Sunday afternoon, a small group of local foodies gathered at Tap and Table headquarters to enjoy a four course meal, each course paired with an American craft beer. As Tap and Table's motto hails, it was a culinary event for "beer bellies with a cooking problem." Darin Michaels and Emily Baime, who run Community Tap and Table out of their home, offer four to eight cooking classes a month, and are even available for private parties. July's gourmet food and beer pairing focused on "Makin' Bacon and summer flavors." Michaels and Baime started these classes due to their mutual passion for good food and great beer. Michaels has a background in brewing and works in beer and wine distribution.

When the Ringling Bros. and Barnum & Bailey circus train rolled into Sacramento this week, it was packed with performers who will fly high on the trapeze, swing by their hair or ride motorcycles in a sphere. But there were also those the the public will never see, and one of them is Chef Michael Vaughn, who has Sacramento roots. Vaughn’s office is a kitchen on the train’s Pie Car – its kitchen – and in a space not much bigger than a truck bed, he and his staff feed hundreds of circus employees and performers. “There are 350-400 people that we are responsible for feeding,” Vaughn said. “We don’t necessarily cook for that many people every day, but we often do.” Vaughn said the 59-car tra

by Tony Sheppard Originally Published in Capitol Weekly This may be the least comprehensive restaurant review ever. So don’t be surprised if I go off on a tangent or two. Good Friends is located in South Natomas, in a small shopping plaza on the south-east corner of the I5 and West El Camino intersection. The location is close to several housing complexes and also the campuses of the University of Phoenix and the Art Institute of Sacramento. It’s a faculty favorite for the Arts Institute and, given that the Capital Film Arts Alliance meets there, also for some of the filmmaking community. For that reason, I’ve eaten there multiple times in the last couple of years, but I’ve never actuall

Happy hour is alive and well in the Downtown Sacramento area on Thursday nights. While there are countless restaurants offering discounts on food and drinks for varying days and times, eight of the grid's Thursday happy hours stood out from the pack. Heading off the list is the Dragonfly Japanese restaurant. Located at 1809 Capitol Ave. and voted "Best New Restaurant" by SN&R, the Dragonfly offers some impressive deals during happy hour. Running from 3 to 6 p.m. and 9 to 10 p.m., the restaurant offers half-off sushi rolls, $2 sake bombs, $3 drafts and half-off well drinks. Another good place to kick back and enjoy some good deals on food and drinks is Level Up Lounge at 2431 J St. Their

Sacramento is now also known for the "Tent City" for the homeless. That’s okay. If Sacramento, the capitol of the seventh or eighth largest economy in the world has to be the poster child city for the homelessness problem in America, then so be it! Probably every man, woman and child in our area is aware of the growing homeless community. It does not matter where you are in the Sacramento area, homelessness happens. In fact, some of the people interviewed for the stories about our tent city, said "we never dreamed that we would be homeless and in this condition". I have never dreamed of being homeless, have you? Maybe we are next. I come from a very large family and I believe if my world