Category: Food

Yesterday, I embarked on a brief fact-finding mission (basically I drove down J St from 16th to Alhambra) and spied two newish establishments. The first, The Garlic Shack, has taken over where the always inadequate Sugar Plum used to be on J and 19th. I’m assuming the menu will feature garlic fries, garlic chicken, and garlic cake. It will also, thankfully, be light on vampires and people looking for vampires, both of which fail to amuse.

The other joint that stood out to me, River Rock Tap House, apparently does not open until happy hour, so I wasn’t able to sample their tap lineup at 2 in the afternoon. Basically a remodel of the Tex Mex establishment formerly there, it’s on J and 23rd/24th. From 2nd hand reports I’ve heard that they’re planning on 80 or so taps, but only about 40 are filled, featuring a nice range of mid to upscale brews from all over the world .

If anyone has any first-hand experience with either joint, drop a note.

To celebrate the third anniversary of Pangaea Two Brews Cafe, Sutter Buttes Brewing Company made an intensified version of their popular Franklin Double IPA. Franklin Junior is a limited-time engagement for the summer months, so if you are a self-styled hophead, you should hop down to Pangaea and try this marvelously complex beer while it lasts. I was most struck by its smooth drinkability, a quality I find lacking in many DIPAs brewed in the ongoing “arms race” to create hoppier and stronger beers. The hop character is incredible without being aggressive, and at approximately 10% alcohol by volume (ABV), this beer is deceptively strong. Of course, I wanted to know how brewer Peter Hoey created it, and he took a few minutes from pouring it last Saturday to fill me in on the details.
Continue reading “Junior DIPA at Pangaea”

Year after year, the State Fair’s Wine Garden is my place of comfort and luxury. Most recently, the cool misters overhead, soothing Save Mart employees, and a cold glass of California bubbly provided me shelter from the easily-pleased crowd at the Hammer show.

More than 140 wines are available for purchase by the glass and/or bottle. The commemorative glass is now $7, a bargain considering it is twice as big as the alternative plastic wine cup. Swanky glass in hand, it was time for my annual review.

The Best of Show White, V. Sattui Muscat, is an seductive bomb of sweet richness that lingers on your tongue with layers of summer stone fruit. Great for indulgent summer sipping, but at a hefty $15 a glass, I will leave that one the ladies in the red hats, they are certainly enjoying it. I also recommended that they try the Double Gold winning Korbel Sweet Rose, which is only $20 a bottle. For the white zin crowd, this is the perfect choice for something sparkly and sweet to keep them dancing. They loved it.
Continue reading “Winning white wines at the State Fair”

16th Street has yet another restaurant casualty (RIP CPK). The Haines Brothers’ cycling themed burger bastion is no more. Spin, the name of the shot-lived and negatively reviewed outpost, originally replaced the Haines’ Bistro 33. We’re not too sure if the Haines boys are going to try a third incarnation at the 16th and K storefront, but if they do, I wish them luck. As I’ve said before, the HBs are hit and miss, but when they hit, they hit big.

In happier news, the defunct IHOP on El Camino and Watt will have a new tenant soon, JR’s Texas Barbecue. Just to be clear, it’s going to be a JR’s, which is good, not a Texas West restaurant, which is the same as vomiting in your own mouth.

Today, July 11, 2011, 7-11 is offering up free slurpees to celebrate their birthday.

Our Birthday, Your Bash Stop by for a FREE 7.11 oz Slurpee drink, general merriment and a one-man dance party should you choose to start it. (“Running Man” and “Raising the Roof” welcome. “Macarena” NOT welcome. Ever.) RSVP today and Facebook will remind you to claim your free-ness on 7/11/11. They’ll also tell you who else is celebrating a birthday, but let’s focus on us, okay?

Notice how along with the growth of social media in marketing there has also been an increase in this hipster, cutesy style of writing? At any rate, free stuff.

I finally had a chance to catch up with the very popular Miniburger truck yesterday as it came to my neck of the woods during lunch time. I had been following them on Twitter for a while, but it was never worth hopping in the car and chasing them down to wait in line for a burger.

For those of you not in the know, the Miniburger truck (or is it Mini Burger? Their website is all over the place) is a food truck that hops around town serving up burgers and fries to those that follow them via Twitter, Facebook, and their website. It’s a clever concept and seems to be paying off.

You can check their menu online, but I went with the Cowbell and The OG’ combo (they are mini burgers remember, you buy them in packs of two or three) and the hand-cut fries. I got there within a few minutes of receiving the location tweet and was already 10th in line (this grew to 30 rather quickly). They served up the food rather quickly considering I only say three dudes working inside and one takes orders and money. The burgers were really good while the fries were just okay. I am no sac-eats, so I can’t really dissect the subtle nuances of each, but my general opinion of the food was that is was pretty darn good. It’s a bit pricey ($8 for two minis and fries, no drink) and I am not sure I would scramble to find this truck again if it wasn’t close to me, but it’s worth checking out for sure.

I was reading this story on sacbee.com about the pending closure of California Pizza Kitchen’s downtown Sacramento location (bummer, the CPK site still says “NOW OPEN”) when I came across this interesting quote.

“I think what we learned is that the downtown-midtown Sacramento crowd is not into the corporate chains (like CPK),” he says. “They’re more into locally owned businesses that are more aware of the city.”

The restaurant will be replaced by a sports bar called Firestone Public House which will feature pizza, “fun” appetizers and 30 to 40 different kinds of beer. So, are the appetizers not fun? At any rate, do you think this is true about the downtown-midtown Sacramento crowd? Could they just not like gourmet pizza?

From sacbee.com…

Irvine-based In-N-Out Burger plans to open an outlet at the site of the former Romano’s Macaroni Grill at 2001 Alta Arden Expressway. The plan calls for the Macaroni Grill building to be torn down and a new In-N-Out restaurant to be built on the site.

That’s great and all, I love a good burger, but I don’t get this particular location for any sort of business. How did Macaroni Grill fail, while Mimi’s Cafe is still up and running? Not to mention Chick-fil-A. It seems like every time I am in that part of town I can’t turn right, or have to make a u-turn, or risk jumping three lanes at once to get where I need to go.

So, should this area be added to our dead zone list? Or, is it just a matter of hitting a consumer price point just so?

Late notice, but here’s a $1 off your beverage order at Peet’s Coffee & Tea for today, June 6th. You can print it or show it on your smartphone.