Category: Food

SN&R “on” best burritos

kitty burrito
kitty burrito

Just in time for this week’s News & Review, I’d like to react to last week’s cover piece on burritos written by Ben Russell. Russell really seems to know how to turn a phrase, and the piece is actually incredibly informative. For example it confirmed my preference for Guerrero’s tortillas as the best tortillas at your local supermarket (or your massive soulless food chain, whatever your preference), and it taught me that the word for people from the state of Jalisco in Mexico is Jaliscenes.

Continue reading “SN&R “on” best burritos”

Yogurt + Monkey = Awesome

Not unlike the Ouroboros, frozen yogurt has become today’s version of smoothies, which were the then-updated version of frozen yogurt, which was the answer to hippie elixirs, which were the answer to the malteds, which were the answer to the original Coca Cola (with gen-u-ine narcotics.)

It’s the trite adage that “everything old is new again,” much like the kids who are wearing ’80s fashions (and shame on you for the adults who are — if you’re old enough to remember it from the first time, you’re too old to be wearing it now.)

Here’s what I know now about the local fro-yo joints:

Continue reading “Yogurt + Monkey = Awesome”

The Crepe Escape

Far be it for me to encroach on any of the well-established territory of our raven-haired beauty, Sac-Eats, but Mrs. Game Guy and I had the opportunity to try the newly-opened “Crepe Escape” on H Street last night.

If I could sum up our eating experience in one word, it would be “derivative.” I am a big fan of Crepeville for it’s affordable prices and satisfying (though not mind blowing) cuisine; and The Crepe Escape manages to mirror the Crepeville mold to a tee: the familiar chalkboard menu offers virtually identical dishes of Americanized crepe recipes.  No, these are not authentic Frency thin pancakes, but if French cuisine is what you’re looking for, I’d recommend the very satisfying Cafe Rolle down the road.

The decor is strikingly similar to the Curis Park and Midtown creperies, and a nice outdoor patio offers some breezy sitting with majestic views of Cookies’ Drive-In and the H Street train bridge.  It’s not picturesque, but outdoor seating in Sacto is always preferred.

Like Crepeville, the food is satisfying, not spectacular, and I find it interesting that none of their dessert crepes have chocolate in them, but the much more Euro-centric Nutella.  Why the menu doesn’t offer a chocolate sauce is beyond me- its enough reason to hike down to Midtown for Crepeville’s better dessert offerings.

The most humorous thing of our eating experience last night was when Mrs. Game asked whether this was under the same ownership as Crepeville, to which our order-taker (not server, this is Crepeville’s counter-service after all) replied “no, we just have the same chalkboard artist.”  Really? Does he ALSO handle the menu content for both places too?

Side Note: the name “Crepe Escape” makes me think that we go there to get away from the over-abundance of crepes in our day-to-day lives.  I have been mistakenly calling it “Crepe Expectations,” which I think is a much better name.

But really, they should just call it “the East Sac Crepeville,” because that’s what everyone else will be calling it.

Food ***

Price $$

Atmosphere ***

Yunece 61

A) The Ohio Players
B) James Brown
C) The flavor of my pulled pork sandwich from Yunece yesterday.

What do these things have in common?
They’re all funky.
That’s right, there was some serious funk coming off of my pulled pork sammie from Yunece 61 the other day. We’re talking get-down-with-your-bad-self, break-out-in-a-cold-sweat, make-me-hurt-myself kind of funk Add to that the nearly tasteless potato salad served on the side and you can pretty much toss my whole visit into the crapper. Continue reading “Yunece 61”

Two date night dinners

Our 7th (!) wedding anniversary was yesterday, and we made a weekend of it by celebrating with dinner out on Friday. Now since we have three little kids we don’t exactly eat out often, so when we do we run into that age-old diner’s dilemma: stick with a restaurant you know and love, or take a chance on something new. With the usual, you are very likely to be pleased, and with something new, you can only rely on word of mouth (or word of Yelp) recommendations. And there’s no accounting for taste, especially with the more adventurous kinds of food. We usually err on the side of the classic you know and love. It’s not that we’re not adventurous eaters–not Anthody Bourdain rancid shark, pig anus adventurous, but we can step out of our comfort zone when it seems like a winner.

