Month: July 2010
New eats in Tahoe Park: Cafe Lumiere
Now open at Broadway & 57th in Tahoe Park is Cafe Lumiere, offering breakfast and lunch and Java City coffee (and beer and wine, if I’m not mistaken)! I have yet to try it but we took a gander at the menu and it looked awesome: standard cafe fare, sandwiches, salads, full breakfasts. Check back here for a full review probably after this weekend, where I may sample the breakfast.
This answers supersonic30’s question from over 2 years ago, and so far it does not appear there will be room for a cigarette shop on that block, though there is one across the street.
TP is small enough that all of us who live there know where I’m talking about, but here is what the block looked like about a month ago:
Reminder: Survivor tryouts tomorrow
Those of you with free time tomorrow (Thursday, July 15th) may be interested in heading out to Thunder Valley Casino to audition for the next season of “Survivor” which will be held in Nicaraqua.
“This is no picnic. If they want to last on ‘Survivor,’ they have to be able to survive the Sacramento heat,” Elmets said.
Good one. I can’t believe this show has been on for years and still only offers up one million to the winner. Perhaps this will pave the way for Sacramento (Wow!) to host an American Idol audition (An official resolution? Double Wow!).
Dave Cox RIP
After a 13 year battle with prostate cancer, Sacramento political leader David E. Cox has died at the age of 72.
Dave served us as a member of the SMUD Board, KVIE Board, the Sacramento County Board of Supervisors, the California State Assembly and, at his death, the California State Senate.
I was hanging out with some other long term local politicos and public servants today who remember him as I do. Dave was above “politics” and the bullshit that frustrates the public and distracts our elected representatives. He understood his mission, which is to do the right thing, sometimes regardless of political pressure. He frequently found a middle ground to create the best community he could through compromise. He fought for what he believed in without fighting for the sake of battle.
His death is California’s loss. We remember him today.
Super Unimpressive Restaurant Trends
I get a little cringy when people call me a “restaurant critic.” I’m comfortable with “food writer,” but “restaurant critic” has such a host of connotations — none of them particularly good — that I try to stay away from the term. Think “restaurant critic” and you don’t think of someone fun, laid-back, drinking a beer and asking you if your sister is still single. No, you picture a fussy, possibly mustachioed, narrow-shouldered, whiny loser who will pick apart everything that the waiter (who will also be  picked apart, by the way) brings to the table.Â
I mention that because as a diner I’m pretty uncritical. I let a lot of stuff slide. I don’t give much of a care is service is good, or bad, or horrendous as long as the food is good. There are, however, a few things that drive me f’ing bonkers, and I’ve been running into them a lot lately.
Crappy Bread– Uh huh. I’m looking at you, Plan B, you, Sweetwater, and you, Cafe Marika. It’s really not hard to order good bread from a good bakery. You have absolutely no excuse for the doughy, cold, chewy slices you’re trying to pawn off as dinner bread. Honestly, just buy rolls from Safeway and heat them up. Odds are they’re better than the 1) frozen dough that you’re cooking before the shift starts, 2) cheap bread that you’re using for way too many days, or 3) the misguided crap that you’re trying to make yourself. Call a bakery. Don’t be a hero. Or a tightwad. Continue reading “Super Unimpressive Restaurant Trends”
New Malaysian Chili Sauce Only Sold in Sacramento
While the thermostat reads 100 degrees right now, Sacramento’s heat index just went higher with the country’s exclusive supply of Lingham’s Sweet & Spicy Hot Sauce. Local grocery store Corti Brothers now holds the complete United States stock of this fine Malaysian chili sauce. Darrell Corti, international culinary legend, deems this hot sauce, “one of my favorite condiments… It is without peer.â€
Manufactured in Malaysia, this condiment isn’t your run-of-the-mill heat infusion sauce. Lingham’s brings bright sweetness and tang, followed by a polite kick to your palette. It offers layers of playful flavor. Corti writes in his store’s newsletter: “The chiles grown for this sauce are usually grown on small plots where the individual growers can harvest them as they turn from green to red, when the chile still has a fruity character and is not all heat and no flavor.”
The sauce contains all that is delicious: chili, sugar, and garlic. It also lacks all that is not: no Msg, no added flavorings or colors.
Continue reading “New Malaysian Chili Sauce Only Sold in Sacramento”
It’s no big deal
I had to take a shot of this today while at the California Family Fitness in Natomas. If you’re like me, you’ll immediately think of this scene. More entertaining than writing about a body “showing up” in Sacramento canal, huh?.
The fully-clothed body appears to be a man. It was found hung up on a buoy about three feet from a ladder.
“Appears” to be a man. Ok, then, who wants a Fresca?
BFD, baby!
Brew, Ferment, Distill, that is! Sacramento’s DIY/slow food community gets another plus with the grand opening of Brew Ferment Distill, which offers you the chance to try your hand at making your own beer, wine, vinegar, pickles, cheese, and more! They will also be featuring urban photography as part of Second Saturday. Stop by and say hello!
Brew Ferment Distill — 3527 Broadway
To the naughty step you go!
While browsing Goore’s recently, I came across this little gem (YouTube video). Apparently, how to handle your misbehaving little one is not has easy as it used to be. The Time Out Pad solves your problems by putting your child in virtual lock down.
The makers (Gro-Group) ask, “How do you monitor a time out when you’ve got so many things to do? And what happens if a child gets up during the time out? How does the child know when the time out is finished?” Their solution: a plastic cushion equipped with a red-yellow-green light, a timer, and congratulatory beeping when their time out is over. Unless your kid bails on their time out, and then an alarm will sound.
You know, unless. I guess this is how electric dog fences were created. Oooh, that gives me an idea!
St. Francis Elem. School to move to Tahoe Park
Sac Bee reports that earthquake retrofit rules will force the St. Francis of Assisi Elementary School to relocate… to the former site of John Paul II School in Tahoe Park.
[St. Francis Principal Laurie] Power said estimates for the retrofitting have come in between $3 million to $5 million.
“We obviously don’t have that kind of money lying around in our checkbooks,” Power said. “It will take a lot of planning.”
Funny, the only reason there is an empty site is that the diocese didn’t have a dime to save John Paul II. I am happy though that the site in Tahoe Park won’t go unused.
The Sac Rag 