Category: Food

Eat like a mob boss

Maybe I’m just too big a fan of “The Sopranos,” but when I noticed baked ziti on the menu board at Cafe Milazzo, I just had to go for it. I could just hear Carmella telling Tony, “there’s some ziti in the ‘fridge,” and him grunting in reply.(Small and weird aside: One of the characters in “The Sopranos” sports a version of one of the names in la mia familia. My cousins can’t decide whether to be happy or horrified at this.)

Or maybe it wasn’t “The Sopranos” at all, but me just jonesing for the way Nonna used to make it. And the ziti? Perfect, with lots of gooey Mozarella and a tangy tomato bite. Better than Nonna’s, really, but probably not better than Carmella’s.

Mike Dunne Falls for Thai Food Trap

I laughed out loud when I saw Mike Dunne’s writeup of our old friends at Ruen Thai.  What particularly stuck out was this little gem:

The name rang a bell. I get more phone calls and e-mails about this or that exciting Thai restaurant than for any other kind of place, and over the past year a disproportionate number have been about Ruen Thai.

And yes, Mike had the soup.

El Camino de los Mexicanos

Not being Mexican myself, or even Spanish, I have no idea what this title means. Like JFK in Berlin, I’m probably saying something akin to “I am a doughnut.” That being said, it’s always important to embrace the language, culture and food of our hosts, the people of Mexico; for,as FauxPaws pointed out last week, all of the land that we call home was once part of the great country of Mexico. So, in order to be one “of the people,” I have foregone my traditional Pellegrino and finger sandwiches for horchata and tortas, menudo and cabeza (which I think is Spanish for potatoes.)

Due to our recent relocation  to Del Paso Manor (literally translated “Manor of Paste”), a new world of restauranting has opened up to Mrs. Eats and me. So, if you find yourself on El Camino Ave (“Avenue of Cuddles”) and catch yourself hankering for Mexican food, here’s where you can go to get it.

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Burrito Supremacy

Everyone has their favorite burrito.  Mine happens to be from the same place that also supplies my favorite tacos.  If I dug a little deeper I’d probably find that they give pretty good massages as well.  Of course I’m speaking about Angel’s Fresh Mex on 16th Street at U.  I know that I’ve lauded Angel’s before, but they really deserve it.  Today’s chili verde burrito was a thing of gastronomic beauty, a pork filled tortilla sleeve of love.  It will be hard to ever look at a burrito the same way again without feeling a little dirty.  If you haven’t made the trip over to Angel’s, you’re not only missing out, you’re probably doing irreparable harm to yourself, your family, and in some small way, giving aid and succor to our enemies.  Go there, now, eat, enjoy.

McCormick & Schmick’s: Party With Your Tie On

Last night the doors opened at Sacramento’s newest upscale chain restaurant, McCormick & Schmick’s.  The Mrs. and I attended the gala, calling on her extensive social connections to get an invite and were a bit underwhelmed by the event.  Now, I could spend many words commenting on the somewhat homogeneous crowd of lobbyists, NGO publicity folks, civic minded do-gooders and curious upper-crusters.  I could write epic poems about how the besuited men and bejeweled women never reached into their pockets to tip the bar staffers who were serving them up complimentary beer and wine.  I could discuss at length the old-fashioned decor and gorgeous lighting in the place that was horribly marred by local sports team logos on the chandeliers.  But, I want to focus on three very specific points: music, food (or lack thereof) and boobs.

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Tex Wasabi’s: Celebrity Chef Babysitter’s Club?

Guy Fieri
Guy Fieri
from SFGate.com

Yes, that’s right, I know you can’t believe it, but the long awaited, much anticipated, greatly elongated, and mildly frustrated opening of “Tex Wasabi’s” has come. As of Friday, February 9, the doors are open and the chicken sashimi is flying off the shelves. What, you didn’t know it was open yet? Well, you should have been paying more attention rather than sitting there watching American Idol and scratching yourself. Ok, ok, I’ll cut you some slack. They are not “officially” open according to the staff there, but rather “unofficially” open to anyone that walks through the doors. In other words, this is training week, or training month depending on how many kinks they find in the system. The grand opening hasn’t been officially scheduled, and none of their advertising says that they’re open for business. So buyer beware, until the grand opening, don’t come with heightened expectations or lack of patience. Would this stop Sac-Eats from dropping by to have a taste? Hell naw! I’m Sac-Eats bitch! Ain’t nothing gonna break my stride, ain’t nothing gonna hold me down, oh no, I’ve got to keep on eating.

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Meeting of the Minds, With Peanut Sauce

Last night I spent a very enjoyable evening with the Sacramento Epicureans. For those of you that don’t know, the word “epicurean” comes from the Greek “epi,” meaning “on” or “kind of near but not exactly right next to,” and “curean” which is from the Latin for “place in the river where peasants dump buckets of feces.” So, obviously, “epicurean” has come to mean one who enjoys ingesting fine things, and the Sacramento branch of this particular pursuit is a fine example of the type. Friday night’s epicurean event took place at Gaesorn Thai Cuisine, an established restaurant, now in a new, sophisticated location on 9th street between J & K.

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Zokku-Hungry G Style

Inspired by a recent post on Vanilla Garlic, I found myself hunting through the files for an old review I did of Zokku under the nom-de-plume of “Hungry G.”  Hungry G, you see, was Russian immigrant who really knew how to party and was looking for a good time come hell or high water.  I did a few reviews written as Hungry G that were to be posted on a local party-goers website, but none were ever published.  So here, in its entirety is Hungry G’s take on Zokku.

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Lunch at Jamie’s

CobraaaaaI won’t spend too much time here going over the folksy and divey wonderfulness that is Jamie’s atmosphere.  It was already written about in very lively prose here in the Bee a few weeks ago.  Suffice it to say that if you do go to Jamie’s, leave your chauffeur and Phaeton at home.  You’ll probably want to borrow your brother’s car with the mismatched fenders and the plastic Jesus on the dashboard.  But you come here because you want to know about the food, right?  To that end, a group of us from the Sacramento Food Group went to Jamie’s yesterday to test the grub.  All told there were four of us, Melly, Jenny, Robert and me (For the sake of clarity and in case another person named Robert enters into this piece, I will heretofore refer to my dining companion Robert as “Cobra Commander.”).

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