Everybody knows that Sac mag sucks (yes I am on a magazine-bashing rampage), but did you know how bad it sucks? I was leafing through it waiting in line (that and doctors office subscriptions must account for 99% of the readership) and they had an article on shopping bargains. They started out with SF supermarker. So far, so good. Guess what the next two were? Target and Big Lots! I can't believe they didn't list my fave (although it's a bit obscure, I admit), Walmart. Also, I hear that AM/PM has too much good stuff.
I had lunch at Tuco's wine bar and cafe in Davis the other day. This is the second time I've eaten there (the last time was almost a year ago) and they have improved by leaps and bounds. The vibe of the place is still a bit odd, and is likely to stay so, because it is small and has a tiny selection of pricy wines with a few tables crammed in, none of them very desirable. The food is also (surprise) not cheap. However, it was all totally delicious. That day they had four oysters on the half shell available, three west coast ones and Wellfleets. We got two each (if you buy 6 you get one free) of the West Coast ones (westside!), kumamoto, Marin, and Sweetwater. They were all so good I could have eaten a million, but the kumamotos were the standouts. This place has a very interesting wine selection as you would expect from a wine shop, but the wines by the glass are not cheap. They REALLY need to offer a house red and white for five or six. It's dumb to have your cheapest wine be nine bucks. That is just too much. We all ordered sandwiches. I got an Italian sausage sandwich, which came with melted cheese (can't remember what kind) and dijon mustard. Jesus it was good, one of the best sausages I've ever had, pink and juicy. They said they got them from Fra'mani in Berkeley, and I bought a package to grill up camping. I just now called the cafe to get that name and turns out the sausage place was opened by the guy who used to be the chef for Chez Panisse. MH got a tuna nicoise sandwich and loved it, her mom got a niman ranch steak sandwich and she loved that. And all the sandwiches came with delicious little side salads. Too bad this place is in Davis, but I still want to go back soon. It was a delightful lunch.
Oh yeah, and speaking of sausage, I FINALLY tried Morant's sausage while camping. I had smoked a giant doob (before the Armeniac dropped it in the river) so everything tasted good to me but the brats were a standout. I am now officially sick of sausage. In fact based on how things are going so far I'd call 2006 the Summer of Sausage.
Ha! I just got a hit for "hefeweizen makes you go to the restroom"
Yeah, I second the love for Tuco's...it is indeed overly expensive, but the fact that everything exceeded our expectations deliciousness-wise made us not care about the cost.
ReplyDeleteAnd yeah, Morant's rules! The brats, the boerwurst, and the lunch meat (lyonerwurst, and something they called "cooked salami") was excellent. And unlike Tuco's, I thought it was a bargain. We just kept adding to our order (8 gigantic sausages, a white salami, 2 lbs of lunch meat, and some sauerkraut) and it only totaled like $20! It's a Sacramento gem for sure!
-m
While I'm at it, I figured I'd do a Sacramento wine shop survey, since I really did a lot of shopping while home.
ReplyDeleteThe best:
Corti Brothers-I went here for wine at least 5 times in 2 weeks. Everytime I walked in the shop I saw a new little section that blew my mind. Corti's has by far the best European wine selection in Sac, and I think it beats even some of the amazing NYC shops. What especially impressed me this time was the selection of Romanian wines (I was intrigued by the $60 Fetasca Negra) and the wine cage of aged wines that aren't really that out of reach for a special occasion.
The rest:
I think 58 degrees has a great retail shop. I was actually really psyched on it. They have a healthy percentage of the store devoted to european wines, which I think Sac needs more of, and they have quite a number of bottles under $10. Right now they have an especially good selection of summer wines, both whites and roses. I'd especially recommend the Picpoul de Pinet (white from the Picpoul grape made in the Languedoc region), and the Costieres de Nimes (rose made from a blend of Southern Rhone grapes in the Southern Rhone).
Italian Importing Company (on J) has a really small, but really decent selection of Italian wines. I was stoked on a lemony, minerally white blend from Cinque Terre that I got there. The only problem with this store is that they don't get the same kind of turnover that other places might, and thus they have several white wines on the shelf that ought to be sold more fresh. My advice is make sure to buy bottles with vintages 2004 or sooner (in general a good idea for white wine purchases). The newer location on Folsom has a bigger selection, and perhaps greater turnover, but I haven't been since Christmas.
Taylor's has a great little selection, but it is more new world-oriented, which is great, but I'm not as focussed on that right now, nor do I know as much about it. However, they currently carry what might be the official bottle of the summer, the Naia Rueda, a delicious Sauvignon Blanc-y wine from the Castille y Leon region in Spain, made from the Verdejo grape.
Trader Joe's disappointed me this time around. Their selection always changes, so maybe it's just rough patch, but I was disappointed to see a scaled down european selection, and specifically the loss of the $5.99 Blanquette de Limoux. I looked and looked, but couldn't find anything I wanted to take home except an old favorite, Freixenet's Carta Nevada.
Previous visits included shopping trips to David Berkeley, which always leave me irritated and patronized, but they do have a good selection.
Hope this was of interest to someone!
-michele
p.s. It was so great to be home again! I had hella fun with all of you homies!
I second the Summer of Sausage -- following the World Cup, seeing how it is in Germany, has driven me to have many lunches of brats, bangers or weißwurst. And I'm getting kind of sick of it myself.
ReplyDeletet.j.s wine selection IS sucking it lately.
ReplyDeletethanks for the tips, and in another tip for anyone who's interested, safeway has all their new zealand sauvignon blancs on sale right now and I got a bottle of the Kim Crawford that was SO GOOD
sg, what is that weird symbol you used? is that some kind of effed up letter?
ReplyDeleteIt is indeed effed up -- it's from the German alphabet, called I believe "Eszet" and is sort of a long s, I'm told best replaced with "ss" (I know, creepy) on keyboards with no "ß" available. Oh, those folks from the Fatherland are a miserably wacky bunch.
ReplyDeleteI can't believe I'm saying this, but I found a nice lil' bargain Bordeaux at Albertson's on 59th and Folsom. It's a Mouton Cadet, and goes for $9.99. It's a pretty decent table wine, and some of that cedar-y terroir from Bordeaux comes through. It also opened up really good on the second day (albeit after refrigeration and time in the decanter). Salud!
ReplyDeletemy german friend, Nadine Preiss, would use the eszet in her last name. It made it look like "PreiB"
ReplyDeleteAnna
hello i just googled my name and found my self emntioned right here. i guess its you my mexican "orange anna" right?
ReplyDeletefunny!!!
who ever whanted to know something about the funny letter ß - here you go:
yes the "ß" looks like a big B.
but today a dubble "s" is used as a simplification of it. thats why i have to right my name like this "preiss" if i use it online.
but actualy its a combination of an "s" and an "z". thats why its called "sz";
and with a lot of imagination of old writing called "suetterlin" it is a small "s" combinet with a following small "z". this is how it develloped.
if you speek it, it makes a much harder tune and a much longer one as a normal german spoken "s" which is as soft as the s in your word "lots" or "bargains".
the "sz" makes a similar sound like the "s" in your word sausage.
hope i got the point.