This week, SacFoodies is featuring restaurants and cafes in Old Sacramento—so be sure to visit SacFoodies everyday this week for reviews of great places to eat in Old Sac!
I quickly raised my hand to review Fanny Ann’s Saloon when the SacFoodies decided to dedicate a week to Old Sacramento restaurants. Fellow Chico State grads know why! There’s a very familiar look and menu to one of the most popular burger restaurants and bars that borders the campus in Chico – Madison Bear Garden. Not until my recent trip did I know for sure that they were owned by the same owner, AND the Sac establishment came first! You can also find similar restaurants in Carson City and Reno, and here’s why you should seek them out:
The menu is awesome! At my last visit to the Sac location, I ordered the Cheeseburger Pair-O-Dice (aka Bear Burger in Paradise), which is a classic burger served with lettuce, tomato, pickle and mayo, and your choice of cheese. It’s my go-to burger, but you can definitely be daring with your burgers at Fanny Ann’s with selections like the Jiffy Burger (you guessed it – a burger smothered in peanut butter, topped with bacon and jack cheese, plus onions recommended!), Island Burger, Pastrami Burger, Bravo Avocado, Singing the Blues Burger, and much more!
The perfect pairing to any burger is good fries, and Fanny Ann’s curly fries are the terrific amount of potato, crunch and just plain fun. We also enjoyed a yummy side of Zooks and Shrooms – “breaded deep fried zucchini slices living in perfect harmony with deep fried mushrooms.”
The menu is extensive, including an equally interesting array of sandwiches, salads and dawgs, but I am true to my “Bear” roots and enjoyed the nostalgia of my college days by ordering the classic burger. Unfortunately, this trip didn’t include the nostalgic pitcher of Sierra Nevada as it was a lunch run with my colleagues, fellow SacFoodies Kim Bedwell and Vanessa Smith.
P.S. Looking for a deal? Check out Fanny Ann’s Saloon on Wednesdays, Thursdays and Sundays for their Burger Madness deal – burger, fries and a salad all for $4.49!
Fanny Ann’s Saloon
1023 2nd Street
Sacramento, CA 95814-3201
(916) 441-0505
Rio City Café
This week, SacFoodies will be featuring restaurants and cafes in Old Sacramento—so be sure to visit SacFoodies everyday this week for reviews of great places to eat in Old Sac!
When SacFoodies decided to do an Old Sac themed week, I used it as an excuse to schedule a date with my dear friend and fellow social media maven, Natalie (or for you Sacramento tweeps @NatalieDaily). After a few text messages back and forth, we settled on Rio City Café. Upon arrival, and after checking in on Foursquare, we studied the menu for options that would meet our vegetarian and vegan diets. Just after our server said the chef could do a meat-free transformation of my pre-vegetarian favorite – the turkey sandwich with brie cheese, bacon, cranberry aioli on twelve grain bread, he offered to create a custom seasonal vegetable dish – sold! To my delight, it contained a combination of butternut squash, broccoli, green beans and a medley of mushrooms surrounding a small cup filled with a tasty dipping sauce. I also couldn’t resist a side order of rosemary fries. I was pleasantly surprised with flavors of my simple, made-to-order meal but may have even more impressed with the aim-to-please service. Thanks Rio City!
A few thoughts from guest blogger Natalie Paulsen:
It was hard enough to believe Julie and I were available for lunch at the same time on the same day. The only thing more shocking was my announcement upon arrival at the restaurant. I was doing a little lifestyle experiment – and I was vegan for the next 21 days (if you know me – you can laugh now). At first glance, there was nothing strictly vegetarian (let alone vegan) on the menu. Worst case scenario, I figured I would work on a Pellegrino and ice chips while Julie ate her lunch. Instead, Julie helped me dissect the menu and spoke up when our server came back for our order. He spoke with the chef (about his high maintenance table) and came back with a few options for us. I ended up with an incredible salad and a basket of sweet potato fries that were perfectly salted and lightly fried (in oil of course). Kudos to one of Old Sacramento’s staples for being flexible and accommodating in the face of adversity. Needless to say, this experiment is only going to last a few more weeks. By that time, Julie should be fully recovered from that experience – and we’re going to have a mac & cheese feast.
Note: SacFoodies also loves the cocktails at Rio City Café—so be sure to enjoy one of their yummy cocktails, too!
Rio City Café
1110 Front Street
Sacramento, CA 95814
(916) 442-8226
Steamer's
By: Liz Conant, Jon Schuller and Jenna Buhagiar
This week, SacFoodies will be featuring restaurants and cafes in Old Sacramento—so be sure to visit SacFoodies everyday this week for reviews of great places to eat in Old Sac!
Every once in awhile a few of us SacFoodies will set off on an Old Sacramento lunch outing. Typically we’ll visit Subway, a tried and true standby. Or, if we’re feeling more adventurous, we might pick up a to-go order from Ten 22. This time we went beyond our usual haunts and visited Steamer’s, a café we’d heard good things about but never tried. In true work fashion, we didn’t eat-in, but took our to-go order back to the office where we chowed down on the following:
We enjoyed a couple of Turkey & Bacon Paninos made with oven-roasted turkey, provolone, bacon, avocado and a creamy pesto mayo on foccacia bread as well as an order of the Asian Chicken Salad made with crisp greens topped with diced chicken, toasted almonds, scallions, crispy noodles and a Honey Ginger dressing. The sandwiches hit the spot and the salad was more than enough to share.
