Let the Year End Lists Begin-Best Meals of 2007

My Top Ten Meals of 2007

10.  The chile colorado at Sal’s Tacos.  Whether it was the fantastic flavors or the drunkenness achieved at the West Coast Brewfest, this had to have been the best Mexican meal of 2007.

9.  Due to its consistency rather than one-time superiority, the Drunken Pig Tostada at Sacramento Brewing Company.  As always washed down with a Celtic Amber.

8.  The small plate of orichette at Mulvaney’s B&L.  Tender, delicious, sublime.

7.  The apple cider doughnut at Rainbow Orchards.  Sure, it’s not a meal, but you can always eat four more and call it a meal. Continue reading “Let the Year End Lists Begin-Best Meals of 2007”

Eminent Domain, We Need You!

No, this isn’t about the prolonged pissing match between stubborn Moe Mohanna and stubborn city officials and stubborn homeless people along K Street.  This is about my hood, the ‘Cade, Arden/Arcade that is.

The former home of Tower Records and Tower Books on Watt Avenue at El Camino is slowly turning into a commercial property nightmare, replete with graffiti, homeless folks, and that harbinger of property worthlessness, the Spirit Halloween Store.

It’s true, the site of former greatness, where I bought my first J.J. Johnson album is now just a dirty shell, attracting crime and dragging down the neighborhood.  I, as a citizen, want to do something about it.  Here’s the problem though, I have no idea what to do.  Do I start showing up at those worthless Arcade cityhood meetings?  Do I start an “action group”?  Do I call Marcos Breton? Or even better, Carlos Alcala?  Tell me, readers, for I am lost in a sea of citizen action.

whadjasay?

I intend the focus of my posts here to be primarily on local music, so consider this entry an aberration. Yesterday, my department took me out to lunch for a belated birthday celebration. We had wanted to try Chicago Fire, but for some reason they are only open for dinner. I thought it a bit odd to hear of a pizza place that doesn’t do lunch, but perhaps the lunch crowd isn’t so big on that end of J Street, since our substitute restaurant, Gianni’s Trattoria only had about a 10-12 other diners the entire two hours we were there.

However, the primary reason I am writing this is not to review the cuisine – which folks like sac-eats can do much better than I – it’s more to give y’all a couple heads-up warnings. First, that if you want to go to Chicago Fire you’ll have to make it for dinner. Second, it’s probably not a good idea to visit Gianni’s right now, because they are renovating the space next to the restaurant and the entire time we were there they were hammering on the walls, which put a bit of a damper on the affair.
Continue reading “whadjasay?”

Paul Martin’s American Bistro

It takes a lot to get me to go to Roseville.  It’s not a destination that I seek out, let’s put it that way.  I don’t have any specific beef with the place per se, but it doesn’t draw me in with any specific gravitational pull.  That being said, when I was invited to dine at Paul Martin’s American Bistro in Roseville recently, I jumped at the chance.  I had heard too many good things about the place from friends, acquaintances, and others in the know to turn down the opportunity.  

Many of you will scratch your heads and say, “Roseville?  Paul who’s?  Why bother?”  Of course you’d say that.  We can’t even get you to go over the J Street bridge, heck, we can’t even get you to leave your couch, why should we expect you get excited about something ten miles up the freeway?  And that’s just fine.  The truth is, there are plenty of folks up the road who recognize Martin’s as the best new restaurant in their neck of the woods.  They’re excited.  They’ll leave their couches.  They’ll put the box of Bugles down and throw on some khakis.  The ‘Bistro will not be hurting for business.  I know you don’t want to hear this, and I apologize for bringing this out into the open, but Paul Martin’s doesn’t need you.   Oh, now I’ve got your attention, now you’ve got a chip on your shoulder, now you’ve got some skin in the game.  Fair enough, read on. Continue reading “Paul Martin’s American Bistro”

Celebrity Freakout!

And you thought LA had all of the fun? No, folks, Sacramento is home to our own Maury-worthy celebrity tantrums.

According to witnesses at Mason’s, local b-lister Ola Ray had a rough time the other night. For those of you who are unfamiliar with her, Ola Ray is most well known as “the girl in the Thriller video”, which just celebrated its 25th anniversary. She was also Playboy’s PotM in June, 1980.

Ola Ray and her companion were entering the restaurant when a fan recognized her and asked for a photo. Ola posed for a picture. Then, for unknown reasons, Ola went ballistic on the photographer, screaming the b-list celebrity catch phrase “Don’t you know who I am!?!?!”

When the police arrived, things reportedly got even worse. One officer attempted an arrest on Ola and received a punch square in the face. Her companion reportedly assaulted another officer and was taken down while attempting to pull the officer’s firearm from his holster.

Good to know that Mason’s/The Park continues to be Sacramento’s celebrity central.

Tuli Bistro

So, after much waiting and a bit of writing, Tuli Bistro is now open.  And yes, dear public, it was worth the wait.  How good is it, you may ask?  Is Tuli Bistro the best restaurant in Sacramento?  Of course not.  Nor would I presume to base such a statement after one meal (even if that meal was perhaps the world’s most perfect tuna melt).  No, Tuli may not be the best restaurant in Sacramento, but that’s probably in Tuli’s interest.  Being the “best restaurant” anywhere implies a certain distance between chef and diner, a certain cost over and above what one would normally shell out for good food, and even a certain reluctance to patronize such a location more than once in a blue moon.

Here’s the thing, I’m not interested in going back to Tuli once every blue moon.  I want to go there three or four times a week.  To me, it’s the perfect restaurant. Continue reading “Tuli Bistro”

“I left my heart in the old CompUSA building”

Has anyone checked out Bodies: Revealed over on Alta Arden?

I saw this exhibit earlier this year in a different city, and it’s a must for anyone in the medical field (or for those of us who feel we’ve missed our calling.  Any other fans of the Mutter Museum at The College of Physicians of Philadelphia out there?)

The bodies are presented respectfully, and they give a close-up view of muscles, nerves, organs, bones, the circulatory system, what certain diseases look like, and a multitude of other fascinating facets of anatomy.  It’s amazing how well engineered we are. I was with a fellow runner, so she and I were pointing out the different things that have ailed us over the years, most notably the piriformis muscle, patellar tendon, and iliotibial band.

The Sacramento exhibit is just one of many exhibitions of actual cadavers that have been preserved and dissected — all bodies used were donated to science.  Check it out, 10am-10pm daily, through March 2008.

Group discounts are available, so here’s a chance for sacrag meet-up, and we can truly see that we’re really all the same inside.

Let’s, like, totally go get some fro-yo after I tighten my scrunchie

Who knew that frozen yogurt would make such a comeback?  Fro-yo was such a huge part of the ’80s and early ’90s — so much that my college roommate and I had the Yogurt Park “flavor hotline” on speed dial. 

While we don’t see many Penguin or Honey Treat yogurt joints around these days, there are two spots in Sac that put a modern spin on the frozen concoction of yore:

Continue reading “Let’s, like, totally go get some fro-yo after I tighten my scrunchie”

The basil factory is on high alert

First this:

DIXON (CBS13) ― Some serious foul play is going on at a Dixon chicken farm where thieves are stealing or killing hundreds of chickens and its costing the farmer thousands of dollars.

The Eatwell Farm in Dixon has been hit about 5 times since October costing the owner around $20,000.

And then, this:

STOCKTON (CBS13) ― Crates of tomato sauce in Stockton continued to smolder this morning, more than 12 hours after they began burning.

Five hundred plastic 300-gallon crates full of tomato product began burning yesterday afternoon at the Unilever Factory on Waterloo Road.

Coincidence? I think not.