Local angle to Batkid story: Sacto boy donated suit

In case you enjoyed following the crime- fighting exploits of “Batkid” on Friday, you’ll want to know that among the many amazing people who made it possible was 7-year old Carmichael resident James, who donated the awesomely realistic pint-sized Batsuit worn by the Batkid himself. CBS13 reports:

http://CBSSAC.images.worldnow.com/interface/js/WNVideo.js?rnd=579265272;hostDomain=video.sacramento.cbslocal.com;playerWidth=304;playerHeight=227;isShowIcon=true;clipId=9537269;flvUri=;partnerclipid=;adTag=News;advertisingZone=CBS.SAC%252Fworldnowplayer;enableAds=true;landingPage=;islandingPageoverride=;playerType=STANDARD_EMBEDDEDscript;controlsType=fixed

Greta Gerwig stars in Arcade Fire “Afterlife” video

Sacramento’s own Greta Gerwig stars in this video for Arcade Fire’s “Afterlife,” directed by Spike Jonze live at the YouTube Music Awards which are a thing now. As with most of the tracks on “Reflektor,” it gets pretty epic at the 3:00 mark (in this reviewer’s humble opinion) when, well, the thing in the preview image happens.

//www.youtube-nocookie.com/embed/tBTTd0gfkn0?rel=0

Stage Coach- Grease, Grits, and Cultural Exchange

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Sometimes brunch won’t do. Some mornings, the thought of mimosas and purse dogs and hungover waiters sours the stomach more than last night’s libations. Some mornings, breakfast is the only solution for what ails you. And a very specific breakfast at that, one with potatoes, biscuits, eggs, and all the other fixin’s. But, every now and then, you need to go farther. You need a gut bomb that feels like it was especially prepared by Paula Deen’s grandma, you know the one that thought the rotund racist was “too skinny” and kept inducing her to eat sticks of butter like they were popsicles. On those mornings, you go to the Stage Coach.

 Unprepossessing with its A-frame roof and 50-year old sign, the Stage Coach Restaurant offers the homiest of down-home cooking, the most comfortable of comfort food, the bombest of gut bombs. And, with its Florin Road location it also offer an intriguing intersection of white, black, Hispanic, and Asian customers who tend to mingle together in a common cause in a way usually reserved for houses of worship.

Continue reading “Stage Coach- Grease, Grits, and Cultural Exchange”

Shaq picks Kings to make Western Conf. playoffs

Former Kings hater and current Kings part owner Shaquille O’Neal picked the Kings to make the playoffs in 2014 as the 7th pick in the Western Conference.

Apparently Shaq correctly predicted all 16 playoff teams for the lockout-shortened 2012 season, but I can’t find any evidence of this in the 7 minutes that I felt like researching it.

Sorry Folks, Bandera is Still the Best Burger in Town

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,

Tank House-Dumb Name, Rad Grub

TankHouse_TexturedRVIt may come as a surprise to you, but the small restaurant footprint on J at 20th has gone through three iterations in the last few years. I know, you didn’t even notice. You were totally unaware that a place named “Had’s” strolled in there in 2011 and was gone by Inauguration Day. And honestly, we saw it coming even if you didn’t. Had’s? Really? What kind of a name was that? And the cursive script it was written in made us ask ourselves “Is the place called Shad’s? or Had’s? Of Ffad’s?…Fuck it, we’re not eating there.”

Before that, it was a sushi place so memorable that no one can remember its name. Sushi Place? Sushi Joint? Sushi Sushi? It was something awesomely memorable like that. They apparently served the best edamame you can get on that block of J Street.

Well, some new intrepid restaurateurs have rebranded the place and gone for broke with the surefire restaurant formula of the decade, artisinal/basic/comfort/hipster/fattening. It’s working for LowBrau, it’s working for grilled cheese trucks, it’s working everywhere. Perhaps it’ll work for the new occupiers of 1925 J Street, Tank House. Continue reading “Tank House-Dumb Name, Rad Grub”

Pumpkin patch time!

Pumpkin Chunkin $5/3 shots
My photo from the 2005 post

As far as seasonal ledes go on Sac Rag, they don’t get more boilerplate than “We here at The Sac Rag love us a pumpkin patch.” So it’s that time of year to do the thing. Pumpkins, corn mazes, apple pie, the works.

I have reviewed local favorites Bishop’s Pumpkin Farm and Bastiao Farms/Goblin Gardens as well as The Pumpkin Farm out in Citrus Heights and (sort of) Dave’s Pumpkin Patch (in 2005!)

Surprisingly, I have never been to Cool Patch Pumpkins out in Dixon, which boasts a corn maze “Labeled as ‘The Coolest Maze on the Planet'” (not sure by whom) though I hear great things about it.

Any other crowd favorites out there? Any new ones cropped up in the last few years? Anyone still out there, actually?

Renovations, eh?

Mavericks Win in OT

Sleep Train Arena will be undergoing some renovations before the NBA season opens:

The changes – expected to be ready opening night, Oct. 30 – include two new VIP lounges – one for the team’s three-dozen-member ownership group – and one expanded lounge. The visitors locker room, a long-reviled dungeon, will be doubled in size.

Not to pick on former staffer Runnergirl but here is a discussion from 2006 on this site about renovations including the very ones that are being planned. RG’s points were well-made, and I only include it here because it is relevant, not to prove anything. Though I do think the prevailing wisdom of the time was that these renovations were impossible. (Sac-eats has some choice bon mots in the comments section. Also–Kit!)

Aftershock to rock Discovery Park

Beavis and Butthead Headbanging
Do you remember when Bon Jovi was cool? Uhhhh, no.
Just like last year around this time, I’ve been enjoying the set up process at Discovery Park over the last few days for this weekend’s Aftershock concert as I ride my bike to work. It’s quite a production. A lot of moving parts.

Looking at the lineup makes me a little nervous.

The biggest names are Korn (where is the backwards K on my keyboard?), Papa Roach, and Megadeth, but I’m really old so that could just be the only three names I recognize. I don’t see any bands from last year’s event, however, but the same list of what is allowed and not allowed.

I did find this funny in the FAQ section.

Will there be ATMs available?
Yes. There will be atms available inside venue and near the box office.

Those ATMs were one of the first things to be delivered. They are everywhere.

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So, is anyone going? Tickets are still available, but some packages are sold out, so I guess so.