In our last post, reader Moe brought up an issue that isn’t frequently addressed in restaurant critique, affordability. Too often, we comment on our eating experiences as if cost is no concern, while for many diners, cost is the primary concern. In these economically trying times, we want to spend our dining dollars wisely. Part of that is simply seeking out cheaper dining alternatives, but perhaps a wiser way to look at the issue is through the prism of value. It shouldn’t be just about finding lower cost food, it should also be about finding food that is actually worth what we’re paying for it. If we’re going to spend $60 or $100 on dinner for two, then it better be worth $60 or $100. Continue reading “The New Word in Restaurant Criticism: FLAVER”
New Themed Restaurant Coming To Old Sac
The River City Saloon, an old-West themed bar and restaurant, is hoping to open up in Old Sacramento in the spring of this year. According to their website, the place will feature servers dressed in period clothing, twenty-five cent sasparilla, and a shooting range. 
This sounds suspiciously like a moderately horrific hybrid of Claim Jumper and Bobby McGee’s.
Or even worse, doesn’t this sound eeirly like the Dodge City bar that the Griswolds visit in National Lampoon’s Vacation?
Good talk Russ. Good Talk
Ben Underwood, RIP
On this very historic day there is sad news out of Elk Grove, as the Bee reports that the Ben Underwood lost his battle with cancer yesterday. This was the young man who, after losing his eyes to cancer as a boy, taught himself echolocation — basically he could navigate the world by emitting sound waves. If you haven’t heard of this story it was the most amazing thing you’ll ever see. This is really tough news and I wish his family the best.
KJ, Poof Daddy and Seal tonight on Larry King Live!
Larry King continued his non-stop Obamamania tonight by replacing his entire LarryKingLive operation with African-American men. D.L. Hughley gave sporadic play by play from the Huffington Post party while Larry chatted about history with Mayor KJ, Seal, and Puffy P. Diddy Daddy. Puffy being interviewed cracks me up since he always looks like he has just been kicked in the nuts. The best question was when Larry turned to Puffy and asked, “Sean, does it seem like Obama has two balls and no strikes?” Thankfully, Larry quickly explained, like when Seacrest offered a high five to a blind guy on American Idol this week.
Mayor KJ talked about Obama’s charisma, his organizational skills in his campaign, and that the glass ceiling has now been shattered by “a guy with a funny name”. He scored points by not referring to himself as “Little Barack” on national television and had the best necktie of the night, but was not as compelling as Seal was in capturing the importance of this presidency on a global perspective.
Grange Restaurant & Bar
Opened only weeks ago in the new Citizen Hotel on J Street, Grange has bought in completely to the three buzzwords of modern dining: fresh, local, organic. But really, what choice did they have? If a modern chef these days doesn’t claim to cook with an eye toward the local, the sustainable, the organic; doesn’t claim to know all their local farmer/suppliers by name — or for that matter know each lamb, pig, and chicken they cook by name — doesn’t claim that the best meal they ever had was eaten while sitting in distant goat pasture under the shade of a hundred-year-old oak, cooked by a peasant that spoke no English and cold-pressed his own olive oil; if a chef doesn’t claim all that, then he might as well advertise that he regularly cooks with baby seal blubber as a thickener and uses dolphin tears as a base for his stock.  Mixing the farm-fresh ethos with the slick, upscale vibe, going for height-of-the-season freshness while trying to please the fickle public- it seems as if every restaurant opened in the last three years has been doing the exact same thing.
The challenge, I guess, then becomes to do it better than everyone else is currently doing it. How is Grange Chef Michael Tuohy doing it? He’s doing things well, not spectacularly, not unbelievably, not orgasmically, but well. Some dishes, like his fried chicken soaked in buttermilk for two days, was exceptional, really incredibly swell. Almost ruining it though, were the soupy mashed potatoes served with it, so heavy with cream and butter that they could have been mashed milk crates. Also on the plate was a side of unpleasant greens still bitter enough to make the mouth pucker. Continue reading “Grange Restaurant & Bar”
Good Day’s Job Center offers free video resumes
I spend a lot of time poking fun at the antics on Good Day Sacramento and on CBS13/CW31 in general. But I have to admit that Good Day’s new Job Center site contains a fabulous feature: video resumes. The feature, offered by CBS for its local affiliates, allows anybody to come on down to the station and record a short video “resume.” It sure seems like a winner of an idea to me: if a potential employer sees your face and hears you talk before ever bringing you in for an interview, it seems like you’ve got a definite leg up. By the time they meet you face to face, it’ll feel like a second interview.
Can’t wait to go back? Check out The Constants
If you’re eagerly awaiting the return of “Lost” on ABC next week, make sure to check out Sacramento’s premiere “Lost”-themed band The Constants. Their MySpace page boasts three songs and a video, and I suppose there must have been a long band meeting about whether or not to cover “You All Everybody,” and though I would love to hear it, I guess I probably would have also decided not to do it.
Sounds like: “We can’t really say that practicing is our… primary objective”
In the off chance that you have recently emerged from a time capsule and are currently burning through the “Lost” DVDs, the song “Who Will Go” will reveal lots of characters who die.
(Found this via Heckasac, of course)
SCUSD open enrollment slogan QUIZ
Quick, which of the following is the slogan of Sac City Unified School District’s Open Enrollment program?
A. “Success for Every Student by Name”
B. “Choosy moms choose SCUSD”
C. “Moving kids upward onto the future”
D. “Knowledge for all, free lunch for most”
E. “Enroll you’re kid today” (sic)
Not all Peet’s Created Equal
We love our Peet’s coffee around these parts, that’s for sure. But even we, at The Sac Rag, may have to admit that the greatest coffee purveyor in America has reached its saturation point. Point in evidence: the newish Peet’s establishment on Howe Avenue between Hurley and Arden now brews its coffee “to order.” What do you mean, “to order,” you say?
What I mean is that no longer is there fresh, strong-brewed coffee every 30 minutes at this particular Peet’s outlet, nor is there the generous free-cup-of-coffee-if-you-have-to-wait-for-it-to-brew policy. According to the sluggish waif working at the counter, the traffic at this particular store isn’t strong enough to support have coffee always ready to go for customers.
No ready coffee? At a coffee shop? This seems a bit asinine to me, but I guess it saves them money during the slow hours. Still it seems a huge departure from the ethos of Alfred Peet and his artfully brewed yet simple cups of coffee, always ready to be poured at his Berkeley coffee shop.
What say you raggers and peetniks?
CBS13 on meth
From the intro to this CBS13 video about a large “Smurf” bust.
Seven people are under arrest in what investigators call an elaborate scheme to make meth.
They can MAKE meth??? Oh boy, now we’re really screwed. What will they think of next?!
I’ll leave it up to y’all to make Smurf jokes. Plus: you may use “smurf” in place of other words that might get you banned.
The Sac Rag 