September 1

Another One Bites the Dust: Le Petit Paris To Close The recession continues to take its toll on local restaurants. The latest casualty: the charming French-themed cafe Le Petit Paris in midtown, which will close Sept. 26. Owner Tassina Placencia blamed the gloomy economy. “I don’t...

August 31

Guy Fieri Comes to Town Guy Fieri was in town for the past two days, filming for his Food Network show “Diners, Drive-ins and Dives.” The four area restaurants that got the Guy Treatment? Dad’s Kitchen , Gatsby’s Diner , The Golden Bear and...

August 30

Recipe: Grilled Zucchini Torta A torta is a Mexican grilled sandwich that you can fill with just about anything. It starts with a baguette spread with mashed, seasoned black beans then layered with fillings like grilled steak, chicken or vegetables. The toppings are only...

August 30

Wild Blackberries: Pick 'em Now One of the very best things about a Sacramento summer is the wild blackberries that grow throughout our region. Sweet, tart, and intensely flavored, they are fabulous eaten by the handful or incorporated into pies, cobblers, muffins, or even...

August 27

Kru: A Gluttonous Episode The other evening, feeling peevish and bored (and ravenous), I drove to Kru restaurant and set about ordering a shocking number of items – despite the fact that I had just paid bills and my bank account was looking a bit dodgy. I needed...

August 25

Worried About Salmonella? Not Me I just got off the phone with John Paul Khoury, corporate chef for Preferred Meats, which supplies Sacramento’s top restaurants. We were talking about the recent recall of a half-billion eggs because of a salmonella outbreak linked to a...

August 25

Don’t Throw Away Those Ugly Bananas Yes, they’re squishy, speckled with black spots, and overly – er – fragrant. But don’t toss those old bananas in the trash bin. They’re perfect for banana nut bread, a treat that can be savored for breakfast with a...

August 24

Why Sacramento Doesn't Have Food Trucks Chris Macias had an excellent story on the front page of The Sacramento Bee yesterday on how Sacramento has missed the boat on the food truck trend. According to the story, the city council adopted strict ordinances in 2008 making it...

August 2010

Wine Lovers Hit the Lockers For oenophiles who appreciate convenience, a few Sacramento restaurants—including Grange , Morton’s and L Wine Lounge & Urban Kitchen —offer personal wine lockers where regular customers can stash their favorite...

August 2010

The Dining Divas: Mulvaney’s Building & Loan Guests : Kathy Boone, director of Twin Lakes Food Bank; her daughter, Alicia Luna, a marriage and family therapist; Kathleen Palley, founder of Sacramento Children’s Museum; her mother, Elaine Van Beveren, a family law attorney; Joyce...

August 2010

The Dollar-Wise Gourmet: $20, Tops Fins Market & Grill Four locations (Fair Oaks, Sacramento and two in Roseville) Buffalo prawns appetizer.........................$8.95 Halibut sandwich with coleslaw.................$8.95...

August 2010

New Gastropub in Midtown As we were going to press, John Gurnee (formerly the chef at Mason’s) was getting ready to open his new midtown gastropub, Kupros Bistro . What’s a gastropub? Basically, it’s a bar that serves high-quality, sexed-up food. The...

August 2010

After the Curtain Call With great bars and restaurants close to many of the city’s best live theaters, there’s simply no excuse to turn in early after the show. In anticipation of an exciting fall theater season, we assembled this guide to steer you to the...

August 2010

Beyond Starbucks The Sacramento region runneth over with indie alternatives to corporate coffeehouses. In the interest of supporting local business—and, yes, the completely selfish impulse for a rockin’ jolt of java—I went on a little...

August 2010

Make It: Grilled Skirt Steak With Raspberry Peperonata and Chimichurri 4 garlic cloves, minced 1/4 cup chopped cilantro Zest and juice of 1 lemon 3/4 cup extra-virgin olive oil Salt and pepper to taste 1 yellow bell pepper, thinly sliced 1 red bell pepper, thinly sliced 1 red onion, thinly sliced 1/4 cup raspberry...

August 2010

A New Name for a Stretch of Midtown It wasn’t easy coming up with a name for the restaurant-larded section of midtown that runs from 17th to 19th streets and from L Street to Capitol Avenue. A group of local restaurateurs, including the owners of Zócalo and Paesanos,...