Farm to Fork Restaurant Weeks

September 06, 2016 0 Comments
September is a special month in Sacramento. Not only is it Farm to Fork month, but it's also Food Literacy month! It's fantastic that they both serve similar purposes - to educate about where your food comes from.

 Many know that the Food Literacy Center is my local charity of choice. Their mission is to inspire kids to eat their vegetables. They teach low-income elementary children cooking and nutrition to improve our health, environment and economy.

 From September 8 to 25 it is Farm to Fork Restaurant Weeks with over 40 regional restaurants participating.  Food Literacy Center gets 10% of the Farm-to-Fork Restaurant Weeks menu and menu items sold. Last year they received over $14,000! 

 I was privileged to try out the dish at Ella.
A video posted by catherine enfield (@munchiemusings) on

As it should, the dish is sourced from farms in the region. The lamb is from Emigh Lamb in Dixon.  I love Emigh lamb because it is all grass fed and raised without the use of growth hormones or antibiotics. It is flavorful without being gamey, which some people object to. Azolla Farms of Pleasant Grove supplied the peppers which added a lovely sweetness. Dwelly Farms, of Oakley, supplied the beans. 

 Please go out and not only support the restaurants, but especially Food Literacy Center!

Farm-to-Fork Restaurant Weeks presented by Raley's is produced by California Restaurant Association Sacramento Chapter to benefit Food Literacy Center.
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Interview with Feast Portland Co-founder, Carrie Welch

September 06, 2016 0 Comments
courtesy of Feast PDX

 I love Portland not just because of the food, but because I've been part Oregonian all my life and went to college in Portland. This year I'm very excited to attend Feast Portland. Most major cities have their big, annual food and beverage event and for Portland it is Feast, which happens in September. 
Feast takes place September 15th – 18th, 2016. A few remaining tickets can be found here.

 This year marks the 5th year of Feast, just one more than our own Farm to Fork Festival. While we have very different cities and therefore very different festivals, I was curious to find out more about Feast since it has gained more national attention than our Farm to Fork Festival. I sent a few questions off to one of the founders, Carrie Welch, and was so thrilled how much time she took to thoroughly answer my questions. I figured I'd just cut and paste the whole interview.
What was the original inspiration for Feast? Has it accomplished what you originally intended or did it grow to something different?
The original inspiration was a conversation in a coffee shop in Downtown Portland in 2011. I'd just moved to Portland from New York City with my wife Jannie. We knew no one, had no family here. We'd come on vacation a couple of years prior and fell in love with the city. Just the right size, nice people, incredible food and drink.
A few friends mentioned Mike Thelin (now my co-founder) and suggested we should meet. The food world is so small and we knew many of the same people. We met for coffee and hit it off right away. I asked Mike when the festival was. He said which one? I said the BIG one, the defining one that everyone goes to. He said - We should talk.
Mike had many of the events we have at Feast Portland sketched out in his mind, and had some sponsors and partners already interested. Chefs, wineries, breweries, the whole city really, was ready for Feast. We were the ones who said "Let's do it!."
Feast is everything we intended it to be and so much more. We knew right out of the gate in year one that we had surpasses our own expectations and those of most who attended and participated. It was the most terrifying experience of my life - walking into the events Mike and I had envisioned for the first time. And so exhilarating when it was a success!
Feast has grown into something different and there was one thing I could not have anticipated. There is a feeling every year now, it starts about a week or two before the event, mostly on social media, but you overhear conversations around town too, where everyone in Portland starts getting excited for the festival. Truly excited. I think it speaks to the exceptional community we have in this city where everyone supports each other and all boats really do rise. I have never experienced a collective excitement the way we do for Feast and it makes me proud of what we've all built together, because we could never have done this without everyone in Portland, the entire state of Oregon and all of the chef and guests who come in from out of town every year.

