V. Miller Meats, owned by Eric Veldman Miller, who had been Chef de cuisine at Mulvaney's and Matt Azevedo, who had been Chef de cuisine at Restaurant Thir13en and Tuli, opened in East Sac on Tuesday.

The butcher shop will focus on whole animal butchery and all of their poultry will be sourced from local farms. They'll also feature fresh and cured sausages, charcuterie, cold cuts, stocks and other creative cuts. 

I stopped by today on my way home from work and found a store with a steady flow of traffic. Since they've said they will have less popular cuts of meat, I went specifically to try to buy materials to make roasted bone marrow at home for dinner. A Bon Appetite article I found said I should find beef femur bones since they're the straight and have a large amount of marrow. (I had previously visited Taylor's, but the items were out of stock.)

I was helped by Eric himself and he quickly produced a femur, sliced it in half lengthwise via his band saw and sold me .73 pounds at $4.99 a pound. Eric said that they were actually selling many unusual cuts of meat, but hadn't sold many pork chops yet on their opening day.

Work was still being done on the butcher shop, and shelves in which they could make charcuterie had not yet been installed. It was evident, though, that the modestly-sized shop was clean, paid attention to detail and will become part of the East Sacramento community.

V. Miller Meats is located at 4801 Folsom Blvd. and can be found onine at http://vmillermeats.com/.

More News:

Better than Hostess: Hand pies, Nido by Magpie - If you grew up with Hostess fruit pies and fried McDonald's pastries, you might hanker for a healthier version now. Hightail it to Nido by Magpie on R Street. Ann Martin Rolke in Sac News & Review.

This company thinks Sacramento diners need a new breakfast option - There's been talk of a cupcake bubble. A sushi bubble. Even a brewery bubble. But at least in Sacramento, a breakfast bubble has yet to arrive. That's according to Robert Maynard, CEO of Famous Toastery, a North Carolina-based eatery. Maynard wants to eventually have 10 Famous Toastery locations across Sacramento, Placer, Yolo and El Dorado counties. Sonya Sorich in Sac Biz Journal.

Orchid Thai - The midtown outpost of the original Lincoln location began serving a one-of-a-kind brunch menu on Oct. 10. Stop by on a Saturday or Sunday between 11 a.m. and 3 p.m. to try one of their eight Thai-influenced American brunch favorites like chicken and waffles with seasoned panko-crusted chicken on a fluffy waffle topped with palm syrup and mangos, or the two eggs cooked in an omelet-like fashion wrapped around fried rice. Heather Kemp and Johanna Pugh in Sactown Magazine. (Second Item.)

Counter Culture: Q’bolé in Historic Folsom - The trio of chicken street tacos was a delish snack, the moist and tender pieces of fowl topped with cilantro and onion, squeezes of lime and spills of salsa. A simpler but equally satisfying dish was by special request – a plate of cilantro rice and black beans. Lime and salsa added more yum. Allen Pierleoni in the Sac Bee.

Hawks Provisions and Public House, the East Sac outpost for the critically-acclaimed Granite Bay restaurant Hawks, is expected to open in November in time for the holiday rush, reports the Sac Bee's Blair Anthony Robertson.

The restaurant was first announced in Feb. 2013, and the restaurant will finally open 30 months later. They had previously planned to open in Aug. 2014, March 2015 and now finally Nov. 2015.

In an interview with Hawks co-owner Michael Fagnoni, Robertson also reports that:

• They decided to open a second restaurant, in part, to create new opportunities for the staff.
• The restaurant will be a gastropub-style establishment with six beers on tap.
• They've already received reservations for holiday parties in 2016.

Read the entire Q and A  in the Sac Bee.

When it opens, Hawks Provisions and Public House will be located at 1525 Alhambra Blvd. and can be found online at http://hawksprovisionsandpublichouse.com/.

More News:

Beer Run: Now in Year 3, here’s how Bike Dog overachieved - The questions no one really seemed to be asking a couple of years ago, as the boom hit full stride, were, “Which of the newcomers would exceed expectations?” and “Which humble, little brewery would dial up good beer and dial in all the little things that add up to a pleasing beer-drinking experience?” The answer is Bike Dog Brewing. Blair Anthony Robertson in the Sac Bee.

