Category: Food

Beach Hut Deli- True Love For Perky Meat Slingers

The Beach Hut Deli franchise is spreading its tendrils throughout the region. Is this a sign of the apocalypse? Is this the next Starbucks? Should a ham sandwich ever, ever have barbecue sauce on it? Here are just some thoughts on the Beach Hut Deli experience in no particular order:

-Fine selection of beers, many of which appear to be consumed by manual laborers on their lunch break. I sure hope they get to run large machinery after they finish off their highboy of Red Tail ale.

-Does part of the BHD franchise agreement stipulate that you are only allowed to hire comely coeds as sandwich makers?

-Is it actually necessary to wait for 30-45 minutes for your ham and cheese sandwich on a roll to be constructed by the aforementioned coeds?

-I can’t think of a better video game to play drunk than “Buck Hunting” where you get to fire a plastic shotgun at a screen full of wildlife. One more Arrogant Bastard please.

-Does it drive the old True Love patrons crazy that their hallowed ground is now taken up by perky sandwich jerks and trucker capped diners who wouldn’t know Daisy Spot if they ran over them with their Mustangs?

-Quick, name 5 places with better sandwiches: Dad’s, Italian Importing Co, Plaza Hof Brau, La Bou, Tortugas.

Let the Year End Lists Begin, Extra Spicy

Here we are, almost at the end of another year, when Christmas songs and sleigh bells fill the air, kindness to strangers and love for our families fills our hearts and year-end best-of lists fill every medium you see. Well, we at the Rag would like to get a jumpstart on the trend and start putting out a few lists of our own. Today’s list: Best Spicy Meals in Sacramento. Get the water ready and your gringo mouth warmed up, here’s some of the best ways to obliterate your taste buds any time of year:

5. Chicken Larb (Thai Cottage, Howe Ave)- Oh larb, how you taunt us, sounding so funny but tasting so good. This traditional Thai salad of ground chicken, ground chilies, soy sauce, mint, cilantro, lettuce and lime juice is one of the best scorching salty dishes around. Almost every Thai restaurant has larb on the menu, but few are better than the Thai Cottage.
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Stay Current on Your Vermin

From my good friends at the Sacramento Food Forum, a current listing of all recent restaurant closures in the county due to health code violations. I’m a little worried about Eastern Empire which is right around the corner from me, and Mana Japanese restaurant, which might be more familiar to you as New Eddokko near the corner of 17th and Broadway. I’ve eaten at New Eddokko many times and am shocked to hear that they are not as vigilant in the vermin control area as we would wish. Maybe if they just treated the vermin like crap like they do at True Love Coffee House, they wouldn’t have a problem.

The Big A

If you find yourself in Grass Valley and with dangerously clean arteries, there is only one place to go: Big A Root Beer Drive-In. A perennial favorite, Big A is one of those places with a menu that you need to take home and study, or get on tape and play on headphones while you sleep, if you don’t want to take an hour and a half to order. Dozens of burger choices, fried fare, great big salads and other specialties, all prepared magically from a pretty small kitchen. I went simple on my last visit and ordered a Deluxe Steak-lover’s Burger–1/2 lb. Angus on French roll with classic “works” toppings. Our party was undecided on the fries–I think they are pretty good, but they are definitely nothing unique. I’ve never had a salad there (go figure) but I hear great things about all the selections on that quadrant of the menu.

And that’s not even the best part: They make their own root beer. It is nice and sweet, with (to me, anyway) a hint of maple syrup (I know, you’re out the door already!). CoolDMZ sez check it out.

Big-A Rootbeer Drive-in
810 E. Main St
Grass Valley
530-273-3243

(Go up Hwy 49, take the Central Grass Valley exit, take a right on East Main and go up the hill until you see the sign.)

Mulvaney’s Building and Loan

Before dining at Mulvaney’s B&L on Wednesday night, I knew the following things: 1) “Mulvaney’s Building & Loan” is a charming name dreamt up by owner Patrick Mulvaney inspired by the name of Jimmy Stewart’s little bank in “It’s a Wonderful Life.”
2) Mulvaney adheres to the “what’s good today” style of chefery using local, in season ingredients and changing the menu on an almost daily basis.
3) Mulvaney’s was opened in a beautiful old firehouse on 19th St. former home of many a failed gastronomic enterprise.
4) Haggar slacks are not “fashion forward.”

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Family style eats at Giusti’s Place

Giusti's Place
Casual family dining
at Giusti’s Place

My sister was married last weekend in the romantic Sacramento river delta. As part of the weekend festivities a big group of us headed over to Giusti’s Place, a family-run restaurant on the river in Walnut Grove that has been serving casual family-style Italian since 1910, making it the oldest bar and restaurant on the delta. Giusti’s is located in a rickety, cobbled together building propped up on a riverbank, and the atmosphere inside is of your typical bar and grill. The bar’s notable feature is that the ceiling is covered with hats (and apparently the inside is covered with cool dudes).

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Kathmandu Kitchen-9 out of 10 Sherpas Agree, It’s Yummy!

Not many people realize the size of Sacramento’s thriving Nepali community. At last count there were as many as 10-12 people in the greater Sacramento area who claim Nepal as their country of ancestry. Luckily for the rest of us, this hearty community has a fine cuisine that they choose to share with anyone who has the good fortune to step through the doors of the Kathmandu Kitchen on Broadway. (Don’t let the rumors mislead you, Kathmandu Kitchen is not closed; however, it was shut down for a number of months this year for extensive remodeling and an extensive trip back to Nepal by the owner. The doors are now open for lunch and dinner, seven days a week.)

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Totugas, Not Just Turtle Soup Anymore

I have just had my first experience at Totugas, the Ernesto’s owned sandwich shop on 18th and Capitol, next door to Zocalo. It is, in one word, “Tortastic.” The slow simmered pork and dense breads turned lunch time into food coma time and the mesmerizing Animal Planet gorilla special showing on the giant flatscreen only made the day more enjoyable.
Downside: only place to sit inside is on a series of tiny stools that belly up to a narrow, wall-mounted bar.
Upside: Gut-warming food that is served until at least 2am, so a great choice for lunch or late-night.
Tortugas
18th and Capitol, Sacramento
Food**** Ambience* Service**

Run for the Foothills, It’s Country French Cuisine

(NOTE:  The Eats clan will be moving from our current digs in a few months to a new family abode off the greater Eastern & El Camino corridor.  So, gone are the days of long, detail filled ramblings about all the eateries in the Fair Oaks Blvd sphere of influence.  You can now look forward to long, intricate musings on the joy that is the Plaza Hof Brau.)

 Anyway, back to our story.  Mike Dunne over at the Bee has spent plenty of words praising a little French joint up in the foothills called “Zachary Jacques.” I won’t spend much time, therefore, totally agreeing with him and talking about the wonderful food, great service and charming atmosphere that make the hour long drive totally and completely worth it. I’ll instead talk about how to use Zachary Jacques in a recipe to create a perfect birthday in the foothills.
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Jerry’s Tumbleweed Inn

I saw a brief mention of Jerry’s Tumbleweed Inn in the Bee a few weeks ago as having one of the best burgers in town. Then my uncle asked me if I had heard of the place, being a bit of a burger hound himself. I thought it my duty to head to the distant land of Rancho Cordova and check it out.

To say that Jerry’s is rough around the edges assumes that a) Jerry’s has edges and b) the word “rough” includes the possibility of getting a pool cue lodged up your poop chute due to a poorly timed comment about the Raiders. Nevertheless, the burgers are well worth braving the elements as I quickly found out.
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