My favorite meat-free menu items

Keeping meat out of my kitchen wasn’t too much of a struggle during our vegetarian stint in January. Avoiding it when dining out? Not quite so easy.

As mentioned in my previous post, we don’t typically keep a lot of meat in the house, so as long as I kept up with my meal planning and grocery shopping we didn’t have any must-have-meat-now! breakdowns.

I don’t know about you, but when going out to eat I try to order something I wouldn’t normally have at home. I’m going for elaborate, rich, and, in most cases, meatier-than-usual options. It’s tough to focus on the roasted beets when you’re normally cruising the menu for filet mignon.

However, we stepped outside of our routine when dining out in January and were rewarded with some wonderful dishes.

We finally got around to checking out Andy Nguyen, and the Buddhist-inspired vegetarian offerings were fantastic.

Buddha Rolls: Lemongrass-infused shiitake mushroom, rice noodles, carrots and daikon wrapped with lettuce in rice paper and served with a soy ginger dipping sauce

Limitless Compassion: Spicy Mongolian “beef” (they have a lot of vegetarian “meats” on the menu) sauteed with broccoli, bell peppers and carrots

Universal Love Lemongrass: Sauteed mushrooms, onions, tofu and mixed vegetables with soy chicken in a spicy lemongrass sauce

We headed to the mountains a couple weekends ago searching for snow and discovered the Cottonwood Restaurant and Bar, which overlooks downtown Truckee -- you can see the glowing red sign atop this ski-lodge-turned-eatery’s roof from the bottom of the hill. Chris and I were impressed with our meal from start to finish: roasted polenta gratin with fresh mozzarella, tomato and roasted garlic with an almond and red bell pepper romesco; a salad of warmed chevre cheese, spiced pecans, roasted garlic and spring greens; and some heavenly butternut squash enchiladas with ancho chile mole sauce, cilantro, white cheddar and toasted pumpkin seeds.

Orphan serves the best breakfast (at least, in my opinion) in Sacramento. Ordering is always tough because their menu is amazing. On a recent Sunday brunch I opted for the soy chorizo breakfast, an amazing pile of scrambled eggs, soy chorizo, jack cheese, tomatoes, sour cream, salsa, green onions, cilantro and avocado served atop corn tortillas and black beans. So good!

31 flavors

I recently celebrated my 31st birthday with a weekend getaway in Murphys. It’s a charming little town in Calaveras County, CA packed with great wineries.

Chris and I hit the road after work Friday night and friends Lucy, Brett, Kimmy and Ramsey met up with us Saturday morning. Our celebratory crew of six (seven if you count Brett and Lucy’s loveable English bulldog GOB) took over the main drag, visiting quite a few tasting rooms in the span of a beautiful fall Saturday— Milliaire Winery, Twisted Oak and Newsome-Harlow were some of the favorites.

We worked up quite an appetite during our wine-tasting adventure and therefore gorged on a fantastic dinner at Grounds. I thoroughly enjoyed the filet mignon with shrimp, potatoes, baby carrots and bordelaise sauce.

I kicked off my actual birthday Sunday with a delicious breakfast casserole before we packed up and headed home. Once back in Sacramento, Chris and I enjoyed a mellow feast at Lucca, starting with this wonderful spicy shrimp bruschetta

before moving on to a heavenly main course of ricotta gnocchi with Aleppo chili tomato sauce and spicy sausage.

Thirty was a great year for me – running two marathons and starting a new job were some of the highlights. I can’t wait to make the most out of 31, and am grateful I got to kick it off by sharing a delicious weekend of laughter with some of my favorite people.

Sacramento snapshots: Seafood, cycling and some succulent birds

Chris and I have enjoyed some scrumptious Sacramento meals over the past few weeks. Snack on these snapshots.

We rode our one-speeds to OneSpeed for one delicious brunch today. I worked hard to make a dent in this breakfast calzone, which was big enough for two. This beast was stuffed with breakfast sausage, herb scrambled eggs, sautéed onions, spinach and Parmesan, topped with country gravy. Tasted great with Old Soul Co. coffee and mimosas.

My sweets took me out for a delectable dinner last weekend at Mulvaney's B & L. We gorged on potato tortellini with marrow, quail and spring peas, tombo tuna ... heavenly!

 

 

If you’re looking for a starter with some ooh la la, try the mussels at Bistro Michel. They’re prepared with celery, shallots, fennel, garlic, white wine, cream and Pernod Absinthe. I had to resist the urge to request a whole basket of bread to soak up every last drop of the sauce.

Healdsburg weekend makes for a very happy birthday

I celebrated my 30th birthday in style with a weekend in Healdsburg with my special man friend, who, as a side note, gave me a super cool new camera (perhaps so I’m not hounding him for blog photos all the time?) — such a thoughtful gift. It was one big birthday blowout for our taste buds, with stops at wineries including (these were just the favorites) Bella Vineyards, Seghesio Family Vineyards and Ridge Vineyards.

Downtown Healdsburg is a charming spot overflowing with tasting rooms— we particularly enjoyed Hawley Winery and Edmeades — and fantastic restaurants.

