Category: Misc

therethere is a new tee-shirt company that specializes in hyperlocal designs. Starting in 2010 with the Oaklandish brand, (which I might add I saw a lot of in a recent visit to the East Bay) they have branched out into other locales where they partner with local artists to create screen printed tees using iconography and slogans that hip locals will appreciate. They came to the Sacramento market in April with about a dozen designs available online and at a few brick and mortar shops like the California Museum, Hot Italian, and Cuffs Boutique. Here is yours truly, sporting the “Sac Gold Nugget” tee at a recent SactoMofo food truck night in Tahoe Park:

Continue reading “Save 30% on “city pride” tees at therethere”

Your easily readable guide to Sacramento neighborhoods.

I received terrible news this morning. My beloved Doughbot will be closing in August.

Unlike most restaurant closings however, this isn’t due to lack of business, or lawsuits, or partnership disputes, or any of the myriad ways small businesses, especially restaurants, can be struck by struck by figurative lightning (including literal lightning).  No, per their Facebook posting today, Doughbot is closing because they have too much business, and catering to all that business is hard work. Too hard to keep doing it.

Do not, I repeat, do not take this post as some type of belittling of the amount of work it takes to keep a small food-service business going. I’m totally on board with Doughbot’s owners in that busting ass is hard, burnout is real, and they do not owe the community their sweat simply because we’ve spent money at their shop. Continue reading “The Death of Craft: Hard Work Sucks”

I question the wisdom of recycling tire waste into loose ground cover for a playground. This is from Seely Park in Carmichael, though I’m sure there are other parks using this seemingly well-intentioned material.

Continue reading “Tire waste recycled into… garbage?”

It started as a few disparate people getting gift cards in the mail around Christmas. The cards were sent from an anonymous gift-giver who, from all evidence, seems to favor those people in the Sacramento community who do their thing and in the process make our town a better place.

I noticed several people in my Facebook feed thanking this anonymous Santa, people like Brian Crall, owner of the Sacramento Comedy Spot, or Chris Crotty, owner of ComedySportz, or standup Keith Lowell Jensen. Each of the three received a gift card with a note saying, “Thank you for all you do for the Sacramento comedy community.”

Thinking this was just a nice gesture from an ardent comedy fan, I stored it away as interesting and nice.

But, just in the last few days I’ve seen posts from John Marcotte, political satirist and high-brow prankster, Stephanie Rector, organizer of Sac Geeks, and a few other “non-comedy” souls. These cards were sent with custom notes that basically said thank you for making Sacramento a better place.

So, #1 This gift-giver is awesome and deserves high praise for true heart and brilliant execution. #2 I don’t need to know who it is, nor should you. They’ve chosen to remain anonymous and that’s just fine. #3 Their choice of recipients is interesting and I’d like to know if anyone else out there received such a gift. If you did or know of someone else that did, please comment below or shoot me an email at saceats at gmail dot com.

I know it’s a chain. I know the drinks are too expensive. I know you can’t go there without getting hit on by some geriatric divorcee or Persian car dealer. I know. I know all of these things. It doesn’t make the burger taste any worse. It is a perfect burger.

Poppyseed bun. House ground, highest quality meat. Cooked to order on the doneness scale. More importantly, cooked correctly, to order, on the doneness scale. Topped with good cheddar, mayo, lettuce, tomato, onion. Served with a side of slaw. It’s everything you want in a burger and nothing you don’t.

Sure, it costs $16 and doesn’t even come with full release, but it’s worth it. This is not an everyday, got nothing in the fridge to cook, can’t decide on pizza or chinese, kind of burger. It’s a special occasion burger. It’s a birthday burger. It’s a breakup burger. It’s a promotion burger. But don’t get me wrong, it’s not better than Bandera’s $20 french dip, but that’s another story.

It is, however,  better than, in no particular order, Nationwide, Scott’s, Dime, Formoli, Squeeze, Jerry’s, Smashburger, Five Guys, and any other place you could name. It’s just that good. It’s definitely better than Nationwide. I don’t know what’s wrong with you people that keep telling me that place is the tits. It’s not. It’s just sad and weird and overpriced for what you get, and unexceptional. It’s like the Zelda’s of burgers. Oooooooooooooooooooooo, yeah I said it.

Bandera- 2232 Fair Oaks Blvd (at Howe), 922.3524,

 

According to BAR, Trio, the interestingly reviewed restaurant by Gonul Blum, is done. And guess what, sushi will moving in, because, of course, we need more sushi.

If you’d like to see several of the reasons that Trio closed, check out this review from earlier this year. It might shed some light on the recent closure.