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.

2014 has been an exciting year for Sacramento. Coming out of a recession, more restaurants opened than closed (by my count of those covered on Cowtown Eats, openings outpaced closings by a more than 2 to 1 margin), but not all restaurant openings were the same. Looking at what you, the loyal Cowtown Eats readers clicked on and tweaked a little by me, here are the 5 biggest dining stories of 2015.

5. Lance Briggs opens Double Nickel Smokehouse in Elk Grove

Maybe it's ravenous Chicago sports fans looking for news about the Bears linebacker's new restaurant and the minor controversy from his in-season trip to his native Elk Grove for the restaurant's grand opening, but posts about this restaurant had surprisingly high traffic. Unfortunately, the reviews are in, and as one Chicago sports blogger tweeted, the restaurant is going as well as Briggs' season (which is to say poorly).

Honestly, this isn't one that I had on my radar when I started writing this post, but you, the Cowtown Eats readers, have spoken by your overwhelming traffic for this topic.

4. RIP Doughbot Donuts

After the couple running the artisan donut shop announced they were closing, Doughbot couldn't make enough donuts to keep up with demand. They sold out by mid-morning most of their final few weeks, and when there were donuts, there were long lines of fans waiting to get their final fix. Doughbot's many fans in line meant lots of interest online too.

I also think there were two other reasons people connected with Dougbot. First of all, their offering was unique in Sacramento. While there were other traditional donut shops, nobody was doing the types of donuts that owners Brian and Dannah were creating. In fact, I'm craving one of their blood orange pull-aparts as I put this post together. Secondly, most donut shops are run by immigrants. There's nothing wrong with that, but Grid dwellers probably didn't connect with them like they did with Brian and Dannah, whom you'd also see at culinary events like Have an Offal Day. That connection to the community and their unique fare contributed to their popularity and will be sorely missed.

3. Tuli & Restaurant 13 Close Unexpectedly

By all accounts, Chef Adam Pechal was hitting his professional stride. In 2013, he appeared on ABC's The Taste, he co-owned the beloved Tuli Bistro, and followed up his first successful restaurant with a second, higher end eatery, Restaurant Thir13en. In early 2014, that all came tumbling down, to the surprise of most. By the end of January, both Restaurant Thir13en and Tuli Bistro closed. Since then, he's regrouped by launching the kitchen at Crawdad's and Pour House, but the talented chef has yet to reach the same heights.

Coincidentally, the closure of Tuli Bistro made the year's second biggest dining story possible.

2. Trick Pony's Original Owner Insults Sacramento Pizza

"The customer is always right," goes the old adage. I think that's probably a losing business strategy, but to go 180 degrees the other direction and insult the community you're about to join is probably a worse strategy.

In an interview with the Sac Bee, original Trick Pony owner Rick Lobely said, "I’m tired of driving two hours to get a really good pizza," instantly insulting the pizza at Masullo, Hot Italian, One Speed, Zelda's and many, many other quality Sacramento pizza joints and their legions of fans. After starting off on the wrong foot, the restaurant never found its footing. A contestant from ABC reality cooking show The Taste was brought in to open the restaurant, but he didn't last long. The pizza was served uncut, forcing patrons to slice it themselves. (I found it unique, but I'm not sure I would have liked it on the third or fourth visit.) Eventually, the ownership group brought in Team Broderick to run the restaurant, leading to the return of my favorite Sacramento server, Andrea Vadavato.

 

1 month left for the #chefs10. 😳 #mothersacramento

A photo posted by Mother (@mothersacramento) on Dec 12, 2014 at 11:49pm PST

The Chef's 10, a ten-item prix fixe menu at Mother for $50, will end at the end of the year, Mother announced on Instagram.

The Chef's 10 is really a relevation. It allows diners to try several bites of 10 of the best things they're serving on and off menu at the moment. I've had it at least two times and been left both stuffed and wanting more at the same time.

The Chef's 10 spread on a recent visit to Mother.

If you've never done it or want to do it one last time, you have one last chance on Tuesday for dinner. On Wednesday, Mother's doing a special New Year's Eve Chef's 10 for $80 per person. They hae two seatings - one starting at 5:30 p.m. and the other starting at 8:30 p.m.. Click here for tickets.

Finally, while we're on the subject of Mother:

As sponsored by The Crest’s adjacent restaurant, Mother, the Jan. 2 screening of “Citizen Kane” [at the Crest] and a Jan. 9 showing of “Casablanca” will be free with a restaurant receipt from a K Street Mall restaurant. No minimum purchase is required."