I see you have many years with the Food Network. Is that the primary avenue for reaching out to celebrity chefs? Your contacts from then? 
You would think! The answer is not really. Such irony, I know! Food Network has played an important role in Feast as I had an amazing 10 year career there where I was trained to do pretty much anything. I had great mentors who let me try new things like food festivals, philanthropic projects and so much more. I learned what hard work really is from working with people like Bobby Flay and Rachael Ray. I am beyond grateful for my time there, but Feast is a different sort of food festival. The chefs we carefully research and approach are more of the up and comers. They might have been on TV or not - we try to pick those we're excited about and we think our audience will want to come see. We always try to top ourselves and think differently about what a food and drink festival can be and should be, every year. 

courtesy of Feast PDX

How big was the first year?  Was Bon Appetit a sponsor from the start? How big a role do they have? 
For a festival's first year, ours was huge! Of course it's going to feel that way to us, but I don't think any festival has taken over Portland the way ours did that year and continues to every year. Bon Appetit has been with us from Day One and they remain a key partner in Feast. Their editorial team has supported us and how we're approaching this event from the get go and they are integral in the programming of many of our events. We look at chefs and invite them together in some cases. They are very hands on and we appreciate their perspective because it's their job to know what's coming up in the world of food and beverage, so they are important partners in terms of staying that one step ahead.

We often get it here, so I wonder your response to the question of elitism of the event. I see everything is sold out, so I can't review the pricing anymore, but I know your ticket prices are high. I, of course, understand it's for charity and there are costs involved, but is there any thought to lower price points, like in the $20 range?
We're actually not totally sold out yet! We try to make Feast as approachable as humanly possible, while also providing high quality events where there is something for everyone. I know, not everyone can afford at $150 dinner ticket, that's definitely understandable. If you can, and going to a once in a lifetime chef collaboration is something you want to do, we have that option for you. But if not, we have Drink Tank panels that are $45 if that's more your speed.

One of our events that is still available is the Friday 9/16 Grand Tasting. It's $60 for four hours (1-5pm) of sampling the best artisans, wineries, breweries and more in Pioneer Courthouse Square. A few of our Drink Tank panels ($45) are also still available. Because our nighttime events are about having fun and celebrating food and drink in large scale, outdoor venues, we also provide these intimate panels for those who might want to have a more in-depth, focused discussion around a particular topic. I'm excited about the Wine vs. Beer panel (which still has tickets available) as Marissa Ross and Christian DeBenedetti are two of the most fun, knowledgeable wine and beer experts in the country right now.

What aspects of the festival seem to be more popular or sell out first?  Tastings or more intimate events, like the dinners? Do celebrity chefs from other cities help those events be faster sellers?
Our Dinner Series events are usually the first to sell out. This year our Smoked! event sold out the day we put tickets on sale, which was exciting. We added a series of Fun-Size events - not too big, not too small - and almost all of those sold out in the first week. I think the traveling chefs do provide incentive as most people want to attend the dinners or events that have a chef they may not see in Portland again soon, or that seem like a killer pairing. Our Night Market and Brunch Village events have been fast sellers too and I think that's a combination of the chefs and the theme. 

Do you feel the hands-on classes are worth the effort and will continue on?  SF Chefs/Eat Drink SF has drastically cut back on seminars over the years.
We love the Hands On Classes and they will continue at Feast. They sell out very quickly as they're a unique, intimate option our attendees really enjoy. We always get a lot of positive feedback on our classes, and they're supported by people from in town and from out of town. This year we've moved to more contextual locations which I think is an added benefit for festival-goers as you get to see Smith Tea's factory, the Multnomah Whisky Library and other cool spots while you're learning something new.

Much thanks to Carrie!
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First look: El Rey on K

September 02, 2016 0 Comments
This is not really a review since I went to a media opening event at El Rey. I wanted to post for those going to the arena in the next couple of months. After all, El Rey wins for best timed opening to coincide with the arena (within two blocks).

 El Rey and the soon to open Malt & Mash are directly across 7th Street from the arena. They occupy a space that once was an unlucky spot for restaurants. But that was before talk of an arena. Now you would be hard pressed to get any closer to the arena without actually being in a new space being constructed attached to the arena itself.

El Rey is primarily a bar that has some decent Mexican eats. It's going for the pre-event/post-event crowds going to the arena, whether it be for games, concerts, or Disney on Ice. Seriously, though, it's going to be a popular hangout specifically for those reasons. Plus, there's two bars, front and back, and lots of TVs on the wall.

