The locally owned Willie’s Burgers plans to launch a food truck – the Willie Wagon – in Sacramento this week, carrying burgers, chili burgers and fries. “We’ve always thought a food truck was a good way to get the product and what we do out to people,” said Bill Taylor, owner of Willie’s Burgers. “I’d started developing the idea of a Willie Wagon since 1995, but it’s been in the back of my mind.” Willie’s Burgers opened at 16th and Broadway in 1991, and a second location opened in Carmichael in 2004. Now, taking the burgers to offices and events with the food truck is proving a good addition to the business, Taylor said Friday. “It’s been terrific,” he said. “We follow basically the sam

The Red Rabbit Kitchen & Bar is now open in the space that used to hold Red Lotus in Midtown, and a grand opening is scheduled for Friday. The restaurant and bar aims to bring affordable food and drinks with an international flair to the block and see the same successes that other businesses – Harlow’s, BarWest Burgers & Wings and Centro Cocina Mexicana – have seen, said co-owners Matt Nurge and John Bays. “We’re going with the globally inspired concept,” said Bays, who is the restaurant’s chef. “We’ve got a little Vietnamese, a little American – a lot of braising going on, and we’ve got some Hawaiian.” An assortment of cheeses – including Spanish Manchego – will be on the menu, and whi

The Republic Featuring Drewski’s opened downtown Friday, bringing a combination lounge, sports bar, video arcade, pool hall and food truck menu to one location. “I’m excited we pulled it off,” said Andrew “Drewski” Blaskovich, owner of the popular food truck Drewski’s Hot Rod Kitchen. “I’m 100 percent confident in our staff here, and I know our kitchen crew, wait staff, bartenders and everyone will help make this happen.” The 6,500-square-foot space opened at 5 p.m. Friday, and it is scheduled to stay open until 3 - 4 a.m. on the weekend nights. Customers filtered in the doors – including a glass-paneled garage door that opens onto a patio – from 5 p.m. onward Friday, and they quickly t

Replacement of a gas line is postponing the opening of the downtown seafood restaurant Blackbird Kitchen & Bar from Valentine’s Day to Feb. 21, but the restaurateurs are still able to work inside, and the iconic graphic on the front is complete. “The buildout is being done right now, and the menu will be available in a couple of weeks,” said General Manager Shayne “7evin” Iles. “We’re going to open when PG&E finishes the work, so hopefully it’s sooner, or at least on time,” he said. Officials from Pacific Gas and Electric did not return messages left on Friday. Blackbird Kitchen & Bar is located at 1013-1015 Ninth St.

Influences from the Andalusia region of Spain such as Moorish arches and water features will be the architectural highlights of a Mediterranean/American restaurant coming to 925 K St. The restaurant does not yet have a name and won’t be open until at least June, but Gene Hopkins, the superintendent in charge of the buildout, said it will be a combination buffet and full-service restaurant that will feature Mediterranean cuisine as well as some American dishes. Formerly Farley’s Soup and Salad, the building has been vacant for about six years, and work began on the new business at the end of last year, Hopkins said. Customers entering the 4,200-square-foot ground floor will be greeted by

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

2012 marks the tenth anniversary of our region’s premier culinary competition the Sacramento Chef Challenge, and organizers are inviting local restaurants, wineries, breweries and specialty shops to showcase their fare at the June 23rd event. The Sacramento Chef Challenge is a culinary extravaganza featuring two live cooking competitions, lavish food, wine and beer sampling, live music, raffle prizes and more. The event is expected to draw a crowd of over 1000 guests in celebration of INALLIANCE, a local nonprofit that has provided support to people with developmental disabilities for 60 years. “Our vendors draw a huge crowd each year by providing a variety of samples to our guests,” say

After less than a year on Sacramento’s streets, local food truck Drewski’s Hot Rod Kitchen is adding a brick-and-mortar establishment at 908 15th St. that blurs the line between sports bar and food truck. The Republic Featuring Drewski’s is set to open the week before the Super Bowl (Feb. 5), and Drewski’s owner Andrew “Drewski” Blaskovich said he’s excited to be part of the growth in downtown Sacramento and to offer a late-night food and entertainment spot, closing around 3-4 a.m. on the weekends. “It’s going to be a sports bar,” Blaskovich said. “We’re going to have 12-15 TVs, pool tables, video games and – we’re hoping – skee ball.” The four pool tables will complement old-school vid

The Yummy Yogurt Cafe at 19th and J streets closed Dec. 1, and though it was expected to reopen by the end of the year, owner Jason Yee said it will remain in hiatus for a while longer. “Right now, we’re working on a new plan, and we just really haven’t gotten to the point to expose the plan yet,” Yee said Thursday, adding that he is still looking for ideas or anyone who wants to partner with him for a new concept. The idea is to have the space up and running again in a couple of months. Yee said he didn’t shut down the space because of lack of sales, but because he wants to revamp the store itself to provide something more than frozen yogurt. “It’s a great location, and that’s part of

Coyote Tap House, a new bar and restaurant serving Asian cuisine complemented by 50-60 beers on tap, is in the works to take the spot at 14th and H streets vacated by Brew it Up! last year. “It’s going to have a full bar and live entertainment,” said Valerie Mamone-Werder, business recruitment manager for the Downtown Sacramento Partnership. The owners, brothers Ken and Ming Le, own and have run Oshima Sushi and Fugu Lounge in Natomas since 2004, Mamone-Werder said. “They’re really good operators,” she added. “We met with them when the news came out that Brew it Up! was leaving the space. It didn’t take long to have a lot of interest. They’re going to be a fantastic addition for that ar

The namesake of The Porch, a southern-style restaurant and bar that replaced Celestin’s Island Eats & Cajun Cuisine, is now finished. Completed last week, the front patio area seats 16, and a back porch is planned, though construction likely won’t begin for at least a month, said Olivia Pinto, a host at The Porch. The restaurant, located at 1815 K St., opened in December. To read more about the restaurant, click here.