Read more about the offer in the Sac Bee.

More News:

Health department closes Crest Theatre over snack bar - The Crest Theatre snack bar was closed by Sacramento County health department for violations at the snack bar. The 975-seat theater was ordered closed Dec. 23 after a failed inspection. Mark Anderson in Sac Biz Journal.

Crest Theatre snack bar allowed to reopen after rodent-droppings problem - As KCRA 3 reported earlier, the snack bar was closed Tuesday when officials found rodent droppings throughout cabinets and on bags of unpopped popcorn in a storage room, county health authorities said. Pest Control has since taken care of the problem. The food service permit is no longer suspended. Michelle Schultz on KCRA.

Crest Theatre snack bar OK’d to reopen - Yulya Borroum, the theater’s new operator, said Wednesday that she took aggressive steps to control the pest problem she believes was stirred up by construction...Tuesday, the theater served cookies from nearby Mother restaurant and sold packaged candy as it welcomed around 300 patrons to see if Ralphie gets a Red Ryder BB gun. Ed Fletcher and Bill Lindelof in the Sac Bee.

VIDEO: Crest Theatre Open Following Shutdown For Health Code Violations, Rodent Droppings - According to Sacramento County health inspection reports obtained by CBS13, a health inspector found small rodent droppings on ledges near the soda machine and popcorn maker. On CBS 13.

@CowtownEats new look/name for Papa Dale's Food Truck pic.twitter.com/thOA1Falfs

— Chef Keith (@CulinerdyK) September 8, 2014

Papa Dale's Mobile Diner has switched its branding after two years to the Culinerdy Cruzer, Chef Keith Breedlove announced on Facebook. Here's how he explained the decision in late August:

After 2 years of good times, bad times, lean times, fat times..Amy Breedlove and I are retiring the Papa Dale's Drivin Diner brand. We feel our style, cuisine, culinerdy ness and personalities have outgrown the limitations of the brand. As many know we named it in honor of my Papa/ Grandfather, well Papa would want us to stand in front of our namesake and put ourselves out there, not behind a brand. Soooooo...in about 10 days the newly wrapped/ designed/ bad ass truck will hit the streets. I promise, bigger, bad-assier, nerdy-er then ever. You ain't seen nothing yet.

For those of you who aren't familiar with the truck, here's how they describe themselves.

Inspired by family, nostalgia, fun, and a lifelong love affair with food and cooking, the culinary team at Culinerdy Cruzer are proud to bring you a different experience in mobile dining. Our passion lies in classic, modern, futuristic comfort foods through a fusion of home-style cooking and modern technique. We pride ourselves in using whole ingredients and locally sourced farm-fresh produce in our hot rod diner on wheels.

Chef Breedlove recently announced that he was in the running for the next season of ABC cooking competition The Taste, but later announced that the timing wouldn't work out.

You can also check out a recent appearance by The Culinerdy Cruzer on Good Day Sac.

VIDEO: National Chip Day! Culinerdy Cruzer - We invited Papa Dales Culinerdy Cruzer to show off their homemade chips in celebration of last weekend's National Chip Day! On Good Day Sac Part 1 | Part 2.

The Culinerdy Cruzer can be found online at TheDinerTruck.com.

More News:

Thunder Valley's High Steaks high on quality - and price - Two of the three best steaks I’ve had in recent memory were at High Steaks, the upscale steakhouse inside the massive Thunder Valley Casino complex in Lincoln. They both had been aged for 35 days, seasoned assertively and cooked with great skill. They were thick, tender, juicy cuts of meat and absolutely delicious. Blair Anthony Robertson in the Sac Bee.

Tech devices changing the game for restaurants, diners - Partly to increase efficiency and trim costs, restaurateurs have been investing in tech tools for the last decade, altering routines that otherwise were little changed for more than a century. In some cases, it’s as simple as hand-held devices that let servers tap a customer’s order onto a touchscreen. At Shoki Ramen House in midtown Sacramento, staffers tote a slim, brick-shaped ordering device, which does more than zip orders to the kitchen. Mark Glover in the Sac Bee.

Il Pizzaiolo: A tasty slice of Italy - A few months ago, my brother emailed me a link to a New York Times article on how to quickly, cheaply and easily make an “Italian-style” pizza at home. I read it over, agreed with the author’s tips, and then promptly forgot about it. In my mind, excuses for still not attempting said homemade pizza have included: “I’ve been too busy” and “It’s been too hot this summer to fire up the oven to the ‘broil’ setting.” And now, Il Pizzaiolo in Rocklin basically cancels out the need for me to ever cook my own pizza. Ever. Driving to Il Pizzaiolo is quick, easy and cheap, too—and they might just serve the best pie in town. Jonathan Mendick in Sac News & Review.