The menu has quite a nice variety of tacos, including carnita, duck, ahi, rockfish, veggie, and more. I really liked the rockfish, but thought the duck needed some umph. It was lacking in any flavor snap.

The ceviche is made with rockfish.

The queso fundido certainly is pretty, but you need to eat it fast. Although it's a mixture of four cheeses, it's stretchy vs. dipping. If you don't get to it while nice and hot you will end up cutting it with a knife. 

I burned myself on the blistered peppers. Sometimes it's Russian Roulette, but it pretty much keeps you from eating any more when you get burned on the very first one. My mouth was on fire and I knew better than to drink water after!

The elote corn looked fabulous, but alas I never saw it come out for tasting. All these pictures were from the photo foods - set up for people to take pictures of.

There are, of course, plenty of cocktails mixed with plenty of tequila.

 El Rey will not be one of those restaurants where you say, "Let's go to El Rey for dinner!" Instead it will be more likely, "Let's meet at El Rey before the concert to grab some drinks and tacos!"

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Sacramento Hot List - September

September 02, 2016 0 Comments
A few years ago I used to write the Sacramento Heatmap for Eater.com. If you are familiar with Eater, they do a Heatmap for every city showing the current hot places to eat. Not necessarily the best, but what's currently the hot new spots everyone is trying out. Every month they add and remove restaurants from the list. Restaurants are less than six months old.

I can no longer write for Eater as it is considered a conflict of interest for my job. At the same time, I referred them to another blogger to do Sacramento for them, but in three years they've never put us back on their Heatmap list.

I've decided it's time to take the matter into my own hands and therefore present to you Sacramento's Hot List à la Ms. Munchie.

September 2016: added Mimosa House, Highwater, The Hotel Bar, El Rey


queso fundido
Winning the award for "Best Opening Date and Location in Tandem with the New Arena" is El Rey. Once upon a time the location they occupy at 7th & K was considered a dead zone for any restaurant that opened there. No more. It's perfectly situated across the street from the new arena and opens with perfect timing for the Golden 1 Center's opening date of October 4th. Expect great Mexican bites including a tacos (duck, ahi, rockfish, carnitas, veggie, and more!), queso fundido, elote, and a large array of cocktails. Lots of screens to watch the games and two bars. 

courtesy of Highwater
The solitary building that once housed The Pour House has changed hands. Now it is Highwater, the newest location from the owner's of Dad's Kitchen. It's serving up "American fare with southern influences"

Located inside the Marriott at the corner of 15th & L, the Hotel Bar is what takes the place of the Three Fires Lounge. The concept is a fun one - vintage decor and showing classic movies paired with themed foods. Ms. Munchie always loves pairing movies and food (Sacramento Food Film Festival after all), so I'm excited to see what is coming up and whether you can actually watch the movie or if it will be too busy and noisy to do so.

The newest location of The Mimosa House is located in the River Park area. Focusing primarily on breakfast/brunch and a long list of mimosas, this location also serves lunch and dinner fare.


If you are into history, then Saddle Rock is for you. The original Saddle Rock restaurant was located in Old Sacramento back in the Gold Rush era. It was apparently Sacramento's first restaurant and lasted over 150 years, closing in 1995. This new version is in Midtown and takes inspiration from era menus and updates them with contemporary methods and ingredients. For instance, above is the Sacramento Cioppino, made with sturgeon and crawdads found in our rivers and delta along with oysters, which were popular at the time. Another dish includes an updated Hangtown Fry, after the famous dish named after Placerville. Matt Masera is the chef and he not only brings his expertise to savory, but he's particularly known for his desserts, so save room.

courtesy of OBO'

OBO'
OBO' is the long awaited, new addition to the Selland Family Restaurant Group. Like their Selland Market Cafes, this one is a fast casual restaurant where you order at the counter and then your food is brought to you. The difference is the Italian focus and the fact that this one has a full bar, not just beer and wine. This is a neighborhood restaurant where you can socialize with friends or grab a meal from the prepared case for those nights when you are too lazy to cook. (3145 Folsom Blvd)


