bar and Italian vegan food is on the menu for the competition. Chef Fabrizio Cercatore will be serving mixed olives from both Italy and California as an appetizer, a house specialty pizza with the option of Daiya cheese, and sorbet for dessert, according to the California Vegan Restaurants’ website.

6. Cafe Capricho: 3269 Folsom Blvd.

Cafe Capricho has a menu full of home-style Mexican dishes. For the competition, Marina Winchester, owner of Cafe Capricho, will incorporate many different cultures into her vegan menu, according to the California Vegan Restaurants’ website.

7. Michelangelo’s: 1725 I St.

Michelangelo’s is a classic family owned Italian restuarant. Jaqueline & Lauren Barton are mother and daughter and combine to make a dynamic team. The two chefs will approach the Vegan Chef Challenge as an opportunity to take classic Italian dishes and recreate them for vegans and vegetarians to enjoy, according to the California Vegan Restaurants’ website.

8. Bombay Bar and Grill: 1315 21st St.

Bombay Bar and Grill specializes in North Indian Cuisine and for the competition, Chef Sanjeev Singh Sanjeev will remain consistent with the flavors he incorporates into the dishes, according to California Vegan Restaurants’ website. The menu at Bombay Bar and Grill already has many vegetarian options but there are new dishes that will be added for the Vegan Chef Challenge.

9. KRU: 2516 J St.

Kru serves contemporary Japanese cuisine. For the competition Chef Billy Ngo will try to maintain the flavors and texture of his regular menu items while making sure that the dishes are delicious, according to California Vegan Restaurants website.

10. Sugar Plum Vegan Cafe: 2315 K St.

The Sugar Plum Vegan Cafe is an honorary participant and partner in the competition. The cafe specializes in making a variety of vegan dishes.Chefs Melissa Sugar, Antwan LaShay and Marshall Massa created a menu that spans from paninis and vegan burgers to sandwiches and tacos. The cafe has a vegan bakery where vegan sweets are available. The Sugar Plum Vegan Cafe will continue serving their vegan menu items for the competition.

Vegan food inspired by places around the world will be prepared in Sacramento this October. When diners vote online for what dishes they liked best they will be asked to report if they “liked it”, “loved it” or if the dish they tried was “over the top”, according to Davis.

To place your vote or learn more about the Vegan Chef Challenge, visit California Vegan Restaurants’ website here.

Wine, dine and bid at SCNA's 21st annual silent auction

2011-09-30T02:25:31Z

Local eats such as Mighty Kong Café’s pork sliders, Dad’s Kitchen’s specialty macaroni and cheese, Scott’s Seafood Grill and Bar’s oyster dish and Freeport Bakery’s cakes and cookies will fill plates while local wines and beers flow into glasses during three hours of sampling and socializing at Saturday’s Wine Tasting & Silent Auction.

The Sierra Curtis Neighborhood Association is hosting its 21st annual Wine Tasting & Silent Auction Saturday from 4 - 7 p.m. at the Sierra 2 Center at 2791 24th St. This year’s event will feature the addition of local microbrews and dishes from first-time participators Lucca Restaurant and Bar, The Supper Club, Enotria Restaurant and Wine Bar and Matteo’s Pizza & Bistro. Proceeds will go toward SCNA, Sacramento Children’s Home and Bret Harte Elementary School.

“The event has a significant community focus with respect to the food available, the wine available and the items being donated,” said SCNA board president Patrick Soluri. “There’s a big focus on local items.”

Unlimited taster plates of dishes from 25 local restaurants – many with direct connections to Curtis Park – will provide a taste of what the city has to offer, said Terri Shettle, executive director of SCNA and co-chair of the event.

“Many of the restaurant owners, managers or chefs live in Curtis Park,” Shettle said.

Some participating restaurants include: Aioli Bodega Española, Chops Steakhouse, Crepeville, Espresso Metro, Gunther’s Quality Ice Cream, Hot Italian, Sushi Café, Tapa The World and Tower Cafe.

The wine tasting will offer a selection of wines personally selected by Richard Ebert, the wine expert and buyer for Taylor’s Market.

Mike Miller, co-chair of the event and secretary of SCNA, said 26 distributors will be pouring various wines from around the world. The selection will include local and California wines as well as many Spanish, French, Argentinian, Italian, Chilean, South African and Australian wines.

The Belgian beer garden – which was introduced at last year’s event – will also return with brews chosen by Rob Archie, owner of Pangaea Two Brews Cafe & Bottle Shop. This year microbrews such as Chimay, Lagunitas, Ommegang, Dogfish Head, local craft brew Odonata Beer and locally made cider from Two Rivers will also be available for unlimited tastings.

“You can’t beat the line up of food, wine and beer,” Shettle said, “There’s just nowhere in one place that you can have all of this – you couldn’t just go out to dinner and have this selection.”

The evening’s silent auction will offer a variety of “experience packages,” Shettle said. These packages will provide the winners with the opportunity to engage in local activities, watch shows and experience the many foods and restaurants around the city.

The main item is a package for “date night for 10 months,” which provides over $500 worth of restaurant gift certificates, show and movie tickets, bottles of wine, gift certificates for flowers and other date night goods.

Other auction items include: Italian language lessons packaged with Italian wines and other items, a vacation package to Squaw Valley and the opportunity to personally work with ice cream specialists at Gunther’s Quality Ice Cream to choose and create the flavor of the month, Shettle said. Last year’s winner created a Nutella and strawberry ice cream for the month of February.

“They’re not just items you’re picking up,” Shettle said, “it’s actually pulling a whole scene together.”

Thirty raffle prizes will be given away throughout the evening. Prizes will include restaurant gift cards, bottles of wine, tickets to the B Street Theatre and movie tickets.

“Everyone has a bigger chance,” Shettle said. “And it’s more exciting to have a lot of individual items that more people will have a chance to win.”

Raffle tickets will be on sale at the event for $5 each or $20 for five.

Fifty percent of raffle ticket sales will go directly to the Sacramento Children’s Home, Shettle said.

The event – which is expected to draw 500 to 600 attendees – is organized, planned and executed by about 50 volunteers.

“Without the community volunteers, we wouldn’t be able to put on something like this,” Soluri said.

Last year, the Wine Tasting and Silent Auction raised $20,000 to help fund various neighborhood activities: its Music in the Park series, children’s activities, a spring egg hunt and the monthly First Friday Neighborhood dinner. Proceeds also went toward the operations of the Sierra 2 Center to cover costs for the facility and senior center there.

“It’s our biggest fundraiser of the year,” Miller said. “And it’s the highest attended event for the neighborhood.”

This year, about $3,500 to $4,000 of the proceeds, depending on the event’s total profits, will go toward Bret Harte Elementary School to fund the sixth graders’ three to four day nature and science camp at Slide Park and to the Sacramento Children’s Home.

“We want to support and develop the organizations in our neighborhood,” Shettle said. “And these are both organizations that give back to the community.”

Tickets are $45 each and are available at the Sierra 2 Center office or by phone. This is a 21-and-over event. For more information or to buy tickets, call 452-3005.

Experience the O

2011-09-26T09:40:36Z

Hot Italian hosted “Experience the O,” a Sacramento Opera fundraising event, on Thursday. The free public event, coordinated by Vy Nguyen, brought many opera fans together to enjoy a silent auction, raffle, delicious pizza, a great soprano singer and great company.

Several representatives from the Sacramento Opera helped with the event, including Nina Ankelé and Alan Willendrup, who greeted guests as they arrived, handed out informational materials and sold raffle tickets. Willendrup has been on the Sacramento Opera Board of Directors for about a year, and Ankelé has served for approximately 16 years. Both were great ambassadors for the Sacramento Opera.

Samantha Olson, executive director for Connections for Youth, brought 14 high school students via light rail. Connections is a nonprofit community outreach organization dedicated to helping foster youth experience nature, culture and the arts. This was the first exposure to opera for most of the students.

“I brought them out here to experience a little bit of the arts in Sacramento,” Olson said.

Thursday’s show was a phenomenal way to be introduced to this unique art form, while also being treated to some of the best pizza in town. Hot Italian served several complimentary specialty pizzas throughout the event..

Sacramento Opera general director Rod Gideons served as master of ceremonies and mingled with guests before welcoming guests to Hot Italian.

“Thank you all for coming tonight,” he said. “I specially want to thank Vy Nguyen who has worked very hard to put this together. She’s done an exceptional job, and she’s a great person.”

Gideons said he understood some guests had to leave by 7 p.m., but they would get to hear at least one of the songs.

“If nothing else, you’re getting free pizza, right?” he said.

Soprano Carrie Hennessey was the performer for the evening, accompanied by John Cozza on keyboards. She recently sang the opening and closing songs at the Designing Dreams fashion show.

Gideons introduced the first aria of the evening, “Un Bel Di” from “Madame Butterfly.”

“It’s about a young Japanese woman who’s fallen in love with an American naval officer, and he’s going back to the Unites States,” Gideons said. “She hopes someday he’s going to return and sweep her off her feet.”

Mesmerizing is one word that can be used to describe Hennessey’s singing. Looking around at the audience, it was plain to see the how compelling her voice is. All eyes were fixed on Hennessey as guests experienced opera.

“I brought my children to this, and that way they will get accustomed to it,” said Betheney Urquhart, who has taken her kids to the Sacramento Opera’s Student Night for the past few years. “I’m originally from London and I grew up listening to opera.”

Ann Shimasaki brought her son, Lance, and noted that her son enjoys these types of events. As Hennessey sang, I was able to witness his appreciation for opera.

The selection of Hennessy for the event was as delightful and memorable. I especially enjoyed her rendition of “Italian Street Song” but enjoyed all three of her performances. She also took the time in between sets to talk to members of the audience, including students from Connections for Youth.

Hennessey, along with others, will be performing at Opera at the Cathedral on Oct. 6 at the Cathedral of the Blessed Sacrament. Cozza is scheduled to play piano at the event. The event, hosted by Sacramento Philharmonic Orchestra conductor Michael Morgan, will kick off the Sacramento Opera 2011-2012 season.

The Sacramento Opera 2011-2012 season also includes Ruggero Leoncavallo’s “Pagliacci” on Nov. 19 and 20 and Giuseppe Verdi’s “Rigoletto” on Feb. 24 and 26. Both will be sung in Italian with English supertitles at the Sacramento Community Center Theater.

The Sacramento Opera also offers educational and outreach performances. Tickets for performances are now available, and more information can be found at their website. Support local arts by attending Sacramento Opera performances.

Chalk It Up on the sidewalks of Midtown

2011-09-07T03:32:04Z

This year’s Chalk It Up! event appeared to have outgrown its venue at Fremont Park. Thousands of visitors came to enjoy the three day annual event. As usual, the event was held during the Labor Day weekend.

Talented and creative artists of all ages participated using just chalk and the sidewalk around Fremont Park to create some magnificent pieces of art.

Music has always been a centerpiece of the event and once again Jerry Perry Presents put together a great lineup. Close to three dozen local musicians and bands participated to create another memorable Chalk It Up.

Children’s activities, a beer garden, food and numerous vendors shared the grounds at Fremont Park. Chalk It Up! helps to raise money to benefit children’s art education. The event continues to be one of the best free events in Sacramento.

Saturday, opening day, artists had already been working when I arrived around noon. Many artists from last year returned to draw for new and established sponsors, and just as many new artists were able to work on their masterpieces.

As you walked around the four main areas surrounding the park, you could see many smaller squares purchased for children to use. Some of the children looked very intense as they worked on their chalk creations and the concentration in their eyes, in some cases, showed a keen interest in the activity. You wonder how many children will continue to pursue this type of activity and become involved in the arts.

Eleven bands were scheduled to appear on Saturday alone. Island of Black and White was an act I had not seen before, although I have seen Chris Haislet perform several times as a member of Walking Spanish. Island of Black and White started off their set with a great rendition of Tracy Chapman’s “Give Me One Reason.” A few other cover songs were performed including an old time favorite, “The House of the Rising Sun.”

As the bands played, guests were able to walk around. Several artists answered questions from passers-by as they continued to work on their art. The subject matter created on the concrete canvas spanned a range of topics. A woman’s chalk drawing of her baby son was very realistic. A mother and daughter created separate spots but worked side by side on their individual projects. Dozens of children created their own little masterpieces and some were quite impressive.

I’m sure several artists who worked side by side created some new friendships. It was also a great experience for artists to hear compliments on their work. Their hard work lasts a day or two until heavy foot traffic, bikes and sprinklers begin to fade away the art.

A crowd favorite, Adrian Bourgeois, also took the stage during the event. Bourgeois performed a mix of cover favorites which included, U2’s “I Still Haven't Found What I'm Looking For” and the Beatles’ “Here Comes the Sun.”

As each musician took the stage, they all took a few minutes to tune up. Single musicians took the least amount of time on sound check, setting up and moving off the stage. Jerry Perry introduced each act and had a unique story to tell the audience about each of the performers.

One of several teen bands, SIMPL3JACK, brought a healthy trio to the stage. At last year’s event, Cole, the lead singer, lost his voice while performing. This year they blasted the audience with a heavy blend of vocals and music, making new fans from those who had not heard them before. The 13-14 year olds that make up SIMPL3JACK wowed the crowd. Also performing were Early States and Todd Morgan & the Emblems.

The next few musical acts had been touring together in Europe after a local performance at the Hot Italian lunch concert series and at the Friday Night Concerts in the Park. Dog Party and Kepi Ghoulie provided wonderful sets of music.

Kepi Ghoulie, as always, entertained the audience with his humor and antics as he performed. At one point he pointed to Hot Italian, ordered a pizza over the microphone and said he wanted it delivered five minutes before the end of his set. The funny thing was that Hot Italian must have heard him. They delivered just before he played his last song.

The artwork for this year’s Chalk It Up! posters and t-shirts were created by the talented and inspirational Kepi Ghoulie.

Dog Party accompanied Kepi on stage. Kepi is one of the best role models in the rock world and his talent is as large as his heart.

Random Abiladeze closed out the set for the first evening of music. The group played hip-hop with a soulful, jazzy world beat.

The mixture of music, art and community continues to impress during the Chalk It Up! festival. Sunday’s lineup included a number of great acts as well, including Failed to Resolve, Parie Wood and ReggieG inn. I’m not sure how long ago the event started to headline local musical artists, but it has added much to the growth of the event.

Restaurants compost kitchen scraps to nourish future produce

2011-09-03T02:39:15Z

Restaurants accumulate anywhere between 250 and 500 pounds of organic kitchen scraps each week, according to Green Restaurant Alliance of Sacramento co-founder David S. Baker. These hundreds of pounds of scraps, instead of filling landfills, can be used for compost to fertilize the very soil that will produce the next crop of fruits and vegetables.

Since March 2010, GRAS, in partnership with Atlas Disposal, has worked toward creating a more sustainable food industry in the city through the use of a “closed-loop” system.

“These are valuable resources that would be just going straight to a landfill and serving no use,” Baker said.

GRAS is made up of Hot Italian, Mulvaney's B&L, Selland’s Market-Cafe, Crocker Cafe, OneSpeed, Grange, Ella, Tuli Bistro, The Waterboy, The Kitchen and Magpie Caterers.

The process both begins and ends with the restaurants.

Fresh produce is delivered daily to the restaurants each morning. Most of the produce comes from Del Rio Botanical – an organic farm in West Sacramento – where most of the food scraps are also delivered for composting.

At Mulvaney’s B&L, co-owner Bobbin Mulvaney said that more than 60 percent of the produce used comes from Del Rio Botanical.

Salad greens, braising greens, flower petals, squash, herbs, spices, chilies, gypsy peppers and quail eggs are some of the products Mulvaney’s receives.

Yellow bins are provided by Atlas Disposal, one of the largest waste and recycling service providers in Sacramento.

Yellow buckets are used to collect all pre-consumer green waste. This includes kitchen prep material such as the tops of vegetables, corn husks and any other green scraps. No product that has been plated and served to customers can be added to the yellow bins, Mulvaney said.

Food that has been served and eaten from contains bacteria that cannot be used in the compost, Suzanne Ashworth, owner of Del Rio Botanical, explained.

Once the yellow pre-consumer waste buckets are filled, they are emptied out into large 75-gallon bins, called toters, provided by Atlas Disposal.

There is no cost to the restaurant to be a part of GRAS, which is a nonprofit organization, Baker said. There is only a $75 service fee for the pickup and delivery of the pre-consumer green waste by Atlas Disposal.

