I knew this category would come in handy. What I did not know was that Heckasac would be the main source for it. Read Beckler’s harrowing tale, courtesy of a sharp-eyed reader, of mistreatment of a homeless man at Paesano’s.
What the fusion is going on at Paesanos?
The Sac Rag 
I already boycott them because none of their “vegetarian” dishes are meat-free.
Now I have reason to tell my meat eating friends to avoid them.
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You mentioned that their “vegetarian” dishes really arent? Could you expand on that as my picky vegetarian friends love going here but I really dont. This would help us decide not to return.
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Hey, Sac Rag commenter Dave, isn’t the water throwing on homeless people enough for you not to go there? Do you really need to know they use chicken broth or something?
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What’s the big deal here? Can we all just agree that homeless people are crazy wackos and not deserving of our compassion? Besides, I don’t want a homeless person on my pizza or in my pasta, in fact, I usually don’t like eating homeless people at all. They’re usually too stringy. That is unless I want to pull a Jeffrey Dahlmer on them. (note: for homeless people, you can also read “vegetarians”)
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Wow, sac-eats, your comment was not funny.
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Rontopofit, easy there buddy. I agree that the water incident sucks, and as I mentioned, I dont like the place, and have no problems not returning (even before about hearing about the water incident). However, I’ve never heard that their vegetarian isnt really vegetarian, so I was looking for some more info on that claim.
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Sacramento News, Gossip, and Snark. Since 2005.
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Wouldnt happen to have a link to the article about meat, vegetarians, and paesano’s?
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Here you go, Dave…
http://www.happycow.net/north_america/usa/california/sacramento/index.html
Nothing about Paesano’s, but there are 5 restataurants in Sacramento that your friends may enjoy frequenting.
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As someone who has worked for the Virga family and the Paesano’s corporation in several different capacities over the last six years I feel compelled to speak out on this issue. Unfortunately, I was not present on the night in question, so I am unable to speak specifically about the events that transpired due to the fact that I have no first hand knowledge of what went on and I am not the type of person to respond to hearsay. I am however, able to speak on what I do know first hand, and that is the integrity and the character of the men I work for. As I stated earlier, I have known and worked for Dave Virga and Mark Scribner, the owners of Paesanos, for over six years and currently work for them as a manager at Paesanos Midtown. I feel confident in saying that the men that I work for are by no means the type of men who would at any time deliberately or maliciously hurt another human being. I would like to think that over a six year period I have gotten to know both men very well and on a personal level. I can say with certainty that both Dave and Mark are generous, kind, considerate, thoughtful, decent, and honorable men. However, I don’t want you to take my word for it; let their actions speak for themselves. Mark and Dave donate considerably each year to the Francis House, which so happens to be a charity for the homeless. Leftover food from the restaurant or any catering that Paesanos does goes directly to Loaves & Fishes, which is also a charity for the homeless. Paesanos has a loyal local clientele, due not to the great food that we serve, but quite frankly due to these two men, their generosity and their integrity. I would ask that we judge these men not in the court of public opinion and by one purported incident, but rather by the outstanding record of positive community involvement.
Rachel Mayse
Paesano’s Manager
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Dave-
RE: The vegetarian food.
I used to work a block from Paesano’s.
Their “non-meat” dishes are all supplemented by either beefy lard (like their breadsticks) or chicken stock (practically everything else). I learned this from a helpful waitress who probably felt sorry for me after asking if the soup was vegetarian. Every time I tried to order something, she would tell me the hidden animal ingredient in the dish. I settled for a salad with no meaty breadsticks and never returned.
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Rachel,
Thank you for your extremely lucid and well-penned argument in defense of Paesano’s. As a frequent and happy patron of your establishment, I say hurrah to you for not only your fine service and fantastic food, but also for your ethically minded owners and their thumbing of their noses at those pasty and whiney vegetarians. If God had not wanted us to eat animals, he wouldn’t have made them out of meat.
Keep on sister-friend, and never, never take that baked pasta dish of the menu; it’s heaven.
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Sac-Eats,
Wow the “made them out of meat” joke is just a classic, and it gets funnier everytime I hear it.
I too hate whiney vegetarians, but I don’t know many. Most vegetarians and vegans I know, like myself, just want to know what their eating so they can make informed decisions. I don’t bitch that a place serves meat, and I’ll even eat there, but I like to be know the ingeredient of what I’m eating. I don’ think this is expecting too much of a server or an establishment. It’s not like I’m one of those whiney assholes with food alergies.
It’s interesting that the least tolerant, grumpiest, bitchiest people I know are the ones most likely to call other whiney. But of course they’re also the ones with the killer sense of humor as illustrated by your fine joke crackin’ in this here thread. Thanks for the larfs.
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KLJ,
I totally agree about those annoying food allergy people. I was with a friend one time and he ate a peanut, one goddamned peanut, and his face swelled up like puffer fish. I mean, who’s allergic to peanuts? Anyway, he totally ruined my dinner and wouldn’t stop bitching after he woke up out of the coma.
Thanks for the props with the meat joke too; I do enjoy classic comedy.
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Who’s allergic to peanuts? 1.5 million Americans. Peanut allergies are responsible for 80% of the deaths from food allergies. Not a funny topic when I had to take my girlfriend to the emergency room several times because the fucking server did not know that when you ask “Are there peanuts in this? I can die if I eat peanuts…” is not a serious question.
I also know someone who had a child die at the age of three from the same thing.
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Apparently this is an increasing phenomenon. Several medical folks have been referring to this increasingly widespread peanut allergy as a strange mutation in humans. Let’s just all agree to agree that folks with this particular allergy shouldn’t get to within 20 feet of a Thai restaurant.
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Paesano’s serves thai soup?
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in order to make it all worth it you have to boycott all the dumps these fellas own…including the jacks urban eats, the burger joint i can’t remember the name of over on fair oaks blvd, the hukilau, and other places fine dining rats congregate.
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Enough people already did “boycott” Hukilau and Deluxe (burger joint) because they’ve each been closed for some time! Deluxe hasn’t been in Loehmann’s Plaza for at least a few years. In its place is the fabulous Giovanni’s Pizza. Hukilau was replaced with some faux Italian place that reportedly has a nummy soup (not Thai soup.)
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Above comment by Runnergirl, not Sac-Eats (who’s still asleep.)
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(Really sac-eats this time) Look, if we refused to give patronage to every business in town that was the least intolerant of homeless people, the only place left to eat would be Loaves and Fishes. And while I hear that they have a pretty good clam chowder on Fridays, it’s not a place a want to take clients when they come in from out of town.
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you’ll have to excuse me for being out of touch with the virgas’ business ventures…but don’t you want the money you spend to go someplace respectable? i’ve seen a lot of places kick homeless people out, but it’s done in a manner that isn’t harmful to the person’s dignity…and yes, homeless people have dignity. this is just a step down from the teens in florida who beat and kill homeless men for fun. these guys thought it would be funny to pour water on the homeless man…not to move him or wake him, but to humiliate him so he would not return. bravo! shitty people breed shitty people.
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Would it surprise you to learn that the Virgas donated over $20,000 to the Sacramento Food Bank last year, or that they participate in a number of charitable causes with other restaurant owners, or that one of their children is a Catholic missionary in Africa?
Judging works both ways. Never forget that wealthy people don’t have the market cornered on assholitry. Homeless people can be assholes too.
(by the way, I have no idea whether any of the above assertaions are actually true. But if they were, you’d feel like a judgemental dip-shit, wouldn’t you?)
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