There was some big news in the teeny world of Sacramento food writing this week. Kate Washingon has ended her (four year?) stint as food reviewer for the Sacramento News and Review. She's moving on to Sactown mag. Kate has written hundreds of reviews. This is a Herculean, even Sisyphean, task. She has consistently been professional, cheerful, critical, and discerning. I find myself agreeing with her reviews more often than not, although I hate the star system, but that's not her fault. She is quite kind in her reviews, sometimes almost too kind, but this is a natural outcome of the crazy time constraints she is writing under. She usually only has time to visit a place once. Also, think about how it feels to trash a place that you know someone has put their heart and soul into. It's not fun. OK, it's fun once in a while, but only when they really deserve it, and, when they do, Kate goes for it with gusto. She has distinguished herself by being the only food reviewer in a big media outlet in Sac who would go to obscure and ethnic places, and she is game for anything, without making juvenile gross-out jokes (which I will often resort to). She is erudite and can speak about the finest of fine-dining with authority. She'll be missed!
Nothing big here, just turnips, but I thought I took a nice picture so I posted it.
Thanksgiving came early to my house last night. I roasted a chicken that I had stuffed with a bread heel I had laying around. I also sauteed shallots, crimini mushrooms, and the chopped chicken liver in olive oil and wine, and mixed that with the bread, some fresh thyme, and a little broth. It was liver-y, just like I like stuffing to be. I rounded out the meal with turnips braised in broth and a little butter, and turnip tops sauteed with shallots and more broth. Turnips are my new favorite thing, along with cauliflower.
The show on friday with the Vivian Girls and Nodzzz was one of the top shows of the year, for sure. I love the Nodzz record. Some of the songs sound sooooo much like the four eyes! Luigis is really shaping up to be a great venue.
Here's the Ganglians at the DAM house. They were excellent. Lots of new songs.
Happy Thanksgiving!!!!! See you on the bike ride?
Happy Thanksgiving!!!!! See you on the bike ride?
Totally off topic, but I have a sausage question...i've never tried Morants, and only learned of its existance through your blog, so here is the question...is the sausage at Morants so superior to the sausage at Corti's that it would be worth the trek for inclusion in my Thanksgiving stuffing? (In case you were wondering I am in fact grid-agoraphobic so Morants would actually be considered a trek.)
ReplyDeleteneither are on the grid. but taylor's would be the nearest quality sausage.
ReplyDeleteSlightly off topic, but why is no one talking about Chinese Democracy?
ReplyDelete-heckamax
Heckasac went home already, but I'd say Morants is definitely worth the drive. The sausage is fantastic and affordable & they're really nice on top of that. I was a convert from the first visit.
ReplyDelete-miller
Dude, I tried to go to the Vivian Girls show and it was sold out when we got there! And I wrote about that fucking show! Blarg.
ReplyDeleteI'm so sad that the show is over. I anticipated it for weeks, it totally lived up to the hype, and now its over. Luigi's must have been stoked. And, yeah, the Nodzzzz were super rad.
ReplyDelete-heckamax
I may never be able to discuss Chinese Democracy again.
ReplyDeletePainful to the point of death at times, yet so forgettable I couldn't remember it within 20 minutes.
I think Axl may have given me a touch of the stockholm syndrome.
-Natalie.
HK u should have snuck in like me :)
ReplyDeleteDoes anybody else think that Chinese Democracy is the Kingdom of the Crystal Skulls of music? Think about it: both were long awaited, both feature old men acting like they're still young, and both are clearly terrible but are getting good reviews anyway.
ReplyDelete-biz
That is an astute observation.
ReplyDelete-GW
If you're a fan of German sausage, Morant's is the closest you're going to get to the real deal withstanding making a trek to German Deli on Auburn and Manzanita.
ReplyDeleteAnd yes, it's delicious.
-skpr
Also, both had Dr. Pepper tie-ins. Just sayin'.
ReplyDeleteheckasac, a really nosy question that I shouldn't be asking but am compelled to by some kind of Tourettes-like impulse: have you considered applying for the Washington's gig?
ReplyDeleteThank you Miller and Skpr, you have convinced me that the lengthy and arduous sojourn from East Sac will be well worth the effort.
ReplyDeleteWell said Biz, well said.
ReplyDeleteI knew there was a reason I liked you. Lets discuss it over some Crystal skull vodka tonight.
