Category: Food

Screaming Deal at Paragary Restaurants

For the month of August, Cosmo Cafe, Esquire Grill, and Spataro are offering a 3-course meal for $20. The meals look good, the deal is recession proof, and the value seems…well…valuable.

Here are the details:
Call the restaurant of your choice (Cosmo 446-9800, Esquire 448-8900, Spataro 440-8888), reserve a table, and give them the reservation code “I-Eat.”

Check here for the menus being offered. I’ve got my eye on the corn, cod, and cobbler at Esquire Grill, but don’t take my word for it. Wait, take my word for it, go for the triple C.

Midtown Cocktail Week

While I am a beer, wine, tequila and whiskey guy, I appreciate a good cocktail. Artistry and superior ingredients separate the men from the boys, or in this case, the well from the top shelf. Next week, Sacramento celebrates our top shelf cocktail makers and shakers with the second annual Midtown Cocktail Week.

Imbibers have the opportunity to get up close and personal with some of Sacramento’s favorite mixologists. My personal favorite is Chris Tucker at the L Wine Lounge and Urban Kitchen, who has a seasonal cocktail menu with an eye for subtle flavor blending. Anyone can pour booze over ice and get you fucked up. The key to quality drinks are the other ingredients, which Chris carefully sources from organic, sustainable and local vendors. I also hold Ella in high regard, but their small bar and high prices discourage my casual boozing.

All events are free and open to the over-21 public, except for a private seminar with industry veteran Jon Santer. For $25, burgeoning boozologists can learn from a pro and take home some cool tools to aid you in home cocktail crafting. Seats are limited, so reserve your spot now!

Note: Jon Santer had to pull out of this event, so the seminar will be led by Erick Castro, who manages the totally awesome Bourbon & Branch in SF.

It’s Voting Time

votedIt’s that time of year again, Sacramentans. Time to vote for the Sacramento News & Review’s “Best of Sacramento.”

Now, in previous years, we at the ‘Rag have been more that solicitous in our asking for your vote for us for “Best Local Blog.” And we will be no less solicitous this year.  But, to start off the voting season, I thought I’d throw a few food and entertainment related ideas your way to prime the pump if you will. Feel free to follow your conscience when voting, as always, but if you’re stumped, these choices probably deserve it as much as anyone:

Best Comedy Club– Sacramento Comedy Spot

Best Bakery– Backer Back in Town & Country is turning out some of the best European breads in town, ditto for Grateful Bread on Fair Oaks Blvd

Best Barbecue– Anything but Texas West. I vote for Big Joe’s BBQ in Citrus Heights Continue reading “It’s Voting Time”

Konditorei: Pastry Perfection

pathumwan-res-tlobby2Even if Albert and Gloria Kutternig didn’t make some of the most decadent morsels this side of Vienna, their story would still be worth telling.  You see – Albert is a world-class pastry chef trained in the finest kitchens in Austria; his wife, Gloria, is a globetrotting ballerina originally from the Philippines.  The pair met in Venezuela, traveled the world, got hitched in Austria, and wound up settling down in the quiet college town of Davis, California.  If this were a human interest piece, there would be more than enough interest to go around.  But alas, this is a culinary article, and this amazing pair isn’t being covered for the sweetness of their tale, but rather the sweetness of their pastries.

Konditorei Austrian Pastry Cafe in Davis creates treats in the Austrian tradition, which is quite different from the American tradition.  Gone are the syrupy sweet confections, buttercream frostings, corn syrup, and dense cakes that we come to expect from the neighborhood bakery.  Instead, these continental delicacies are crafted from light – almost ethereal – creams, sugars, fillings, sauces, and sweet cheeses.
Continue reading “Konditorei: Pastry Perfection”

IPAllooza at SacBrew!

hopsSacBrew will host their first IPAllooza tomorrow, featuring 30 India Pale Ales from across California and beyond. I can already feel my taste buds dance and my liver complain.

For the uninitiated, the IPA is a liquid celebration of the Humulus lupulus, commonly known as the hop. Hops have been used for hundreds of years to preserve beer, but their intense flavor made them a welcome and mandatory addition to the ancient recipe of water, grain and yeast. Dozens of different hop varieties are used based upon their acid content, which imparts different aromas and flavors that can be bitter, sweet, floral, fruity or any combination of the above, depending on the type, the amount used and the skill of the brewer.

The India Pale Ale originated in the British Empire, which added copious amounts of hops and alcohol to reinforce their standard pale ale for the long journey to the troops occupying India. Today, the IPA is unofficially the official beer of the West Coast, with hundreds of different versions brewed each year. Year after year, brewers attempt to out-do each other by packing as many hops as possible into their creations while keeping the beer delicious, resulting in styles such as Imperial IPAs, Double IPAs, Triple IPAs and the paint stripping Quadruple IPAs. Aficionados of such beers have dubbed themselves Hopheads.
Continue reading “IPAllooza at SacBrew!”

Barbera: A Local Treasure That Needs To Be Treasured

barberaIf we were to be honest with ourselves for just a moment, we’d readily admit that we live in the deep, enveloping cleavage of the bosom of great wine. Just barely peeking out over the plunging neckline of our beautiful valley, we can see some of the best vineyards in America staring back at us. And while Zinfandel, Cab, and Chardonnay get all the attention and all the praise, it is the simple Barbera that I seek out every time.

