More on the Corti move

CoolDMZ wouldn’t be earning CoolDMZ’s pay if CoolDMZ wasn’t a contrarian on the Corti Brothers situation. I’m having trouble mustering a lot of sympathy for the Cortis after reading the Bee’s follow-up story today. I suppose I liked Corti Bros as much as the next guy, though my patronage of things that can be described as “upscale” is seldom to never. (Unless Nordstrom Rack counts as upscale?)

I’m not shocked that Heather Fargo called Darrell Corti and offered the city’s help in finding a new location. Would that help entail explaining how a month to month lease works? All I keep reading is that Corti fans will go wherever he decides to move, even if it is out of town. I hope there are some patrons who are be pissed that a 60 year old company allowed themselves to operate on a wing and a prayer for 20 years despite knowing how loyal their fans were. What if you live down the street, have been shopping there since 1970, and can’t drive?

Continue reading “More on the Corti move”

BUZZ: Trethaway Aide Blasts Bee

AWESOME post on Natomas Buzz with an email from a Ray Trethaway aide, Dan Roth, to the Bee’s Mary Lynne Vellinga about Vellinga’s front-page article from last week about crime and low-income housing in Natomas. Roth blasts Vellinga for failing to accurately present her angle, and takes the Bee to task for its racist comment box, go figure

I don’t know what disturbs me more…this comment [from user “sacsforsaps”], or the fact that 4 out 5 people found this comment helpful.

Note to Bee: If you are going to continue with the comments thing, please add permalinks so we can more easily mock you…

Corti Brothers to seek new location

The Bee reports today that the property that has housed Corti Brothers since 1970 will be leased to another tenant. CB has occupied the location since 1988 without a lease, so I suppose it is no surprise that the landlords opted to strike a deal that more than doubles the rent on the 20,000 square foot location from $12,000 to $24,000 a month. The new business will be Good Eats, a gourmet market and bistro. According to Mike Dunn at the Bee, CB will close the current location by October 15.

With their top quality selection of…. jeeze, just about anything you could want to eat or drink, I am a huge fan of CB. Since 1947, they have been on the short list of Sacramento’s best, and I hope that this continues long into the 21st Century. Let’s support Corti Brothers for as long as we can to help make that transition to a new store as quick as possible.

The new Bee — what’s the verdict?

So, first impressions of the revamped Bee, anybody? Or do we need a few days to think about it. A few of mine: The narrow page size is “weird”; the color comics every day is great, though it seems like a waste of money; the Top Stories box on the front page is a great addition; the new photos of columnists are a great touch too (wait, that’s Bob Shallit?). I think I can sympathize with the renaming of Metro to Our Region: sometimes you just have to make a change to your product, just for funsies. For example, I think I’ll rename sac-eats. Starting tomorrow, enjoy your snarky food coverage by Tim-tom Happy-pants. Now with double the hyphenation!

Continue reading “The new Bee — what’s the verdict?”

Yogurt + Monkey = Awesome

Not unlike the Ouroboros, frozen yogurt has become today’s version of smoothies, which were the then-updated version of frozen yogurt, which was the answer to hippie elixirs, which were the answer to the malteds, which were the answer to the original Coca Cola (with gen-u-ine narcotics.)

It’s the trite adage that “everything old is new again,” much like the kids who are wearing ’80s fashions (and shame on you for the adults who are — if you’re old enough to remember it from the first time, you’re too old to be wearing it now.)

Here’s what I know now about the local fro-yo joints:

Continue reading “Yogurt + Monkey = Awesome”

CoolDMZ’s trip to Ashland (PHOTOS)

Took the family up Oregon way last week for a real old-fashioned Summer Vacation. I had never been up I-5 past Woodland, oddly enough, and although you don’t see much up that way–and the air was still smoky–it was a great drive. The flat area of Siskiyou County, the part containing Yreka, is just about the most beautiful country you’ll ever see. It would be bonkers at sunset.

Our destination was Ashland, which is a great little town. More charm in that town per square inch than most other entire other cute small towns. Slideshow after the jump…
Continue reading “CoolDMZ’s trip to Ashland (PHOTOS)”

The Crepe Escape

Far be it for me to encroach on any of the well-established territory of our raven-haired beauty, Sac-Eats, but Mrs. Game Guy and I had the opportunity to try the newly-opened “Crepe Escape” on H Street last night.