A few have tried and not been successful at bringing a Japanese izakaya restaurant to Sac. Binchoyaki looks like it has succeeded. The focus is grilled skewers and small plates that are often found in izakayas, or Japanese style social houses. During lunches the menu is filled with bento box selections while dinner offers the extended menu. (2226 10th St)

courtesy of Coconut

Southside is becoming the hot area of town for new restaurants. The newest addition is the second iteration of Coconut Thai. This one is much larger than the original J St. location. Ms. Munchie hasn't had a chance to visit it yet, but is excited to have Thai in walking distance! (1110 T St)



Ms. Munchie loves restaurants that bring something new to town and Skool has done that. Skool features Asian influenced seafood dishes that we really haven't seen anywhere else but from Kru. Owned by two couples who opened the first Skool in San Francisco, the Sac location has been getting positive reviews from critics and Ms. Munchie. (2319 K St)

courtesy of Coconuts

Another Coconuts? This one is unrelated to the Thai one above. Started by a Sacramento native who was living in Maui, Coconuts Fish Cafe is known for its Hawaiian style fish tacos featuring lean ono, poke with ahi tuna, and grilled mahi mahi as well as many other seafood dishes. Coupled with Hawaiian aloha spirit, it's a friendly, cheerful place to grab a bite and sure to be much more successful than the Noodles & Co. it replaces. (16th & O Sts)

Anticipating: Some are already in soft open or just opened. Those will be in October's list.

Malt & Mash
Sienna Roseville
Wildwood Kitchen & Bar
Station 16
Mesa Mercado

Boiling Crab Downtown
The Patriot
Tiki Bar
Fish Face at Milagro
Selland's on Broadway
Kru's new location

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Topgolf is sure to be a hit

August 30, 2016 0 Comments

Almost everyone has had this experience - bowling. You go with the family and there are some of you that are good bowlers and some who get nothing but gutter balls. Maybe you have kids and so you have the bumper lanes inflated or they use that ski jump contraption to roll the ball down. Your family occupies a lane, gets food and drinks, and keeps score on a computer monitor.

 Translate that to golf, but upscale it, and you have Topgolf. 
12 bays on each level - courtesy of Topgolf

 The new Topgolf facility opens this Friday in Roseville. Seldom do I get excited about anything new in town other than food, but Topgolf has me excited. It is sure to be a hit!
luxury bays have couches- courtesy of Topgolf

 Topgolf is a facility that is three stories high, each level holding 12 driving range 'bays'. (That's 102 bays!) Each is climate controlled so that weather doesn't matter. Like the bowling example, you get a group together and rent a bay. Some are just bar tables and chairs, but the luxury bays actually have comfy couches. You order quality food and drinks (more on that shortly) and have a good time as you each get your turn at driving golf balls.

 Just like the bowling, it doesn't matter if you are good or if you stink, if you are an adult or a child. Topgolf is meant for fun! 

 The computer has a variety of games to choose from. If you are a golfer, then play like you were on the links. But if you are there with friends just to goof off, then you might want to play ones equivalent to skeeball, where you aim at different targets and depending on where your ball lands is what score you get.
clubs for everyone! - courtesy of Topgolf

 You can bring your own clubs, but Topgolf actually has very nice titanium clubs for men and women, kids and lefties. The balls all have microchips in them so they record the distance. The driving range has fun, neon colored targets that flash and change to go with the music. Disco on the golf course!
Price? The bay rental is $25-$45 per hour. That's not bad if you have a party of six people!

There's more to the facility than just the driving range. There's other games like pool, corn hole, and more. There's also live music on the weekends on the lovely third floor patio. 

 Want to hold a corporate event or meeting? There are conference rooms available.
talking with the corporate chef - courtesy of Topgolf
injecting donut holes

 And the food?  Pretty good! For the media event we were mostly served their catering menu, but the regular menu looks pretty good too. They say that they smoke all their meats and make all their sauces and dressings in-house. For the dessert folk, they have donut holes that come with syringes of chocolate and raspberry sauces. Fun!