It’s official: Steamer’s is a new go-to, to-go lunch destination for the SacFoodies—we’ll be back!
Steamer’s
101 K Street
Sacramento, CA 95814
(916) 737-5252
Open Daily at 8am
2011 Food Trends to look out for in Sacramento!
As foodies, we are always on the lookout for cool new food trends. After lots of research, we’ve compiled our list of the top five 2011 food trends that are already making their Sacramento debuts.
•Food trucks and “pop up restaurants” will be cropping up in cities across the nation. Where to find one in Sacramento? As we mentioned yesterday, you can now find GoGi’s Korean BBQ, a pop-up-style cafe with a to-go window at 15th & L Streets (offering free tacos Jan18-21!), and starting January 31st, Mini Burger Truck (MBT) will be canvassing the city – you’ll be able to track its daily location online and via Twitter. Due to a city ordinance that limits MBT’s ability to stay in one location, the truck will be moving about a block every 30 minutes. MBT will feature a “slider of the month” made with seasonal ingredients and a variety of sides to pick from, such as fresh salads, hand-cut French fries, sweet potato tater tots, crispy onions and fresh chips cut daily. Two of MBT’s recommended burgers are the “Cowtown” (bbq bacon burger with bbq sauce, bacon, crispy onions and pepper jack cheese) and the “Ninja Burger” (burger with Asian coleslaw, pea shoots, a lotus chip and sriracha aioli). A fresh veggie burger with a mushroom-based patty will also be offered. MBT uses local ingredients whenever possible and will be donating a portion of the proceeds from their seasonal slider to a different local charity each month. (Source)
•Food Apps for smartphones will become much more popular and localized in 2011. Raley’s recently launched a phone app that lets you view sale items for all Raley’s Bel Air and Nob Hill Food stores. Simply select your neighborhood store location to browse weekly specials any time, save items to your shopping list and even send the shopping list to someone via email. National phone apps, like Urbanspoon, VegOut and OpenTable are also making it even easier to find local restaurants. Urbanspoon creates a slot machine effect that spins neighborhood, cuisine type, and price to help you find a restaurant, while VegOut helps you find a restaurant with plentiful vegetarian choices, and OpenTable locates restaurant choices using GPS technology, while letting you know if there are tables currently available. (Source)
•Move aside cupcakes, because pies will be the new dessert trend of 2011. Local restaurants are already adding them to their dessert menus: the Waterboy Restaurant currently offers Boston Cream Pie, Capitol Garage boasts Peach Cobbler Pie, and Esquire Grill and Cafeteria 15L both have good old Banana Cream Pies on their dessert menus. And, in East Sacramento, The Real Pie Company uses local ingredients to make both sweet and savory pies you’ll love, such as their Coconut Cream Pie, Jumbleberry Peek-a-Boo Pie, Butterscotch Banana Cream Pie, and Chicken Pot Pie. (Source)
•Restaurants will be making an extra effort to feature seasonal ingredients on their menus and to use local produce, meat and seafood. Slow Food Sacramento is a local organization that gives the “Snail of Approval” to local restaurants that plan their menus around seasonal, local and organically grown foods. Some of those Sacramento “snail-approved” restaurants are the Waterboy Restaurant, HOT ITALIAN, Taylor’s Kitchen, Grange Restaurant, and Spataro Restaurant and Bar. (Source)
•In 2010, San Francisco became the first Meatless Monday city, will Sacramento be next? Meatless Monday is a nationwide public health campaign to reduce Americans’ meat consumption by 15 percent. Sacramento-area schools, universities, and organizations are now beginning to follow the trend. For example, Roseville’s Woodcreek High School has a Meatless Monday cafeteria menu, Carmita Restaurant in Fair Oaks supports the movement with $5 falafels on Mondays, and UC Davis has officially established Meatless Mondays on campus. Visit Meatless Monday’s website for a full list of the 150+ celebrities, organizations, universities, and individuals that have pledged their support to the Meatless Monday campaign. (Source)
Tightwad Tuesday: Free tacos at GoGi’s Korean BBQ
Food trucks and pop-up restaurants are forecasted to be popular in 2011 and Sacramento is already following the trend! Starting at 11am today, GoGi’s Korean BBQ can be found at the corner of 15th & L Street in the former “Park to Go” kiosk at the Park Downtown. GoGi’s offers a new twist on the traditional taco—East meets South of the Border with Korean BBQ Beef, Spicy Pork, Chicken, and Tofu tacos, made to order with a little Korean flair. All tacos will cost just $2 and burritos will cost $5.
To celebrate GoGi’s grand opening, free “streetside” Korean beef tacos will be offered January 18-21 from 11am-2pm! GoGi’s will be open Monday-Friday from 11am-2pm and will also be open for late-night dining on Fridays and Saturdays (hours TBD). For more information, call (916) 442-7333.
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