An Italian grape, Barbera is a foundational piece of many Italian table wines. Following suit, it’s been grown predominantly in the Central Valley as a blending grape in jug wines. (Shout out to my boy Carlo!) But in recent years, winemakers in Amador, El Dorado, and, to a lesser but by no means less successful extent, Paso Robles have taken the Barbera and turned it into an absolutely yummy single varietal that, in my mind, kicks the pants off of most zins, pinots, and cabs.

What does Barbera taste like? To be honest, it tastes like the cloudy mists of the firmament wrapped in bubble gum and dusted with cotton candy kisses. However, some have also described it as an inky dark, velvety wine with balanced berry sweetness and almost no tannins; it’s eminently drinkable and, like most Italian wines, very food friendly.  Take your pick of descriptions. Wine, after all, is a subjective beverage.

Where do you find good Barbera? One place you’ll rarely find it is on a restaurant’s wine list. The Firehouse, for example, whose wine list runs over 80 pages, has only a handful of Barberas from the U.S. and Italy. On last check, Biba’s wine list had two. L Wine Lounge, whose wine list admittedly is about variety and quality over quantity, carries only one.  Same with The Kitchen. Continue reading “Barbera: A Local Treasure That Needs To Be Treasured”

Food News: Marsupial Edition

kangaroo-meatThe newest burger at ‘Rag favorite Flaming Grill? Why, kangaroo of course. Kangaroo is low fat, dark, meaty, delicious, and full of all kinds of nutritional thingies that all strange meat claims to be full of. Hell, you can probably find some crackpot with a PhD to tell you that wombat meat delivers more X per serving than any other indigestible food.  But I digress.  The kangaroo burger is actually very good. Texture and flavor-wise I would say that it’s somewhere between a turkey burger and a lean beef burger. Highly recommended, but still not as good as FG’s ahi burger, which is the best in the state.

Gatsby’s, a ’30s diner (notice the apostrophe in front not between the numbers and “s”) whatever that is, recently opened on the corner of Alta Arden and Fulton. Check it out if you like a good tongue sandwich (I haven’t been there yet and couldn’t tell you if they sold tongue sandwiches or not).

David Berkley’s, purveyor of fine foods in the Pavilions shopping centre, is changing its name. As reported on this here fine ‘Rag a while ago, Mr. Berkley no longer owns the joint and will be removing his name from the masthead. The place, which checkout guy assures me will be unchanged, will simply be called “The Market at the Pavilions.” Talk about grabbing you by the short one’s, heh? That’s a name to remember. The Market. It’s about as remarkable as that place I go to work out, “The Gym.” Ok, it’s a pretentious load of wind, but I thought y’all should know in case you get confused next time you pull up to the ‘Vilions (ok, this apostrophe thing is getting out of hand) and don’t see the familiar name up on the marquee.

Squeeze Out

UPDATE: Bee reports that Squeeze Inn owner will move rather than try to fight lawsuit.  Let’s just hope it’s not to Roseville.

handicapped-adaChalk this one up in the category of “money grubbing, litigious douchebags ruining all of our fun.”  From the Bee:

Aficionados say the burger sold at the Squeeze Inn is perfection (including me), the consummate marriage of bun, ground meat and melted cheddar cheese. But a disabled woman has filed suit, saying the one-time coffeehouse with 450 square feet of space at 7918 Fruitridge Road (left) is anything but perfect. She says the kitschy confines where photos of fishermen, fighters and racers abound break federal law and violate her civil rights.

Here’s the really, really shitty part: the owner of the ‘Squeeze, Travis Hausauer, says that to make the fixes would cost so much that he’d be better closing his doors.

All the facts in the case, from the identification of the lawyer, Jason Singleton, as a wheelchair chaser who goes around finding small businesses that don’t meet all ADA guidelines then finding handicapped people to file suit against them, to the “victim” Kimberly Block, who is apparently a vegetarian (ok I made that up), make this case a grade-a shitball. But it brings this whole issue into regional and — thanks to that loud-mouthed Fieri guy — national focus.

Here’s what should happen and here’s what will happen: What should happen is that these type of ADA code issues be brought before the city or county and not be resolvable by lawsuits. If a disabled person has a problem with a business, they should complain to the city or county, an inspector would go out, issue an order to upgrade the property and/or fine the business. What will happen is that this case will be settled out of court, the lawyer will take the bulk of the settlement, and the “victim” will go about her tofu-eating life. Continue reading “Squeeze Out”

Pearl on the River Not Exactly a Gem

As a Sacramento resident, you can count on many things in the summer: at least one week of unbearable heat, a ridiculous amount of news reporting on that obvious heat, a budget impasse, and fairly weak riverside dining.

When you travel to any of the riverside joints that promise great views, relaxed atmospheres, and top-notch food, you usually leave about two-thirds satisfied. Whether it’s Chevy’s, Crawdad’s, Joe’s Crab Shack, Delta King, or any of the other dozen or so eateries on the city’s riverbanks, the food is not what you’re going for.

Unfortunately, Pearl on the River lives up to the standard set by its neighbors. Continue reading “Pearl on the River Not Exactly a Gem”

OneSpeed

The new casual fare restaurant from Waterboy owner Rick Mahan is finally open. Called OneSpeed, it’s been in the “coming-soon” stage since prohibition, which of course leads to pretty lofty expectations. Can Mahan live up? Can he deliver unlike another Sacramento over-hyped project, Hot Italian?

Damn straight he can. Stand and deliver he can. Give it to ya’ with a swift, casual kick to the culinary crotch he can. Continue reading “OneSpeed”