This year, Sacramento has two winning breweries at GABF. Rubicon Brewing brought home the Silver Medal for their multi-award winning Winter Wheatwine in the Strong Beer category. Sacramento Brewing Company won the Bronze for their Collaborative Evil in the Belgian and French Style category. This is currently on tap sold out but coming back in the future at SacBrew and is delicious.
Continue reading “Congrats local brewers!”
Combing the farmers’ market is unlike any grocery store experience. You can’t simply head to aisle five in search of tomatoes. Instead, you’ll be looking behind the croissant baker, next to the kiwi preserves vendor, and beside the rhubarb bucket. If you’re in a hurry, it’s easy to miss that single farmer selling something uniquely special.
Thankfully, GreenBeet is here to do the browsing for you! I’ll leave no turnip unturned to bring you the most delectable gems from the downtown Sacramento Sunday market.
This week’s pick? Cactus paddles from Satiety Vineyards of Woodland.
Ok, maybe you’re not quite as obsessed with trivia as I am. Not too many folks consider Ken Jennings, all-time JEOPARDY! champion, a personal hero. But to me, anyone who can house that much info in a human brain is impressive beyond category.
So if you’re looking to test your wits against other folks and looking for a good meal while you do it, it’s hard to beat the area’s trivia nights and pub quizzes. Here’s a list of some of the most popular knowledge nights with a few suggestions on meal pairing to go with your brain teasers.
Streets of London– Probably the longest running pub quiz in town, the Sunday night quiz at Streets of London is also one of the most challenging. Quizmaster Ken Koch, the grand daddy of local quiz purveyors, can be jovial, bombastic, or even downright surly, but he’s always fair. It’s a written quiz, so don’t even try to shout out the answer or you will receive a tongue lashing to remember.
To keep your stomach from grumbling and keep the brain fed, try Street’s fish and chips. It’s one of the best in town. Or for the more adventurous, go for the Scotch egg, a hard boiled egg rolled in ground sausage and deep fried. I’m told it’s an acquired taste.
Where: Streets of London, 1804 J St., Sacramento
When: Fridays, 9PM (also held on Tuesdays and Wednesdays at their Folsom and West Sacramento locations respectively, both at 8:30) Continue reading “Smart Eats- Grub and Trivia Nights”
Sacramento’s two largest brewfests coincide with the coming and going of summer. The West Coast Brew Fest always seems to be on that first 100 degree weekend of the year, and the California Brewers Festival is always on the freshly moistened ground of the first rains of the coming Autumn.
This Saturday is the 15th annual California Brewers Festival hosted by the Point West Rotary Club. It is held every September to coincide with the beginning of school, as the beneficiaries of your $30 donation is Operation School Bell, a project of the Assistance League of Sacramento. Children in 34 schools throughout the Sacramento area will have new clothes for school thanks to this program and Sunday’s 4,000 swollen livers.
Continue reading “Cal Brewers Fest ’09”
Oh, yeah, the food is pretty damn good, too.
Your guide to the best beer and wine at the California State Fair!
The California State Fair was created by the legislature in 1854 to celebrate and promote California agriculture and industry. I choose to celebrate The Fair’s historical origins by seeking out the finest alcoholic beverages in the realm of Cal Expo. If you choose to join me on this quest, print up this handy guide to the best beer and wine offered at The Fair.
Since 1854, The Fair has honored California’s winemakers in what is now North America’s oldest wine competition. This year, almost 1200 wines were designated as bronze, silver, gold or double gold award winners. At the Save Mart Wine Garden, you can choose from more than 100 winning wines. 100! How can you decide? Before I get to the recommendations, I’ll give you tip #1. If you plan on enjoying more than a few wines, invest in the souvenir wine glass. For $5, your wine purchase will double from a 5 oz pour in a plastic cup to a 10 oz pour in a reusable, stylish glass.
One of the best things about the state fair is the deep fried edible glory that accompanies it. It’s like junk food Christmas. However, there are so many options throughout Cal Expo that you’re just as likely to waste those precious calories that you’ve been hoarding all summer on just average junk instead of on incredible junk. Hopefully this little list will help you from stepping into a grease and candy filled pothole with your dining choices.
Best Meal: BBQ Beef sandwich at “Buns on the Run” – Still the best food seller at the fair, this little trailer on the east side of the park, just across from the petting zoo with the word “Sausage” emblazoned on it’s sign doles out the best meal on the grounds. The bbq beef is sweet and succulent, the roll is incredible, a deep fried masterpiece of dough science, and the homemade potato chips on the side are just awesome. Also, this place does a damn fine boneless rib sandwich.
Best Deep Fried Delicacy: Deep Fried Oreos at Chicken Charlie’s– Charlie’s has been setting the standard in deep fried audaciousness for years now. I was a huge fan of the fried Elvis — a battered and fried peanut butter and banana sandwich — but it was taken off the men after the piping hot pb sent 158 people to the local burn unit. Now, I go for the Oreos with chocolate sauce. The small cookies have a great filling to breading ratio and they manage to stay fairly crispy inside the batter shell. However, if you’re really daring and haven’t eaten this year , try the deep fried White Castle Hamburger.
Best Sweet Treat: Country Fair Cinnamon Rolls– Two stands, one located in the county exhibit building, the other on the east side of the consumer pavilion (aka crap hut) , dole out some of the best cinnamon rolls in the world. The syrupy white frosting and tender cinnamon ladened dough is on par with the finest Austrian pastry. It’s only improved by asking for extra “gunk,” which is the cinnamon, sugar and butter on the bottom of the pan scraped up and sprinkled on top of your roll. Continue reading “Your State Fair Dining Guide-Part 1”
According to News 10 (and probably several other sources I was too lazy to find) the ADA lawsuit against burger favorite Squeeze Inn has been dropped.
Here’s the strange thing about this whole ADA system: no changes were made to the building, and someone else can come along and sue instead. Of course, if someone else does sue, they’ll be subject to the withering criticism of animal fat lovers everywhere. I’d go over there today to celebrate, but I’m saving my arterial blockage for the STATE FAIR WHICH STARTS TOMORROW!!!!
I LOVE YOU POPPY!!!!!!!!
During the two-hour seminar, bartender extraordinaire Erick Castro shared many of his professional secrets, which I will now share with you. Besides these individual tips, the overarching theme of the lesson was that bartending is a serious craft that requires, if you want to be great, an encyclopedic knowledge of thousands of liquors, cordials and mixers; most bartenders make drinks, but only a few are shaking and stirring up liquid art and revitalizing a lost piece of uniquely American culture.
Continue reading “Secrets to cocktail crafting revealed!”
Over the last few months that it’s been open, I’ve discovered that I’m not crazy about Hot Italian. Really, it’s not my bag. I find nothing about it appealing, other than the gelato and Peroni on tap. A very knowledgeable friend of mine begs to differ however.
Normally, I wouldn’t trouble you with a little friendly bickering, but I feel like he provides some insight into the whole pizza debate that is pretty valuable and worth sharing. So here, in the great tradition of the Socratic dialogue, is the Sacramento pizza argument. I will be labeled as ME while my friend will be labeled as Pierre:
PIERRE: Hot Italian has the best pizza in town, without a doubt. It’s the only true Neopolitan pizza.
ME: Are you on something? Every time I’ve been there, the pie has been bland, floppy, and not too inspiring.
PIERRE: Good Neapolitan pizza comes down to three simple factors- dough (flour type and water), tomato sauce, and toppings.
ME: I notice that flavor doesn’t enter into the argument here. Continue reading “In Defense of Hot Italian”
The Sac Rag 