Florida company wants a piece of Sacramento's craft beer scene - The Brass Tap, billed as an upscale craft beer and wine bar with food, recently entered California with a location in Vacaville. Peter Petrosian, the company's chief development officer, said he's eyeing Sacramento as The Brass Tap continues to expand throughout the state...Plans are still in the early stages. Petrosian is looking for local franchisees and hasn't finalized location details or a time frame for opening. But he thinks the region "can support multiple locations." Sonya Sorich in Sac Biz Journal.

The winner of the second annual Sacramento National Nachos Day Crawl - It actually started in the afternoon, 3 p.m., on Broadway at Maya's. A server delivered thoughtfully plated nachos—sour-cream zigzags, zesty grilled peppers, plus the requisite cheese and chips, beans, guacamole and such, for 9 bucks. This first offering had the crew philosophizing as to what makes a nacho. But that exploration was fleeting, and perhaps Adam's insight was sufficient: “When the cheese hits the chip...” Maya's wins the NND Crawl for the second straight year. Nick Miller in Sac News & Review.

Localis - On Oct. 20, this popular midtown destination for the farm-to-fork loving dinner crowd expanded its menu and hours to begin serving lunch...The menu, masterminded by executive chef Christopher Barnum, who wanted to put his own creative twist on beloved lunch classics, includes a pastrami sandwich with thin cut slices of house-seasoned smoked beef, cabbage and grainy mustard aioli piled high onto Localis’ house-made rye bread. Heather Kemp and Johanna Pugh in Sactown Magazine.

Requested, a smartphone app that helps you save money during off peak hours and helps you get a table at peak hours, is starting to show real momentum in Sacramento.

I had downloaded the app several months ago, but hadn't tried it out until this past Sunday.

At about 4 p.m., we were looking for a restaurant to eat at that night. On our list of places to go included Empress Tavern and Localis, but neither were open on Sunday.

So we turned to Requested App. At a minimum, it (like Open Table) shows what restaurants have availability that evening. But as part of that process, not only did it show us what restaurants had space, it also showed which restaurants were willing to give us a discount to dine in on a slow night.

We ended up choosing and making a reservation at Formoli's Bistro, a restaurant with a stellar reputation, but one that we generally consider too far since it's all the way in East Sac. (I know...East Sac isn't that far, but distances are relative though.) It was a restaurant that we weren't originally considering, but the 20 percent discount got us in the door.

When we arrived, we informed the hostess that we had a reservation via Requested.

They seated us quickly. We noticed the restaurant was about half full that evening, so the dollars we were spending were dollars that they weren't getting otherwise.

We decided to order the seafood gumbo and the pork chop. As expected, they were top notch. The gumbo was creamy and didn't skimp on the seafood, and the pork chop was literally the best pork chop I've ever had. It was succulent throughout, and the corn salsa below it provided a great, spicy bite.

At the conclusion of our meal, the waiter presented us a "bill," though it was more of a listing of the things we ordered to make sure their system recorded it correctly.

The app took care of calculating the discount, adding tip (which by default is set at 20 percent, though you can adjust it within limits) and billing my credit card. No need to do math or wait for the waiter to come over, collect your credit card, swipe it and return with a receipt for you to sign.

As a quick aside, the discounts are dynamic. What discounts are available depend demand. It may change by day of the week, time you're going out, etc. You may not receive the same discount I got on Sunday.

All in all, I was very impressed with the Requested system. It performed as advertised, helped restaurants fill empty chairs and helped me save a couple bucks. I'll be using them again.

You can download the Requested App here and save $10 off your first use. (Disclosure: I'll also get $10 when you use it.)

For more information, visit RequestedApp.com.

More News:

New brewery plans to team up with Old Soul Co. in midtown Sacramento - Midtown Sacramento could be getting another craft brewery, with an application into the city for establishing one in a building on L Street. Big Stump Brewing Co. would occupy 2,950 square feet at 1716 L St., in a building owned by the operators of the neighboring Old Soul Co. coffee operation. Ben van der Meer in Sac Biz Journal.