If I could sum up our eating experience in one word, it would be “derivative.” I am a big fan of Crepeville for it’s affordable prices and satisfying (though not mind blowing) cuisine; and The Crepe Escape manages to mirror the Crepeville mold to a tee: the familiar chalkboard menu offers virtually identical dishes of Americanized crepe recipes.  No, these are not authentic Frency thin pancakes, but if French cuisine is what you’re looking for, I’d recommend the very satisfying Cafe Rolle down the road.

The decor is strikingly similar to the Curis Park and Midtown creperies, and a nice outdoor patio offers some breezy sitting with majestic views of Cookies’ Drive-In and the H Street train bridge.  It’s not picturesque, but outdoor seating in Sacto is always preferred.

Like Crepeville, the food is satisfying, not spectacular, and I find it interesting that none of their dessert crepes have chocolate in them, but the much more Euro-centric Nutella.  Why the menu doesn’t offer a chocolate sauce is beyond me- its enough reason to hike down to Midtown for Crepeville’s better dessert offerings.

The most humorous thing of our eating experience last night was when Mrs. Game asked whether this was under the same ownership as Crepeville, to which our order-taker (not server, this is Crepeville’s counter-service after all) replied “no, we just have the same chalkboard artist.”  Really? Does he ALSO handle the menu content for both places too?

Side Note: the name “Crepe Escape” makes me think that we go there to get away from the over-abundance of crepes in our day-to-day lives.  I have been mistakenly calling it “Crepe Expectations,” which I think is a much better name.

But really, they should just call it “the East Sac Crepeville,” because that’s what everyone else will be calling it.

Food ***

Price $$

Atmosphere ***

Comedy Tonight!…and Tomrrow!…and the Next Night!

Looking for a weekend of comedy? Of course you are.

Tonight at 9pm, come check out long-form improvisation at the Sacramento Comedy Spot. 1716 Broadway, tickets are $8. It’s hilarious, it’s educational, it’s reasonably priced.

Saturday at 9pm, ComedySportz at the Geery theater. 22nd and L. Tix are $12. Discounted to $10 if you use the coupon code “grape.” See improv comedy played as a competitive sport. Funny, fast-paced and clean enough for all ages (we hope, it is improv after all, you never know what could happen).

Sunday at 8:30pm, check out Gabriel Iglesias at the Punchline (Howe & Arden). What happens when you morph Ralphie May and John Leguizamo? This guy. Tix are $25.

Someone Stole My Dream

Yes, you read that correctly. Two gentlemen from the East Coast have stolen my dream of having the world’s most popular banjo duo. They’ve even sunk as low as using my favorite topics to craft witty, erudite songs from, such as the Hindenburg and William Howard Taft. This was no spoken dream about which I told everyone I ran into and they happened to overhear. No, their devilry is much more sinister. This is a subconscious dream, an unspoken dream, a dream that I didn’t even know I had. Basically, as soon as I heard their music, I knew that it was my music, being sung by others.

Who are these no-goodnick ne’er-do-wells you ask? They are none other than the Two Man Gentleman Band, and they will be right here in our neck of the woods tonight, in Davis. I suggest you all come down and help me give them a piece of mind, or crumple at the feet of their brilliance.

Two Man Gentleman Band-TONIGHT, Sophia’s Davis
10PM- Cover is only $5 (Kazoos not included)
Bitchin’ music video below the fold Continue reading “Someone Stole My Dream”

Yunece 61

A) The Ohio Players
B) James Brown
C) The flavor of my pulled pork sandwich from Yunece yesterday.

What do these things have in common?
They’re all funky.
That’s right, there was some serious funk coming off of my pulled pork sammie from Yunece 61 the other day. We’re talking get-down-with-your-bad-self, break-out-in-a-cold-sweat, make-me-hurt-myself kind of funk Add to that the nearly tasteless potato salad served on the side and you can pretty much toss my whole visit into the crapper. Continue reading “Yunece 61”