“It’s kind of a break-even situation,” said Nick Sikich, chief operating officer of Atlas Disposal. “What this allows us to do is reduce (restaurants’) trash rates. They used to be paying to dispose of this heavy material at the landfill. Now, we’re able to dispose of it at a different facility at a cheaper price.”

Every Friday, Atlas Disposal takes a separate route to pick up filled toters and replace them with empty ones.

This Friday, the truck was loaded with 17 empty toters, and Atlas Disposal Operations Supervisor Robert Taylor said they planned to pick up 16 from 10 restaurants. There are more than 100 toters available.

The entire route, Taylor said, is about 30 miles and concludes at Del Rio Botanical. An average daily trash route, he said, is about 130 miles.

Once all the filled toters from the restaurants have been picked up, they are brought to Del Rio Botanical and are dumped onto one of two plots of land for composting and added on top of the rotting vegetables from previous deliveries.

The pre-consumer waste is mixed with rotten alfalfa and wood chips to facilitate the composting process. It is rototilled together with a back of a tractor, Ashworth explained.

Friday, Taylor and Atlas Disposal driver Ben Evans picked up and dropped off about one and a half tons of pre-consumer green waste. The average amount of compost material collected is about one ton – 2,000 pounds – each week.

The amount of product delivered, Ashworth said, would make about 3 inches of compost.

The compost produced by these processes is used on top of the soil to fertilize all of the produce on the farm. There are 68 acres worth of produce on Del Rio Botanical delivered to restaurants, Ashworth said.

In addition to delivering the pre-consumer waste to Del Rio Botanical, deliveries are also made to local elementary school gardens or to the on-site composting receptacle, Earth Tub, located behind Hot Italian.

Food scraps are put into the Earth Tub along with leaves, wood chips or sawdust to control the moisture. There is an auger in the center and, when turned on, individuals rotate the top to mix and shred the contents. This process can be done every other day, Baker said.

The final result of this process is what ends up on the plates of diners at the restaurants. This pizza from Hot Italian is topped with zucchini, eggplant and heirloom tomatoes from Del Rio Botanical, Baker said.

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.

Exquisite Hot Lunch Concert

2011-08-01T01:07:52Z

Fresh of an exquisite performance at Launch 2011 Exquisite Corps performed at Thursday’s Hot Lunch Concert Series. Exquisite Corps braved the heat and played a wonderful set.

I arrived later than I intended but arrived in time to listen to one song before they took a break. The blistering heat did not seem to have much of an effect on concert goers as Exquisite Corps was able to draw a good size crowd.

The audience sat wherever there was shade and enjoyed a great show. I’ve been a fan of Exquisite Corps from the first time I heard them. The orchestral strings first drew me to them when I first saw them play last year. The cello and violins makes their sound a bit more distinctive than most other bands. Reminiscent of Rasputina in sound Exquisite Corps plays mostly original tunes but once in a while engage in a cover song or two.

Their mix of orchestral and contemporary sounds filled the air at Fremont Park as they played several crowd favorites. At one point Bryan Valenzuela came to the microphone to say a few words. “We are Exquisite Corps, we are recording an album, but unfortunately we do not have any recorded music at this moment. We would love to see any of you on our facebook site where there are updates about our shows. We have a show next month here in Sacramento at Luigi's with Sister Crayon.”

Exquisite Corps continued playing as they started playing “Selah” which started off with a Valenzuela’s soft melodramatic voice. Krystyna Taylor, Robby Dean, Reylynn Goessling, Kristen Arnold and Nathan Webb joined in and as with several of their songs the tempo increased and the mixture of sounds drew the audience as they enjoyed the song.

After a couple of more enchanting songs they ended their set with an exquisite rendition of a Doors song “Not to Touch the Earth”. The whole band played superbly as they did the song great justice and made it their own.

Hot Italian will continue to host the free and open Hot Lunch Concerts until September 1. Next week the Freebadge Serenaders will play their whimsical type of music.

Exquisite Corp’s next show will be on August 18th at the Miners Foundry in Nevada City. Their next Sacramento show will be held the following day, August 19, at Luigi's.

Launch 2011: see video here

2011-07-22T18:44:10Z

Join The Sacramento Press Saturday evening for Launch 2011, a design, music and fashion festival.

The third annual Launch is a spectacular festival of sight and sound that provides the opportunity for creative people from Sacramento’s art, music and fashion communities to come together to showcase their talents and celebrate local and national works of art, music and design and share the experience with the community as a whole.

Launch will include live music by Little Foxes, Exquisite Corps, ReSA, The Dreaded Diamond and many others. Artists on-site Saturday include Brady Tuazon, Chelsea Greene Lewyta, Jeff Dojillo, and too many more to mention.

Fashion designers Miss Chief of California, Adrienne Cheng and Van der Neer are also expected to participate. In addition to live music, artists’ presentations and fashion designers, there will be an architectural display and a huge variety of vendors.

Launch 2011 will take place at the Greens Hotel 1700 Del Paso Boulevard from 5 p.m.-1 a.m. Hot Italian, at 15th and P streets, will provide shuttle service to and from Launch. Hot Italian will also have advanced tickets available for purchase. For additional ticket information, go to Ticket Leap.

If you are unable to attend launch 2011, you can still see some of the action. The Sacramento Press will be live-steaming video of the event via UStream. You can see can see video starting at 5 p.m. the day of the event here:

Free live streaming by Ustream

Second annual Bastille Day Waiters' Race

2011-07-15T23:31:19Z

Hundreds of spectators gathered Thursday night to watch waiters and waitresses from Sacramento restaurants as they gave their best definition of speedy service in the second annual Bastille Day Waiters’ Race in the courtyard behind 1801 L Wine Lounge.

Waiters and waitresses from 25 central city restaurants made two laps around the block bounded by 18th and 19th streets and L Street and Capitol Avenue. With one hand, participants were required to balance a tray with a bottle of Perrier mineral water and two champagne glasses filled with water. The race began at 7 p.m.

“From my perspective as the French consul, it’s great, that in a town like Sacramento, we have young waiters and waitresses throughout the region participating in a strictly French event, which is wonderful,” said Jane Wheaton, who represents Consule Honoraire de France and served as one of the judges in the competition.

Anthony Sharrow, a server at L Wine Lounge, came in first in the men’s division, and Marja Magnuson, a server from 33rd Street Bistro, triumphed in the women’s division. They were each awarded $150 and one free night stay in an executive suite at 1801 L Street Apartments

Second-place winners included Carlos Gonzalez of Zócalo and Ali Lazzaretto of Hot Italian, who were awarded $100. Blake Taylor of Sapporo Grill Japanese Steakhouse and Kristi Warren, a server at The Firehouse Restaurant, took third place, winning $50 each.

Sactown Magazine was one of the sponsors of the event, and this year the magazine flew in Head Judge Jim Kahan, who has been overseeing the Bastille Day Waiters’ Race in Portland for the last two years.

“In addition to being fun, this is an international event and is a great showcase for all the great dinning establishments in the area. There’s over 20 restaurants and bars that are participating in this race, from Ella, to Grange to Zócalo to Lounge on 20,” said Steve Childs, publisher of Sactown Magazine.

Amar Dhariwal, a representative for Sactown Magazine, who registered the participants, said that in all, 43 servers took part in the waiters’ race. She said it cost the servers $20 to compete.

“My understanding was that last year it was pretty chaotic. They wanted somebody with some experience,” Kahan said.

This year, the race was more formalized. Participants were required to wear white shirts and black pants or skirts. They were provided bow ties, aprons and a napkin to drape over one arm.

He said the waiters’ race promotes goodwill and culture. Portland hosts the biggest Bastille Day celebration on the west coast, but, he said, Sacramento has the potential to surpass his city. The waiters’ race in Sacramento allowed no more than 50 competitors.

“You have spirit (here) that could be greater than what Portland has,” said Kahan, who noted that Portland has been hosting the waiters’ race for seven years.

“It’s been getting pretty refined each year as we learn better. The winner is not the first person to cross the finish line. It’s the person with the driest tray,” Kahan said. “Three years ago, a man in Portland was last to cross the finish line, but his tray was bone dry, and he won.”

At the end of the race, spectators and racing participants were invited to mingle on the L Wine Lounge courtyard. Sample servings of strawberry and Nutella crepes were provided by Crepeville. Champagne provided by sponsor Perrier-Jouët was also served.

French music from Charles Aznavour, Francis Cabral and the soundtrack of the movie “Amélie” contributed to the French-themed atmosphere.

Spectator Helene Mulligan who is French, and resides in Sacramento, compared France’s Bastille Day to Independence Day in the U.S. Mulligan said July 14 is Bastille Day, the day French citizens stormed the Bastille in Paris, and that event sparked the French Revolution.

Hot Lunch concert series under way

2011-06-04T02:34:23Z

What’s better than a summer afternoon filled with sunshine, great music, and tons of Italian food? Mama mia, it’s Hot Lunch Concert Series in the park.

The Hot Lunch Concert Series is back for its third year serving Tuscan-inspired pizzas every Thursday from 11:30 a.m. - 1 p.m. from now until Sept. 1 at Fremont Park, 16th and P streets.

A brilliant collaboration of free music and lunch, which includes a pizza and drink for just $10 (including tax) from Hot Italian, located on 16th and Q streets in Midtown.

“Hot Lunch is a standout event because it showcases musicians in the city that really have a presence,” said Roshaun Davis, spokesman for Unseen Heroes, a promotion company working with event organizers. “But it also allows people to see them for free in a relaxing environment.”

“The unique thing about this event is that it is just one band playing at a time for a full 90 minutes,” Jerry Perry, music coordinator, said. “It is catering to a different audience, too, because it's during the day.”

Returning band and crowd favorite Musical Charis started off the summer, Thursday with its fresh indie folk sound. About 60 people sat on blankets and stood around the stage enjoying the performance. The crowd mainly consisted of students, local workers on their lunch breaks and parents with young children.

Some of the main genres of music are indie folk, R&B, jazz, singer/songwriters, rock and roll, and acoustic. Like Musical Charis, most of the bands that come to play are local. Thursday, The Bell Boys will be playing, and 13 other bands will also play as the summer progresses.

“Charis means gifted in Greek. We chose it because we all play several instruments and even switch them with each other,” said Musical Charis bass player and singer, Isabel Solomon, 23. The band recently got back from a two-month U.S. tour through 22 states.

“It’s a great time to relax before hittin’ the daily grind,” said Skylar Mundy, who attended the event Thursday. She said she works two jobs, so the lunchtime concert is perfect for her schedule, and she is a big Musical Charis fan.

“And right after this, I’m going to go get some pizza,” Mundy added.

There are 20 different pizza flavors Hot Italian has to offer, and some can be made into paninis or calzones.

“We make everything with authentic Italian ingredients along with ingredients from local vendors,” co-owner Andrea Lepore said.

“Hot Italian is just right across the street from the park, so it is really convenient for people to get their pizza and drink for only 10 bucks,” Perry said. “People can call in orders, and they provide ready-made lunches.”

“Most people just sit in their office for lunch. Hot Italian is replacing that idea with an option of something different and fun,” Davis said.
The weather is heating up, and the word is spreading.

“It is fun for us because we get to help Hot Italian out and get to help the music community at the same time by providing outlets for them to display their talents,” Davis said.

For more information, visit Hot Lunch Concert Series on Facebook or Hot Italian’s website.

Musical Charis Opens the 2011 Hot Lunch Concert Series

2011-06-04T00:13:13Z

On Thursday, June 2, Sacramento saw the start of another year of the Hot Lunch Concert Series and a new free music event playing at Cesar Chavez Plaza; “Fiesta en la Calle” (Street Party).

The Hot Lunch Concert Series is a collaboration between Hot Italian, Sacramento News and Review and Friends of Fremont Park. Musical guests perform on Thursdays from June 2 to September 1 during the lunch hour (11:30 to 1p.m). Promoter Jerry Perry has put together a great lineup. Fremont Park, located on the corner of 16th and P Streets hosts the event.

Musical Charis was the first band scheduled to perform this year. The weather cooperated and made for a delightful lunch concert. People from around the area brought their lunch or took advantage of being across the street from Hot Italian and ordered their lunch from there.

Musical Charis had already begun their set when I got there and about 100 people or so where sitting in front of the stage. Children were running around enjoying the outdoors on a mostly sunny time of the day.

Locals and others enjoyed the music and company of neighbors and friends. Andrea Lepore, co-owner of Hot Italian took a little time to listen to the band and chatted with Jerry Perry and Tais’ immediate family.

I noticed two outdoor booths from two partners of the concert series; Metro PCS and Sacramento News and Review. Other partners for the concerts include CADA, Yelp, Midtown Business Association and the Sacramento Press.

Blake Abbey from Musical Charis at one point reminded the audience that the Hot Lunch Concerts will be held at Fremont Park. He also mentioned that Concerts in the Park is being held on Fridays at the Cesar Chavez Plaza. Both concert events are free and suited for music fans of all ages.

As they finished playing “Forward”, Abbey said they were going to be playing a few more songs and then a couple of kids from their musical school were going to perform. Musical Charis not only performs but also runs the Musical Charis School for Music. They offer a wide range of music programs including private music lessons, Music 4 Tots (for kids age 5 and below), song writing workshops, vocal boot-camp, recording sessions, recitals and more.

“Anatomy” from their 2009 Electra City Church Bells EP followed as they continued to play in front of the Fremont Park audience.

A harmonica intro started off “Tell Me” from their People People CD. A great mixture of guitar, bass, keyboards, harmonica, tambourines and congas created a great sound as Musical Charis played their set especially when they played their rendition of Johnny Cash’s “Ring of Fire.”

“I Candy” was introduced by Abbey saying, “This song is about the over abundance of bands that moved to L.A. to try to make it but they ran out of make up so they didn’t make it.”

“We’ve been teaching music classes for about two and a half years in Sacramento. We started in Oak Park but we’re now located at the K Street Mall by the food courts. So if anybody has kids or adults that want to learn how to play music, first lesson is always free, and we’re really nice people on the weekends, and on the weekdays too.” said Abbey as he introduced Shawn and Bradley.

Their first song selection included a great acoustic guitar intro as a Sarah Teasdale poem was made into a song. They followed up with “For Sale” and ended their short set.

Musical Charis came back after their short break and played “Passport”, "Catwalk", "Fish" and "Heavy".

Back on the microphone Abbey said, "Promote local music and local art here in Sacramento. It’s a great place for it and encourage the economy to improve by buying some Hot Italian. Thank you again, thank you Jerry Perry, thank you Hot Italian and thanks to all of you."

Musical Charis ended their set with one of their signature songs “The Life”. As people left you could hear a couple of them whistling that same tune. Musical Charis will next perform on June 4th at the Second Annual "Art Happens" benefit event at the Sacramento Arts Complex located at 2110 K Street.

This was a great kick-off to the Hot Lunch Concert Series. If you plan to attend one of the concerts, you can call Hot Italian at 444-3000 and order any pizza and pick it up before going to the park. You can also get the Hot Lunch (a panini or insalata + a drink for only $10, tax included). Below is the schedule for the rest of the season.

2011 HOT LUNCH Line Up
6/2 – Musical Charis
6/9 – The Bell Boys
6/16 - Walking Spanish
6/23 – Richard March
6/30 – Kepi Acoustic with Dog Party Acoustic
7/7 - Shannon Curtis
7/14 – Gerald Pease Combo
7/21 – Island of Black and White
7/28 – Exquisite Corps
8/4 – The Freebadge Serenaders
8/11 – KB & The Slingtones
8/18 – The Nickel Slots
8/25 – Gillian Underwood
9/1 – Larrisa Bryski & Willie Seltzer

Sacramento Bicycle Film Festival launches at the Crocker Art Museum

2011-05-14T01:42:38Z

The Bicycle Film Festival kicked off last night at the beautifully renovated and expanded Crocker Art Museum, which drew in crowds from all walks of life to celebrate their bond and love of bicycles.

The Crocker usually hosts “Art Mix” every second Thursday of the month to celebrate culture with cocktails with live art demonstrations, short films, tours and talks. This particular Thursday, the Crocker teamed up with Hot Italian, which is heavily involved with the promotion and support of the BFF, to host the launch party for the film festival.This is Sacramento’s second time hosting the festival in its 11-year history.

The party entailed a no-host bar and barbecue, bike art, a bicycle fix-it workshop and music and entertainment provided by DJ Billy Lane in the courtyard. Bicycling enthusiasts from all around the Sacramento area were seen scattered around the Crocker parameters, taking in everything the revamped facility had to offer before the short films started promptly at 7 p.m.

Women in bicycle-print dresses, cyclists wearing their gear fresh from a long ride, older veteran riders dressed in suits, and inspired amateur riders filed into the theater anxiously waiting for the first film to start.

