Chef Ryan Rose, the 28-year-old chef at the Zócalo restaurant in Sacramento, is one of the top 15 finalists in the “Next Food Network Star YouTube Challenge.” His in-it-to-win-it dish: paella. Originally on a search to apply for the Food Network’s casting call for the “Next Food Network Star,” Rose came across the YouTube challenge. Viewers can vote daily on their favorite video of national chefs demonstrating their favorite dishes in three minutes or less. The winner will fly out to New York for an audition with executive producers of the show. But Rose didn’t always want to be a chef. It wasn’t till a two-year visit to Spain where he watched his Italian roommate cook every day, that he

  I had meant for my second article to be an ode to my new neighborhood, Midtown.  In my brief time here, I have found a lot to love about the area around my 1 bedroom on 18th and G.  I would love to wax poetic about the virtues of having two dope, locally owned, coffee shops within a five minute walk (Butch and Nellies, Old Soul at the Weatherford).  There's nothing I'd rather do than tell you about the lovely dining experience I had my first night here at Michealangelos, a little Italian Trattoria a stones throw from my front porch (Thanks Sara Jean!).  If I could, I'd spend an entire paragraph extolling the virtues of "Streets of London", a British style pub that has "football" on the

Zócalo restaurant plans to expand its space for celebration by adding a banquet room. The 1,000-square-foot banquet room will increase the L-shaped 3,500-square-foot dining area by nearly a third. The room will contain pre-Columbian-style artwork and noise-reduction features including "big, beautiful doors" that can be closed and rugs that will make the new room quieter than an existing 500-square-foot banquet room, said restaurant owner Ernesto Jimenez. "We get a lot of requests for groups — especially this time of year," he said. "It's a good celebration place." A bank has given verbal approval for a loan, but now paperwork must be completed, Jimenez said. The plan is to start work b

So Mexican food I would say has to be one of my all time favorite styles of food so this time what’s for lunch is Poncho’s Mexican grill. Located rite on the corner of 21st and Broadway it is convenient for everyone. The first time I ate at Poncho’s was actually very much by chance, a friend and I had just finished a class at city and had some time to spare between our next classes. We decided to grab a bite but needed something close to school we just happened to be stopped at the light and looked over and were like hey why not this place. This could not have been a better choice, from the moment we walked in the service was amazing. Friendly people and just a good warm welcoming environm

Originally from the Deep South, the comfort food I grew up on was fried chicken, mac and cheese and mustard greens. My dad, a chef of sorts, would come up with new family classics monthly, be it a rare steak, chicken Marsala, pulled pork sandwiches, fried catfish or tilapia covered in scallops and mushrooms. It was not until I was fifteen that our small town got its first Mexican restaurant. This was a very cosmopolitan event for most Natchezians who had grown up on soul food with the exception of Chinese or Italian for special occasions. However, the specialty of the sole Mexican restaurant was the fajitas. Don't get me wrong. They were fabulous but my dad had been making them sporadical