I have dreamt of bacon.

Just soak in that declaration for a minute. Because while that sentence could very well serve as the working title of my memoirs, it’s also an unabashedly true statement in my life.

Yes, bacon. That salty, slightly crisp, crackling strip of heaven! Whose visions haunt me even now with their lotus charm.

So you can imagine my luck (nay, ecstasy) when I got the chance to attend one of INK Eats & Drinks’ Second Wednesday tastings. They offer a monthly tasting of different types of beverages, like martinis, margaritas, gimlets, beers and wine. Only for the first time, the late-night hot spot threw a food pairing in the mix: bacon.

And just like that, my dreams came true.

What followed was a tender waltz through five small, bacon-themed courses that paired each plate with an inventive drink also infused with the cured meat. Sad you missed it? You’re in luck!

INK will hold an encore Bacon Tasting at its sister restaurant, House Kitchen & Bar, on January 31 from 6-8 p.m. Why am I telling you this so far in advance? Because spots fill up incredibly fast. The menu will be similar in nature, but more suited to House’s culinary talents (and include bacon beer!).

For reservations, call (916) 498-9924 or email houseoncapitol@gmail.com.

And so, without further ado, a photographic journey documenting my trip down the Highway to Hog Heaven. With a designated driver, of course.

First Course
BLT Cocktail: Bacon-infused vodka with muddled grape tomatoes, served up with a baby romaine garnish
Food: Baby romaine salad with blue cheese crumbles and black pepper vinaigrette

What looks like a simple Bloody Mary in stilettos tasted much lighter than you’d expect, considering the opacity of the mix. The drink really picked up the fresh, almost sweet flavor of the grape tomatoes with a light, smoky finish thanks to the bacon-infused vodka. The salad greens and bits of blue cheese helped round things off, though I probably would’ve thrown in a dash of salt, for good measure.

Second Course
The Butcher: Jerky-soaked Bacardi Anejo with pineapple, honey syrup and finished with a flamed orange
Food: Bacon parmesan spread with chives on crostini

Hands down my favorite drink of the night. And because I know you’re probably wondering what a flamed orange is, here’s the sitch: an orange slice was heated with a lighter against the rind for a few seconds, then turned over and squeezed against the flame, causing a spark as citrus oils and vapors ignited and distributed over the top of the liquid. This creates a savory, but surprisingly sweet and tropical quality. Almost Caribbean! Fruitiness made a nice contrast to the thick, savory taste of the crostini spread.

Third Course
Meat & Potato Martini: Ultimat vodka martini with hints of savory flavors
Food: Chicken-fried bacon and mashed red potatoes with gravy

Not my favorite drink of the night, but an intriguing concoction nonetheless. It was memorably different. Even my scribbled notes say something to the effect of “Thanksgiving in a glass” and “alcoholic gravy, but in a good way!” So while the drink was a tad overwhelming for some, I can say that the consistency was light enough to allow my taste buds sip after curious sip. Those “savory flavors” were an interesting mélange of house-made au jus, bitters, Worcestershire sauce and a touch of half-and-half for creaminess. Inventive, sure. But a bit heavy when paired with the ambrosial chicken-fried bacon and mashed potatoes. I mean, look at that bacon. I kind of lost my mind when it was placed in front of me, all crisp and lightly fried. Resting on a down-like bed of expertly whipped red potatoes, this was by far my favorite dish of the night.

Fourth Course
Babe and Blackberry: Bacon-infused Bulleit Rye Whiskey with blackberries, honey syrup and orange bitters
Food: Goat cheese-stuffed dates wrapped in bacon

It was a great first date—and second and third. In fact, it was the pairing itself that really made this course my favorite of the night. The sweetness of the date, the sharpness of the cheese, all wrapped in a taught little Snuggie made of bacon. I would have been the awkward guy at the bar stuffing these morsels into his coat pockets to enjoy later. But these were small plates. INK was smart to pair this explosion of flavor with the light Babe & Blackberry, whose soft fruit melody was due to the Knott’s blackberry purée and interesting use of Ocean Spray blueberry juice. Not a stellar drink on its own. But when paired with the dates, haltingly harmonious.

Fifth Course
Bacon Apple Martini: Apple and bacon-infused Bushmills Whiskey with maple syrup and egg white
Food: Bacon Chocolate Cheesecake

This drink! You can imagine I was quite chatty at this point, so I quizzed the bartender on how one would go about infusing whiskey with both apples and bacon. You start by soaking the apple slices and bacon in the whiskey for three to four days. Then you remove the apples, purée, and add to the drink mix (basically, whiskey applesauce). The bacon is removed as well, while the infusion is then cut in half using the original Bushmills Whiskey to lessen the flavor kick. The result? Something equal parts subtle and complex, tart, kicky, yet smoothed to perfection via the frothiness of the egg white. It also helps to pair this little number with a few creamy bites of chocolate cheesecake dusted with—you guessed it—candied bacon.