BFF founder Brent Barbur was in attendance to start off the festivities. Barbur, who attended Bella Vista High School in Fair Oaks, was inspired to create the BFF as a result of being hit by a bus on his bike while in New York City. Barbur wanted to make his negative experience into a positive one.

The Thursday showcase presented the first out of three programs of short films to be seen throughout the weekend. Program 1 was titled “Riding the Long Wind Cloud,” which included four short films. All four films artistically captured the different points of view of how the bicycle world comes together.

The first film was “ Line of Sight” by Benny Zenga and Lucas Brunelle. Brunelle premieres a new film every year at the BFF, documenting alleycat races all over the world. A majority of the footage is caught by a helmet camera, giving the viewer an intense point of view of how a rider’s experience and route can be determined just by missing a green light and then experiencing the wrath of traffic by running a red one. This film explores the popularity and phenomenon of the fixed-gear bike. He claims the phenomenon started in the ‘80s with bike messengers.

“It took 30 years for it be cool,” he claims.

Taking a playful route of bike appreciation was the five-minute short “Kiest Park," which follows a 7-year-old who dominates his neighborhood, treating it as his playground and causing trouble with his trusty bike as his sidekick.

The third film of the evening explored the world of Giovanni Pelizzoli, aka "Ciocc." Ciocc is a legendary Italian frame-builder who shares the story of how he transformed the dreams he had the night before into works of art in his shop. He shares his insights and wisdom, claiming, "A mass-produced frame does not have soul.” The film is by Anima D'Acciaio.

The opening night of the BFF ended with the touching 44-minute film that shares the name of the program series, "Riding the Long White Cloud." The film opens up the world of seven professional skateboarders to the mental and physical challenges of bicycling as they take on a 10-day tour through New Zealand's North Island while searching for skate spots. These skateboarders learn a deeper respect for bicycling, finding it helpful in preparing for their first love, skateboarding.

The BFF will continue tonight and tomorrow with films showing in Fremont Park. The festival will celebrate fashion and art as well as various bicycling communities – including fixed-gear, BMX and road cycling. Music and a trick competition will also be a part of the festivities. The BFF ends as the Amgen Tour will end in our city at 3 p.m. Monday.

The rest of the BFF schedule is as follows:

Friday
Pre-party with Savage Sprints at Hot Italian (16th and Q)
Program 2 at Fremont Park (16th and Q)
After-party at Sol Collective (2574 21st St.)

Saturday
Trick competition at Fremont Park
Music in the Park at Fremont Park
Program 3 Fremont Park
After-party at Hot Italian

Photos by Ron Nabity.

Vélo & Vintage bicycle fashion show: photos

2011-05-09T19:34:38Z

The 2nd annual Vélo & Vintage Fashion Show was held at Hot Italian Saturday night in Sacramento. The show is as much about bicycles as fashion. Lorena Beightler of Sac Cycle Chic founded the event to highlight "urban cycling as a smart, stylish and fashionable mode of transport." Kari Shipman of Juniper James organized the event with Beightler.

Models attired in vintage clothing sourced from local boutiques rode a variety of vintage and newer bicycles into the restaurant and onto the runway.

Each of the ten models showed three different looks ranging from "daytime" to "night" and ending with a "crazy" look that included a wild mishmash of styles, smeared makeup, and plenty of attitude.

Tricia Hedahl, Executive Director of Sacramento Area Bicycle Advocates (SABA), made her runway debut.

Vélo & Vintage is one of the first events of the month for the Sacramento region's “May is Bike Month.” The venue for the show is fitting since Hot Italian is the only restaurant in California awarded with the “Bicycle Friendly Business Award” from the League of American Bicyclists.

Bike Month kicks into high gear as The Bicycle Film Festival hits the Sacramento area later this week. The Savage Sprints series, sponsored by the Sacramento Valley Velodrome Association returns to Hot Italian for one night on Friday, May 13th. And the 2nd stage of The Tour of California rolls into Sacramento next Monday, May 16th, with the pro riders favoring an altogether different kind of cycling fashion.

Get ready to hit the pavement: May is bike month

2011-05-05T00:15:48Z

Oil your chains, pump up your tires and get geared up for Sacramento Bike Month. May is bike month in Sacramento, and there are many bike-related activities and events going on in the region whether you’re an advanced bicyclist or a recreational rider.

May is a good month for biking, and it’s the perfect time to campaign for bike awareness, according to Sacramento Area Council of Governments co-chair Sonja Atkins.

“I think it’s about getting people out there for their health, for air quality, to save money and for safety,” Atkins said. “There’s so many pieces to this puzzle, and it’s such a great mode of transportation that I see is important in many realms.”

The campaign, in its sixth year, was put together by the Sacramento Area Council of Governments (SACOG), the Sacramento County Department of Transportation and the Sacramento Metropolitan Air Quality Management District (SMAQMD) to promote bicycle awareness in the Sacramento region, according to SACOG spokesman Erik Johnson.

“It’s important to Sacramento because we are a growing region, and as we’ve grown we’ve expanded the types of bicycle amenities we have in our community,” Johnson said. “This is just one way of showing people that they have other options other than driving.”

During the month of May, people can register and begin logging their bike miles for Sacramento either as an individual, family or as a team. This year’s goal is to reach more than 2 million miles. With more than 7,000 participants signed up this year, the events going on, and the pedal saver program, where local stores and restaurants offer discounts to bikers, there is a lot of incentive to get out there and bike, according to Atkins.

“I think it brings people together and people start talking to one another more. People that are around town start talking about events to see or things to do on the weekend around biking. it shows you the fun and excitement of what you can do on a bike,” Atkins said.

There are tons of events going on in the area throughout the month and plenty of opportunities to ride. So grab your bike and hit the streets, and don’t forget your helmet.

“Bicycle Dreams” film screening
Crocker Art Museum
216 O St.
Thursday, 7 - 9 p.m.
$6 members, $12 non-members
Ticket info: crockerartmuseum.org
The Crocker Art Museum is partnering with the Bicycle Film Fest to showcase “Bicycle Dreams,” a documentary about the intense 3,000-mile bicycle race, Race Across America. The film features cyclists racing from the Pacific Ocean to the Atlantic Ocean. Many enter the race, but few finish. Filmmaker Stephen Auerbach will also be present for a question-and-answer session following the film.

Vélo & Vintage
Hot Italian
1627 16th St.
Saturday, 8:30 - 10:30 p.m.
Free to the public
More information: Vélo & Vintage Facebook page

When fashion and bicycling collide at Hot Italian for bicycle month, the result is Vélo & Vintage. The fashion show will feature vintage bikes and vintage and current fashion on two wheels at Hot Italian, a restaurant that is all about bikes. The event, in its second year, will feature fashions from Krazy Mary’s Boutique and The Sugar Shack.

Bicycle Film Festival Launch Party
Crocker Art Museum
216 O St.
Thursday May 12, 5 - 9 p.m.
Free with museum admission
More information: Bicycle Film Festival Launch Party at the Crocker

Get ready for the Bicycle Film Festival a day early by heading out to the Crocker courtyards. Sponsored by Sierra Nevada Brewing Company, the event will feature bicycle film shorts, bike art and bike workshops. There will also be a barbecue hosted by the Crocker Café and music from DJ Billy Lane.

Bicycle Film Festival
Fremont Park and Hot Italian
1515 Q St. (Fremont park is across from Hot Italian)
Friday and Saturday, May 13 - 14
Various times
More information: http://www.bicyclefilmfestival.com/sacramento

This is the one film festival in Sacramento dedicated to everything bikes. The festival will feature free full-length films in Fremont Park from around the world and through time. The film festival will take you to Brazil to learn the art of BMX; to Japan, a biking country that is constantly on the go; and to show mountain biking around Zurich. Watch art be created by bicycle. Catch a flick about competitive bike tricks, mini bikes and urban bike shorts.

Friday, the pre-party will be held at Hot Italian, and the post-party will at Sol Collective featuring Phono Select DJs, Sierra Nevada on tap, custom bikes and music. The DJs return to the park on Saturday for Music in the Park, and Hot Italian will close out the festival with its Bicycle Film Festival after party.

NorCal AIDS Cycle
Sacramento Valley
Thursday, May 12 - Sunday, May 15, 9 a.m. - 5 p.m.
More information: http://norcalaidscycle.org

The seventh annual NorCal AIDS Cycle will kick off on Thursday to raise money and awareness for HIV and AIDS. Cyclists will ride 330 miles through the Sacramento Valley, the Sierra foothills and other areas in the region for the charity. You can either register to participate in the event, or sponsor a registered biker. The challenging four-day volunteer-based race will be fun for spectators, and it’s for a good cause.

Tour de Cluck
Central Park in downtown Davis
401 C St., Davis
Saturday, May 14, 9 a.m. - 2 p.m.
More information: http://www.tourdecluck.org

In Davis, chickens and biking go hand-in-hand. The second annual Tour de Cluck is not your average bicycling event – it features a bike crawl along the trails of Davis with pit stops at chicken coops. The event will benefit the Davis Farm to School programs. Fun events in the park include the chicken-inspired art and workshops, the Davis Farmers Market, the Bicycle Hall of Fame and a silent auction. Chicken suits are optional.

Amgen Tour of California
Various locations
Sunday, May 15 - 22
More information: http://www.amgentourofcalifornia.com

The Amgen Tour of California is the largest cycling event in America, according to its website, and it is a race modeled after the Tour de France. The eight-stage tour that begins at the California-Nevada border and ends in Thousand Oaks. It makes its Sacramento pit stop for stage two on Monday, May 16, ending at the State Capitol.

This is the biggest event for bike month because it is the the most anticipated, according to Sonja Atkins, SACOG co-chair. In its sixth year, the event founded for cancer awareness brings out some of the most notable professional cyclists. The excitement of seeing the cyclists, the race and the routes is what will brings people out to cheer. The tour spans Northern and Southern California and has various pit stops along the way, including Lake Tahoe, Auburn, Modesto and San Jose.

Capitol Bike Fest
State Capitol
1315 10th St.
Thursday, May 20, 11 a.m. - 1 p.m.

Capitol Bike fest will feature booths about bicycle care, maintenance, recreation and more. The event is put on by cycling organizations and local bike shops in Sacramento. There will be plenty of fun activities, music to hear and ice cream to eat. There will also be free bike safety checks. There will be T-shirts available for those who have been logging their miles and a chance to win prizes and be entered in the bicycle raffle. Bring a printout of your miles to get your T-shirt and your bike for a good time.

Race for the Ring
Raley Field
400 Ball Park Drive, West Sacramento
Saturday, May 21, 10 a.m.
$40 per team
More information: Race for the Ring

Rogers Jewelry’s Race for the Ring returns for a third year. The race benefits the Sacramento Food Bank & Family Services, and 100 percent of the proceeds go to the charity. Participants racing can bike, walk, run, or operate a vehicle through downtown Sacramento guided by clues sent via text message to find the “ring” and have a chance to win more than $35,000 in prizes. It’s like television’s “The Amazing Race.” Participants will have the chance to win diamond jewelry from Hearts on Fire and A. Jaffe, jewelry from Pandora, and watches from TAG Heuer, Tissot, Seiko and Bulova.

Sacramento Bike Swap in the Park
Fremont Park
1515 Q St.
Sunday, May 22, 9 a.m. - 1 p.m.
Free

The Sacramento Bike Kitchen and the Friends of Fremont Park will host their Spring Bicycle Swap Meet in Midtown for bicycle month. The event is free and open to the public. There will be deals on used bikes, parts, and clothing from other Sacramento bikers just like you. You can reserve a space for $10 to sell your own old bikes, parts and clothing. Proceeds from the event will benefit nonprofit organizations the Sacramento Bike Kitchen and the Friends of Fremont Park.

For more of the month’s bike events and information on bike month, check Mayisbikemonth.com.

Second Saturday Art Walk

2011-02-15T01:06:30Z

A warm Saturday evening brought more people out to experience a night full of art, music, culture and socializing during February’s Second Saturday. In the next couple of months, as the weather gets warmer and it stays lighter during the early evening, more people will be attending Second Saturday.

I passed by the Midtown Bazaar on I Street (between 16 and 17th Streets) and noticed that more vendors are setting up stations. I went there to see a couple of murals. One of the murals is in the process of being painted while another has been completed. Amber Villegas has a finished mural on the right hand side wall as you enter from I Street. Another mural on the back wall directly across from the entrance has been in the works by some students under Amber’s direction.

The Midtown Bazaar is open every Saturday from noon to 5 and until 9 p.m., during Second Saturday. Vendors have booths set up selling a variety of hand crafted items.

Hot Italian was celebrating its second anniversary on this Second Saturday. They had a photo contest that was to feature the top 15 photographs posted by fans of the establishment. Tais Arises was on hand and Amanda Lopez was doing photography for the photo booth that was set up for the evening.

I usually try to visit a new gallery or two every Second Saturday and noticed that Bevmostic Art opened a couple of doors down from Hot Italian right next door to the Crimson and Clover boutique. Besides the art on the walls a DJ was performing and a few guests were walking around.

A display of selections from various artists was being displayed at the Panama Artists Collective (PAC). I’m not sure if they changed their name or if the show for Second Saturday was named PAC. The exhibit was wonderfully displayed and the artists’ work was magnificent. Some of their work can be found at their website.

The Sacramento Art Complex always has some attention getting art on display on 2110 K Street. Garley of Garley Sculptures and resident artist of the Sacramento Art Complex was on hand showing a new sculpture. He introduced me to Eric Goodman who had an exhibit honoring Black History Month. Both artists were there to answer questions regarding their work.

More and more artists are finding new venues to display their work. There are other establishments looking for artists to display their art or in some places looking for artists who may need a studio. Other establishments are also looking to share their available space to art galleries, music venues or similar entertainment events and meeting areas. Clubhouse24 is remodeling their space and making it available for gatherings. Johnny Tate from Clubhouse24 took some time to talk about Second Saturday and how he's preparing for another year of Second Saturday showings and venues. He's been in the building for about 10 years now and was in the process of moving to a smaller studio towards the back area while preparing the rest of the building to host other events.

Tate indicated that he was looking for people to occupy the available space for meetings or other social gatherings. Last year I saw several local bands performing on the main area while art was also on display inside. There are inside and outside areas available for events and Tate saw the possibility of hosting things such as small fashion shows as well as other possibilities. Tate can be contacted via the Clubhouse24 facebook page.

My last stop for the evening was at Spanglish Arte which was hosting an exhibit by Juan Raul Mejia. His exhibit will be on display until February 21. The gallery is located on 905 23rd Street. As you walk on 23th off of J and towards I Street you can usually see a path lit up with Luminaries leading to the front of the gallery. Children seem to always be around as adults look for things to buy and view art by featured artists.

Earlier in the day Spanglish Arte conducted a class on making corn husk flowers. Two workshops are scheduled every month from 10 a.m. to 12 p.m. on Saturdays. Log on to their website to see the schedule for upcoming classes and view samples of art galleries featured throughout the year.

Midtown, Downtown, Old Sacramento, East Sacramento and Del Paso galleries contiune to hold exhibits every Second Saturday. Carmichael, Fair Oaks, Davis and Folsom as well as other areas have joined the Art Walks on Second Saturday. Roseville has been running Third Saturday for a while as well. If you have not attended an Art Walk lately it’s becoming easier to find one near you. Popularity increases during the summer. One thing I noticed this Saturday was what I perceived to be increased security by local law enforcement allowing for a more secured feeling that will help as people begin to notice more patrolling during the Second Saturday events.

Sacramento Electronic Music Festival 2011

2011-02-01T05:59:58Z

The Sacramento Electronic Music Festival (SEMF) 2011 held at the Townhouse Lounge on 21st Street had its third day of local, regional and international talent showcased on Saturday night. I showed up a little early and was greeted by Adam Saake organizer of the event. Adam, Clay Nutting and Tais Arises did an extraordinary job of putting on this 3 day event.

(Adam Saake said let there be SEMF)

Both floors of the Townhouse were used for SEMF. Each floor had DJ and lighting stations and a bar was fully equipped on both floors as well. Tais Arises was on hand as well announcing acts and getting the crowd into the show.

I attended the show on Saturday and heard good things about the Thursday and Friday showings. Several sponsors helped with the production of the show; One Solution, Submerge Magazine, Phonoselect Records, Documentary Foundation, Downtown Grid, Arceo Graphix, HOT ITALIAN, Skip's Music, Root Music and MobBase.

