By Cheyenne Cameron-Pruitt
The Art of Beer
One of Sacramento’s favorite events has returned: The Art of Beer. The event brings 30+ breweries together for a night of tasting not only the beers on tap, but some favorite food pairings from Sacramento’s Farm-To-Fork restaurants as well. While guests enjoy unlimited tastings of food and drink, they can also take a moment to browse and bid on the 30+ art pieces in the silent auction.
All of the proceeds from the auction will go to Sol Collective. General tickets are $50 and VIP tickets are $70 and can be purchased here.
January 27, 2017
5:30 p.m. – 10:00 p.m.
The McCellan Convention Center
5411 Luce Avenue
Sacramento, CA 95652
4th Annual Sacramento Chocolate Salon
Attention chocolate fanatics and aficionados: The Sacramento Chocolate Salon is back for its 4th year and is bringing 20+ chocolatiers and confectioners to the Sacramento area for an event dedicated solely to chocolate. Attendees will have the opportunity to taste and enjoy offerings from the many participants. They will also be able to learn directly from people in the chocolate industry at one of the panel events. Tickets are $20 for advance purchase and $25 at the door. This is a kid-friendly event, children ages 12 and under are $10.
January 28, 2017
11:00 a.m. – 5:00 p.m.
Embassy Suites Hotel: Riverfront Promenade
100 Capitol Mall
Sacramento, CA 95814
Dinner with Chopped Winner Chef Charleen
Chef Charleen dominated the competition on Chopped and now she is bringing the competition to you. Savor Sacramento presents a night in the kitchen with Chef Charleen. She will demonstrate a three-course menu and then participants will break into teams and compete Chopped style, while Chef Charleen provides instruction and help for the teams. The cost is $125 and you can purchase your tickets here for this one-of-a-kind event.
January 28, 2017
5:30 p.m. – 8:30 p.m.
Lulu’s Kitchen
701 16th Street, Suite 130
Sacramento, CA 95814
6th Annual Bacon and Beer Night
Sacramento Bacon Fest is officially underway and you can check out our roundup of the main events here. A highlight is the 6th Annual Bacon and Beer Night, hosted by Pangaea Bier Café. A menu featuring the award-winning Pangaea bacon burger paired with the Bacon Suicide IPA will be ready to enjoy. Continue the bacon celebration!
January 28, 2017
5:00 p.m. – 10 p.m.
Pangaea Bier Café
2743 Franklin Blvd
Sacramento, CA 95818
Bacon Paella on the Patio
The bacon celebration just won’t stop! This Saturday, in honor of the Sacramento Bacon Fest, Selland’s Market Café is cooking up some paella with a special guest: bacon of course. Their paella will include house-cured bacon and chorizo bacon as well, a serving of paella is going for $12. A glass of the house sangria is a perfect companion and will be served by the glass ($5) or the pitcher ($15).
January 28, 2017
11:30 a.m. – 2:00 p.m.
Selland’s Market Café
5340 H St.
Sacramento, CA 95819
Old Vine Express
The Old Vine Express is kicking off its monthly wine tours this weekend. This Sacramento classic offers guests a chance to try Northern California wines, enjoy a live band and a smooth ride on the Old Vine Express. Each tour offers a selection of 15 wines, eight tastes of your choice and a souvenir tasting glass. Though a meal is not included in the ticket price, there is an option to purchase one with your ticket.
Tickets can be purchased here.
January 28, 2017
3:00 p.m. – 5:30 p.m.
Boarding Location
400 N Harbor Blvd
Sacramento, CA 95816
Weekend Round-up
Suzanne Peabody Ashworth and Jim Mills
What a great gastronomic weekend! We started early on Saturday and visited the grand opening of the East Bay Culinary Center. We were greeted by fellow Slow Food member Jim Mills who was there with Suzanne Peabody Ashworth of Del Rio Farms. Jim offered us samples of beautiful, perfectly ripe peaches, figs, plums and blackberries.