The raw deal - On August 22, raw-food restaurant The Green Boheme announced it’s closing its cafe doors...Now, it’s focusing on being a learning center, and it’s joining forces with yet another new juice bar, Liquidology in East Sac—scheduled to open sometime this month—to sell food there. Shoka in Sac News & Review.

Want to run Mother for a night? It could happen - Mother, the popular vegetarian restaurant in downtown Sacramento, on Wednesday posted a Facebook message announcing it wants to host monthly pop-up dinners for aspiring chefs. "We'll give them the keys and they will be responsible for creating, promoting and hosting a pop-up at Mother. We're looking for go-getters ... Kids with chutzpah! If you know of any candidates ... Send them our way," the Facebook post says. Soyna Sorich in Sac Biz Journal.

Maiden will be a "pop up starting soon," announced Mother executive chef Matt Masera on Instagram earlier this week.

I reached out to a contact at Mother to learn more, but information was not immediately forthcoming. It's also unclear whether the pop up restaurant was a project of Chef Masera separate from Mother, or as part of the Mother brand, but given the name, I'd be willing to bet that its the latter.

I'll keep you posted as I learn more about these pop ups. I'm excited to see where else they go next.

Relatedly, Masera will also be the featured guest at the August edition of the Plates Guest Chef Dinner. Plates Cafe is run by the St. John's Program for Real Change (formerly St. John's Shelter) where homeless women learn front of the house and back of the house skills that will help set them onto a path of financial sustainability.

The guest dinners are held the first Thursday of every month and feature a high profile chef. The meals are prepared by the guest chef and served by staff from the cafe. While I don't think it's technically all you can eat, the times I've attended, you can ask for seconds and you won't leave hungry. It's a good meal, a worthy cause and you'll have a great time.

August's guest dinner will be held on Thursday, Aug. 7. Tickets are $50 per person and can be found here.

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Tropics on a Budget: Mikuni’s Key Lime Moto - Wishing you were slathered with sun block and baking luxuriously in the tropical sunshine? If finances and hectic work schedules thwart your travel plans, head to midtown’s Mikuni Sushi for the bar’s Key Lime Moto—it’s guaranteed to catapult you directly into vacation mode. Kira O'Donnell in Sac Mag.

The Inaugural Sacratomato Week Begins July 21 - The inaugural “Sacratomato Week” will be held from July 21 through July 27, and locals can expect to find tomato-themed menu options, drink specials and more at Sutter District establishments such as Café Bernardo (heirloom tomato, avocado and chèvre sandwich with basil pesto) and INK Eats and Drinks (the “Harvest Hooch”—rye whiskey, tomatoes, strawberries, lemon juice, simple syrup and orange bitters). Kira O'Donnell in Sac Mag.

Dawson’s -  I had the opportunity to hang out with Jason Poole, the executive chef of Dawson’s last week, and learned that his restaurant is anything but an industry cliché. Located at 1209 L Street, Dawson’s is the Hyatt Regency’s in-house steakhouse. But don’t call it a “hotel restaurant.” Dawson’s stands on its own. “We’re not a hotel restaurant. We’re better than that stigma,” Poole says. “Yes, we have rooms here, but we’re so much more.” Megan Foster in Sac Foodies.

In the mere months since it opened in January, Mother and its meatless cuisine have already made its stamp on the Sacramento dining scene. So what's next for the owners? Kate Washington in Sactown Mag has the details.

Their plan, all along, was to open a higher-end, meat-focused rotisserie, to be named Empress Tavern, located inside the venerable Crest Theatre on K Street. But then a Blimpie two doors down from the Crest closed, so the landlords asked the Empress crew if they wanted to move in, and Mother was quickly born, the first in a planned group of several restaurants...

Thiemann hints that future concepts, after Empress, may include a casual ice cream and French fry joint (a natural pairing, he says, since his secret to great French fries is freezing them) and, eventually, a seafood restaurant.

Washington also reports what the restaurant's named after. Surprisingly (at least to me), it's not a parental unit or a direct reference to the land where the restaurants vegetables are grown.

The restaurant’s name itself evokes this feeling, referencing the idea of Mother Earth and of food culture (a “mother” is the starter that turns wine into vinegar), while also positioning the restaurant as the matriarch of its owners’ planned group of eateries...But the name Mother also hides a secret history: in 2007, Thiemann was working in New Zealand at a restaurant called Sweet Mother’s Kitchen.

