Author: sac-eats

About five months ago, you may have been one of the hundred or so people that told me to read Blair Robertson’s Bee review of this new breakfast joint in town. The place was called Orphan and apparently “Robo,” as his friends call him (ok, I’m not really sure if his friends call him that, but they should, because “Robo” is a badass nickname, almost as badass as “Badass” being your nickname, which is pretty badass) tore the place a new muddy starfish and ripped it up and down for serving tasteless muck and for having an owner who is a bit of a jackass. Well, today I had my own Orphan experience, and at least they’ve improved the food.

It seems like they’ve improved the food quite a lot actually. The food was wonderful, flavorful, comforting.  My flank steak hash was packed like a clown car with onions, peppers, herbs, beatifully cooked potatoes, and lovingly seared steak. My lovely companion’s dish was equally well spiced, and served with a beautiful side of fruit and ridiculously good rosemary bread that did a fine job soaking up the yolk from the spot-on over-medium eggs and the sinus-clearing horseradish cream that came on the side. Continue reading “Orphan: Hipper Than Thou, and Tastier Too”

I feel so behind the times. Since my residential shift to Midtown, I haven’t had a chance to roll down Howe Avenue in a spell. So imagine my surprise when I spotted the rotted out shell of a T.G.I. Friday’s on Howe and Hurley yesterday. A little research tells me that this place has been closed since September. September?  Man do I feel out of it.

For decades, this particular corner has been known as the “Herpes Triangle” — the three points of the triangle being Friday’s, Chevy’s, and previously El Torito, now Tre — and now, one of the triangle’s points is no more. Somehow “Herpes Line” just doesn’t have the same ring. Should we have a renaming contest? Has this particular Sacramento corner lost its cultural relevancy like Craig Kilborn and the city of St. Louis? Does this somehow absolve Guy Fieri of spokesing for a competitor to his own restaurant? Was that Guy’s plan all along, to drive Friday’s into the ground by pitching its gooey meals? What other restaurants from my childhood are gone? Please tell me the Coral Reef hasn’t shuttered.

Imagine, if you will, a place that serves a pulled pork sandwich topped with bleu cheese Napa cabbage slaw, dill havarti, shallots, and spicy barbecue sauce, all on a toasty ciabatta roll. Now imagine eating such a sandwich and having never tasted its equal. Now imagine sitting down and writing about said sandwich on a local blog. If you’ve imagined all that, then we’ve pretty much had the same day: you in your head, me in reality.

All I can say is make the effort to go to Fog Mountain Cafe on the corner of 10th and I streets. Hell, even if you have to get a parking ticket so that you have to go to City Hall to pay it so that you have an excuse to be on that corner. Even if you have to taint a local well so that you have to go to the CalEPA building on the adjacent corner, do it.

Fog Mountain Cafe– 1000 I St. Sacramento

Open Mon-Fri, 7am-3pm

The LA institution affectionately known as Crack-berry is coming to our small hamlet. Soon to open at Howe ’bout Arden, with additional locations in the usual suburban enclaves of Roseville, Folsom, and Elk Grove, the SoCal institution will bring its tangy yogurt and fresh fruit toppings and naive Japanese schoolgirl attitude and creepy trance music to town and nothing will be the same again. Mostly my waistline, which will expand exponentially with the consumption of original yogurt with kiwi.

Following the trend of many local businesses, the beloved Squeeze Inn has moved to the Quarry Pond Center in Granite Bay.  Ok, that’s not technically true, they actually moved a block away from their old joint and are now at 5301 Power Inn Rd.  From all reports it looks like they’ve tried to keep the old atmosphere alive by transplanting a lot of the folksy charm to the new location.  For me though, the most important thing is transplanting the grill. If it’s not the same grill, it’s not the same burger.

There will be further reporting once I’ve tucked into a new (and hopefully not improved) Squeeze with cheese in the next few days.

Reader help is requested to give me a better idea as to what is happening on the corner of 16th and R. At the beginning of the month, a small restaurant opened up called Shabu: Japanese Fondue.  Now the only thing I know about shabu-shabu is what I learned on the interwebs (which is a series of tubes dontchaknow).  Here’s what I’ve gleaned from the the usual sources: shabu-shabu is style of cuisine in which the diner cooks small bits of meat and vegetable in a communal bowl of steaming broth; this broth is then consumed at the end of the meal.

All I can say is “Thank God.” I was a bit worried that we were expected to mix teriyaki with a brandy spiked cheese sauce, or dipping slivers of yellowtail into molten chocolate. 

So, has anyone had shabu-shabu before? Anyone actually eaten at the new Shabu restaurant yet? Anyone turning Japanese?  Let us know.

I’m still not comfortable with the name, but I’ve become quite a fan of their food. 

In one word: mussels. Plan B Cafe in Arden Town Center knows how to do mussels. With coconut broth, or spicy cilantro broth, or white wine and garlic, or tomato sauce (or as my Nana would say, “tomato gravy”) with herbes de provence, these folks know how to serve up some bivalves.  The rest of the menu ain’t too shabby either, a bit expensive, but delicious and elegant enough to warrant most of the price. The mussels, however, are a steal at $12 (and extra $3 for fries, but trust me, you need the fries).

One of the more whimsical thoughts is that the space Plan B occupies used to be a toy store. I don’t know what that has to do with anything, I just think it’s kind of funny.

Try the desserts, especially anything with a crust — tarte tarin, pear tartlette, anything gallette — but stay away from the bread they bring to the table.  Someone in the kitchen is obviously a talented pastry chef, but not much of a bread maker.

Plan B Cafe- Watt & Fair Oaks in Arden Town Center, Sacramento

Foo ***1/2 Ambiance *** Service ****