The Verdict
All in all, a fun couple of hours and a great way to try a classic ingredient in five unique and inventive ways. The portions were small, so plan on grabbing a bite afterwards to fill you up. When making reservations, request a spot at the bar so you can witness the mixologists lining up each drink. INK’s marketing and promotions manager, Jocelyn McGregor, is super friendly and happy to answer questions about the inspiration behind each concoction.

The only downside? These word-of-mouth monthly tastings fill up fast! So be sure to call well in advance to book your spots. Here are a few upcoming tastings at both House Kitchen & Bar and INK Eats & Drinks:

House Kitchen & Bar (Last Tuesday of each month)
December 27: Champagne Tasting
January 31: Bacon Tasting

INK Eats & Drinks (Second Wednesday of each month)
December 14: Holiday Tasting (new twists on traditional drinks, plus goodies like egg nog and hot-buttered rum)
January 11: Beer Tasting

Cost : $30 in advance, $35 at the door, $25 if you sign up at a current tasting.

INK Eats & Drinks
2730 N St.
Sacramento, CA 95816
(916) 456-2800

House Kitchen & Bar
555 Capitol Mall
Sacramento, CA 95814
(916) 498-9924

We foodies jump at the chance to try something new, so when we heard the news that Freshii was revamping its menu and re-opening as Fresca Deli we were one of the first in line to try it out. While the Fresca look and feel is still Freshii, the menu is very different – and a-top the refreshed list is grilled cheese. Need I say more? Five grilled cheese offerings adorn the menu and are prepared with turkey, ham, bacon or just cheese.

Julie and I went with The Picnic: brie, havarti and parmesan cheeses, with sliced apples and plum jam grilled on multigrain bread – the ideal combo of sweet and tart flavors in gooey-cheese.

Kris tried The Great: havarti, sharp cheddar and parmesan cheeses grilled on sourdough and Kim had the The Great with Bacon, which included a generous amount of crispy, smoked bacon. As for our sides, cream of tomato basil and posole were the obvious pairings. And, today’s blustery winds made it the perfect day for this comfort-food combo.

We’ll be back to try a range of new menu items – from traditional deli, grilled and hot sandwiches, to grilled burritos, quesadillas, rice bowls, salads and soups. And, yes, they still have frozen yogurt and a plethora of packaged snacks for on-the-go treats.

Fresca Deli
400 Q Street
(corner of 3^rd & Q)
Sacramento
Facebook: frescadelii

A guest blog from Erika Ulring

Happy early Thanksgiving! For foodies, this is the ultimate holiday. It’s a great excuse to spend all day in the kitchen, cook up culinary treats and spread a full feast for family, friends and guests. And, in addition to the traditional spread shared with family, there’s a fun trend called Friendsgiving that’s gaining in popularity. This is Thanksgiving with friends. Simple. The bonus, though, is that because it’s often held before the actual Thanksgiving holiday, it can serve as an environment to try new recipes and get a bit more creative.

I recently had the pleasure of joining friends for an early Friendsgiving with a distinct culinary focus. All who came brought a dish and our hosts cooked the fowl: fried turkey, bacon-wrapped duck and game hen. Nobody went hungry!

To complement the meat, sides included risotto with dried cranberries, mashed potatoes loaded with butter (so delish!) and a traditional sweet potato casserole. Both the potato dishes went too quickly to capture, but below is the risotto, which was also amazing and seasonal.

Also featured among the spread, and available early for hungry nibblers, was a table full of veggies, cheese and dips with crackers and bread.

Now, we come to my favorite part: dessert! We may have gone a bit overboard here. Included among the spread was local San Diego favorite Julian apple pie; pecan pie, and peaches and cream pie, both made by yours truly; homemade lemon cheesecake, which had a refreshing zest; and an absolutely beautiful fruit tart.

Great food with great friends, that’s what Friendsgiving is all about. Hope you find the opportunity to host a gathering of your own or are lucky enough to get an invite to a Friendsgiving near you.

Cheers!

Erika Ulring is a member of Fleishman-Hillard’s San Diego office.

My earliest memory of cauliflower involves ketchup.

But fast-forward to 2011, where grown-up me has donned his classy cap and uncovered a delicious new twist on the home-garden staple that was a surprise hit at our recent SacFoodies Thanksgiving Potluck.

I know—more delicious than ketchup, you say? Brace yourself.

Food Network chef Claire Robinson is known for her fresh ingredient, less-is-more perspective in cooking. I actually had the opportunity to work with Claire earlier this year for a client, where her warmth and effervescence in person paired perfectly with her approachable philosophy in the kitchen.