“One night, I was watching Trainspotting,” he remembers. “And this is really kind of bad—there’s this scene where [a character] goes and buys heroin from [a dealer known as] Mother Superior, and the transaction is like, ‘What’s on the menu today, sir?’ That stuck with me. I always wanted to name a restaurant Mother Superior, but we all agreed that here we were too close to the Catholic church,” referring to the nearby Cathedral of the Blessed Sacrament. So they dropped “Superior”—but kept the concept of Mother, and the idea of an ever-changing menu, albeit one with vegetables rather than drugs.

Read the entire article in Sactown Magazine.

Speaking of Mother, I had the chance to eat their $50 for 2 for the 10 course Chef's Menu on Wednesday evening after watching the USA Track & Field's men shot put finals from the West steps of the State Capitol. The meal was amazing. When I first started, I was afraid that I would still be hungry by the end, but we ended up taking about a quarter of the food home 'cause we were too stuffed to continue eating. I'd say about half of the food we had that night were dishes that you'd consider traditional "vegetarian" dishes while the other half were wildly inventive and unconventional. It was a good mix and well worth the money. But watch out, even on a Wednesday night, we still had to wait 45 mins for a table at 7 p.m. But still worth it.

More News:

Five things to know about Stones Gambling Hall - We can help you make a safe bet on what to expect when Stones Gambling Hall opens on July 11. The venue at Antelope Road and Interstate 80 in Citrus Heights features two card rooms, as well as Sammy’s Restaurant & Bar. It’s the first Sacramento-area location for the San Diego-based restaurant group, founded by Sami Ladeki. Sonya Sorich in Sac Biz Journal.

Taste something special: Sacramento gets coffee week - Here's some news likely to bolster your espresso high: Sacramento will have a Specialty Coffee Week this year. The event, which is planned for Oct. 13-19, comes courtesy of local businesses Temple Coffee and Chocolate Fish Coffee Roasters. It has an official website, and recently wrote its first Twitter and Facebook posts. Sonya Sorich in Sac Biz Journal.

VIDEO: Critics’ Choice Yogurt Awards - The Critic’s Choice Awards are tonight and Yogurt Land is the official yogurt for the ceremony. Of course we had to taste some to make sure the celebrities are getting the best. On Good Day Sac.

Cowtown Eats was the first to bring you news of Sac Brew Bike, a communal, 15 passenger bike that provides transportation between local bars and breweries.

But now they have some competition - Off The Chain Bike Tours, reports Sonya Sorich in Sac Biz Journal.

Blessinger and Todd Sebastian — the “foreman for festivities” — are co-owners of Off the Chain Bike Bus Tours. It was among the finalists in this year’s Calling All Dreamers retail business plan competition, but the idea didn’t win.

Blessinger and Sebastian are still moving forward with the business, and hope to start operating their bike bus in August. The bike, designed and built in Minnesota, will include a beer tap designed to be used when the bike is parked at events on private property.

In addition to Off the Chain Bike Tours having a tap, they'll also be partially powered by electric power, as opposed to Sac Brew Bike, which is powered by its riders.

Read the entire story in Sac Biz Journal.

For more info, visit SactownBikeBus.com.

More News:

‘Third-wave’ coffee crests in city - Sacramento has a growing reputation for its restaurants and boutique farms. The regional wine industry is flourishing and winning acclaim. And craft beer is big and getting bigger. But in the past five years, thanks to a small band of quality-obsessed entrepreneurs and meticulously trained employees, the local coffee scene has emerged as a largely unsung star that just might be at the forefront when it comes to garnering respect and attracting attention well beyond our city limits. Blair Anthony Robertson in the Sac Bee.

Chefs' Olive Mix expanding downtown - An olive oil store in Old Sacramento is adding a second location downtown. Chefs' Olive Mix expects to open a store at 1019 L St. in June, according to store administrator Tracie Renner. She said there was a dominant factor in the decision to expand downtown. Sonya Sorich in Sac Biz Journal.

Stones Gambling Hall to open with region's first Sammy's Restaurant & Bar - Stones Gambling Hall & Tavern finally opens July 11 at Antelope Road and Interstate 80 with the region’s first Sammy's Restaurant & Bar...Sammy’s is a San Diego-based restaurant chain that has 19 locations in Southern California and Nevada. The first Sammy’s Woodfired Pizza opened in La Jolla in 1989, and since then founder Sami Ladeki’s restaurants have won a slew of awards. Mark Anderson in Sac Biz Journal.