My quest for a pilates body has left me quite tired out the last few days. Easier that I should shoot for a Tecate body. It is humiliating when you are in a class and these little old ladies are smiling through a set of exercises that you can't do. Oh well, honed perfection doesn't come easy. Next time you see me I will just be a hard mass of sinew and bone, like Nicole Richie.
I digress, I know what you are all thinking-what has Becky been eating lately and how much does she love R. Kelly-the answer to the latter is that I turn all the hate that I receive for loving R. Kelly into love for R. Kelly. That's just me, I transform hate into love. So keep hating. And as for what I've been eating, well......
I tried the burger at Bernardo, thus further confirming that everything on the menu at Bernardo is good. Not Nationwide good, but very tasty. I ate at Taka's and had a very pleasant dinner with no food poisoning. I made friends with my nemesis albacore tuna once again. My hair and clothes did smell like fried fish as usual but no place is perfect. I had a bento box item (a piece of freshly grilled fish for five bucks) from Oto's, on the recommendation from Randy Paragary and besides the moment when I swallowed a fish bone because I can't stop talking for five seconds even when I'm eating, it was delicious. They had sushi, grilled Korean rib eye, the biggest sake selection in town, and some pristine looking fish in the meat area. I also noticed a new birriera about a block away from Oto's on freeport that I'd like to try. My review of Birriera Bugambilias will be coming out soon in Midtown Monthly. I give it three goats up.
And most exciting of all, tonight I'm going to the Tofu House to try some more delicious Korean food.
Speaking of burgers, the News and Review has some theme issue going on this week where they're rating burgers and the Squeeze Inn tops Nationwide. Ridic. Squeeze Inn is great if you want to feel like barfing for 24 hours. And don't get me started on rating the kitsch factor.
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35 comments:
Mitch likes Squeeze Inn better, and I say, "MITCH IS WRONG!" They all laughed at me when I said the quality of meat is much higher at Nationwide. What's so funny about liking good meat, huh?
summer
I don't eat meat and even I know that Nationwide has better quality meat than Squeeze Inn. Nationwide's grilled cheese beats the Squeeze's, too. Squeeze Inn uses gobs of grated cheddar (or did when I ate there a few years ago) which is terrible on a grilled cheese. It doesn't all stay in the sandwich, but spills over the side making a fried cheese skirt. Plus, huge gobs of cheddar essentially melt into two parts: oil and solid.
Niki
I'm Pro-Fords and I vote!
I thought Nationwide was the best before they moved, but somehow it's just not the same anymore. Still delicious, of course, but not quite as delicious.
Fords!Fords!Fords!
gbomb
I gave new Nationwides a chance, but when their 4 dollar cheeseburgers shrank to the size of a quarter, I called it a day and went back to the Number One at Mickey D's. Right, Ella?
Tayshan
I liked Joe Martys best but they have a firebug problem.
I heard The Biz ate the last burger made there. Man, I'm jealous.
nationwide's burgers and shakes are really good. but their fries are more like baked potato strips (mushy and mealy and pretty flavorless). sure their meat is really high quality, but for the price it's not worth it. i don't care if the beef comes from the finest cut of meat from a prize winning 4h steer, 12 bucks for a french steak burger, fries, and a milkshake is rediculous. (nevermind that it's rediculous that i felt the need to have a french steak burger, fries AND a milkshake!) plus the enviroment at nationwide reminds me of eating in the court house cafeteria when they have half the lights turned off to conserve energy. give me squeeze-inn over nationwide anyday. their burgers taste better. the cheese skirt is delicious (and easily removable), their fries are crisp, the staff is friendlier, there's stuff to look at (i'd rather look at a fake box of roadkill helper than a tin sign of james dean drinking a coke)and they don't even serve milkshakes, thus eliminating the likeliness of me not being able to resist and making myself sick.
-cooter.