Bubbling hot - From the team behind Heat Shabu Baru comes Boiling Avenue (943 Howe Avenue), a softly opened hot pot hot spot. The space is bright and modern with industrial touches, and the menu specializes in mini, personal-sized fusion hot pots. Janelle Bitker in Sac News & Review. (Second Item.)

New company enters local coffee scene - Satisfying your coffee craving will soon get easier. A new local company called Brass Clover plans to offer ready-to-drink bottles of cold-brew coffee from local roasters. The company will begin by partnering with Old Soul Co. and hopes to work with other roasters on a rotating basis, according to Randall Echevarria, who owns Brass Clover with his husband, Monte Hudock. Sonya Sorich in Sac Biz Journal.

New Fat’s corporate chef brings breadth of experience - Fat’s Asia Bistros in Roseville and Folsom always have covered a lot of culinary ground, starting with Chinese favorites from Sacramento father ship Frank Fat’s and radiating out to other countries’ cuisines. New Fat Family Restaurant Group corporate executive chef Lin Chen has taken that concept deeper and farther, adding Singapore laksa spicy noodles, Rendang Padang (Malaysian) beef stew, gado-gado Indonesian salad and (Indian) lamb vindaloo to the bistros’ new fall/winter menu. Carla Meyer in the Sac Bee.

Amid craft brew boom, mobile beer canning business is crushing it - The idea came to them while they were still in graduate school for business administration in the Bay Area. With so many new craft breweries up and running, Lindsey Herrema and Jenn Coyle zeroed in on a business plan that would help more startups with little infrastructure to package their beer in cans and, consequently, increase their profile in the marketplace. Blair Anthony Robertson in the Sac Bee.

Formoli's Bistro
3839 J St
Sacramento, CA 95816
916-448-5699

Web site: http://formolisbistro.com/

Yelp: http://www.yelp.com/biz/formolis-bistro-sacramento-2

Happy Hour

Tuesday to Friday
5 to 7 p.m.

Sunday
11:30 to 2 p.m. & 5 to 7 p.m.

Empress Tavern is scheduled to open on next week, and they've been giving previews to local media. The Sac Bee's Chris Macias tweeted that the space is a "game changer."

Here's a little more from S.T. Vanairsdale in Sactown Mag.

Thiemann promises a meat mecca when Empress opens, a carvery rooted in the sanctity of the French dip and with heaping servings of everything from prime rib to short ribs to seafood and even the turducken—the Thanksgiving specialty of chicken stuffed inside duck, then stuffed inside turkey, that Empress will offer year-round. 

Former Mother chef and longtime Thiemann confederate Matt Masera will lead the kitchen, a massive space with a rotisserie oven at its heart, pastry and ice cream stations at the ready (desserts are Masera’s forte) and a halo of gleaming pots, pans and other implements dangling from the ceiling.

“It’s like a steakhouse, but with all meats, which allows us to keep the price point really reasonable,” says Thiemann, who emphasizes Empress highlights like salmon and Hangtown fry (the oyster omelet delicacy hailing from the Gold Rush) nearly in the same breath as bone marrow with escargot.

 Read the entire story in Sactown Mag.

Vanairsdale also reports that the opening date has been refined from the week of Aug. 31 to 5:30 p.m. on Wednesday, Sept. 2.

For some gorgeous pictures of the space, check out chef/partner Michael Thiemann's Instagram account.

 

Empress Tavern

A photo posted by Michael Thiemann (@chefthiemann) on Aug 24, 2015 at 11:19pm PDT

Empress Tavern is located at 1013 K Street, and can be found at EmpressTavern.com.

More News:

Here's what happened after I ordered a glass of wine at Starbucks - Instead of "tall" or "grande," I was deciding between pinot noir and sauvignon blanc. And strangely, extra whipped cream was not an option. Welcome to the new Starbucks experience. Sonya Sorich in Sac Biz Journal. 

