Mikuni Japanese Restaurant and Sushi Bar will celebrate a quarter century in business May 15, and co-owner Taro Arai said that after the touch-and-go nature of the first five years, the business has come a long way. “The first five years, the more we worked, the more money we lost,” he said. “I still cannot believe it’s been 25 years. We’re so lucky to have all the support we’ve had.” Now with nine restaurants in the greater Sacramento area, Arai said the business will be expanding in 2012, and while more brick-and-mortar restaurants are likely in store, the next thing people will see is a food truck. There is no set timeline for rolling out the food truck yet, but Arai said he and his

Touchdown! Where will you be celebrating when the winning touchdown is scored? Haven't found a place yet to party for this year's Super Bowl? Sacramento's bars have got you covered with great drinking games, discounts on beer and food, and raffle drawings. Ink Eats & Drinks, located 2730 N St. is having a $3 touchdown shot special - one for each team. The Green Bay Packers’ shot is a Midori Kamikaze and the Pittsburgh Steelers’ shot is a Tawaka lemon drop. Along with that, you can also enjoy $4 nachos and happy hour specials lasting the entire game. "We change it every year, but we do happy hour for every football game of the season," said Micah Shapiro, manager of Ink Eats & Drinks. Pr

Long before Mikuni Japanese Restaurant and Sushi Bar existed, co-owner Taro Arai was an 11-year-old paperboy with big dreams. He saved $6,000 over five years to move his family from Japan to the United States. Arai wrote and published his first book, “Abundance: Finding the American Dream in a Japanese Kitchen,” in hopes that he will inspire other Japanese youths. The book is set to be released Wednesday and combines his family’s history with recipes for some of Mikuni's customers’ favorite dishes. “It’s not just a recipe book,” Arai said. “It has my life story in it.” The book’s 12 chapters tell different stages of Arai’s life and include recipes named to coincide with their themes.

The time of year is here again for locals to venture out and experience some of our neighborhoods' finest eateries. Being in the restaurant business for most of my life, I have had the privilege of eating in some of the greatest food cities: New York, Miami, Las Vegas and San Francisco. The upcoming Dine Downtown week in Sacramento is an event that can satisfy even the most finicky foodie and rival any of those cities. The list of 35 participating restaurants is quite impressive for Sacramento’s fifth annual Dine Downtown week, January 8 through 17. The dining scene in Sacramento is up and coming, so there are certain places those of us on a strict budget will never be able to try, right

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