My birthday dinner at Barndiva, just a block away from the main square, was delicious from start to finish. For cocktails, I tried Johan’s Mama (aquavit infused with toasted cacao nibs and ginger, house-made blackberry liqueur, nigori sake, barrel-aged bitters, sage and lemon) while Chris opted for Poodle Springs (jalapeno-vanilla infused pisco, luxardo maraschino, German Riesling, crème de peche, toasted bitters, lemon juice).

It was tough to make main-course decisions, but Chris ended up with a rack of pork with stone-ground polenta, braised chard, pancetta and gravenstein apple chutney. Me? I devoured my Sonoma leg of lamb with heirloom bean gratin, haricot verts, mint pesto and tomato marmalade.

After dinner we enjoyed a picturesque night cap at Spoonbar.

The open faced turkey meatball sandwich at Bolovo, inside Copperfield’s Bookstore, was a knock out for lunch.

Willi’s Seafood is a must-try for such delights as the tuna tartare with jalapenos, cashews, ginger and coconut milk

and the curried crab roll. Great spot to grab a Sunday afternoon seafood snack.

Another excellent dinner choice was Zin Restaurant and Wine Bar, where I ordered strip steak with pinto beans and a chile relleno.

The weekend was a wonderful way to kick off what I’m sure will be my best decade yet!

A trio of must-try locations

Craving classy pub grub?
Give Magnolia Gastropub & Brewery a try the next time you’re in San Francisco. I’m always excited by any place that makes their own sausage, and the night we stopped in there were a handful of different links on the menu (I enjoyed the chicken sausage, served with crispy potatoes), in addition to all kinds of other tempting entrée options. The seven-barrel brewery is located below the pub—their beers have names like Cole Porter and Wit Rabbit.

Headed to California’s Central Coast?
We were in Cambria recently for a friend’s wedding, and decided to delay the 300-mile drive back home by hitting up some Paso Robles wineries. Favorites included Zenaida Cellars, which makes a lot of killer reds, and Niner Wine Estates, which happened to celebrate their grand opening the Sunday we stopped in by pairing wines with some tasty snacks prepared by Trumpet Vine Catering (that’s a crab and mango spring roll paired with Niner’s 2007 Sauvignon Blanc, below). Learn more about Paso Robles wineries here.

Looking for a great brunch in Sacramento?
The next time you roll out of bed with a roaring stomach, head over to Orphan, located on 3440 C St. just a few blocks from McKinley Park. Their food is fresh, simple and fantastic, and their coffee is also amazing. On a recent visit I inhaled corn tamales covered in tomatillo sauce served with eggs (over medium, please), black beans, cilantro, tomatoes and cheese.

Chris thoroughly enjoyed his coconut French toast, which was one of the specials that day. While I’ve only tried Orphan once, their sister spot in Chico, Sin of Cortez, was one of my college dining splurges.

Eating like a rock star in San Diego

I’m officially a marathoner!

Chris and I spent the weekend down in San Diego, where we both ran the Rock ‘n’ Roll Marathon. And while it might have felt like it, especially around mile 25, we didn’t spend the entire time running. There was a lot of relaxing, as well as a lot of eating, both before and after Sunday’s race.

Here’s a rundown of some of the places we tried.

Rama Thai
We spent Friday and Saturday ingesting some serious carbs, while keeping meat, spicy dishes and dairy at a minimum. Friday night we feasted on Rama Thai’s Pad Thai with chicken, Drunken Noodles with beef, and the Birds Nest, a brothy dish with crispy noodles, shrimp, chicken, bamboo shoots and fresh vegetables.

Bencotto Italian Kitchen
I stumbled upon this newer Little Italy eatery via Yelp. For our last big pre-race meal Chris and I both opted for pasta bowls. Bencotto offers Pasta a Modo Tuo (pasta your way), allowing diners to pick between nine sauce choices and eight pastas, which are all made daily in house. While I thoroughly enjoyed my salsiccia (sausage in spicy tomato sauce) atop pappardelle (large hand-cut fettuccine), Bencotto’s menu featured many other tempting dishes I would have loved to try if I wasn’t uber-paranoid about my stomach.

Karl Strauss Brewing Company
Our post-race binge-fest took place at Karl Strauss’ downtown location. We tried the beer sampler and both honed in on the Pintail Pale Ale. Chris went for the chipotle-marinated flat iron steak, and I refueled with their Turkey Bleus Burger, a turkey burger with gorgonzola and pesto mayonnaise, with a side of some deliciously stinky garlic Parmesan fries.

El Vitral
A couple hours later we were ready to do some more eating, and enjoyed a light dinner of tacos at El Vitral, right next to PETCO Park, home of the Padres. Two taco plates did the trick — the Camaron Enchilados, made with spicy shrimp and mushrooms and topped with avocado cream, and the Taco de Dorado (beer-battered mahi mahi with slaw, salsa verde, crema fresca and chipotle aioli) were gone in no time.

Broken Yolk Café
Monday morning we hobbled down the street to the Broken Yolk Café for breakfast, where I indulged in Betty’s Southern Biscuits and Gravy and eggs over medium. We each ordered a mimosa and learned that we could get a full bottle of champagne for the price of those two drinks, and soon after a chilled bottle of bubbly and mini carafes of orange and pomegranate juices ended up at our table. Definitely helped ease the sore legs a bit!