This year we opted for a favorite we hadn’t visited in a while: Three Sisters.

Continue reading “Two date night dinners”

Winelympics!

Doooooo Dooooooo Da Dum Dum Dum Dum

That is the sound of me singing the Olympic Hymn after several glasses of fine California wine. You, dear reader, may get to hear this masterpiece in person if you join me at the Winelympics at the Old Sugar Mill in Clarksburg this weekend.

In a clear attempt to make this a classy event, organizers decided not to name it the Wine-Olympics, which evokes an image of Bum Fights and probably skirts a copyright law or two.

The Winelympics is a fund raiser for the Make-a-Wish Foundation and will feature competitors from local wineries and other organizations. Events include the Waiter’s Relay, Barrel Rolling and both corking and uncorking contests. Doors open at 11 AM with an admission fee of $10 per day with three events held on both Saturday and Sunday between Noon and 5 pm. The six wineries at the Old Sugar Mill will be pouring.

If you wish to field a team of three (or more!) there is still time to register. Your friendly neighborhood Stickie will be joining the good folks at Revolution Wines to bring home the gold to Midtown.

Restaurant Revival Opportunity

There once was restaurant, mythical in its place on the Sacramento foodscape. It was a place where a man, woman, and child could go on a Friday night, eat prime rib, clam chowder, and drink cocktails by the bucket load. It was a place that shaped my childhood, my life, the lives of all Sacramentans, hell, the lives of all Americans. That place was the Palomino Room.

Located just off Watt Avenue on El Camino Boulevard, the Palomino Room was a treasure, a throwback, a repository of food, ambiance, and camaraderie from a different age. And now, it can live again.

The restaurant space that once was the PR, is now available for lease. For the last several years, it has been a horrid example of what happens when fusion cuisine goes wrong. That’s right, the “steak and sushi buffet.” But now, those days are past, and the space is once again available to be put right by some enterprising restaurateur. That’s right, you Paul Flemming, you Randy Selland, you Randy Paragary, you Virgas. It’s time to do your civic duty and restore the Palomino to all its vinyl boothed glory. The Paly’ needs to live again. You can make it so.

The Best of the Rest

Every now and then, your intrepid culinary guide (me) gets the offer of a few schillings to write restaurant reviews for other publications. Not wanting to overlap the online and printed-page worlds, I’ve held back from covering restaurants in both places. Nevertheless, I realize that many of you don’t like to get your hands dirty by picking up printed pages, or don’t live in the geographic area in which said printed-page publications are available. To remedy this gap in restaurant knowledge, I give you a quick rundown on some of the area’s newest, and in some cases best, eateries not yet mentioned on this here ‘Rag.

Maritime Seafood & Grill- ****
Owner/Chef Morgan Song has created a dining experience that immediately needs to be considered among the best in the region, joining such familiar names as Biba, The Kitchen, Waterboy, and Mulvaney’s B&L. High priced and high class, this place sticks out in an otherwise depressing Carmichael strip mall on the corner of Marconi and Fair Oaks. Go there, now.

Maritime Seafood & Grill
6440 Fair Oaks Blvd
Carmichael, CA 95608
http://www.maritimeseafoodsac.com
Continue reading “The Best of the Rest”

Tapa the World

In a lot of ways, Tapa the World is the anti-late-night hangout. Despite the many years of being one of the only kitchens in town open until midnight, the joint has resisted the urge to turn itself into a euro-tinged, ultra-douche lounge, and instead focuses on putting damn good food on the tables until the clock hits 11:59.

I was at Tapa a few weekends ago with a few friends in from out of town. Having the newcomers in tow made me look at the old Spanish gal with a new, appreciative perspective. At 10:30 at night, there weren’t too many other places in town at which we would have had nearly as much fun, eaten nearly as well, or drank nearly so exotically. Continue reading “Tapa the World”