 There's no doubt that this is going to be a very popular place for parties, birthdays, first dates, and more! 
the bar

the range

paleo pork belly tacos

stuffed potatoes

second level bays

the monitor with games to choose from


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Team Ella at Heritage Fire

August 26, 2016 0 Comments


Last weekend was another fantastic meat fest at the annual Heritage Fire event at the beautiful  Charles Krug Winery. With over 3,500 pounds of meat and 950 guests, Cochon555’s Heritage Fire made its yearly stop in Napa Valley a hugely successful outing. Over $6,000 was raised for the Piggy Bank farm-in-the-making charity,

 Piggy Bank is a pig farming sanctuary. Harboring a Noah’s Ark-worthy selection of heritage breeds, it provides free genetics and business plans to emerging family farms. Piggy Bank aims to change the future of food by creating a community in which small farmers can come to learn about safer, more responsible practices, and can benefit from the sharing of genetics, livestock, and the very information needed to not just survive, but to thrive as small businesses.

 While the charity might be pig focused, Heritage Fire is not. If you can roast it, you can find it here. There were dishes with pork, beef, chicken, goat, guinea hen, duck, oysters, shrimp, and more.

Team Ella - courtesy of Jane Anderson
Representing Sacramento this year was Team Ella who were assigned Goat. The goat came from Michael Passmore of Passmore Ranch. They made a paella that featured goat.
Ravin Patel & Rob Lind of Ella

 There is usually a fair number of offal dishes at a meat fest like this. Two standouts were the tongue porchetta and this gem....

Yes, that's a deep fried duck embryo. Think Filipino balut — out of the shell. For a person who has never had the guts to eat balut, I did manage to eat this. It was soft and tasted like deep fried anything. 

 There was plenty more, of course.  I want to give a particular shout out to Dry Sparkling sodas. For years all I had was water because everyone else was drinking wine and they never cared about us non-drinkers. So kudos to Dry Sparking for making my day so much better with their amazing sodas.

There is always a butchering demonstration where they sell the meat to raise funds for the charity.




Takes a team to flip a pig

courtesy of cavegrrl.com

courtesy of cavegrrl.com


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Siren Fish CSF comes to Sacramento

August 25, 2016 0 Comments
Lingcod is sometimes blue and it is delicious!
Disclosure: I was given a credit by Siren Fish to try their CSF service. 

You may be familiar with the term "CSA", which stands for Community Supported Agriculture. Generally it's where you buy a subscription to a local farm or farm group and then on a regular basis you receive a box of fresh, seasonal produce. You help the farm sell what's currently being harvested and are guaranteed the freshest of produce.

 The twist to that is a CSF, or Community Supported Fishery. This is where you receive a box of super fresh seafood while supporting local fishermen. In Sacramento, you can get a CSF box from Siren Fish.

 Here's how it works:

 You sign up and decide whether you want to receive shipments weekly or bi-weekly. You also decide how big a share you want. You can a single share that's good for two people, or a double for four people. You also get a choice of whether you want to receive fish fillets, whole fish, or a variety, which can include both fish fillets and/or shellfish. Finally you choose a pick-up location. In the Sacramento area you can pick up at Broadway Coffee on Wednesdays or at Bike Dog Brewing in West Sacramento on Thursdays. 

 A few days before your delivery date, you will get an email telling you what this week's catch is. You can either pick what you want, or you can let them pick something for you. Don't worry, you can also log in a vacation hold if you want to skip a week. Then you just go and pick it up. They will suggest recipes for the type of fish, or you can just cook how you like.

 Shares run about $21-$28 each and for the past few weeks it was the equivalent of a pound of whatever fish was that week. Things like rockfish and lingcod are at the lower end and the salmon is at the higher end. What I liked was that for someone who doesn't know much about fish selection besides salmon, trout, and halibut, this gave me a chance to try some other fish and see what they were really like. 

It's also nice to get information about the fishermen you are supporting as well as more information about how the fish was caught and prepared. For instance, this is Captain Anthony Ferrari — a second-generation commercial fishermen who has been joining his father, Lou Ferrari, on the F/V Spellbound since he was nine years old. That week he caught black gill rockfish.
You will notice that the eyes of your Black Gill Rockfish appear to have blown up and then rapidly deflated. You might also notice that these fish appear to have tongues. Both of these strange features result from the rapid change in pressure that occurs as these deep ocean fish are reeled up. The deflated goggle eyes look is common for groundfish and does not indicate poor handling or inferior quality. The “tongue” is in fact an over-inflated swim bladder. Despite these drastic physical changes, it is possible for an experienced fisherman to return a landed rockfish unharmed to the water. They are very resilient creatures.
Another week I got the lingcod pictured at the top of this post. "Some of you may notice that your fish is blue. About 30% of all ling cod are some shade of blue, and this load holds true to that statistic. These blue fish, colloquially called “smurfs” turn white when cook and have no discernible difference in taste." It's nice to know these extra facts.

