There's growing buzz about Mother, a new restaurant helmed by former Ella chef Mike Thiemann. He's held pop ups at places like Old Ironsides, and the word of mouth I've heard from work friends has been great. But what about the actual restaurant? Ed Murrieta has details in the Sac Biz Journal.

Expect lunch during the week, brunch on weekends and dinner Tuesday through Saturday.

“It’s just meatless,” Thiemann said of his all-vegetable menu. “It's not a political restaurant. We’re meat-eaters ourselves. We love vegetables. They grow all around us. It seems the right thing to do...”

Thiemann said Mother’s menu will include small plates and entrees, from $5 to $15, including peppers grilled in a charcoal box, barbecue mushrooms, roasted radishes, tapioca puffs and hoppin’ john.

Murrieta also reports that the restaurant will open on Jan. 20.

Read the entire story in the Sac Biz Journal.

Unlike the other vegetarian places in general, I have high hopes for Mother. He doesn't seem to try to make regular dishes sans meat products, but the dishes I've heard about are great dishes that feature just vegetables.

As a point of reference, I'd heard about Dirt Candy, a restaurant in New York's East Village that's doing cutting edge vegetarian cuisine, on a recent America's Test Kitchen podcast. I found it a great intro to this segment of the restaurant universe.

Lastly, Mother replaces Blimpie Subs. When they closed, Blimpie's owners complained about the increasing rent due to the new arena. While I do feel bad for the small business owners displaced as the Downtown region is reshaped, if it means fewer chain sandwich shops and more innovative restaurant concepts, I'm all for it.

The Sac Bee's Blair Anthony  Roberts also write about the restaurant this week.

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