Hearts + Horses started off the evening on the first floor. As the 3 member band started their set people began moving closer to watch them play. They played their set and as they finished it left the crowd wanting more but with so many artists at hand they could only play so long. Hearts + Horses got the audience warmed up.

(Hearts + Horses)

Adam Saake took the mike after Hearts + Horses finished their set on the ground floor. “Coming up is another artist that I was a huge fan of years ago. I’m very excited he’s here.” Adam continued, “He’s about to go on very shortly so please stick around. He’s coming out and then we’ll have a short break down here. Paper Pistols will then go on upstairs and then Seventh Swami down here before we go upstairs for the rest of the show. “He then gave a shout out to some sponsors and acknowledged the DJs. I met one of them upstairs Miguel Francis but did not get the names of the others.

Chachi Jones took the stage and after experiencing some technical difficulties he began his one man show. His music showed a wide range of electronic usage to make some really neat sounds. I sat down on the floor to enjoy his sounds. Saake sitting next to me at one point said “You’re watching history.” That sounded like a pretty good review and summation to me.

(Chachi Jones)

Upstairs, Paper Pistols began setting up as Tais came on and encouraged the audience to get closer to the stage. “Okay guys let’s get ready here move on up. If we can have at least 7 people to come up. We have 1, 2, 3, 4, 5… 6… and 7.” He continued, “Could get 10, if you 3 right there, I see you looking at me. If you come up to the front we can get Paper Pistols started. That’s what I’m talking about, we came to party tonight. This is the Sacramento Electronic Music Festival, last day; make some noise for my man Paper Pistols.”

(Tais Arises)

Paper Pistols began their set with a synthesized robotic voice explaining electronic music, electronic experimental music to be more exact. The voice ended by saying “This is paper pistols, this is paper pistols, this is paper pistols …” It continued repeating the same phrase over and over until the music began. People began bobbing their heads as rhythmic drums and sounds played. Other body parts began to move after instead of only the head after a minute or so.

(Paper Pistols)

The last live performance downstairs followed the Pistols’ set. Seventh Swami played on the ground floor. Another one man show, Seventh Swami played to a growing audience. At one point Swami asked if a particular person was in the audience and asked her to step forward. As she came to the front he had one question to ask her. He knelt on one knee and asked the girl if he would marry him. She said no! Just kidding she said yes, very romantic.

(Swami proposes in the middle of his set)

The rest of the evening’s live performances were upstairs. Tais welcomed everybody to the main stage and introduced Two Playa Game and later Tha Fruitbat. Tais is always out there trying to get the audience to participate and always comes through.

I started to move to the front of the stage where I stayed for the rest of the evening. “How many of you all know who Dusty Brown is? Make some noise,” said Tais. A lot of noise came back. Dusty Brown took to the stage. Dusty Brown was a nice break and enjoyed the guitar sounds. Jessica Brown’s voice as always is a great pleasure to hear. As they were finishing up their set the floor seemed to be moving. Crowd appreciation was well received by the Dusty Brown gang as they performed a great set.

(Jessica Brown of Dusty Brown)

“All the way from Toronto, let me hear your Sacramento energy as they make their way on to the stage and rock you all,” Tais announced before Bonjay took the stage. Adam also took the time to thank all the performers from the evening.

Bonjay made up of Alanna Stuart (vocals) and Pho (beats & effects) took to the stage. At one point Alanna said “It’s great to share my first time in California with you guys tonight. Our next tune is from our new cd Broughtupsy.” They performed a phenomenal set. I could feel the audience swaying to the beats of Pho and beautiful soulful voice of Alanna Stuart. “Sacramento we love you already!” Alanna was enjoying the audience reaction and the audience was enjoying Bonjay. They finished their set by performing “Gimmee Gimmee”.

(Bonjay)

The New Humans ended the night and the festival by making their second appearance on SEMF. New Humans have developed quite a following and they are one of the premier music groups in the area. The four member group brought their energy to the stage and energized the audience. Their equipment takes up a lot of stage space but they use every inch to perform for their fans. If there was anybody on the second floor listening to the New Humans for the first time for sure they would become fans after their energetic set.

(Scott Simpson from The New Humans)

DJs continued spinning and dancers continued to move to the beat after the New Humans left the stage. The 2nd Annual Sacramento Electronic Music Festival was a success. I’m sure the show organizers are already planning next year’s show. SEMF staff needs to be congratulated for another successful fest. It’s all about music and it’s all about having fun. Sacramento Electronic Music Festival was a lot of fun and there was a lot of fabulous music.

Photos: David Alvarez

Hot Italian LEED Certified

2011-01-31T21:33:50Z

Hot Italian, having just been awarded the Leadership in Energy and Environmental Design (LEED), held an open house on Saturday and welcomed guests to a self-guided tour. The self-guided tour was held in order for guests to come by and see, touch and feel the green features at Hot Italian.

Sacramento Municipal Utility District had several representatives to answer questions regarding energy efficiency and business services. SMUD representatives that were there spent much of their time helping customer and answering questions. One of them indicated why they were there, “We’re here to talk to people about energy efficiency. We are also here to educate people to see what they can do to conserve energy and talk about some of the programs SMUD offers”. The three representatives on hand were very helpful.

A television screen had a slideshow going that showed pictures of the Hot Italian as it was being built. It was very interesting to see what special construction had to be done to achieve an energy efficient site from its inception. The foundation to roof top is eco-friendly.

As I watched the slideshow Andrea Lepore co-owner of Hot Italian passed by and I asked her a couple of questions. I asked how long they had owned the restaurant and told her that it looked like being energy efficient was part of their plan from the beginning. “We’ve been here for two years. We knew from the beginning we wanted to go green. “Since this was a self-guided tour she pointed out a sign on the wall that read “Riciclato” and had a short description. “We have various signs like this throughout the restaurant. Please feel free to take a tour and follow these signs. Outside back we have a compost vessel make sure you take a look,” Andrea said. I thanked her and started on my self-guided tour.

Reading the sign“Riciclato” it said “Recycled. Bike and Gear Displays constructed from Sierra Pine no-VOC/recycled paper MDF and made locally by 12m Design.” Other environmental material and resource items were the gelato and espresso bar stools made from reclaimed bicycles, storage and collection of recyclables, construction waste management and Dal-Tile in bathrooms and kitchen made from post-industrial recycled material. The LEED was awarded to Hot Italian for their Sustainable Site, Water Efficiency, Energy and Atmosphere, Materials and Resources, Indoor Environmental Quality and Innovation and Design.

There are 44 businesses that have been LEED Certified in Sacramento County. Hot Italian is the first restaurant in the region and only the third in the State of California to be awarded the LEED Silver Certification by the U.S. Green Building Council.

Some customers were at the restaurant for lunch and a soccer game was playing at one of the screens. The beauty about the eco-friendly restaurant is that most people are oblivious to what’s taking place inside and outside the restaurant when it comes to conservation and going green. For example have you noticed that Hot Italian is close to alternative transportation? Have you noticed the bicycle parking areas around the restaurant? The cycle pods have bicycle parking for 32 bicycles for customers and staff. That equates to being more than 1,000% greater than the LEED requirement. Basically they have ten times as many bicycle parking slots than required.

The site used No-VOC paint by Sherwin-Williams, has water efficient landscaping and uses low flow faucets, toilets and waterless urinals. Solar thermal water heating by Aztec Solar is used for dish washers and sinks. The re-tile in front of the bars are Capri Tile made from recycled rubber and cork. The “Famiglia” tables are made from 95% recycled steel and PaperStone material.

The energy design items mentioned are only but a half of what’s been done at Hot Italian. One other thing I have to mention is their Earth Tub that’s behind the restaurant and most people don’t get a chance to see. It’s a fully enclosed compost container that features power mixing, compost aeration and biofiltration. The compost that it creates is used for community gardens and local farms.

The owners Andrea Lepore and Fabrizio Cercatore continue to work and provide transportation education at their restaurant. One of their walls depicts local bike routes, public transit routes as well as the Sacramento Area Council of Governments 511 phone number for transportation route planning assistance. They’ve made quite an effort to try and encourage people to ride bikes, walk and use the nearby public transportation.

Next time you’re at the Hot Italian enjoying their delicious pizza, gelato and other specialties walk around and view, touch and feel the green features inside and outside the restaurant. What looks like a simple structure design is truly an amazing eco-friendly restaurant. There are many energy and environmental designs that you can see but many more that are hidden from sight. Hot Italian was deservedly awarded the LEED Silver Certification by the United States Green Building Council.

Photos: David Alvarez

Hot Italian receives green certification

2011-01-26T03:29:15Z

Nearly two years after opening, Hot Italian received the Leadership in Energy and Environmental Design (LEED) Silver certification. The Midtown pizza parlor is the first restaurant in the city to achieve the high-ranking environmental designation from the U.S. Green Building Council.

Mayor Kevin Johnson joined owners Andrea Lepore and Fabrizio Cercatore at Hot Italian Tuesday to announce the LEED Silver status.

Johnson praised Hot Italian for its environmental efforts. “This is about pro-business, pro-environment and pro-pizza,” Johnson said.

Co-owner Andrea Lepore pointed out the restaurant’s sleek black-and-white color scheme, saying that it was environmentally friendly but not the color green.

“We really wanted to demonstrate that green didn’t have to be green,” she said. “It didn’t have to be brown. It could actually be black and white.”

Hot Italian’s building includes environmentally friendly tables, tile and display cases, and a compost bin, among many other green elements. The building’s wood beams are certified by the nonprofit Forest Stewardship Council, a group that advocates for environmentally sound forestry procedures.

Hot Italian is also part of the Green Restaurant Alliance of Sacramento.

Kathleen Haley is a staff reporter for The Sacramento Press.

Sacramento Opera Performs at Hot Italian

2010-11-14T07:36:49Z

It was fitting that a fundraising event for the Sacramento Opera was held at the Hot Italian located at 16th and Q Streets. The Sacramento Opera will begin its 30th Anniversary Season in Sacramento continuing the Opera movement begun in Italy during the 16th century. The event hosted by Hot Italian was free and open to the public. It was held to raise funds for the Sacramento Opera. This eventIt included a live auction and raffle prizes.

A live opera performance by 4 operatic singers was the highlight of the evening. Donations were taken at the door and tickets were given to those that donated and a raffle was held later to thank them for the donations. The biggest prize however was watching and listening to the magnificent voices of the Sacramento Opera singers who performed.

Sacramento Opera General Director Rod Gideons introduced me to Sue Miller who has been a Sacramento Opera Board member since 1999. We talked about the upcoming Sacramento Opera season. Two to three performances for each opera are scheduled for this year. Orlando, Magic Flute and The Postman Always Rings Twice are scheduled for this year. Several of the main cast members from Orlando performed at The Hot Italian.

Sue was busy all night making sure things went smoothly. She went on to say that the prizes for the raffle and live auction were donated by community individuals that enjoy opera. “It’s always nice that Hot Italian is so supportive of the arts”, Sue said as we talked about the site for this fundraiser. “These operas are held at the Sacramento Community Center”, said Sue and indicated that there are usually around 3 opera performances a year with different matinee times for each. She is also a volunteer at different venues.

All the talk about Hot Italian pizza being the best was confirmed by yours truly. Complimentary pizza was available to those that attended the event. Pizza was taken from its trays as soon as it was put down on the table. The slices I was fortunate to taste were delicious.

Other volunteers walked around talking about the operatic season and selling tickets. Lilia Sanchez was one of the volunteers who talked me into purchasing some. She has been a volunteer in the Opera Guild for about a year now. She went on talk about her volunteering efforts and those of others who give of their time. Several of the raffle prizes were handmade crafts that were donated by volunteers. Lilia and other volunteers helped this event raise funds and their worksmanship showed their dedication.

Adam Saake, as always, was on hand to help promote this event held at Hot Italian. Vy Nguyen was also on hand and was very helpful in spotting shooting opportunities. In a friendly contest they’re both bidding to be Mayor of Hot Italian.

(Adam Saake, Vy Nguyen)

Several cast members of Orlando were on hand to perform for those in attendance. Soprano Antoni Mendezona (Dorinda) started off the evening with an aria. Images of heaven came to mind as she sang. I think that if or when I go to heaven an opera singer will welcome me in, that has been in my mind since childhood. Antoni’s voice was just beautiful as she carried each note. Everyone stood and enjoyed her performance and showed their appreciation as she ended her set.

(Antoni Mendezona)

Diana Tash who will perform the role of Medoro in the Orlando opera followed. Someone mentioned that she started off as a soprano but switched to mezzo around eight years ago. Orlando will be an enjoyable experience, once the first show begins next Friday, November 19, 2010, if Diana’s singing is any indication.

(Diana Tash)

Performing, as the magician Zoroastro, in Orlando is Dean Elzinga who took the spotlight after Diana Tash’s performance. Dean is a bass-baritone singer and his voice came across quite elegantly. His performance made the evening’s Experience the O come to life.

(Dean Elzinga)

Finishing off the operatic performance was soprano Celine Ricci. She will be in the role of Angelica and is making her Sacramento Opera debut with Orlando. Her voice was just sensational as she performed during the evening. People often forget that Operas can be fun and funny. Celine’s performance incorporated both aspects and sang with gusto as she mingled with the audience during her performance. This was a nice ending to the performances and was enjoyed by all.

(Celine Ricci)

Children in the audience enjoyed this performance as much as adults. Some of the children in attendance were dressed in their Sunday best and were treated to a great performance.

The libretto for Orlando will be sung in Italian with English supertitles. All performances are conducted at the Sacramento Community Center Theatre on 1301 L Street. The Sacramento Opera also has various education and outreach programs scheduled. Aficionados can also log on to their website and sign up for their newsletter.

Photos (David Alvarez):

1 - Vy Nguyen, Rod Gideons 2 - Sue Miller (in the middle) 3 - Lilia Sanchez (on the right)

4 to 8 - Volunteers and Cast Members

9 to 11 - Opera Loving Children

12 to 15 - More Opera Loving Members

16 to 19 - Raffle and Live Auction Winners

20 - Celine Ricci

Foursquare Pub Crawl Pours Flavor into Midtown

2010-08-10T11:01:43Z

On Saturday, August 7, Midtown Sacramento played host to the Foursquare Pub Crawl. Organized by Sacramento's Midtown Business Association in order to promote the new Midtown brand, the event featured teams from a number of Midtown establishments. Team leaders were chosen because they were Foursquare Mayors of the participating locations.

Foursquare is a dynamic new social networking application that allows users to know what business are close by, what establishments are trending based on the presence of other Foursquare users, see tips published by other users, and even see maps to help guide them to where they want to go.

For businesses, Foursquare allows them to know who is visiting their establishment, what demographics, how many people, and what time that traffic is present. This, in turn, allows businesses to refine everything from staffing to menu items in order to operate more efficiently and provide more effective customer service.

Saturday's pub crawl features teams from Hot Italian, Zocalo, The Golden Bear, L Wine Lounge, and of course, the MBA. The Hot Italian team was simply that - hot! The Zocalo team raised the bar introducing the finest tequila and fantastic appetizers. Team Golden Bear was tough and battle ready; they were out to win the scavenger hunt, as well as an unofficial award for most drinks consumed. The L Wine team was as classy as the establishment they represented, and as expected, the team from MBA was taking care of business.

The event started at 4pm and was scheduled to end at 11pm. A scavenger hunt provided an element of gamesmanship that added a unique and exciting flavor to the entire crawl. Teams began the crawl at Hot Italian, then went to MVPs, Zocalo, Golden Bear, Tamaya Sushi, L Wine Lounge, and finally ended up at Sapporo Grill Japanese Steakhouse.

Everywhere pub crawlers went, new and interesting people took notice and asked about the Midtown logo shirts, as well as what the event was all about. At The Golden Bear, we ran into Keith Divirgilio and his wife, magazine cover model Jessie Deville. At L Wine Lounge, we met up with local volleyball player and coach Randy Silva and his friends. At Zocalo, we crossed paths with Debra Brekke, a UCLA School of Nursing administrator, on vacation with her husband. Asked what she thought, she said, "I think it's fabulous! We never see this kind of stuff in Simi Valley, where I live. We're starving for this sort of young and involved community. It's all about loving your neighbor, and it's great to see such good things happening. It's obvious that today everyone is coming together."

Sapporo was really impressive. The bartenders made perfect drinks. The chefs provided huge plates of sushi and other items for us to eat, security was professional and kept the establishment orderly, and the hostess was funny and friendly. Sapporo ranks high on Sacramento's list of sophisticated establishments.