Enter: Roasted Cauliflower with Dates and Pine Nuts. I stumbled across the recipe in Claire’s 5 Ingredient Fix cookbook. I also realized that my father had actually prepared the dish at a family Thanksgiving the year before, oddly enough.

And so, with the Claire-Family-Work synergy in play, I went with it.

With my own twists, of course.

Doubling the portions, substituting walnuts for pine nuts, and turning up the volume on the garlic were how I put my own stamp on this customizable—and insanely easy—recipe. What will be yours?

Roasted Cauliflower with Dates and Walnuts

Ingredients

2 large head cauliflower, cut into florets (about 16 cups)
Kosher salt and freshly cracked black pepper, to taste
2 tablespoons olive oil
8 tablespoons unsalted butter
2/3 cup walnuts, coarsely chopped
6 garlic cloves, minced
1 cup pitted Medjool dates, coarsely chopped

Directions

Preheat oven to 425 degrees. Evenly spread the cauliflower on a baking sheet and season with salt and pepper. Drizzle with olive oil, then transfer to the oven and roast, tossing once with a spatula, until golden brown at the edges, about 20 minutes.

Put the butter in a small skillet over medium-low heat. Once it’s melted, add the walnuts and cook, stirring frequently, about 5 minutes. Add the garlic and dates and continue cooking until the garlic and dates are softened, 3 to 4 minutes more; season with salt.

Transfer the hot cauliflower to a serving bowl, drizzle the walnut mixture over the top, and toss to combine. Taste and adjust seasoning if necessary and serve warm or at room temperature.

Notes

• The original recipe only called for two cloves of garlic, but that just doesn’t do it for me. Dial it up or down, depending on your own taste.
• Definitely serve the dish hot. But if you have to refrigerate overnight (like me), nuke it for a few minutes before serving. The flavors were just as potent.
• Claire recommends sprinkling with the zest of half a lemon before serving “for a tart edge.” My next attempt will take her second reco into consideration, too: Toss half a teaspoon of chopped fresh rosemary into the butter and walnuts before tossing with the cauliflower.

Original recipe courtesy of Five Ingredient Fix: Easy, Elegant and Irresistible Recipes by Claire Robinson (2010).

Here’s what it takes to be a SacFoodie in the making:

1. You read SacFoodies (check!) and can’t wait to write your first…and second…and third post
2. You’re a college graduate with a go-getter attitude who is ready to work hard in a full-time position
3. You’re excited by the idea of experiencing and contributing to fast-paced agency life
4. Twitter, Facebook and Foursquare – you can do it all in your sleep
5. Learning about food and wine marketing intrigues you

Interested in learning more? Send resumes, cover letters and questions to SacFoodies@fleishman.com

When I heard we were doing a SacFoodies Thanksgiving potluck, I knew I had to bring my all-time favorite T-Day dish…my mom’s Portuguese-Style Thanksgiving. But since I’ve shared this recipe twice on the blog, I thought it was time to venture out of my comfort zone and try something new. I love soup and my favorite “theme” we’ve done thus far has definitely been our Soup Series, so I knew that’s what I wanted to prepare for our feast. But finding a recipe that hit the flavor profile I was looking for wasn’t happening. I wanted something that was sweet, spicy, smoky and had some added texture and crunch – all in one spoonful. So, I took matters into my own hands and created the following recipe using techniques I’ve used in preparing other favorite soup recipes over the years. I like my soup with a little kick, but for a more mild flavor, just add less cayenne pepper.

Pumpkin Soup

Ingredients

1/2 pound bacon, chopped
2 medium onions, chopped
29 ounces chicken stock
2 1/2 pounds potatoes, peeled and cubed
5 1/2 cups canned cooked pumpkin
4 cups half-and-half
3/4 teaspoon cayenne pepper
1 1/2 – 2 teaspoons kosher salt
3/4 – 1 teaspoon freshly ground pepper
1 cup crème fraiche
Freshly snipped chives

Directions

In a large pot, cook bacon until crisp. Remove from pot, leaving bacon fat in the pot, and set aside. Add chopped onions and saute over medium heat until onions are translucent. Add stock, potatoes and pumpkin and cook until potatoes are tender. Remove from heat and let cool to room temperature. Puree using an immersion blender (or blend in batches in a blender or food processor and return to pot) until smooth. Add the half-and-half, cayenne pepper, salt and pepper and heat through.

When serving, add a dollop of crème fraiche, crisp chopped bacon and freshly snipped chives.

Makes 12 servings

The SacFoodies team hosted a Thanksgiving potluck today, and in honor of the approaching holiday, we’ll be sharing some of our favorite Thanksgiving recipes with you for the next week.

How far would you travel for food? You know, to sample a really special entrée or dessert that makes you think, “This is the best I’ve ever tasted!”