-natalie.
Don't shoot your wad early heckasac! I'm looking forward to our Thanksgiving dinner. Just the two of us gazing lovingly at a turkey. Oh, and whoever else you invited.
ReplyDeletejamattack!
ps. I know you're gone, but I would still like to ask the masses...how do brandy, brown sugar yams sound?
Jay Biz Baker,
ReplyDeleteChinese Democracy = Crystal Skull is perfect. Down to that uncanny Dr. Pepper tie in. Good work, Cody. Well, there is one exception. I watched the Crystal Skull twice (once at the drive in!) and I doubt I could ever sit through Chinese Democracy ever again.
-heckamax
PS brown sugar yams?! Holy shit!
I will eat those yams,
ReplyDeleteAre you going to stare lovingly at me or the turkey. It might make me reconsier my outfit, maybe fix my hair or something.
-natalie.
You know she loves a married lady.
ReplyDeletejamstalk!
Chinese Democracy is a 75 minute beer commercial.
ReplyDeleteJed
I'm not an ass. I don't sneak into shows! I pay!
ReplyDeleteThe Klinger's are very moral people.
Just an FYI,
ReplyDeleteChristine and myself are calling Chicago for Guphy's Halloween Extravanganza next spring. I expect David Paul to be sitting "cross-legged on the floor" if you know what I mean.
Charles
us millers are ethical but not all that moral.
ReplyDeleteI only sneak in when they don't let me pay.
they were still letting people in up to the end. there was a nice ebb and flow to the show. people would come and go. it was never really sold out. i got in just in time for vivian girls. great show
ReplyDeleteI'm not sayin I was on the Vivian Girls guest list, but I was on the Vivian Girls guest list.
ReplyDelete-miller
I thought German Deli on Auburn just carried Saag's? You can get that at Corti's.
ReplyDeleteBen
I'm heading out on my Morant's adventure to get my sausage for my Thanksgiving savory bread pudding -- I hope it is everything everyone has promised, and I hope I don't get lost on the way there or on the way back. And to Deadlylimp who pointed out that Corti's was not in fact "on the grid", a sad but true fact is that even though I grew up here, it wasn't until I was 19 years old that a friend was kind enough to explain to me that the numbers and letters were not in random order (as i had always assumed, hence the lack of directional accuity) and that was when I was first introduced to said "grid."
ReplyDeleteSorry Natalie, but I will only be gazing at the turkey. Dress as you see fit for placing second to a bird.
ReplyDeleteps. jamstalk, let's be real for a moment, I don't have a thing for married ladies, they have a thing for me. snap!
jamattack!
The last time I was in the German Deli on Auburn, they had rolls of Nürnberger and Käsewurst. That was about 6 months ago though. Maybe they've gone budget and started carrying 6-month-old issues of Der Spiegel instead of 3-month-old ones in addition to selling pre-packaged snawsage.
ReplyDeleteI mis-wrote earlier anyhow. "The real deal in the downtown area..."
The point is Morant's is run by a German family with second generation sons serving at the counter, but they will still humor a douche like me and speak German. They use traditional German pressed meat and sausage makin' methods and carry a reasonable amount of German Teigwaren and other crap for a place as far flung as Franklin Blvd. Tell me another place that you can buy a loaf of Käsewurst that you can take home and bake.
-skpr
troopho - the shit soup John McCain ate for 5 years.
my german relatives in fresno would send my dad some awesome sausage every year. he'd freeze it and then we'd gnaw on it for months. i honestly think i'd give vegetarianism the finger if those sausages were put in front of me again. what is it with krauts and krauts? they're sausage geniuses!!
ReplyDeletecorrection: Leberkäse, not Käsewurst to take home and bake.
ReplyDeleteskpr
It seems off-topic, now, but I love turnips, too.
ReplyDeletehere's the real question: will Chinese Democracy put me to sleep as quickly as Crystal Skull did?
ReplyDeleteI hear Axl mentions falun gong in a a song?
Jeff-I have a writing gig at midtown monthly that is pretty sweet, but I will be occasionally writing food-related features for SNR.
Axl mentions masturbation in the first song. Sums it up, really.
ReplyDelete-DB
Who knows where to download XRumer 5.0 Palladium?
ReplyDeleteHelp, please. All recommend this program to effectively advertise on the Internet, this is the best program!