MBA's Amber Schmaeling said, "We saw this as a great opportunity to promote Midtown and the wonderful bars and restaurants that our district carries. It was a great event, and we're looking forward to creating more opportunities to highlight what Midtown has to offer. For example, come out to Second Saturday to meet the new Midtown Girls promotion team."

Brittney Culbertson of the MBA team said, "The evening was amazing! It was something that I hadn't done before. I got to go to some bars that I hadn't been to before and meet some awesome people! Overall a great night!"

Pub Crawl participant Kendel Spicer said, "I don't know what team I was on. It was Heather's team, and I had so much fun!"

One of Spicer's teammates, Jenna Basile said of the event, "It was definitely a blast. My first pub crawl. It was awesome!"

There were many familiar faces along the way, and many new friends to be made. Sacramento Press Verified Community Contributor Lindol French was among the pub crawlers. About the crawl, French said, "It was a blast! It's a fantastic way to meet new friends while checking out a variety of local bars and restaurants."

Hot Italian's Foursquare Mayor and team leader, Vy Nguyen said, "Foursquare itself is such a great way of promoting local businesses, and I'm a huge advocate of keeping it local. Midtown is up and coming, we have so many great restaurants and things to offer. In fact, many of the members of the Hot Italian team were new to the Midtown scene, which was an important part of the event. We actually brought in people from outside and were successful in promoting our Midtown businesses."

Zocalo's Foursquare Mayor and team leader, Dianna Sanchez said, "It was probably one of the most fun events that I've ever had the opportunity to participate in here in Midtown. The people on my team are Zocalo regulars. Our passion for Zocalo was clearly represented by our amazing custom t-shirts made by Westin [Ramirez] from New Starr Press. Being the Mayor comes with many perks, my team got VIP service and was treated like royalty at Zocalo."

Rarely do I insert my own opinion about the events I report on, and while whatever I add will merely echo what has already been said, here goes! This was by far the most fun I've ever had going out in Midtown, or anywhere in Sacramento. From beginning to end, the entire event was fantastic. These types of events are great, they bring members of the community together, and they provide a great space to meet new people and make new friends. I ended the evening absolutely certain that my time couldn't have been better spent. I enjoyed meeting each and every person who participated, and I don't believe I'm alone in the hope that we all come together and do it again soon.

As always, images from the event tell the story best.

The Hot Italian story, as told by Fabrizio Cercatore

2010-07-27T04:11:31Z

Fabrizio Cercatore is not a chef. He is not a baker. He was trained to specialize in one thing only: pizza.

Born in Verbania, Italy, Fabrizio has been a pizzaiolo — a pizza-maker, for 14 years. His knowledge of pizza stretches beyond a typical chain pizza shop around town.

The Man
Cercatore, co-owner of Hot Italian in Sacramento, has lived in the city to pursue what he calls this “project” of opening an authentic pizzeria restaurant abroad. He studied at a culinary school in Lerici, Italy. His familiarity with pizza hailed from working at his restaurant in La Spezia called La Tavernetta (The Little Tavern), which he owns with his sister.

It was always his dream to open up a restaurant abroad. This dream became a reality when he met now co-owner Andrea Lepore through a mutual friend, Ruthie Bolton. Bolton — a former WNBA player for the Sacramento Monarchs — would come in to his restaurant in Italy with her team.

“Ruthie got engaged to my friend, and they invited me here for a vacation. When I was here, I met Andrea, and we became friends. I invited her to Italy to see the Cinque Terre, the restaurant. Then, speaking more profoundly with Andrea, she told me ‘Come on, let’s truly do this thing’ and slowly, slowly, we constructed this project.”

The restaurant opened Feb. 14, 2009.

“It was always a dream of mine to open a restaurant abroad. Perhaps a bet with myself,” he said. “And when I met Andrea, it was the perfect balance because she has the marketing aspect, something I lack. It’s the perfect equilibrium.”

Cercatore said he plans to stay in America for at least five years to see the project through.

“But, you never know with the life,” he said.

He recreated a typical Italian atmosphere at Hot Italian — large communal tables, no hostess, Italian music playing, and a soccer match on the big screen.

“At first, people feel a little timid to eat next to people they don’t know. But, when they continue to return, they feel a rapport of familiarity, of friendship,” Cercatore said. “They start sitting next to each other, getting a little more comfortable. It’s like this in Italy, and because of this, I don’t feel the absence of Italy.”

The Pizza
Cercatore, a tall, rather thin man in his 30s with a warm smile, spoke of the difference between a typical American-style pizza and a more traditional Italian pizza.

The dough he makes at Hot Italian is kept to rise for 24 to 48 hours, whereas typical places may let the dough rise from morning to night time.

“When you eat pizza at certain places, you get thirsty when you go to sleep. This is because the yeast retains liquids,” he said. “Instead, with a long leavening...the humidity becomes matured in the fridge. So, when one eats, it is much more light and digestible.”

Cercatore said the concept of strictly a pizza-maker does not really exist in the United States.

“There are lots of people who call me chef, but I don’t like it, because I don’t have the knowledge of a chef. I have the knowledge of pizza. It’s a trade that is well-known in Italy.”

This made it difficult for him to find people who could make his pizzas just right. He spent several months interviewing and then training suitable pizza-makers. During that time, he made all of the Hot Italian pizza himself.

“When we looked for personnel, there were plenty that were chefs that had good experience in the kitchen, but had never worked with pizza before. So at the beginning, it took awhile,” he said.

Currently, there are four “let’s call them pizzaiolo’s” and four in the process of learning. Cercatore said it can take around three weeks to teach basics on how to make pizza, but up to five months for complete training.

“Our pizza is the true Italian pizza. The difference is in the crust, dough and toppings. In the American pizza, there are much more toppings, they become heavy. Even the tastes are more strong. Perhaps the Italian version is something more simple.”

Cercatore and Lepore spent a year researching products for the restaurant. They use a combination of local produce and specialty items and imported specialty items. Speck prosciutto, for example, is imported from the Alto Adige region of Italy, while they purchase their ricotta cheese from a local family-owned shop in Sacramento.

All the pizzas are named after “hot Italians” — people who are perhaps not only good-looking, but prominent and current figures of Italian culture and society. Most on the menu are Italian soccer players.

Cercatore’s favorite pizza? La Fiori, with prosciutto Parma, mushrooms, arugula and mozzarella.

Yes, he eats his pizza every day, but he said he never gets tired of it.

“I change the toppings,” he said.

Note: Fabrizio Cercatore’s quotes have been translated from Italian to English by Angela Ruggiero.

For more information about Hot Italian and to view their menu, visit hotitalian.net

Photos by Angela Ruggiero. Photo of pizza courtesy of Hot Italian.

LAUNCH design and music festival to blast off July 31

2010-07-22T00:14:15Z

Let the countdown begin for the second annual LAUNCH, Sacramento’s indie design and music festival. The one-night showcase features runway fashion, architecture, live music, furniture design and an array of other art forms all in one location: the Artisan multipurpose art venue on Del Paso Blvd.

Planning of the festival started more than two years ago with a group of friends passionate about two things: art and Sacramento.

“There’s a different side of Sacramento than most people think,” said Michael Hargis, the event’s coordinator. “A lot of creative people want to go other places.”

Hargis and his team set out to represent the local art scene while also bringing in talent from other parts of the country.

“We wanted to put all the things that inspire us under one roof for one night,” he said. “It’s an extravaganza of all things we think are cool.”

The event was a success last year, but the focus was mainly on fashion and music. Hargis said that this year the concept has been expanded, with a broader approach to design.

Friend of Hargis and Fashion Director of the event, Jen Wade, is excited about the runway show and the local designers involved.

“It’s a celebration of what we have to offer locally as far as fashion,” Wade said.

R. Douglas and the designing duo of Van Der Neer: Nicole Kniss and Justin Johnson, will be showing along with local boutiques Fringe, Krazy Mary’s, Sugar Shack and Vintage YSJ. Models will strut the catwalk to a combination of live music and DJs.

Musicians will be traveling from all over the continent for the special evening. The Faint’s latest project, Depressed Buttons, will be headlining the night with their synthesized dance music. Toronto’s Woodhands, Oakland’s Hottub and RESA of Los Angeles will also be taking the stage with several local favorites including Sea of Bees, New Humans and The Generals.

Media Relations and Sponsorship Coordinator Lauren Silva said she is eager to hear the bands perform.

“Last year I think I burned over a thousand calories dancing to the different musicians,” Silva said. “I anticipate this year’s lineup will make it hard not to do the same.”

With the economy down, organizers decided to lower ticket prices for the event to just $10 dollars compared to last year’s $20 cover.

“We’re not looking to make money off the event, we are looking for longevity,” Hargis said. “We want to be able to do this for years to come. We want to create our own niche.”

The team hopes to someday turn LAUNCH into a multi-day festival.

“In the future, we would like to do the event every year because of the momentum,” added Wade.

A free shuttle service will be offered from Hot Italian in Midtown to The Artisan, running from 7 p.m.-1:30 a.m. Tickets are available for pre-sale at Hot Italian or UnitedState for $10 but can also be purchased the door. The Artisan is located at 1901 Del Paso Blvd.

For more information, visit 5432Launch.com.

All photos are from last year's LAUNCH.

“The Art of the Game” struts World Cup-inspired fashion, art

2010-07-12T04:44:01Z

Although cheering fans with painted faces, yellow cards or buzzing vuvuzelas were nowhere in sight Saturday night at the Hot Italian restaurant, a little piece of World Cup soccer was in Sacramento.

The eatery hosted its second half of the 2010 FIFA World Cup “The Art of the Game” celebration with a fashion contest. Ten local designers randomly chose countries participating in the World Cup and were challenged to design an original piece based on them.

Local judges Leigh Grogan, Sacramento Bee’s fashion editor; stylist Health Hamilton; and fashion blogger Jen Wade and votes via Facebook and Twitter decided the winner.Lindsey Bee and her outfit inspired by Spain took first place, foreshadowing the World Cup win on Sunday, when Spain beat the Netherlands 1-0 in overtime.

Argentina came in second with a design by Mila Anatichuk and Anastasoa Clemons’ France-inspired outfit took third. Judging was based on the spirit of the game, craftsmanship, originality and creativity, said Hot Italian co-owner Andrea Lepore.

In addition to the runway models, members of the Sacramento Ballet and the Washington Ballet modeled Dolce and Gabbana and Calvin Klein World Cup men’s underwear. Midfielder Clemente Fonseca of the Sacramento Gold also showed off some fancy footwork during the show.

The first half of “The Art of the Game” displayed 15 pieces of FIFA-licensed World Cup artwork June 11 through July 11— the only ones in the United States.

The collection is part of 160 original pieces from international artists from 32 countries. Hot Italian had art on display from South Africa, the United States and Italy.

Lepore said the art has been well received.

“People come in to watch the games; it’s sort of an added bonus,” she said. “It was a perfect tie-in for us.”

Soccer fan Anabel Gil, originally from Mexico, was pleasantly surprised by the art.

“I really enjoyed sitting here and looking at it,” she said. “I am not a big fanatic, but I can feel the spirit.”

Although many have asked if the art is for sale, it is not and will be shipped back to Africa. The winning three fashion designs however, will be displayed in the restaurant’s windows.

Although she admits she is “more than a little sad” that Italy did not advance further in the World Cup, Lepore was happy to see two teams make it to the finals who have never won the title before.

“That’s what makes the World Cup so special — that anyone can win it,” Lepore said.

Fashion photo courtesy of Juan Ayora, jfayora.com

Sacramento celebrating soccer

2010-06-10T04:09:13Z

Time to paint your body, don your wigs and honk that old plastic noisemaker. The World Cup is just around the corner.

The month-long tournament begins Friday, and there are a variety of options for those willing to set their alarms to see the 4:30, 7 and 11:30 a.m. games. Below is a detailed list of different bars and restaurants hosting World Cup viewing events, as well as food and drink specials.

Local soccer fans can double their soccer fix for a few hours Saturday with the inaugural Sacramento Cup. For the first time ever, Major League Soccer teams will come to Raley Field and compete in an exhibition game: Chivas USA and the San Jose Earthquakes.

Scheduling the game became feasible because MLS is putting its season on pause during the first round of the World Cup, said Alan Ledford, president and general manager of Raley Field and the Sacramento Rivercats. Raley Field held annual exhibition matches featuring Mexican soccer clubs from 2006 to 2008, but Ledford said this will be different because the teams are relatively local and will be competing for a cup.

"The objective is to make it a recurring match," Ledford said. "We think Sacramento will support that. Based on the previous games, we think it will be very successful."

Watching the World Cup on TV is another spectacle in itself. ESPN will dedicate 24 hours of continuous coverage leading into the opener and air many of the games live and tape-delayed. Since games will take place in South Africa, most people in Sacramento will be stuck watching replays unless they want to wake up and eat their breakfast while watching a game.

The World Cup features 32 international teams (narrowed from 204 in the qualifying stage), who compete through five tournament stages: the group stage, the round of 16, the quarterfinal, the semifinal and the final (a third-place match occurs the day before the final). FIFA, the international governing body of soccer, currently ranks the top international teams as Brazil, Spain, Portugal and the Netherlands. But you can never count out other top-10 teams like Italy, Germany, France, Argentina or England. The U.S. is ranked 14, and only has a slight chance of upsetting one of the top eight to make it into the finals.

In 2006, Italy beat France in the World Cup final in Germany.

Hot Italian owner Andrea Lepore, who follows the Italian team closely, has since played a highlight tape of that World Cup in the restaurant. She said the team is still strong due to the addition of some younger players.

"Repeating is so difficult in any sport because everyone wants to take the champions down," Lepore said. "So I think they have as good a chance as anyone."

France, on the other hand, has seen some mishaps since then. In their final World Cup qualifying game against Ireland, French striker Thierry Henry handled the ball illegally twice, before setting up a teammate for a goal. The highly protested incident was not seen by the referee and Ireland was knocked out of the World Cup.

"Well, unfortunately you can't cry after the game's been called," de Vere's owner Henry de Vere White said. "Of course like any Irish fan, we're bummed, but we're here to celebrate the World Cup. Our slogan is, 'all fans welcome.' "

De Vere White said he would cheer for the U.S. soccer team, while his brother Simon said he would cheer for "Argentina. No, Spain."

View the World Cup at the following locations:

De Vere's Irish Pub
1521 L St.
231-9947
Open at 6 a.m. for the entire tournament.

Food: A World Cup breakfast menu features a full Irish breakfast (eggs, bacon, sausage, mushrooms, tomato and black and white Irish pudding), a breakfast burger (chicken apple sausage, over well eggs, house-made Irish bacon and cheddar) and a breakfast potato entrée (potatoes, Dubliner and Jack cheeses, Gardenburger pieces, chili, tomato, red onion, chives and sour cream). Breakfast will be served from 6 to 10:30 a.m. for the whole tournament.

Drinks: Customers must check in through Foursquare, the GPS-based social media site, to get them. There will be Foursquare-based specials on beer and appetizers during live games.

Other: Two new flat-screen televisions will show games, among them re-televised 4:30 a.m. games. "We want to be the home of the World Cup for everybody," de Vere White said. "We've added new shifts for everybody. We (even) have an extra kitchen staff."

Streets of London Pub
1804 J St.
498-1388
Open at 6:45 a.m. for the entire tournament.

Food: A special $10 breakfast menu will be available from 7 to 11 a.m. It will feature a choice of a breakfast pasty (a type of meat pie) with beans, or a breakfast with eggs, bacon, sausage, potatoes and fried toast. Both come with bottomless tea or coffee.

Drinks: Irish coffee with Jameson whiskey will cost $5. Buckets of beer from different nations will be offered at a cost of five for $20. Among them are Newcastle (England), Peroni (Italy), Corona (Mexico), and Heineken (The Netherlands). Jagermeister girls will be on hand Saturday, from 11 a.m. to 1 p.m handing out Jager shots.

Other: Streets will be blacking out the windows to run a large projector in addition to several flat screens.

Bisla's Sports Bar
7042 Folsom Blvd.
383-0133
Open at 7 a.m. for the entire tournament.

Food: For 7 a.m. games, a continental breakfast will be offered for $5. For 11:30 a.m. games, Bisla's offers six buffalo wings for $5 and sliders for $1.

Drinks: Domestic pints cost $2.

Other: Bisla's has 16 televisions, a projection screen and Dolby digital surround sound, said owner Bob Bisla.

M.V.P.'s Sports Bar and Grill
2010 L St. (Formerly 1629 Capitol)
441-4151
Open at 6 a.m. for the entire tournament.

Food: Because M.V.P. is busy moving from its old location, a manager said the food menu is still to be determined.

Drinks: To be determined.