Sacramento’s thriving cocktail culture lures back a hometown star - Scores of Sacramentans have faced this dilemma: Should I stay, or should I go? Jayson Wilde grappled with this choice five years ago. Burned out from his desk job at a Roseville insurance company and unhappy that his punk band was stuck in limbo, he took a side job as a bar back at the Shady Lady Saloon on R Street. There, he found his calling making craft cocktails – impeccably prepared mixed drinks featuring fresh ingredients and dynamic flavor combinations. Chris Macias in the Sac Bee.

Truly, deadly, delicious - Formoli’s Bistro radically changed its lunch menu for the first time since, well, ever. The only remaining items are the stuffed dates and—don’t freak out—the whiskey burger. That means there are a whole lotta new dishes to try. I recently sampled a simple salad with perfectly seared salmon ($12); a fried chicken sandwich that surprises with a light tempura-beer batter ($10); and deadly, deadly braised lengua tacos ($9). Sometimes, the taco plate offers pork instead. But when it’s lengua—my goodness—you must. Janelle Bitker in Sac News & Review.

Sweet, savory, seasonal: Prosciutto and watermelon pizza, Paesanos - Meat and melon on a pizza? I wasn't so sure about it going in, but I've seen the light. Paesanos' delicious seasonal pizza ($13.95) has just the right balance of sweet and savory on top of a tasty crust. Meg Masterson in Sac News & Review.

The Berhane sisters serve up coffee with a side of sass at Tiferet - Sabrina and Makeda Berhane have made their East Sacramento business, Tiferet Coffee House, such a neighborhood gathering place that not long ago, a young man who had just passed his bar exam brought in champagne for the sisters and their customers. The reason: He had done most of his studying there. Ed Goldman in Sac Biz Journal.

Public House Theater was forced to close the theater portion of its operations just before they celebrated their first anniversary, they announced on Facebook on Friday.

Sac News & Review's Janelle Bitker has more:

Someone anonymously tipped the Motion Picture Licensing Corporation that Public House was operating illegally, according to co-owner Norma Ward.

Ward said she had been trying to get the appropriate licenses for the past year, but “it’s been a process.”

Read the entire story in Sac News & Review.

However, fans of eating and drinking while dining still have other options while Public House Theater gets the proper permits. They can head out to Rocklin's Studio Movie Grill, which I found to be the most comfortable movie watching experience I've ever had, or wait a while for K Street's Crest Theater to serve food, which is planned after Empress opens.

More News:

Insight Coffee, Magpie Café and others readying to open in new 16 Powerhouse building - As the construction of midtown’s 16 Powerhouse residential and retail complex nears completion after two years, the next several weeks will usher in a slew of business openings along the 16th Street corridor. Insight Coffee Roasters, Magpie Café, Sun & Soil Juice Company and Orchid Thai are building out their respective ground-floor spaces in the new building, which overlooks Fremont Park at the intersection of 16th and P streets. The projected April and May openings follow delayed debuts previously scheduled for December and January. Jessica Rine in Sactown Mag.

Craft beer comes to Fair Oaks - Options for craft beer fans in the Sacramento region continue to increase. One of the newest additions, Fair Oaks Brew Pub, officially opened Wednesday. Located at 7988 California Ave. in Old Fair Oaks Village, the brewery serves craft beer, wine and food. Its menu focuses on pizzas, salads and cured meats and cheeses. A full menu will be available. Sonya Sorich in Sac Biz Journal.

The Trade and its Blue Bottle coffee opens in Midtown - Famed Bay Area coffeehouse Blue Bottle can now be consumed in Midtown. Kind of. The Trade Coffee & Coworking, a coworking office space slash cafe, opened yesterday at 2220 K Street. And the cafe portion proudly carries Blue Bottle Coffee beans, with Blue Bottle-trained baristas. Janelle Bitker in Sac News & Review.

Egg-ceptional Easter brunches in and around Sacramento - Planning to gather the family and friends for Easter brunch? From croque Suzannes to French toast pies, we've got nine egg-cellent ways to celebrate the holiday on April 5. Featuring Fabian's Italian Bistro, The Firehouse, Formoli's Bistro, Grand Island Mansion, Grange, Hawks, Hyatt Sacramento, Original Pancake House and Ten 22. Jason Pham and Jessica Rine in Sactown Mag.

