Sacramento Suggestions Please!
 

My husband and I are heading out to Sonoma Co (Healdsburg) for the umpeenth time and flying out of Sacramento. We were there once briefly and loved the old town but had too little time to enjoy much. This time, we are scheduling an entire day and night to visit the city. Any favorite hidden gems or suggestions?

Nobody? Has anyone tried Thai Basil or Zocaro? We have a car if we need to drive. We ate at Jimmy Fat's last time and it was great, should we just go back there?

Dear Linda: I have not tried these places, but they get good reviews. Is it Zocalo? If so, I tasted some of their stuff at a fundraiser - great.

Have you toured our capitol bldg.? I don't know if that would be of interest. I live in the Delta, about 20 min. south of downtown. We have a small wine appellation out here. Bogle is the major player. We also have 5 wineries set up in an old sugar mill. Scribner Bend is also down river. I am sure others will chime in.

MY

Our favorite restaurants around the Convention Center -
Mason's
Lucca
Spataro
Mikuni

Zocolos on 18th & Capitol. Also close by is tapas-style Aioli Bodega Espanola.

On a nice day try exploring the wineries in the foothills http://wine.sacwineregion.com/profiles/ great area for Zins.

Mikuniiiiiii yum!

Esquire Grill is good but I like Spataro too!

Check out Ella for a great experience:

http://www.elladiningroomandbar.com/

The State capital building is very nice, as is the California Museum, and the Wells Fargo Museum. If you like trains, Old Town has the State railroad museum.

For dinner (yum):
http://www.chefevan.com/

How'd I miss this one?

Were you thinking Frank Fats?: http://www.fatsrestaurants.com/frankfats/

We did L Wine and Urban Kitchen last month.
http://www.lwinelounge.com/

Not as snootie as the webby may make it look. Very friendly and helpful. Good food.

Funky place for decent food Capitol Garage:
http://www.capitolgarage.com/
Good breakfasts and a stout Bloody Mary.

We ate a Grange in December for my B'day and can't wait to go back.
http://grangesacramento.com/

Also big Mikuni's Fans.
Chops across from the Capitol is very good.

And...I won't even mention Moxie's. :$

Mini-GTG???? :-?

That's what I was thinking, mini-GTG????

Linda: When are you heading our way?

MY

What is the name of the restaurant that has taken over the Old Firehouse Restaurant in Old Sacramento?

The Firehouse closed???

For the best Thai food, head out to north Sacramento and eat at Lemon Grass, just off Fair Oaks Boulevard behind the Loehman Plaza center.

In the downtown area we like Il Fornaio, but Biba cannot be beat for Italian food.

The Firehouse's web site seems to indicate that the restaurant is still very much in business.

You've got more great suggestions than you can possibly use - you really can't go wrong w/ any of them. Yeah -- a mini (or maxi) GTG would be great! And if you spend your time w/ us locals you won't have to go to any of those museums :)

(elnap29: The Firehouse is still open . . . not that I'd recommend it for LLindaC's request)

Both thai basil and zocalo are really good. i go to both of them often- also like alot of other suggestions here-moxie, ella, l wine bar. we also like cosmo cafe right on k st. in old sac there's a great place for smoked fish right on the river in that boardwalk area

Where's Linda??

I went to Zocalo for lunch yesterday. Yummy!!!

MY

MY..thx for calling!
Hrumphhhhhhh. [(

LL C...we'd understand if you'd rather spend time with anyone <i>but</i> us. :`(

the railroad museum in old town is a delightful place to spend an hour...or two.

Hi guys! Sorry, I hadn't checked back- we were planning a family reunion and now I have hardly any time to prepare for this trip. I got a res for Zocalo on opentable, so I'm glad to hear Michelle liked it. We will be there Monday night at 6. I would love to have guests and if anybody wants to meet, we can get extra seats.

Mrs Kal is off on Mondays so it just might be do-able for a cocktail.
What Monday or did I miss it?

No...it's next monday!

30th?

((?))((?))

Kal: Are you & Mrs. Kal stopping by Zocalo for a cocktail with LLindaC this evening?

MY

Me too wants to know (just happen to have a bit of free time this evening . . . . .)

OR - MichelleY, the Kals and moi can just up meet and <i>talk about</i> LLindaC :)

Oh .....what a day! We were having a splendid time and were ready to head to Sacramento when suddenly our car started rumbling and then refused to start. We looked under the hood. Finally, I asked my husband where the gas gauge was...as we had been traveling 5 days without refueling. Sure enough, we were out of gas in Geyserville...a town with no stop light and no gas station. Rick was beside himself, as he said....My Lexus always tells me when I'm low!" Oh gee...we rented an Impala, lol! So after much trouble, we called Zocalo and told them we would be an hour late and they said that was fine, yet they never wrote that on the reservation. When we got there, there was no reservation and the hostess said someone had waited to meet us! I was SO BUMMED. The food was great, but they had some probs at the front desk. So who was there to meet us? We showed up at 7:30...were exhausted, but enjoyed the food, but it would have been better with a Fodorite!

Oh - what a bummer! (yeah, sure - the "run out of gas" story :D ) There are worse places to be stranded than Geyserville. Maybe it was your DH's sneaky way of insuring you didn't keep your date w/ any internet axe murderers :)

MichelleY, Kal and I shot several e-mails back and forth Mon afternoon to see if anyone could make it. I got there just before 6:00 and hung around til about 6:30. About 6:20, the hostess who started out friendly, started mumbling things about "they're going to lose the reservation" - no one mentioned anything about you calling. (don't worry - it wasn't a wasted trip -- I ended up at Nordstrom's Rack)

That's OK. We've been blown off by better people. [(

Can you lend Dayaina your car next time she's supposed to come to Sac?:-"

Enjoy Calif's new sales tax increase! ;)

janisj, the hostess who said you were there said you were "really sweet". Congrats on your Nordstrom success. What began our late streak was a stop at Terroirs, a beautiful new tasting room in Geyserville. Daisy, the owner has amazing taste in wine and art. I seldom fall in love with jewelry, but I succumbed to a bracelet/necklace set by a British designer. It has bright red ceramic strawberries and a small skull. Divine. You MUST get to Diavola in Geyserville. The best pizza I've had in the United States. Hand tossed, crispy thin, wood oven, artisan cheese. We went twice. btw...thanks to the nice folks at the tractor place who kindly filled our tank enough to get us to Healdsburg. They are moving that business soon- they better get a gas station soon, lol!

jj makes sugar jealous! :-X

good news.. I just found out that Zocalo still gave us the 1000 point early dining bonus, LOL! I just love Open Table

It is a cool site...
Good grub AND 1k points. Don't get no bettah'.