Other: M.V.P. has 20 televisions.

Hot Italian
1627 16th St.
444-3000
Open at 11:30 a.m. for the entire tournament, with the exception of Italy's two early games on June 20 and 24, when it will open at 7 a.m.

Food: Though not providing a special menu, Hot Italian has pizzas named after Italian soccer players. The (Fabian) Cannavaro, named after the Italian team captain, is a classic pizza Margherita: tomato sauce, mozzarella and basil. The (Marco) Materazzi, named after the player who was famously head-butted by Zinedine Zidane in the 2006 World Cup final, features pepperoni, olives, tomato sauce, mozzarella and fontina cheese.

Drinks: There won't be drink specials, but owner Andrea Lepore pointed out that the restaurant serves Peroni beer, sponsors of the Italian national soccer team. Beers are all $4 or $5. Wines start at $5.

Other: Hot Italian will be holding a celebration that they call "Art of the Game."

Blue Hot Italian shirts will be available Friday, as an homage to Italy's World Cup jersey color.

Starting Saturday the restaurant will display soccer-inspired fine art officially licensed by FIFA. There will be 15 contemporary paintings from American, Italian and South African artists.

On July 12 at 8 p.m., a fashion installation will be displayed, featuring local designers, artists and dancers. Designers will be challenged to create an original piece of wearable art inspired by an international soccer jersey.

Hot Italian has a projector.

Bonn Lair
3651 J St.
455-7155
Open at 4:30 a.m. for the entire tournament.

Food: Likely to be breakfast pastys.

Drinks: To be determined.

Other: Bonn Lair has three televisions and a new sound system.

Zócalo
1801 Capitol Ave.
441-0303
Open 6:30 a.m. on Friday for the opening game featuring Mexico and host nation South Africa. Early opening for the rest of the tournament to be determined.

Food: Pozole and menudo for breakfast on Friday.

Drinks: A full bar will be available.

Other: Zócalo has flat-screen televisions behind the bar.

Sacramento's budding GRAS

2010-06-09T06:31:08Z

The Green Restaurant Alliance of Sacramento has a hand in 10 local restaurants and hopes to reach more with its mission of establishing a sustainable restaurant industry.

GRAS is "dedicated to making Sacramento a leading sustainable food community and a leader in the green-restaurant industry," according to its website. The year-old organization helps restaurants reduce waste by composting food scraps and biodegradable material.

"This is not a brilliant idea, it's being done worldwide," said GRAS co-founder David S. Baker. "Why can't it happen in our town?"

The 10 members of GRAS are Hot Italian, L Wine Lounge and Urban Kitchen, Mulvaney's B & L, One Speed, Selland's, Grange, Ella, Tuli, The Waterboy and The Kitchen.

GRAS was formed by Baker and Jason May. The two, along with a handful of volunteers, work to strengthen and standardize GRAS' programs.

"After reading about (the composting) they do in San Francisco and Santa Barbara, I asked why can't we do that?" Baker said. "There's many reasons to think that Sacramento can be at the forefront of the green-restaurant industry or sustainable-food community."

GRAS has focused on composting. Hot Italian had a composting receptacle called the Earth Tub, which it offered to GRAS.

"Before GRAS came along, we decided we were going to use our kitchen scraps, but it would've taken a long time to fill up," said Andrea Lepore, Hot Italian creative director and development partner. "One of the reasons we decided to do the composting was because, unlike San Francisco, we don't have a citywide system for composting."

Baker said that GRAS has diverted 22,000 pounds of produce scraps since March 1.

"We provide restaurants with a bin inside the kitchen as well as another toter out back as they would for recycling or garbage, and then that gets picked up by Atlas Disposal," Baker said. "Now it's a question of where we go from there. This last week, we requested 400 pounds go to Hot Italian's Earth Tub and the rest was taken to Del Rio Botanical Farms."

The Earth Tub, which has been in use for two months, has "digested" its first batch. Hot Italian worked with the Department of Parks and Recreation to distribute the compost in community gardens, including Fremont Community Garden.

"We're glad to know there's another effort with the GRAS people and Hot Italian," said Bill Maynard, community garden program coordinator for Parks and Recreation. "We're happy to work with everyone to keep the waste from the landfill."

The Earth Tub is produced by Green Mountain Technologies, Inc. The company describes it as a "small scale, in-vessel composting system for recycling organic waste materials at the site where they are generated." The Earth Tub can process 40 to 500 pounds daily. Each tub holds 3,200 pounds when full.

GRAS' programs also include cork recycling, water conservation, supplying bicycle racks through the city, recycling and promoting local agriculture. It hopes to recycle cooking oil for bio-diesel use and work with the Legislature on issues involving the food industry.

"Not too long ago, we were throwing everything into the garbage," Baker said. "Now we do composting, recycling, cork recycling. It's all about keeping things out of the landfill."

Photos:

1) Hot Italian exterior.

2) The Earth Tub.

3) Lepore opens the Earth Tub to show the full batch.

Agnus-Dei Farrant is an intern for The Sacramento Press.

Free midday concert series "Hot Lunch" back for second season

2010-06-03T19:30:23Z

Sunshine, Italian fare and live music - "Hot Lunch" returns for its second season. The free concert series, hosted by Hot Italian, runs every Thursday 11:30 a.m. to 1 p.m., beginning today, for 13 weeks.

Music and pizza lovers can spend their lunch break at Fremont Park across from Hot Italian. This year's lineup includes a wide variety of musical genres including alternative, funk, country and jazz. All talent featured in the series are either local or from the West Coast.

Hot Lunch began in 2009, using the Concerts in the Park event as a similar model. The most obvious difference is that Hot Lunch aims to bring people together for music and food midday. To avoid wasting valuable minutes of hour-long lunch breaks, Midtown workers and residents are able to order Hot Italian paninis and salad directly at Fremont Park and are encouraged to call ahead for pizza orders. The food will be delivered to your grassy seat.

"The music is fun and it's a nice place to have lunch," said Jerry Perry, music promoter for the series. "It's a different vibe. In clubs you only really get people who go to clubs. (At Fremont Park midday) we can put bands in front of people that don't usually get to see them."

As for the concept and comparison to the Concerts in the Park series, Andrea Lepore, creative director and development partner of Hot Italian, described the event as "another entertainment option for Midtown."

"There is really nothing else like it," said Lepore, "and Fremont Park is such a good venue." In its second season, Hot Lunch has been extended and begins earlier in the year, Lepore added, to take advantage of the sunshine and avoid the rain.

This year's Hot Lunch performer list:

June 3 - Walking Spanish
June 10 - The Storytellers
June 17 - Richard March
June 24 - Dog Party and Simpl3Jack
July 1 - Synchro
July 8 - The Kelps
July 15 - McDougal
July 22 - Musical Charis
July 29 - Life in 24 Frames
August 5 - Shannon Curtis, JP Spangler and Aaron Beaumont
August 12 - KB & The Slingtones
August 19 - BLVD Park
August 26 - Wahnderlust

Hot Italian is located at 16th and Q streets. Fremont Park, across the street, is on the corner of 16th and P streets.

Photos 1-3 courtesy of Colleen Belcher, Managing Editor for The Sacramento Press.

Photo 4 of Hot Lunch performers (June 10) courtesy of Andrew Heringer and Jerry Perry

An Evening Of Bicycle Film Shorts

2010-05-17T04:40:38Z

The sights. The sounds. The smells. Oh my! The Bicycle Film Festival, held Friday through Sunday, was an exciting outdoor event.

Seeing tons of bicyclists flocking to Fremont Park for opening night was surreal. Hearing cyclists talk about their vintage bikes relayed the camaraderie they felt. And the smell of gourmet pizza was tempting as it wafted through the air. All ages strolled, many with gelato in hand, toward Fremont Park to get a seat before the show started.

The Bicycle Film Fest has been held overseas and across the nation. The event celebrates all things bicycle through film, art and music. The restaurant Hot Italian hosted the event's primary indoor site.

Brendt Barbur, festival founder, opened the event, telling the audience that Andrea Lepore, owner of Hot Italian, was the reason Sacramento was added as a festival site.

“We’re now in 40 cities and we’re holding our 10th anniversary in New York,” he said.

Then it was time for the show to go on. “This screening is a series of urban bike shorts that are all made by cyclists,” Barbur said.

The screening featured 16 film shorts from directors in the United Kingdom, Italy, Japan, Spain, Canada and the United States. The films were inspirational, informative and entertaining for cycling enthusiasts and noncyclists alike.

The shorts included:

“On Time,” directed by Ari Taub. It had a well-developed plot and pleased the audience, judging by the applause it received. It was about a bicycle messenger who experiences the dangers of riding. The character has to deliver a package by a set time and must accomplish the task despite many obstacles. If he does not succeed, there will be "explosive" consequences.

In “An Apology,” the Niestat Brothers were invited to do an expose on television show "Good Day, New York" about how easy it is to steal a bike. However, they decided to pull a practical joke. Viewers laughed at the directing duo’s untimely, yet humorous prank.

“Polo Manual” was about playing polo on bicycles. The film explained the rules, method and etiquette of the game. Director Brendan McNamee filmed many collisions and injuries. There were falls that made viewers cringe, but the short also elicited a few chuckles from the audience.

The dramatic musical video “What’s A Girl To Do,” directed by Dougal Wilson, received an enthusiastic response. In the one-of-a-kind short, ominous masked cyclists executed choreographed movements.

“Ski Boys,” directed by Benny Zenga, was an insightful look at the ingenuity of a few young men in rural Ontario. The film was dedicated to creating inventive and daring ways to put all items on wheels.

The audience cheered through “Macramento” by Colby Elrick. The Sacramento premiere featured Northern California cyclists John Cardiel, Squirrel and Ted Shred. The film highlighted much of downtown Sacramento’s landscape on a "ride-along" tour, with the cyclists performing incredible tricks.

Some people at the film festival said it rekindled their desire to ride a bicycle. For others, the films brought back memories.

“I saw 'Breaking Away' -- a famous bicycling film from the '70s -- while I was in college,” said Roger Jones, who lives in downtown Sacramento. “I read about this event in The Sac Bee and since I live in walking distance, I had to come.”

The Bicycle Film Festival is Coming!

2010-05-12T05:49:46Z

May is Bike Month, and this weekend is the best time to celebrate. Sacramento has earned a stop on the international tour of the Bicycle Film Festival. The festival will be held Friday and Saturday, with the festivities extending into Sunday as part of the Amgen Tour of California.

The Friends of Fremont Park, along with pizza and panini bar Hot Italian, will host the event. The film festival starts Friday in Fremont Park with movie shorts. They will begin at 9 p.m., but the event will kick off at 7 at nearby Hot Italian, which also will be the site of the night's after-party. And it will continue "as long as people are there and drinking," Lepore said.

"The Bicycle Film Festival is a collection of film, art and music," said Andrea Lepore, co-owner of Hot Italian.

The New Humans will perform at the preparty Friday at Hot Italian and Signal to Red is scheduled before the big presentation Saturday.

The 16 short films range from one to 16 minutes. Among them is "Macramento," a film by Colby Elrick about legendary Italian frame builder Giovanni Pelizzoli. It follows local riders John Cardiel, Squirrel and Ted Shred, aka DJ Ted Shred.

Saturday will begin with a a scavenger hunt, with prizes including bicycle saddles by San Marco, vouchers to the Crocker Art Museum, Hot Italian certificates and messenger bags. The festivities will continue with music in the park, followed by the Bicycle Film Festival features presentation, and concluding with the Urban Velodrome After Party at Venue, at 15th and R streets. The after-party will feature DJ Ted Shred.

There will be a beer garden in Fremont Park at 1 p.m. from which to view Amgen rider. The first leg of the tour starts Sunday in Nevada City and ends in Sacramento. Fans can expect to see the cyclists, including Lance Armstrong, pass at about 3:30.

This is the Bicycle Film Festival's 10th year and its first in Sacramento. Lepore said that cities comparable in size to Sacramento usually have a turnout numbering in the thousands. Many cities charge admission because the films are shown in a museum or a similar venue. Sacramentans can participate in the festival free except for food and drinks.

Other major cities hosting the Bicycle Film Festival include New York, Chicago, London, Melbourne and Tokyo. For more information, visit www.bicyclefilmfestival.com

Velo and Vintage on Second Saturday

2010-05-07T00:21:15Z

Whether your idea of an attractive model is Christy Turlington or a Schwinn classic cruiser, one particular Second Saturday Art Walk event this weekend could be for you.

Exploring the intersection between bike culture and fashion, Velo and Vintage will feature local models dressed in vintage threads - no Lycra allowed - from local shops. Thus attired, they will then cruise down the runway - atop color-coordinated bicycles.

Nevertheless, with two shows Saturday night in the expansive and stylish space of Hot Italian pizzeria at the corner of 16th and Q in Sacramento, Velo and Vintage isn’t just about wheels and wedges. It’s about community.

Conceived in the fertile, bike-obsessed imagination of activist and blogger Lorena Beightler and midwifed by style-crazed blogger and consultant Kari Shipman, Saturday night’s event began as a way to connect local communities. And it has stayed that way.

“It’s not about us, it’s about our community,” Beightler said.

Beightler, who was born in Venezuela but lived all over the United States before settling in Sacramento, decided to stage the event based on her experience in the Landmark Forum.

“I created this event and started working on it out of Landmark (a human potential organization)," Beightler said, "and what you’re supposed to do is create something that you’re committed to but not attached to. You need to find someone who’s a leader, who can take it over if necessary. And I found Kari.”

Shipman was not exactly enthused after she met Beightler. “It was two days after I finished doing this huge, time-consuming event, and I was not ready for another one,” Shipman said.

But Beightler’s enthusiasm, and the fact that, as Shipman said, “Everything about it was what I’m all about,” added up to her rapid agreement.

Andrea Lepore, owner of Hot Italian, was an instant convert to the cause, and Velo and Vintage suddenly had a home. Downtown fashion photographer Juan Ayora and graphic designer Jake Favour both got on board, and a community soon developed around the idea.

So what IS the idea, exactly? Beightler is passionate about it.

“The ‘cause’ is celebrating Midtown, these communities and cultures in Midtown,” she said. And the center of it is the bike.

“The fashion show is really abut the bike,” Beightler said. “People hear ‘fashion show,’ but the essence is the bike. We’re promoting biking, community, living your life with the bike as a mode of transport. Not as a toy, not as an exercise tool, but as how you get around.”

Beyond that, like biking, vintage fashion itself is green. Not as in bamboo fiber, but in the sense that, as she said, “Vintage clothing is recycled. And it’s a recycled way of promoting being conscious about the decisions you make when you’re spending your money. We want to promote the vintage shops in the town, and we want to promote good thinking, good decisions about how you spend your money, and how you impact our world.”

Getting local bike stores and vintage clothing shops to buy in wasn’t hard at all, the duo said. And now that they’re involved, the process of putting fashionable bike and stylish rider together is continuing apace during the week before the event.

Said Shipman, “We’re telling the clothing shop owner, ‘We’re bringing you this model; you dress them to represent who you are.' Then we’re matching the model with a bike that coordinates with it. It all resonates.”

Among the bike shops participating are Practical Cycle, Dutch Bikes from San Francisco, College Cyclery, Bicycle Business and City Bicycle Works. The clothing stores include Bows & Arrows, French Cuff Consignment and Fringe.

And the models are part of the community, too. Rachael Lankford of Sacramento365.com, musician Autumn Sky and bike maven Brad Gleed are among the models. West Sacramento Mayor Christopher Cabaldon, who lives in the central city, will be the MC.

There will be two shows, at 5:30 and 8 p.m. Saturday. For further information, visit
http://www.facebook.com/event.php?eid=108490159184471. Shipman blogs at http://juniperjames.wordpress.com/; Beightler blogs at http://www.saccyclechic.com/

Bike Swap in Fremont Park this Second Saturday

2010-04-06T19:53:06Z

With May is bike month fast approaching, The Friends of Fremont Park and the Sac Bike Kitchen are teaming up to what looks to be Sacramento's first Bike Bazaar in the Park

Located between 15th and 16th and P&Q,the event looks to be a sure way to load up for the summer with lotsof 2 wheeled fun.

Be it building a commuter,grocery getter or Tweed bike,Townie this is an excellent opportunity in scoring hard to find parts and classics to round out your collection. Need a classic cruiser for second saturday? Mike from Vintage Bicycle Supply will be on hand with all your cruiser needs. Mike will be showing off his Velo Orange assortment of goods now in stock, Whit from Whitworth cycles is planning on having plenty of frames on hand if you want to start from scratch.

