Tag Archives: Sacramento

The 10 Best Things I Ate in 2014

Posted on by LeAnne Notabartolo

Thanks to all of you for following along with me on this ride. If you have been enjoying this blog all year, some of these pics will look familiar. If you are new to Good for Spooning, be sure to subscribe by adding your email address in the space to the right. Also, you can follow along on Facebook, Pinterest, Instagram and Twitter. All @Good for Spooning.

It’s time for my annual list of awesome things I consumed.  Many of them are available to you NOW, there are only a few on this list that aren’t available regularly and only one that you will never get to enjoy.  But DO enjoy this list. All photos provided are by me personally. In no particular order, here we go…

Northwest Seafood and Coconut Soup at Etta’s Seafood in Seattle. Salmon, clams, mussels, shrimp, calamari with house sambal.  Yes, it’s from Tom Douglas.

The best thing we ate on the entire trip! A Thai spiced fish stew at Etta's.

The best thing we ate on the entire trip! A Thai spiced fish stew at Etta’s.

Fried Quail at Hakkasan in the MGM Grand – this was on the menu during Restaurant Week for Three Square. It is not a regular menu item, but shows up from time to time.

Crispy Fried Quail with Five Spice

Crispy Fried Quail with Five Spice

Bacon Jam at Carson Kitchen – yeah – there is no pic of this because we ate it too fast.  Just go, and get it and thank me later.

Spicy Cold Noodles at Mama Ji’s in San Francisco – thank goodness the noodles themselves are icy cold because the sauce that goes on top is SPICY and HOT. Definitely a do-over the next time we eat there!

Cold Spicy Noodles at Mama Ji's

Cold Spicy Noodles at Mama Ji’s

Prime Veal Chop at NYY Steak in Coconut Creek, Florida – This was so much more than I expected in a simply prepared veal chop. Dry aged 21 days and absolutely perfect.

And Whitey Ford's retired number was on my plate!

And Whitey Ford’s retired number was on my plate!

Charcuterie and Sausages at Lowbrau and Block Butcher Bar in Sacramento – I don’t have enough nice things to say about this. Lowbrau and Block are connected and sister stores.

Charcuterie board from Block Butcher Bar

Charcuterie board from Block Butcher Bar

Spicy Andouille sausage at Lowbrau

Spicy Andouille sausage at Lowbrau

Beef Tasting Dinner at STK – Chef Stephen Hopcraft pulled out all the stops for this fantastic meal. Having a “take it or leave it” attitude about beef in general, after eating this, I now have a MUCH better appreciation for cow flesh.

Our beef selections included all natural, grass fed and prime filets.

Our beef selections included all natural, grass fed and prime filets.

Three different types of filet mignon with sides.

Three different types of filet mignon with sides.

Porchetta at the Swine & Wine dinner at MTO – The Sunday Suppers at MTO are always a surprising mix of Chefs working inside a theme.  This was obviously a pork-centric meal and this porchetta was a stand out.

Porchetta waiting to be sliced at MTO's Swine & Wine

Porchetta waiting to be sliced at MTO’s Swine & Wine

And my top two faves this year, drumroll please….

The Fried Chicken at Yardbird in Miami – it’s opening in Vegas later this month and I can hardly wait! I will be able to eat this fried chicken any time I want. (Moment of Truth – Fried Chicken would be on the short list of “last meals” for me).

Just look at the little captions

Just look at the little captions

The Chefs to the Max Dinner – RX Boiler Room – Twenty Four Chefs together created a once in a lifetime meal as a fundraiser for critically injured food writer Max Jacobson. Each and every course was superb.  Bonus for me? Because I volunteered my time, I was allowed full access to photograph the Chefs at work and this is my fave pic of the night, taken during the pre-shift briefing. Can I tell you how fun it was to see Bobby Flay taking pics of other Chefs at work like any old fanboy?

The Chefs were just as giddy as I was I think.

The Chefs were just as giddy as I was I think.

Compare and Contrast – a View of Two Beer Festivals

Posted on by LeAnne Notabartolo

I hope you are quite aware at this stage, we in this household are what I would call “serious beer drinkers”. We know what we are drinking, choose to enjoy craft beer and make tasteful choices on what to drink. You will not find any BMC (Bud, Miller, Coors) in our fridge. We believe in the motto “No Crap on Tap”. When on vacation we venture to “beer bars”, local breweries and fun tap houses. Of course John has his faves (porters and sours) and I have mine (IPAs and APAs). And while John may resemble The Most Interesting Man in the World because he is such a magnificent bastard, we rarely drink Dos Equis (but I love their commercials).

All of that being said, in the past two weeks John and I have been to two distinctly different beer festivals here in Las Vegas. Because we can’t attend Oktoberfest in Munich, we make do with what is available to us. So let us compare the two. Know this, they were both held on a Saturday evening. Both included entertainment, food and beer and we purchased VIP tickets to both. VIP Tickets to each event were roughly the same price.

The Motley Brews Downtown Beer Festival was September 20th at the Las Vegas Government Center. There were three levels of tix available – GA, Early Entry and VIP. All ticket holders had access to water stations, fantastic food booths and an amazing selection of beer, many USA made by craft brewers and all of our local breweries were represented. Early Entry got you in the gate one hour earlier and VIP gave you that extra hour, a real restroom (as opposed to the dreaded Port-a-potty), free snacks (of which I got none) and exclusive pours only available in the VIP pavilion.  All in all a great event. Because the VIP food situation was a cluster fuck, Motley Brews has arranged for all VIP ticket holders to have gift certificates to the restos that provided (or didn’t…) the food so we can check them out on our own. Beer on tap, beer in casks and beer in bottles all were available to try. The music was great and a good time was had by all. An interesting thing about this event is the people who attend it. Almost without exception, the attendees are REAL BEER DRINKERS, not a bunch of posers just hanging out wondering where the Stella is. Beer centric T-shirts and jeans are the uniform of the day (and some of the shirts are amazing) and the beer wear available for purchase is part of the fun.