Mongo Mongo Mongolian BBQ restaurant at 19th and J streets opened Saturday, and owner Jonathan Ng said he is pleased with the customer turnout. “It’s been good, we’re really excited to be open,” Ng said Monday. Much of the interior design still needs to be finished, Ng said, but getting the restaurant open and focusing on the food was the top priority. “It’s kind of barren, but we’re working on it,” Ng said, adding that interior décor details are being worked out. In order to keep the garage doors installed when the business was Garlic Shack – which shut down after only three months – Ng said a unique setup had to be made to meet health department regulations that stipulate the kitchen

Coast to Coast Sandwiches – Sacramento’s newest food truck – brings what the owners say are some of their favorite sandwiches from across the country, including a South Philly cheesesteak and a Reuben. Co-owners Robert Ramos and Sean Figueroa – not able to find an exact match of their favorite sandwiches from east of the Mississippi – decided they had a niche, and they looked to open a business. Both graduated from culinary school, where they initially came up with the broad strokes of the Coast to Coast Sandwiches idea. Ramos was born in New York and lived in Florida, while Figueroa’s family is from Louisiana, and the Louisiana po’boy sandwich is his mother’s recipe. “The Reubens here

A long line of eager Sacramentans arrived at 17th and K streets Tuesday looking for the perfect skirt. But it wasn’t apparel they were after – it was the “cheese skirt” that cloaks the meat patties on burgers at The Squeeze Inn. Owner Sabrina Nicola said this is the eighth Squeeze Inn location, and the first day of business went well. “Everyone seems to be really happy,” she said Tuesday afternoon. “I think we had about 150 people for the lunch rush, and they’re a lot of locals and nearby workers who are happy to see us.” Nicola, who previously worked at the original Squeeze Inn on Fruitridge Road, said she wanted to bring the feel of the original space and combine it with contemporary

On Capital Public Radio’s “Insight” program on Tuesday, host David Watts Barton and I talked about new laws in effect for the new year, businesses scheduled to open in the near future, the upcoming elections and other local issues. The beginning of the year typically brings in a number of new laws, and 2012 is no different. Some of the notable changes include mandatory child booster seats in cars for kids under age 8 or shorter than 4 feet 9 inches, the banning of openly carrying unloaded handguns and a new law that states police can no longer impound a vehicle at a DUI checkpoint if the only offense is the driver not having a license. Click here to read about those and other laws that w

As 2012 approaches, there are several new businesses preparing to open, from much-anticipated restaurants to a privately funded bicycle share program. Below is a list of some of the new businesses Sacramentans can expect to see in the new year. Those who frequent the downtown area will have a new place to eat and drink in late February or early March as the Firestone Public House opens with 60 beer taps in what the owners said will be a new take on the sports bar theme. The Wong family – which runs Mix Downtown, Cafeteria 15L and the Park Ultra Lounge – is teaming up with the de Vere White family – of de Vere’s Irish Pub – for the new business that will replace the old California Pizza K

Two city ordinances regulating food were the subject of debate in Sacramento in 2011, and while backyard keeping of egg-laying hens was allowed, the other, more volatile issue rages on – the controversial ordinance governing food trucks. The ordinance limiting food truck operation within city limits to 30-minute intervals has been a source of contention for more than a year, but it heated up in 2011 with the inaugural SactoMoFo mobile food festival in April. At the festival, Fremont Park was occupied by thousands of foodies who dropped by for a taste of gourmet on the go, and it achieved its goal of bringing widespread awareness to the issue. Owners of “brick-and-mortar” restaurants wer

The past year saw quite a bit of businesses come, go and expand in the central city area, and The Sacramento Press covered many of those happenings. Below are some of the major expansions and changes as well as some of the most-viewed stories on businesses closing. A favorite Sacramento lunch spot changed hands this year as Chef Daniel Pont handed over ownership of La Bonne Soupe Café in late April. The 72-year-old chef said he still enjoys cooking, but running the one-man shop by himself was too much. He has since opened another restaurant, this time in Folsom, where he has a staff to help run it. New owners Ed Stoddard and Leah Brown reopened the restaurant in the same location in May.

The Sacramento Press covered many stories in 2011 of businesses coming and going, but there are a number of Sacramento businesses that celebrated milestones, withstanding the test of time and recessions big and small. Midtown Italian restaurant Paesanos – Italian for “friends” – has been in business for 15 years, since April 1996. Director of Operations Dana Scarpulla told The Sacramento Press that Midtown has undergone major changes since the restaurant’s founding, and most have been positive. Pastas, pizzas and salads top the list of favorites at the restaurant, which has since expanded to Paesanos Pronto and a couple other locations. There’s also word of another location opening in 20

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. Accord