On the otherside of the coin if you have too many bikes not seeing the light of day than this is your chance to make good and spread some bike love.

All this bike love will make you hungry. Hot Italian is right across the street for culinary perfection in the form of Pizza, Panini and Calzone

See you there

http://fremontpark.net/2010/03/sac-bike-swap-in-the-park/

Mural proposals sought

2010-03-13T04:59:53Z

The wall of a Midtown restaurant soon will soon become a fresh canvas for a Sacramento muralist.

Hot Italian and the Arts & Business Council of Sacramento have put out a call for artists to submit mural proposals with modern Italian themes. The winning artist will be paid $1,000, plus $500 in restaurant certificates, to design and install an 8-foot by 3-foot mural for the eatery's main dining room.

The space was intended to hold a bicycle. But the restaurant's owners, Andrea Lepore and Fabrizio Cercatore, want to open it up to local artists instead and decided to hold a contest to choose the design, Lepore said.

"It's really open to anyone," she said. "It could be any medium: photography, mixed media, painting. It's up to them and the space."

Local muralists involved with the nonprofit Midtown Murals Project see the contest as a great opportunity for a student, apprentice or other amateur. After factoring in the cost of supplies and other expenses, the artist would likely make about $100 a day for about a week's worth of work, said James Cooper, executive director of SEEART, the umbrella organization that oversees the murals project.

"We're happy to see that people are thinking in this realm," he said. "We'd just like them to think a little more about equitable benefits and not be so one-sided about who benefits."

Artists going through a rough time in this economy might consider the work, too, as long as they retain rights to reproduce their artwork — a major money-maker for artists, Cooper added.

The arts council applauded Hot Italian for hiring an artist, rather than just offering the opportunity to promote their artwork in a busy setting.

"A lot of businesses believe the promotion is enough. Some don't understand the value of design or how much work goes into creating an art piece," said Michelle Alexander, executive director of the Arts & Business Council. "It's really admirable that Hot Italian is treating the artist like a professional and paying them for their work — and also opening it up to the community to maximize what could be considered."

A detailed agreement, including reproduction rights, will be worked out with the artist. The restaurant is likely to be open to an agreement in which both sides could reproduce the artwork as needed, Alexander said.

The deadline for submissions is March 28. Finalists' work will be displayed April 10 at a Second Saturday event at Hot Italian, where visitors can vote on the designs. The mural is expected to be installed in June. For more information, go to www.hotitalian.net/mural or e-mail arts@hotitalian.net.

Photos provided by the Midtown Murals Project.

Fashion show for Teens at Hot Italian this Thusday

2010-01-12T16:53:25Z

Fashion shows in Sacramento have typically barred teens since the majority of the shows are held inside night clubs. But with prom season just around the corner, one local retailer has decided change things up a bit and give teens something to shout about with her own fashion show tailord for teens and their parents. The event, titled, "A Tale of an Edgy Cinderella," and will feature top designers, some of whom have shown at red carpet events in Hollywood.

Immediately following the show, guests are invited to the “After Party” located at Tres Chic Boutique on the corner of 23rd and J Street. The evening will continue with fine pastries, coffee, champagne and non-alcoholic beverages.

Special sales and a $10 gift certificate for all ticket holders will be provided and honored.

Tony Bowl
La Femme
Terani
Jovani
Sean Collection

Doors open at 5:30 pm and food will be served until showtime.
Local models from area high schools will strut the catwalk at 6:30 pm.

Food will be provided and served by The Hot Italian

January 14th - doors open @ 5:30 pm
The Hot Italian @ 16th & Q
Showtime @ 6:30 pm

Tickets are available on line for $20.00 at www.sacramentoprom.com or in person at Tres Chic Boutique.

Christmas Party Benefit Will Feature Local Sacramento Restaurants

2009-12-11T17:57:06Z

The 23rd Annual Christmas Party Extravaganza will feature free food from a multitude of hip Sacramento restaurants and establishments. Tuli, Zocalo, Hot Italian and Kru will all be at the party serving delicious appetizers plus, Rail Bridge Cellars will offer wine tastings.

This is heaven for the gastronomically inclined! If you just want to fuel properly before you hit the dance floor, that can be easily accomplished too. Do not miss this unique opportunity to sample so many culinary creations in one place, knowing its all for a good cause. Food is included in the ticket price ($60 in advance, purchase online) and proceeds benefit at-risk youth in Sacramento.

To top it all off, Mix Downtown will host the official afterparty and is offering FREE COVER to those attending this year's Christmas Party Extravaganza!!

Purchase Your Ticket Online Now

A Slice Of Reality

2009-12-10T03:24:35Z

Today I had but one objective which was to find a superior slice of pizza to sit down and enjoy without going broke in the process. You should know I was born and raised in New York so this was not going to be a simple task.

I decided to try Giovanni’s Old World New York Pizzeria. My first impression was that the restaurant is enormous. The size of the restaurant drew attention to the fact I was the only one in the place. Normally I wouldn’t stay at a completely empty restaurant but they deserved an impartial review as much as any place.

Let’s start with the positives. The lunch special which is offered from 11-4PM consists of two slices of pizza and a soda for $5.99. Draft beer is available in a 32 ounce bucket at $2 for Bud and Bud Light and $3 for all others. The windows were nicely decorated for the holidays and there was a Christmas tree up by the front door which was aesthetically pleasing.

On to the less popular news. The 32 ounce bucket was made of Styrofoam which is an environmental nightmare. The only similarity between theirs and a slice of “New York” pizza is the thin crust; besides this I found it to just be OK. Five of the eight draft beers carried at Giovanni’s were supplied by Sacramento Brewing Company which we all know recently shut down due to economic reasons. I asked the employee working the counter where they will be getting their beer from now on and he had no idea which I thought was absolutely darling. They may want to start thinking about where their next kegs are coming from because the stout I ordered was beyond stale. An extra large pizza can run as much as $32 at dinner time which is just too much for me to pay with all of options I have available in Sacramento. Lastly, there is what I estimate to be a 60 inch projection T.V. which isn’t clearly visible from any angle in the room most likely due to the fact it was manufactured in the mid 1990’s.

In fairness to Giovanni’s the pizza really was not bad, but you should really be prepared to bring on the quality if you are going to have the words “New York” right in the name of your business. In conclusion I would never want to deter someone from drawing their own conclusion, however for my money the entire experience was mediocre and I myself might give them another chance once the kegs are switched out.

Giovanni’s is located at 6200 Folsom Blvd. 916.455.8831. Please note there are also locations at 5924 South Land Park Dr. 916.393.7001 and Natomas Town Center at 2701 Del Paso Road. I have not tried the last two locations and therefore no opinions or feedback on those particular locations.

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

3 Winning Strategies for Sacramento Area Small Businesses

2009-11-21T23:54:04Z

The Wall Street Journal featured a story recently that held some tremendous promise for Sacramento Area small businesses. The article titled “Three Best Ways to Win Community Support” outlines the some opportunities that small businesses can create or take advantage of. I think these are particularly ripe for those businesses around the Sacramento community.

First off, a recent trend in small business marketing has been to develop community around your products and services. Community is where loyalty comes from. It is why we have newsletters, a social networking presence, and why we all wish there was a bar where everybody knew our name. These tips will help you further to engage your customer outside the confines of your primary place of business.

The articles first recommendation was to hold a contest or event with local flair. Being a New York paper they pointed to the Nathan’s Hot Dog eating contest. Sacramento has an active community. This week my wife has our family signed up to participate in the annual Run to Feed the Hungry. The event is sponsored by numerous local and nationally franchised businesses and is a fundraiser for the Sacramento Food Bank. This is a great example of participating in events with local flair. My favorite new pizza spot in Sacramento is Hot Italian. As a fan on Facebook and recipient of their weekly emails I know that they participate in a lunch hour concerts held in the Freemont Park across the street. Another example may be a Second Saturday event. Monthly these events are hosted all over Sacramento with particular fervor in the Midtown area as well as some Suburban locations like the Fair Oaks Village. People who attend these events often are a good source of repeat business.

The second recommendation: Team up with other local businesses, especially those with complementary products. Every business is looking for that perfect partner. We often forget how teamwork works. One customer of mine is a local Max Muscle. The owner selected a site two doors down from a sports footwear store and shares the shopping center with a soccer supply store. Shortly after moving in the footwear store began to sell sports supplements. Now instead of stores working together to build a successful shopping center they are taking an isolationist approach. Why not offer complimentary products from other local businesses in your store. When local businesses win, we all win. A common mistake of marketing is also that it is done in sort of a self congratulatory manner. Working in community helps us to avoid this pitfall. It turns out that customers listen far more when we begin to talk about others. Find some complimentary businesses to partner with. Generate some conversation about each other. Begin a movement together! And that brings us to recommendation number three.

Join or start a grassroots business alliance. The Midtown Grid is a fantastic example of a business alliance in Sacramento. With a dedicated website at MidtownGrid.com these business has joined together in a variety of campaigns for mutual beneficial causes. One in particular is the Green The Grid initiative. When businesses set aside their own well being and put the community first they will experience the same in return.

I believe that most people want to shop local. Given the option of supporting a local business or not, I think there is a strong desire to participate in supporting a local economy. Show your community that your feel the same. Be a business that contributes to the community and see if the community does not give right on back. So host some parties, build some partnerships, and participate in a movement.

I am sure I have missed some well behaving local examples. What Sacramento Area business have you seen using these principles to better the community and grow their businesses? Please, include a link.

First Sacramento tweed ride a grand success!

2009-11-09T17:43:27Z

At 9:00 am, nearly a hundred cyclists showed up for Sacramentos first Tweed Ride sunday for the all day neighborhood bike ride. Amazing as the idea gave birth just a little over a month beforehand. Thanks to powerful internet networking the idea traveled fast and soon the restaurants that accepted to participate got what they reserved, a lot of love from the enthusiasts dressed in fine vintage tweed.

The scramble to amass the finer vintage look was on and the final result a best dressed contest showed us the need for such an event. The enthusiasm was contagious as was the creative impulse for both vintage bike and dress alike.

Many cities have such a ride already in place. New York, San Francisco, Philadelphia and Chicago to name a few.

Erin and Rick Houston organized the ride with great care and the stops were spaced out perfectly so we all could admire such a great turnout. The ride started at the Sacramento Bike Kitchen with Old Soul Coffee to give us the kick we needed.

First stop the Capital for a group photo. More than 80 perhaps close to 100 cyclist on the steps of the dome of all things poitico. Then a nice slow paced ride to Onespeed Pizza for some breakfast where we peacefully took over the fine eating establishment. The restaurant was literally encased with over eighty+ fine bicycles. Riding a Yellow Schwinn tandem for three, One speed creator Rick Maham was also on hand to see first hand the ever increasing bike culture paying tribute to Ricks own love for fine food, bikes and good companionship. If you havent you simply must check out this place and if you can, ride there on your bike.

Our next destination was the famed Bon Lair pub on 37th and J st. It was the perfect place to have a pint and feel a bit Scottish. Again the bikes and great beer gave the feel of a wonderful Dutch or Danish neighborhood.

Next stop was a wine tasting at Revolution Winery Sacramento's one and only urban winery. Great people with a passion for wines and it showed. It was here where we had our best dressed contest and handed out prizes, As Rick Houston said so elequently "after all we are all winners".

Feeling the need for more Carbs our next Stop was Hot Italian where we gorged on wonderful pizza and drank Racer 5 from exotic hand blown pitchers. Hot Italian is yet another great eating establishment that embraces the bicycle as a viable mode for a day on the town.

Finally last call at the Rub. Thats Rubicon for those that frequent the grand daddy of riding destinations.

ALL in all it was simply marvelous to see so much enjoyment on the greatest machine ever created by man.

Local artist David Garibaldi motivates at arts community meeting

2009-10-29T01:52:30Z

Sacramento-raised painter David Garibaldi delivered a poignant speech at Wednesday's "For Art's Sake" meeting. The 26-year-old thanked Mayor Kevin Johnson and the city for its support and guidance when he was growing up in Sacramento.

While Garibaldi was a high school student interested in the arts, the Sacramento Metropolitan Arts Commission recognized his potential and sent him to California State Summer School for the Arts on a full scholarship, he said. Garibaldi credited this and his high school art program with helping him redirect a creative fire that led him to graffiti the streets of Sacramento, inspiring him instead to become a performance artist.

The "For Art's Sake" initiative launched in June and holds meetings once a month, the fourth Wednesday of the month from 10 to 11 a.m., in different locations throughout the Sacramento area. "For the next three and a half years, the arts initiative will be something I'm fighting for," Johnson said in a previous meeting.

More than 150 people showed up at Hot Italian pizzeria at 16th and Q streets to see Garibaldi deliver a speech and visual presentation. He is currently a licensed artist with Elvis Presley Enterprises, the Bob Marley Estate and Jimi Hendrix Estate, as well as an official Disney artist in the Disney Fine Art program. He recently performed his art show "Rhythm and Hue" as an opener for Blue Man Group and Snoop Dogg.

After the meeting, Hot Italian served pizza as members of the arts community mingled. The Sacramento Press spoke with some of the attendees.

"It's nice to have a mayor bringing this type of support to the arts," said Jay Bridges, of a film initiative called 916 Hollywood. He said the company will help bring Sacramento to the attention of the film industry, and also praised the level of support Johnson has received from corporations.

"It's really inspiring," said Kathy Ossmann, a singer and president of the Sacramento Master Singers board. "This is the first real support for the arts that raises public awareness and focuses on the arts."

She also addressed questions of whether or not the initiative was accomplishing enough.

"The most concrete accomplishment is being accepted for the Kennedy Center's 'Any Given Child Program,' (but) one year is a short time to accomplish something like building a new facility," she said. "This is much more about public awareness and perception, so I'm not disturbed nothing more concrete has been accomplished."

Next month's meeting will not take place on the fourth Wednesday of the month, due to its proximity to Thanksgiving. Instead, it will be held Nov. 18 at the Sacramento Theatre Company, 1419 H St.

For more information, please visit http://www.cityofsacramento.org/mayor/forArtsSake.

A tale of two stomachs: Eat Your Art Out in action

2009-09-28T05:03:48Z

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 tried. Their zucchini chips and eggplant crostini were very tasty. I felt that this stop actually showcased appetizers that reflected the uniqueness of the restaurant. Rubicon offered chips and salsa, celery and carrot sticks and fries - not exactly dishes that wowed the crowd.

Azul Mexican Bar and Tequila Bar was the third stop. We were hoping they would be serving margaritas, but found it was one of many places that chose to serve sangria. Although there was a bit of a wait for the food, our team got a whole plate of nachos with queso fresca and warm quesadillas.

Beach Hut Deli put my stomach over the tipping point, I was worried that I wasn't going to be able eat anymore with14 restaurants left. They served huge sandwiches stuffed to the brim with meat, lettuce, tomato, cheese and pickles.

As mentioned earlier, Rubicon served pretty basic appetizers, so it was easy for me to bypass their food to save room for later restaurants. I must say that what they lacked in food they made up for with their selection of beers.

They were the only restaurant to offer six different beers. All of the other restaurants serving beverages offered only one or two to choose from.

Mulvaney's B&L was one of my favorite stops. It was one of the locations where people stuck around to really enjoy the food and the atmosphere. In the front catering room, fresh mozzarella was cut to accompany heirloom tomatoes and champagne was being poured into a lime pear juice concoction.

In the main space, tables were set up and interpretive dancers filled the room with kicks and poses. There wasn't an area they didn't venture into, they stretched against the windows, flowed around the tables, using the space and each other as part of their composition. Dessert pastry cups were served with chocolate ganache, raspberries, blueberries and other delicious fillings.

Yogurtagogo was the seventh stop, where participants could sample one or all of the six different yogurt flavors. Stops seven, eight and nine were conveniently located right next to one another.

Ginger Elizabeth served a crispy coconut lime chocolate which was devoured eagerly, dessert goes into a different compartment, right? The employees said that this chocolate would be available for purchase in December.

The L Wine Lounge had a couple festive teams who were happy to share their beads with other teams. One woman doling out the necklaces demanded that we earn our beads by showing her something. She asked to see our palms and handed over the gold beads.

On our way to Zocalo, we once again got our hopes up for margaritas, but were very pleased that they instead served a delicious mixture of horchata with tequila.

Hot Italian served up Peroni and a pizza with pesto and pine nuts, one pizza for each team. We weren't able to finish our pizza.

I was particularly impressed with Nishiki Sushi, although I had been there many times before. Employees walked around with plates of sushi rolls and the manager poured two different kinds of sake. The first sake was infused with apple and was really smooth. The second sake tasted exactly like lychee.