I had the last pizza burrito at Joe Marty's. I'll say that I'm plenty happy to have Ford's. Nationwide & Squeeze Inn to choose from. I definitely go to Nationwide the most cuz it's downtown but they're all pretty great. Also, June's Cafe has a good burger. June was just telling me Monday that business is bad - though I don't know what she can expect seeing as she doesn't advertise & it's nestled in to a little sidestreet that has no other businesses on it.
miller
Nationwide has good hot sandwiches too. When the Introducers were here I took them there and they loved it! 4 thumbs up. We also took them to McDonald's where Stefano ordered a "big and nasty" in semi-broken English.
Oto's sells Orion, most delicious Japanese beer ever!
Liv
If June would perhaps stay open just a bit later then business might be better.
Just a tad, seven even.
Miller, lunch at Junes sometime soon?
I do only have an hour but perhaps your presence will speed it along.
-head
I know, June's hours blow. Monday, the key is Monday for speedy June's service. Shit, let's go Monday after next!
miller
I can't believe nobody has mentioned Cookie's Drive In! Sure you gotta go all the way to 56th and H, but it's well worth it. The Bonanza with cheese rules and the fries, although typical food service fries, beat Nation's funky potato wedges by a mile. One of the best things about the Bonanza burger is the fresh New Roma bun that it comes on. Don't order a smaller burger or you'll just get a generic sesame bun. If you're feeling adventurous (or antipodian), the ostrich burger is pretty awesome, not too gamey, and of course there's a wide variety of shakes and floats for the sweet tooth. I've been going there since I was a kid and the same family still runs it!
-charvey
I want to go on Monday, too.
Can I?
gbomb
Also, does anybody obey The Earl of Sandwich anymore? When I last went in there (about 1988), the Chili Burger and fries was really good.
Actually, I take that back, I was in there last year. But that was because the building was on fire, so I didn't have the opportunity to eat much.
Miller? It's right down the street from you! How is it these days?
-charvey
I love Cookie's too, though I haven't gone there in years. In fact, I remember the last time was with JG and Showtime like 5 years ago! Weak, I'm gonna go there when I'm home in June.
I also love Ford's and Nationwide.
I went to Cookie's all the time in high school, Nationwide once I moved dowtown, and Ford's when I went to Sac City! Location, location, location!
-michele
Cookies is great. Country Burger was fantastic. I would get a mushroom and cheese with avocado. Delicious. I think that was one of my favorite burgers ever. Again, it was Ella who introduced me to both places.
T-Bone Urt
Add another vote for Cookies! Have a burger and shake there and then visit the medical museum on Elvas....
President,
Sacramento Appreciation Society of San Francisco
I went to Cookies with Margs and D.West last summer and it was pretty sweet. I'm believe Margs paid for it all, which made it that much sweeter.Cookies, right by the river, right by my heart.
I went to Cookies with Margs and D.West last summer and it was pretty sweet. I'm believe Margs paid for it all, which made it that much sweeter.Cookies, right by the river, right by my heart.
I seem to get a little piece of vein in every other burger I get at Nationwide. Their burgers are still tasty, but I'm starting to get grossed out. Ford's is great, but I hate their fries. I like the mushy mealy ones at Nationwide.
I love Cookie's as well - and yeah, those buns on their bigger burgers are the best! Ostrich burger is great, Homemade with cheese, Mediterranean turkey burger - it's all great! As for Earl Of Sandwich, I can't seem to get a certain Beckler to believe me that it's good! Though I haven't been there in forever. They have weird ass hours.
miller
I heard that they were closed down.
Earl of Sandwich DOES have odd hours. I love the regular burger that comes with what has been called "brown gunk," which pretty near makes the whole thing so damn good. I think they have hours that are like Jim Denny's used to be. Closes at three, not open on Sunday.
hey,
maybe someone else mentioned it, but Kurt Spataro listed June's Cafe as one of his favorite Sac spots in last week's News and Review.