As it turns out, I know quite a few people who are crazy like that. My friend Robin thinks nothing of traveling 30 miles to Auburn for a slice of what she calls “the best cherry pie” she’s ever tasted. I know several people who have hamburger neuroses and will travel great distances for the best burger. Donna, for example, will hit the road to San Francisco for a Joe’s Cable Car burger any day of the week. And Kelly will drive an hour to Pietros in Vacaville just for a bowl of their minestrone soup.

I think I have you all beat, though. I would gladly travel the 1,000 or so miles it takes to return to the Purgatory Lodge at Durango Mountain Resort in Durango, Colo., to enjoy Executive Chef Charley Curtis’ Warm Spinach Salad. Frankly, anything Charley decides to dish up, I’d enjoy! But, if you’re looking for simply the best spinach salad you’ve ever tasted – a recipe he inherited and has adapted from his mother and grandmother – this one is really special.

“You can endlessly and easily re-invent this salad without much work,” Charley said. “I’ve added grilled chicken, pan-seared Ahi tuna, just about any imaginable sort of nut (I recommend toasted hazelnuts), sundried tomatoes, brined European olives, grilled Andouille sausage, all kinds of sliced fresh apples and pretty much anything else I’ve had laying around in my refrigerator or pantry.”

Lucky for you, Charley has shared his recipe with us (you can all thank me later!), but I would still highly recommend a jaunt to southwestern Colorado where you can enjoy this and many other culinary delights at the Durango Mountain Resort’s seven restaurants.

Warm Spinach Salad

Ingredients

1 pound thick-cut peppered bacon, cut into ½ inch cubes
2 tablespoons minced shallots
1 tablespoon minced garlic
½ cup light brown sugar
¼ cup unfiltered apple cider
1 tablespoon Dijon mustard
¾ to 1 cup apple cider vinegar
1 pound cleaned baby spinach
1 pint fresh grape tomatoes
¼ small red onion, thin julienned

Directions

Render bacon in a heavy skillet over medium heat. Remove bacon and reserve. Add shallots and garlic to rendered bacon fat and stir until translucent. Add brown sugar and whisk until bubbly. Add apple cider and turn heat to high. Whisk in Dijon mustard and apple cider vinegar. Remove from heat. In a large bowl, toss together spinach, tomatoes, julienned onions and warm dressing. Garnish with reserved bacon bits. Serve immediately.

Recipe courtesy of Charley Curtis, Executive Chef, Durango Mountain Resort

Tell us, what’s the best food you’ve ever tasted, and how far do you travel to enjoy it?

Sometimes, it’s tough living the life of a SacFoodie. Just a few weeks back my job required me to travel to sunny San Diego and partake in a five-course lunch at “Top Chef” Brian Malarkey’s highly praised restaurant Searsucker with a group of lively and personable media on behalf of our client, the United States Potato Board.

Chef Brian Malarkey and his team went the extra mile in creating the special potato lunch menu just for us. The meal began with an amuse bouche of a fingerling baked potato – one heavenly bite of fingerling potato topped with melted cheese, crispy bacon, sour cream and chives.

Next up was my favorite course (with the exception of dessert, that is). The surf clam chowder featured petite potatoes in a rich yet light-bodied broth with fresh seafood – oh, and bacon too.

The meal only got better from there with a third course of Yukon salmon and Yukon Gold potato mash, and a fourth course of bacon (yes, more bacon!) chicken terrine and red potato salad. (Chef Brian, if you will tell me what the sauce in that red potato salad was, I promise we can be friends forever).

Little did we know, the best was yet to come with dessert – purple potato pie created by Searsucker’s pastry chef Rachel King. This square of purple goodness with a creamy whipped cream-like topping was to-die-for. In fact, it’s so great that we asked Rachel for the recipe – which she was kind enough to share and we will be posting next week.

As if we weren’t happy enough after the dessert course, the elevator doors opened (did I mention we had to take an elevator, complete with couch-like seating inside of it, to access the private dining room?) and in walked Chef Brian himself. He posed for pictures and chatted with all of us – and, it was even his birthday! What a guy, right?

Did I mention this was all in a day’s work?

Searsucker
611 Fifth Avenue
San Diego, CA 92101

This week, you can do your part in helping the community (as well as your appetite) by dining at one of SacFoodies’ favorite spots, The Firehouse in Old Sacramento. The restaurant will donate 15 percent of revenue to Sacramento Food Bank & Family Services through this Saturday, Nov. 12.

Sacramento Food Bank & Family Services provides free emergency goods and services to nearly 15,000 men, women and children each month. The nonprofit also offers no-cost programs to combat hunger, improve literacy, strengthen families, educate youth and mentor parents.

Reservations at The Firehouse are recommended and can be made by calling (916) 442-4772 or by visiting www.FirehouseOldSac.com.

The Firehouse
1112 Second Street
Sacramento, CA  95814