So I did ask them a couple of questions that were of interest to me. First was regarding whether the fish were frozen at all to kill parasites so I can feel safe eating it raw in something like sashimi, poke, or ceviche. The answer is that the fish are well iced, but they are not frozen. If one wishes to use the fish in a raw capacity, it is suggested that the fish be frozen for at least two days first. 

 The second had to do with price. After all, $21 per pound for rockfish is pretty pricey when you can find it for less at the supermarket or at Sunh Fish. Of course there is the fact that this is fish being freshly delivered and that you are helping to support specific local fishermen, but there's more to it than that.

 First they say that "72 hours out of the water is our maximum time from boat to door". They aren't negotiating with a bunch of boats trying to get the cheapest catch. Their goal is to work with specific fishermen to buy the catch they caught that day.

 "We pay a higher price to the boat for superior onboard treatment. We ask fishermen do go above and beyond with onboard treatment of their catch. We ask for fish to be immediately bled and deep iced when your average load of fish would be stored whole under chip ice. These details improve the texture and shelf life of our fish."

I wanted a little more perspective on all this, so I called an expert, Hank Shaw of Hunt, Gather, Cook. We discussed a bit about how the fish are handled on commercial vessels and price. Basically, you are getting super fresh, well handled fish that could be a step above a really good fish market like Sunh Fish, but definitely a lot better than you would get at a supermarket such as Safeway. He reminded me that you could also go buy a day on a fishing boat at about $120, pull in your limits, and come home with, say, 100 pounds of fish. I chuckled at that. I do plan on going fishing with Hank some day, but for the average Joe, we're still going to get fileted fish from a store. It's just a matter of the quality/price we are wanting or willing to pay.

 I will say that all the fish I got was super tasty. I made one of those vacuum sealed frozen filets and it was horrible (I probably didn't do the best job cooking it). But the fish I got in my CSF came out perfectly every time I cooked it. So wonderful!

 By the way, I made the Asian Style Baked Rockfish (above) that Siren Fish suggested and it was aromatic and delicious!

 Disclosure: I was given a credit by Siren Fish to try their CSF service. 

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Feast Portland is a month away

August 12, 2016 0 Comments


When it comes to foodie cities, Portland, Oregon is definitely near the top. It's come a long way. When I was at Lewis & Clark College in the 80s, everything (dining, nightlife) was pretty much on the west side of the Willamette River. Now, it seems, all the cool stuff is primarily in the revitalized neighborhoods on the east side. Back then I was impressed by a lot of ethnic restaurants, such as Filipino and Ethiopian, but the food scene wasn't as vibrant and impactful as it is today.

 To celebrate this great food there is the annual Feast Portland event(s). Occurring in September, this year the event spans from Thursday, September 15 to Sunday, September 18. Feast Portland is one year older than our own Farm to Fork Festival, but seems to be so much bigger and draws in foodies and celebrity chefs from around the country. In past years I've had conflicts so that I couldn't attend, but this year I am conflict free and looking forward to staying with my father and visiting a city that I love. 

 I'm looking forward to the Sandwich Invitational which puts Portland chefs up against a few visiting chefs, one of which is Ben Ford, famed Los Angeles chef who happens to be Harrison Ford's son. The idea is to go crazy with the idea of stuff between two pieces of bread, or the loose interpretation of bread. 

Sold Out is the super popular Night Market, featuring a light-strung village of stalls serving up a variety of street food from a hand-picked line-up of inspired chefs from Portland and beyond. Another sold out event I'd love to go to is a dinner with Chris Cosentino. There are also a few hands-on classes as well.

 If you follow me on Twitter or Instagram, you'll be sure to see me tweeting from the Sandwich Invitational and Grand Tasting tents with blog posts to follow.

 Photos courtesy of Feast Portland.
Disclosure: I am receiving a press pass to this event. 
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