Anna
Brown gunk = Earl sauce!
gross! now i'm REALLY not eating there.
d.p. got t.d.d.p.ed!
When the Bananas were at my house a few weeks back, I found a photo of myself behind the grill at Cookies taken in about 1991, which Mr. Paul took. I remember me and Egner begging him to let us back there for a photo. Paul and Stella, the proprietors, rule. Last time I went there to eat (after moving away) Stella (or Mrs. Paul, as I like to call her) said "Where you beeeen?" and almost made me cry, in a good way. I've seen her make people cry, but in a bad way. Those people who think Mrs. Paul is a bitch are just not paying attention to the rules of Cookies. Although it may seem like she is screaming at the top of her lungs in your face, when you tell her what you want, it's just that she is hollering back the order to Mr. Paul at the grill. But I love to see the look of shock when she screams "BABY WIT CHEE" (baby burger with cheese) in some skinny sorority girls' face. I have seen people cry and storm off.
God bless Cookies! Especially the chicken breast sandwich.
Little known Cookies fact: Their family owns the strip mall of buildings on Broadway containing the new incarnation of "The Catholic Store" (and is it Auto Zone?)
Also, the potato salad is homemade there.
Tess- I had the #1 after abstaining for like 8 months, and that shit is still great, isnt' it?Country Burger R.I.P.
Ella
While I loved & miss Country Burger, I can't shake that time when Ella & I went there & they'd cleaned the grill with some nasty cleaner & it clearly hadn't been washed off completey & we got burgers that tasted just like cleaning chemicals! At least we got our money back.
miller
Cookies has New Roma buns? that's it. as a newly inducted burger lovee, i'm going. New Roma is my favorite secret place in Sac.
Ditto on those fantastic burger buns at Cookies! But I've never liked the fries there. They've always been too greasy, and one time were basically inedible.
Cookie's is hit or miss on the fries. Sometimes you get the bottom of the barrel & they're all, like, 1/4 inch long & really overcooked. But I like them sometimes.
miller
Where is Cookies?
Rm
Cookies is on the south side of H street, closer to 57th street, right next door to what used to be Butler's uniforms.
Ella, your post made me remember something I totally forgot. When I used to work at the Darkroom / Camera Works across the street from Cookies (oh, about 1989 or so), I would always call in my order in so it would be ready when I picked it up. Stella always answered the phone in the exact same way: "COOKYMAHELTCHU??!!" ("Cookies. May I help you?")screamed at top volume. I'd place my order, usually the Bonanza with cheese, small fry, butterscoth shake. "OHKAYFIMINITBOY!" ("Okay, five minutes boy.") she'd yell.
This went on almost every weekday for over a year, never a change in the routine. When I was home for the holidays in 2000 or 2001, I called Cookies to order burgers for my brother and I. You can imagine how stoked I was to be greeted with "COOKYMAHELTCHU??!!" at the same full volume and broken English of years past! I bet if you called there most any afternoon on a school day (so the son and daughter are in school) you'd probably get the same greeting.
-charvey
Chris-
You know then, how Stella is a woman of few words and the few that she avails herself of during business hours are in ALL CAPS. She is a tough nut to crack. I seriously went there 3 times a week for years and years and years before I got a Hi and a smile. So when she asked me "Where you beeeen?" I really did almost cry.
I love Mrs. Paul.
To everyone who hasn't already had it: GET THE REGULAR OLD CHICKEN SANDWICH THERE. Oh my god.
Ella
Is that medical museum still open? I went to the estate sale of the guy who ran it and died - not knowing it was the estate sale of that guy. Weirdest damn estate sale I have ever gone to. Old dangerous-looking gynecological devices, lots of syringes, old perscription drugs - CURRENT (unexpired) prescrpition drugs, old medical pamphlets. Oh, and a Get Smart paperback. The family members running it were pretty damn odd, too
This may be a little late but yes, the medical museum is still open. It's just part of a regular office now so you ask the receptionist to open it for you.
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