The Desert Hops Beer Festival was September 27th at the Cosmopolitan Pool. There were two levels of tix available – GA and VIP. The VIP tix should really have been called “early entry”. There were so many things wrong with this event I don’t even know where to begin. There was NOTHING VIP about that experience. No special amenities for VIP ticket holders at all. The only thing you got for the extra cash was entry an hour early. In addition there were no cask beers, no tap beers, everything was in bottles. Oddly it was called Desert HOPS and there were hardly any IPAs or APAs. Even more curious was the fact that none of our local breweries were represented at all (if they were, I didn’t see them among the only 1 dozen USA beers from 3 breweries). Imports abounded at this event, and if you like Belgian beer this was a great event for you as there were about 2o different ones, but the USA made craft beers were sadly lacking. The crowd was a mixture of tourists and locals, with the emphasis on the tourists. The food was a joke, the music a bizarre mix of live musicians playing with a recording behind them, no vendors other than the crappy food and the crowd was mostly a bunch of posers more intent on looking good than enjoying a beer festival. The best thing about this event was the location – I love the Cosmopolitan and the view from the pool is fantastic. Second best thing? Leaving.

So here are my words to the wise – for a great Beer Festival experience, go to any Motley Brews event (next one is in the Spring of 2015). You will be surrounded by locals who know their craft beer. Let the tourists have Desert Hops.

Sacramento

Posted on by LeAnne Notabartolo

Yeah – I know once again I have been a slacker, but in my defense I have been out actually WORKING on a new job. Once that contract is signed and in my hand I will tell you more about it. Did you know you can subscribe to this blog?  I suggest that you do so you never miss an issue.  You’ll get an email Tues night with everything I posted from the previous week!

Hubby John is convinced that Imbibe Magazine is trolling his Trip Advisor account.  Immediately before we went to Seattle in the spring, they did a great piece on the Seattle cocktail scene.  Last weekend we went to Sacramento and guess which city had a beautiful write up in Imbibe prior to our trip?  You guessed it. On the one hand it is almost like they wrote a travel guide just for our drinking pleasure. On the other, the fact that they COULD monitor our upcoming travel plans is a little creepy. If Miami shows up on the cover this month, I am going to start worrying because that’s our next stop.

Here’s what I can tell you about Sacramento:

  • It’s the capitol of California and the capitol building and the grounds surrounding it are gorgeous.
  • The city is laid out in a classic grid pattern making for easy navigation for tourists (beware of the one way streets if you are driving)
  • The downtown/midtown areas are eminently walk-able
  • It boasts some of the best bartenders I have ever had wait on me. All good looking, all knowledgeable – not only about cocktails, but about beer as well – and that goes for both genders. (Moment of Truth – Seattle has fab knowledgeable bartenders too, but they aren’t as ridiculously good looking as these ones. Las Vegas has ridiculously good looking bartenders that aren’t that knowledgeable).

    This is Joe. He informed us that he was scheduled the day Imbibe was in house at Low Brau, but had to switch shifts. He was a bit annoyed that he wasn't featured. He should have been - he made us some tasty cocktails!

    This is Joe. He informed us that he was scheduled the day Imbibe was in house at Lowbrau, but had to switch shifts. He was a bit annoyed that he wasn’t featured. He should have been – he made us some tasty cocktails!

  • I did not eat anything that was less than good while I was there. Most of what I ate entered into the excellent category
  • All of downtown Sacramento is viciously proud that The Shady Lady has been named one of the best bars in the country by Esquire Magazine.

 

Enjoy the pics and the info and if you are heading that way I recommend the following 3 stops:

  1. Sandra Dee’s for soul food – Good Call Rev Kane!  Holy hell was that a FINE way to kick off our trip!4-IMG_2136
  2. Lowbrau/Block – great beer on rotating taps and fab sausages and charcuterie made in house at Block6-IMG_2154 1-IMG_2112
  3. Foundation – They had a fantastic beer cheese soup with pretzel croutons, but  have the grilled artichoke, yes, it was THAT good.5-IMG_2140

A couple of additional notes about Sacramento:

  • We stayed at the Marriott Residence Inn right near the Capitol.  It is seriously the noisiest hotel I have ever tried to sleep in. It is in a GREAT location, but you can hear each person walking in the hall, the next room’s alarm clock and the shower turn on in rooms next to you as well.
  • The only person I took pictures of on this trip was Joe (above)…and I went to a wedding. I am mildly embarrassed.
  • John dubbed Hook & Ladder  “the bar of interesting men’s hair” because we saw some STELLAR ‘dos going on in there. We loved the cocktails, but not the vibe or the bartenders who were ULTRA serious about their craft. They were mildly affronted that we didn’t take their “hand carved ice cubes” with as much gravitas as they did. It’s frozen fucking water for god’s sake!
  • Take the time to walk through the grounds surrounding the Capitol Building – the trees are magnificent! Unfortunately due to the drought, the gardens were nothing to look at, but I respect and admire not watering things you can’t eat.
  • Russo’s Shoe Repair does “while you wait” work in some cases (you don’t want to know) and Mr. Russo is a nice guy and a wealth of food and drink knowledge.
  • Skip Old Sacramento for the most part, unless you have a thing for trains. It’s a wild west (sort of) version of Fisherman’s Wharf. A few good places, but mostly over priced and moderate quality.  If you MUST go, go early in the morning when no one else is there to check out the buildings and the Tower Bridge.  The Bridge is really cool and an architectural marvel.

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