We grazed through dozens of food stations and enjoyed:
All before 9:00 a.m.! My husband said, ‘this is the best breakfast I’ve had in a long time!’ Clearly, we both have iron stomachs.
We watched a portion of pastry chef Ginger Power’s demonstration in the new kitchen, which by the way, is WAY cool! As mentioned in a previous entry, chef and culinary instructor Carolyn Kumpe will be leading the new culinary center and classes and demonstrations will begin next month (we’ll make sure to post activities on sacfoodies.) We would have liked to have stayed all day and watch all the demonstrations, but Michael Buble and a trip to San Francisco awaited us….
I’ve heard great things about the Ferry Plaza Farmers Market in San Francisco, so I was excited when fellow Sac Foodie, Melinda McRae, myself and our foodie hubbies found ourselves with a few extra hours to spend in the City on Saturday on the way to a concert.
The colorful produce won me over. From rainbow chard to red, orange, and yellow peppers and radishes, it was a gorgeous spectrum. Since I work with the United States Potato Board, I was excited to see Russian Banana and Rose Fir specialty potato varieties too. We took home heirloom tomatoes for a colorful Caprese salad, and blackberries for snacking by the handful.
The farmers market snakes around the Ferry Plaza Building, which is a recently renovated foodie landmark of its own. After winding through the marketplace, we found a spot outside at Ferry Plaza Seafood for fresh oysters and San Francisco’s own Anchor Steam Beer. With clear skies, a Bay Bridge view, and lots of people-watching, it was a lovely way to spend an afternoon in the “city by the bay,” to quote one of my favorite 80’s bands.
Weekend Round-Up
Here’s two coffee-cups up to Steady Eddy’s coffee house in Winters. We dropped in this weekend for a light lunch and got more than we bargained for – good food, friendly service and a pleasant atmosphere that fostered a gentle hum of conversation among locals and cyclists passing through on their way from Davis to Lake Berryessa.
The paninis, with clever names like Holy Cow and Sgt. Pepper’s Blue Cheese, were yummy, and we also recommend the pecan bar. Big enough for a three-way split between me, my husband and son, my husband’s comment was that it was “better than pecan pie.” And, he is right – lots of nuts and not too syrupy. We’ll be sure to make our way back to the “instantly comfortable” setting of Steady Eddy’s again soon!
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Dessert on Lake Shasta
Houseboating is the ultimate vacation. I had the pleasure of spending three lazy days with my family and dear friends who invited us aboard their houseboat on Lake Shasta this past weekend. We spent hours sitting on the deck telling stories, playing Rummikub, and plunging into the lake. It was heaven. But as a foodie, true heaven is measured by the food that is served in paradise. That said, I owe props to my mother, the best pie maker I know (besides Kira O’Donnell). She brought aboard two scrumptious pies – strawberry rhubarb and raspberry. Thanks mom!
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New “Midtown Taqueria” in East Sac
Housed in the old Sidewalk Pizza building, Midtown Taqueria on 37th and J has only been open for a few weeks, but already is a thriving outdoor eatery. After doing vigorous yard work, we decided to ride our bikes over and check it out. Even though I am very adventurous in dining, I pretty much always order the same thing with Mexican — bean and cheese burrito or carnitas — so those are my standards when judging a new place. The bean and cheese burrito was just the way I like it — not too much cheese and the beans not too saucy. My other set of criteria for judging a new place is the quality and variety of its salsas and Midtown delivered.
They had four full, fresh bowls with a salsa fresca, a mild tomato and onion, a medium poblano avocado, and a medium-spicy orange-ish salsa (not sure of the chiles used). We shared an order of nachos with carnitas, also yummy, but too much sour cream for my taste. My husband got a dang chicken quesadilla that was perfectly fine. The staff was very friendly and the interior and outdoor eating areas very clean. They carry Corona, Pacifico, Modelo (especial and dark) as well as Coors. We’ll definitely be back to try some of the yummy-sounding mariscos — nice to see they have seafood beyond shrimp, which is the case at most taquerias. Next time I’ll trade my bean and cheese burrito for either the bass filet or grilled tilapia.