East Sacramento shoppers, rejoice at the photo The Game Guy just snapped:

Not sure what it means — according to the Target @ 65th Website, which I just discovered 10 seconds ago, the project is going in further down 65th, on the other side of US50. Perhaps the contractors are setting up shop behind the Dollar Tree in order to start hiring laborers? Also, do my words have the power to get cranes in motion?

Penguins love ice-skating

…[Your holiday of choice here]! The Downtown Plaza Ice Rink opens tomorrow at noon with FREE skating all day. After tomorrow, regular admission is $6 plus $2 for skate rental. Plus $8 later on at Rite Aid for ankle braces and ice packs. The rink accepts cash only.

Mrs Cool reminds me that this weekend also brings 2nd Saturday and the Antique Faire. It was great planning to have the faire on Second Sunday, if you aske me.

As reported in Mike Dunne’s column a while back and on various ad hoc blogs, today at 3:00 PM a gaggle of local restaurant celebrities including Biba Caggiano, Randall Selland, Wendi Mentink, Rick Mahan and Kurt Spataro, will gather in support of a petition to celebrate Good Eats backing off the Corti Bros site.
According to Dunne, the effort to save Corti Brothers is/was being led by California Strategies LLC, a massive public relations firm with interests all across California.

It’ll be interesting to see what happens next; Corti still has to negotiate a new lease. Here is Darrel Corti in Mike Dunne’s column today:

“If they are backing away, I guess we have to meet with the landlord, but I’ve heard nothing from the landlord. All I’m hearing is what you are telling me, and I don’t know how to respond to what you are telling me,” Corti said.

The one thing that comes to mind is “sweet, I can keep my business open.” But that’s just off the top of my head.

The Bee reports today that the property that has housed Corti Brothers since 1970 will be leased to another tenant. CB has occupied the location since 1988 without a lease, so I suppose it is no surprise that the landlords opted to strike a deal that more than doubles the rent on the 20,000 square foot location from $12,000 to $24,000 a month. The new business will be Good Eats, a gourmet market and bistro. According to Mike Dunn at the Bee, CB will close the current location by October 15.

With their top quality selection of…. jeeze, just about anything you could want to eat or drink, I am a huge fan of CB. Since 1947, they have been on the short list of Sacramento’s best, and I hope that this continues long into the 21st Century. Let’s support Corti Brothers for as long as we can to help make that transition to a new store as quick as possible.

Far be it for me to encroach on any of the well-established territory of our raven-haired beauty, Sac-Eats, but Mrs. Game Guy and I had the opportunity to try the newly-opened “Crepe Escape” on H Street last night.

If I could sum up our eating experience in one word, it would be “derivative.” I am a big fan of Crepeville for it’s affordable prices and satisfying (though not mind blowing) cuisine; and The Crepe Escape manages to mirror the Crepeville mold to a tee: the familiar chalkboard menu offers virtually identical dishes of Americanized crepe recipes.  No, these are not authentic Frency thin pancakes, but if French cuisine is what you’re looking for, I’d recommend the very satisfying Cafe Rolle down the road.

The decor is strikingly similar to the Curis Park and Midtown creperies, and a nice outdoor patio offers some breezy sitting with majestic views of Cookies’ Drive-In and the H Street train bridge.  It’s not picturesque, but outdoor seating in Sacto is always preferred.

Like Crepeville, the food is satisfying, not spectacular, and I find it interesting that none of their dessert crepes have chocolate in them, but the much more Euro-centric Nutella.  Why the menu doesn’t offer a chocolate sauce is beyond me- its enough reason to hike down to Midtown for Crepeville’s better dessert offerings.

The most humorous thing of our eating experience last night was when Mrs. Game asked whether this was under the same ownership as Crepeville, to which our order-taker (not server, this is Crepeville’s counter-service after all) replied “no, we just have the same chalkboard artist.”  Really? Does he ALSO handle the menu content for both places too?

Side Note: the name “Crepe Escape” makes me think that we go there to get away from the over-abundance of crepes in our day-to-day lives.  I have been mistakenly calling it “Crepe Expectations,” which I think is a much better name.

But really, they should just call it “the East Sac Crepeville,” because that’s what everyone else will be calling it.

Food ***

Price $$

Atmosphere ***

You may have noticed that there is a new Peet’s Coffee & Tea going in at 37th and J Street. We “Peetniks” couldn’t be more thrilled with this news. For those of you looking for some additional cash this holiday season, they are currently hiring. While we missed the job fairs dates, you may still submit your resume to jobs@peets.com.

UPDATE: I clearly do not get around much anymore as I’ve been informed that there is another new Peet’s on 20th & J Street (also hiring). I’ll do some more research as it can’t be just a coincidence that both new J street locations are conveniently located right next to a Starbucks. Coffee Wars?

UPDATE II: Ok, so it’s official, Peet’s is moving forward with their attempt at world (er, Sacramento) coffee domination.  Another store is going up on Howe & Hallmark.  Anyone notice the timing with the increase in new stores and the death of Alfred Peet?

These days when I visit the East Sac Trader Joe’s–which no matter how crowded it is, always seems to have a staff to patron ratio of about 1:1–I notice that the cashiers are very friendly. Like, serial killer friendly. I assume this is company policy. Saturday night, after a long tiring day of yard projects and kid-wrangling, I was asked by the young cashier whether I had any plans. Nothing much, I said, just going to watch a movie with the wife. “Oh really? What movie do you have?” At this point I was too tired to think of way to avoid telling him what movie, and then since it was an obscure low-budget science fiction flick (”Primer“–which by the way was kinda interesting, and at 68 minutes is worth your time, but your wife will haaate it.), I found myself having to give him a plot summary and genre explanation of this movie which I had not seen. Too bad I hadn’t just rented “Caddyshack” or something…

This is not the first such encounter. Continue reading “Nice goes all wrong at TJs” »

CoolDMZ’s, too. Sacred Heart, the venerable East Sacramento institution, will be re-built across 39th Street, thanks to a deal with Mercy.

Driving up Folsom Blvd just now I noticed two East Sacramento establishments in some sort of flux… the Hospice Thrift store seems to be closing up shop or moving, or perhaps just the awning is out for cleaning. Seems like if they were moving there would be a “We’re Moving” sign. The second storefront with something strange afoot is the Hilltop bar, which kind of looked like there might have been water damage inside. Anybody have any gossip?

Just last night I noticed the former site of East Sac stalwart Brillhart Shell, next to Corti Bros on Folsom, is now the location of an empty lot. Sorry, no pictures yet. Does this mean an empty lot for the next 20 years, as it so often does when a gas station is demolished? (It’s been so long I can’t even remember clearly, but I think that’s why the prime location on the northwest corner of 37th and Folsom is still vacant.) Or will it mean more parking for Corti Brothers, because that would be great. I won’t have to wait for parking before going in to be ridiculed for not ordering a sandwich in the correct manner.