Food truck Wicked 'Wich's initial claim to fame was it's Pittsburgh/Primanti Brothers-style sandwiches, which is basically a regular sandwich served with fries and cole slaw.

Unfortunately, when it opened its brick and mortar location at the West Sac Community Center last week, its trademark sandwiches were nowhere to be found, which led to a little grousing by fans, like these comments on Reddit.

Co-owner Matt Chong explained the change, via e-mail. "We don’t have the ability to install a deep fryer, so that’s what prompted the menu shift," wrote Chong. "Unfortunately, we won’t be selling the old-school Primanti-style sandwiches - but there are some seriously delicious options in their place."

Mystery solved. It's just a limitation of the space they were given. Chong did fill in come other details about the new cafe, again via e-mail:

• Open Mon-Fri, 7a-5p.
• We’re serving coffee/espresso, breakfast items (house steel cut oats, breakfast panini, pastries), sandwiches (panini style, regular. Some have Latin American influences), salads, snacks and natural sugar bottled sodas.
• We hope to be a catalyst for people to come out and not only eat with us, but check out the great facilities that are nearby:
• West Sac Library
• Black Box Theater- a very cool 300 person theater inside the Comm Center
• Event Space / Dance Rehearsal room (perfect for gatherings, meetings, dance practices)
• The experience has been great so far. There has been a HUGE amount of West Sac folks stopping by to support us, including so many who work for the city. The people inside the building are amazing to work with as well.

If you're in West Sac and you're looking for a meal, I'd encourage you to give the new Wicked 'Wich cafe, located at 1075 West Capitol Avenue, a try.

More News:

At table with Sacramento news anchor Edie Lambert - Restaurant-wise, two of her local go-to’s are Mulvaney’s B&L (916-441-6022, www.mulvaneysbl.com ) and, for more casual dining, Formoli’s Bistro (916-448-5699, www.formolisbistro.com). Then there’s Edie’s comfort-food favorite, the bread pudding at Les Baux Bakery (916-739-1348, www.lesbauxbakery.com). “If everything is going wrong in my world, that bread pudding will dig me out,” she said. Allen Pierleoni in the Sac Bee.

Sacramento tech team creates ‘Requested’ app for restaurant discounts - An ambitious smartphone app released this week promises to bring dynamic pricing to the dining industry, allowing restaurants to fill seats on slow days while giving customers the chance to negotiate discounted meals. Called Requested, the free app for Android and iPhone is the creation of a team that includes Sonny Mayugba, co-owner of The Red Rabbit Kitchen & Bar, who spent 12 weeks living and working in San Francisco as part of a startup incubator project. Blair Anthony Robertson in the Sac Bee.

M. Shahrzad Serves Up Terrific Persian Cuisine - I had a knockout dinner this past weekend at M. Shahrzad Fine Persian Cuisine in Rancho Cordova. The restaurant was packed with families and large groups when we arrived, tucking happily into the restaurant’s toothsome skewered meats, robust Persian stews and colorful appetizers. Kira O'Donnell in Sac Mag.

Mother’s Beer Week Event Spectacular - “Mother’s Beer Week Event Spactacular” – That’s a big title to live up to – but if there’s one thing that Mother excels at, it’s living up to the hype. The small, veggie-centric restaurant on K St has certainly become a mainstay for the downtown lunch crowd, but you haven’t truly experienced Mother until you’ve attended one of their special events. I was lucky enough to snag tickets to their beer week event, and it did not disappoint. Brianna Nathan on Girls on the Grid.

Can ‘fast-casual’ burger chains overcome the merely fast? - As one of the region’s growing “better burger” chains, Krush Burger is on a roll. Part of a national trend, it’s biting into the traditional burger market long dominated by big chains like McDonald’s, Wendy’s and Burger King. In the last few years, America’s relish for the basic burger has shifted from the fast, low-priced products touted by the golden arches to higher-quality meals produced quickly, the so-called fast-casual better burger. Ellen Garrison in the Sac Bee.