The newest restaurant on the Crawl list was Sapporo Grill on 16th and L streets. They served a beautiful spread of potstickers, spring rolls, sushi, edamame, and some type of breaded chicken. Their long, cushy couches allowed tired crawl-goers to stretch out and put up their feet.

Temple provided a nice pick-me-up with iced coffee and the Grange put together three ingredients I had never eaten simultaneously: figs, cheese and bacon - a delicious surprise.

The last stop was Sofia, and despite our late start (1 p.m.) we made it to all 18 restaurants in the allotted time.

If you do the math, 18 restaurants for $35 turns out to be less than $2 per restaurant and $7 per hour of the five-hour crawl.

In addition to all of the food, there were goodie bags. Inside each bag was a copy of Midtown Monthly, coupons for a free milkshake and chicken menu item from Chick-fil-A, a pre-punched Yogurtagogo card toward a free yogurt, a buy one get one free coupon for Temple and a few brochures.

After mixing nachos, chocolate, pizza, sushi, sangria, sake, potstickers, coffee and every food group into our bellies, most of us were experiencing a food coma at the end. As might be appropriate for a team named after a Sesame Street character, Team Snuffleupagus was ready for a nap.

Hot Lunch Concert Series

2009-08-28T04:19:10Z

The vibe at Fremont park was laid-back and friendly during the new Hot Lunch series presented by Hot Italian and The Sacramento Press.

Dozens of people sat scattered through the park on blankets and in lawn chairs, bobbing to the live music and chowing down on the food that was delivered from Hot Italian, just across 16th Street. Most people in attendance were on their lunch breaks some were just walking their dogs and got pulled in by the delicious smells and intriguing sounds.

Attendee Melissa Olsen said, "I'm here on my lunch hour, and I think this is a good morale booster for all of the state employees in this hard time, to have somewhere near the end of the week to just unwind and listen to music for an hour."

At this week's concert, Kate Gaffney entertained the crowd with songs from her two latest albums as well as some old favorites from bands like the Beatles and the Rolling Stones.

"I'm happy to be a part of the Sacramento music scene," Gaffney said. "This is a great little event to have for lunch."

Hot Lunch will take place every Thursday until Sept. 24 on 16th and Q from 11:30 a.m.-1:00 p.m.

Some of the food available included pizza, panini and salads. A crowd favorite in the drink category was Limonata, an Italian lemonade.

Attendees said they hope that the concert series will gain popularity as it goes on, creating a type of concert in the park following.

The next concert will feature music from Richard March.

You can check out Richard March's music at: http://www.myspace.com/richardmarch
and Kate Gaffney's at: http://www.myspace.com/kategaffney

The Hot Lunch Concert Series

2009-08-13T05:13:54Z

Sacramento music fans dreading the upcoming end of this season's Concert in the Park Series have a new reason to rejoice. There is a new series in town, and it looks to be a doozy. The Hot Lunch Concert Series, brain child of Hot Italian owner Andrea Lepore and local concert promoter Jerry Perry, begins next Thursday, Aug. 20 in Fremont Park at the corner of 16th and P Streets, and will host an eclectic slew of talented and entertaining bands.

The series, which will take place every Thursday from 11:30 a.m. to 1 p.m. for the next six weeks, began with Lepore's dissatisfaction with the under-use of Fremont Park. She saw the series as a "way to promote the park as a venue and as a place for people to come and gather." Encouraged by the results of Sacramento's Concert in the Park Series, she decided that the best way to revitalize the park would be through a similar experience. So she contacted Perry, "the local music guru," and asked for his help in forming a line-up of local talent. Perry delivered, booking a "great line-up" of diverse bands, ranging from country to funky soul.

Although she acknowledges that the concerts will be "on a smaller scale" than the Cesar Chavez concerts, Lepore envisions it as becoming "an annual series." She believes success will come not only from the capable acts, but also from the many other distractions the series has to offer. Chief among these is Hot Italian's new mobile ordering system, "so that people can just go straight to the park and start listening to music and place their orders right from there," she said. "They don't have to waste any of their precious lunch hour."

It may be too soon to compare this series in its infancy with the well-matured Concerts in the Park, but Lepore insists Sacramento will grow to love it. She sees it as a great opportunity to "bring blankets, sit on the grass, hang out with coworkers and friends and have Hot Italian Pizza and live music." Who couldn't use some more of that?

Here is a list of the bands, the dates, a brief description and a link to their websites.

Aug. 20 - Blvd Park - alternative folk

Aug. 27 - Kate Gaffney - country folk blues

Sept. 3 - Richard March - country

Sept. 10 - Ricky Berger - jazz folk

Sept. 17 - Syncro - funky soul

Sept. 24 - Walking Spanish - Americana blues rock

Traces of Italy in Sacramento

2009-08-01T03:17:50Z

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

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

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

Early Italian Americans

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

Italian American Internment

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

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

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

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

Italian Cultural Society

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

A "Hot" Italian

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

Festa Italiana

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

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

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

Best Restaurants - a different take

2009-07-21T01:54:18Z

It's that time of year again - time for "Best Restaurants," brought to you by Sacramento Magazine.

After reading the readers' picks for each category, it made me wonder whether the results would be different for readers of The Sacramento Press. Our focus has been primarily on events and coverage of things in the Grid, whereas Sacramento Magazine covers a larger demographic including the suburbs.

There were four categories that stood out to me in Sacramento Magazine's Best Restaurants: Best Burrito, Best Pizza, Best Burger and Best Coffeehouse.

I live in the Grid and therefore have my own biases about restaurants that live in Downtown and Midtown. I prefer restaurants in this area to those found in the outlying areas. It would be interesting to see the results had it been limited to only restaurants in the Grid.

Best Burrito went to Chipotle, with Dos Coyotes coming in second and Ernesto's coming in third. Both Chipotle and Dos Coyotes are chains. The Grid has very few chain restaurants, and I wonder if the presence of chains amidst family-owned and unique Sacramento restaurants makes a difference in reader choice. Does the quality speak for itself?

Best Pizza went to Round Table. Granted, Chicago Fire and Zelda's picked up second and third place, but I wonder how a delivery-based chain is even allowed in the running. Did Hot Italian or Luigi's or Giovanni's make it in the top five?

For the category of Best Burger, there are quite a few restaurants that come to mind that did not make the top three. Jim Denny's, Whitey Jolly Cones and Nationwide Freezer Meats were all missing from page 115 for best burger. In-N-Out, however, took first place, the Squeeze Inn (deserving, in my opinion, one of the top three) made second and McDonald's placed third.

For Best Coffeehouses, Starbucks was voted first place, Peet's took second and It's a Grind made third. When I think of good coffeehouses, I think of the unique havens in the Grid. Temple comes to mind. So does Weatherstone and Naked Lounge. If I want ambiance and a coffee or tea that comes in a mug that was washed and that is reusable, I do not go to Starbucks. If I want free wi-fi that does not require a cellular account, I cannot go to Starbucks. If I want a swirled foam design on my latte, I will not go to a mass chain coffeehouse.

My coffee choices come from currently living in the Grid, although I did grow up in the suburbs.

After reading this list, I looked at Sacramento Magazine's website. At the bottom, it reads "Find the best that Sacramento, California has to offer at Sacramento Magazine Online. With fantastic features such as a restaurant guide, an entertainment and events calendar and monthly recipes, you’ll find everything you need to know about exciting Sacramento, California."

Now, I ask you - readers of The Sacramento Press - if you were to vote on Best Restaurants for The Sacramento Press (in the Grid), which ones would make your top three for best burrito, pizza, burger and coffeehouse?

Second Saturday: Hot Italian

2009-06-15T06:11:36Z

So last night Saturday June 13th 2009 was another amazing second Saturday here in Sacramento but among the normal routine of the event it was Hot Italian’s Grand Opening bash. The people showed up in full affect for this event last night. The whole place was packed wall to wall with all types of people all with one common goal, pizza! And of course the beer and wine. But on top of all the great food was the entertainment, all night there were DJ’s spinning records on the roof all the while a local Sacramento Mural/Graphitti artist painted an awesome Hot Italian couple on the 16th street side of the building. Up All Night TV was also on site shooting and interviewing folks as well. But the high light of the evening was definitely the now Sacramento local Italian rapper Rigo Di Casa Nostra. Who moved to California about nine years ago and finally landed in Sacramento only a year ago. When Rigo performed it was the biggest event of the evening with people pouring out into the street to get the best view but causing a little bit of traffic on 16th street but overall no problems were reported due to the blockage of the street. The night really turned out to be a huge success and everyone really had a lot of fun.

Hot Italian hosts a benefit for Italian earthquake victims

2009-04-08T18:44:45Z

Hot Italian, barely in business a month, and just today profiled for its environmental construction in Sacramento Press, has already taken on a subject more serious than pizzas and motos, and more pressing than even the environment: humanitarian aid.

Today, the new restaurant's owners, Andrea Lepore and Nicola Rivieccio, announced that tomorrow evening, Thursday, April 9, the restaurant will be donating 100 percent of its net proceeds to a fund just established for victims of Monday's devastating 6.3 earthquake in L'Aquila, Italy, 56 miles from Rome.

The fund, the NIAF/Abruzzo Relief Fund, set up by the National Italian American Foundation in Washington, DC, will then send the money to Italian relief organizations. Some 260 people are reported dead, with another 15 or so still unaccounted for, in the earthquake, which struck early Monday morning. More than 10,000 buildings were damaged or destroyed, and 28,000 people are homeless. The damage has been estimated at $1.6 billion, a figure that is expected to rise.

Thursday's fundraiser will take place at Hot Italian, at the corner of 16th and Q Streets in midtown, from 5-9 p.m. The net proceeds from all purchases of wine, beer, pizza, or gelato will be given by the restaurant to the relief fund. Hot Italian is also taking checks, made out to NIAF/Abruzzo Relief Fund, which it will forward to the national organization. All donations are tax-deductable.

Lepore and Rivieccio are encouraging anyone who can't make it to Hot Italian Thursday night to send a check to the NIAF/Abruzzo Relief Fund, The National Italian American Foundation, 1860 19th Street NW, Washington, DC 20009.

Building 'green' in Sacramento

2009-04-08T04:45:49Z

The new retail/restaurant concept, Hot Italian, on the corner of Q and 16th Streets, is embracing green ideology in its entirety, completely renovating an old, vacated retail space with a sleek new design that Mother Nature would be proud of.

Andrea Lepore, co-owner of Hot Italian, had the environment in the front of her mind when she first had the idea for Hot Italian. The reason is simple. "I think the environment is important to everyone,” she says. “Especially when you're in a space where you're eating, drinking, and relaxing. We wanted to create a restaurant that offered healthy food, but was also healthy to be in."

Lepore decided to pursue a Leaders in Energy and Environmental Design (LEED) certification for the space. LEED is a rating system developed by the U.S. Green Building Council that gives a strict set of standards for environmentally sustainable construction. The system is based on a point system that ranges from 26-69 points. The building can receive a rating of 'certified' (26-32), 'silver' (33-38), 'gold' (39-51), or 'platinum' (52-69). Hot Italian is currently awaiting its accreditation rating, and once certified, it will be the first retail or restaurant building in Sacramento to achieve a LEED rating.

Several aspects of construction are considered in the certification process, including low-flow faucets and toilets, solar water-heating and tube lighting, ENERGY STAR appliances, recycled building materials for everything from the floor to the furniture, plenty of two-wheel parking, and many others. Lepore has worked with her general contractor and her architect to follow these guidelines to the highest standards.

When asked why she chose to pursue the certification, Lepore answered, "I’m competitive by nature. So if we were going to basically rebuild a building, I wanted to do it right and have a real, achievable goal."

John Johnson worked as the general contractor on the project. This was his first LEED construction and he said there was no additional difficulty in the 'green' nature of the project. "It was a learning process in following the paperwork and knowing which bouncing ball to follow to get through the process," he said, but with the guidance of the green building consultant, a required aspect of LEED, everything moved smoothly.

Edward Mojica, from Mojica Architecture Studio, was the architect on this project. He shares Johnson's sentiments and stated that, "the most difficult part was convincing the neighborhood and the city that this was the right project to happen at this location."

There is a statement on the menu, "Tutto e Possible" which means, “anything is possible.” That belief helped Lepore work through delays in the LEED process to get Hot Italian where it is today. She appears to have achieved the restaurant’s goal: to inspire, make a difference, and create better neighborhoods. The result can be seen at the once-dilapidated corner of 16th and Q Streets, where the restaurant has been serving its traditional pizza and gelato as well as other treats since February 14.

Hot Italian makes its mark on Sacramento

2009-03-22T01:36:32Z

Shake shake shake. Pfffft. Pfffft. One thin coat at a time, a spray of paint creates a bright new decoration over the gray brick wall. An artist with a rubber mask stands on a ladder while his suitcase full of aerosol cans waits below.

He steps off and away from the ladder, looks at the black-and-white photograph in his hand and tilts his eyes upward to view the entirety of his 10-foot-tall mural. Pffft. Pffft. He continues to touch up the wall with black and white paint, the words "PERONI ITALY" nicely stenciled in the top right corner.

Anthony Padilla holds a day job as a graphic designer, but for the last 10 years he has been expressing himself by doing graffiti art and murals during nights. Today he is creating a comic book and graffiti-inspired urban work of art for the Hot Italian, a pizza restaurant and Italian culture boutique on the corner 16th and Q Street.

Graffiti artists might usually only have a few moments under the cloak of nightfall to illegally tag up a wall before being chased away by police or business owners, their cursory artistic expressions quickly re-coated in another sheet of paint.

But Padilla is very lucky, not just because he has had hours to work on this particular mural over the last week, but because he is being commissioned to spray here, his creation to be viewed by many over the years to come.

"Mike Villareal helped me get this painting gig, and he is helping me with it along with the support of Andrea Lepore [Hot Italian owner], and Doug Woodward [of DBI Beverages which distributes Peroni to the Hot Italian]," Padilla said.

Lepore, who managed many of Hot Italian's aesthetic details, chose the photograph from a catalog of Peroni advertisements. "Other cities have urban murals, and we knew we wanted to serve Peroni, because it's a very modern Italian beer."

Lepore also plans to have a 20-foot laminate decoration incorporated onto the building's exterior depicting a couple on a scooter. Located on the 16th Street side of the building, it will be done by Italian company ABET Laminati.

Though Padilla usually uses color, today he has over forty cans of black and white paints in his suitcase to compliment the restaurant's modern Italian design. When he's done, he would love to work on a few more projects in the city.

One, he says, would incorporate the beauty of sculpture into the installation of solar panels. "Thinking about new ideas for energy sources is beautiful, so you should have a beautiful piece of art to complement it. Art that is functional and aesthetically pleasing would fit well in this city," said Padilla.

He would also like Sacramento to catch up with other modern cities by creating and maintaining legal walls for graffiti artists to paint on, uncensored. "If they had more of an outlet, there would be a better chance of them learning how to create something, rather than being chased away," he added.

Hot Italians, bicycle rims and instant pizza

2009-01-28T06:08:07Z

A year in the making, the new home of pizza-with-style - Hot Italian at the corner of 16th and Q in the downtown Sacramento Grid - will be opening inside of three weeks. The owner's self-declared deadline: the Amgen Tour of California on Feb. 14.

"That's Valentine's Day as well," says Andrea Leport, the woman who has managed this eatery from concept to near-fruition. "And the next day is St. Faustino's Day, the holiday for the single."

Sounds like they're expecting business those days. And tying it to the big international bike race fits perfectly the theme of Hot Italian.

“We’re all about the two wheels,” says Andrea Lepore.

Hot Italian is a concept place that aims to serve lifestyle as well as food, says Lepore. The business really wants to serve cyclists and bikers of all stripes, and beyond its layout and such details as barstools made of old bike rims, has gone out of its way with the city to make it’s parking bike-friendly. The city has changed a couple of car lengths of parking into parking for motorbikes only, with more parking for bikes on the sidewalk.

And eventually, the pizza will be delivered – perhaps even on two wheels.

Hot Italian is also punnily named for charming head chef Fabrizio Cercaione, an Italian immigrant with a quick smile who was there when a group of us from SacramentoPress.com stopped by. He didn’t hesitate to toss a pizza up (literally) and fire it in the wood stove in a flash.

My interns got a taste, but I wasn’t quick enough; they assured me it was delicious.

But there will be plenty of chances to try Hot Italians’ pizza; the place opens in mere weeks, and is a very good bet to turn into one of the key hangouts in what is still a booming downtown Sacramento.