California Grubbin'

food: 5/5 experience: 3.5/5 overall: 4.5/5 Yessss, my favorite cuisine, Thai. We meet again. Or shall I say, eat... yes, aren't I so funny. Expectations were kept considerably low for this place, it being in Elk Grove and all. The strip mall restaurant is always excitingly unpredictable (yeap, I'm at a point in my life where I get excited about strip malls). Some say it's a sure indicator of an excellent hidden gem; others say quite the opposite. Still being relatively new to the foodie scene at the time, I couldn't honestly say one way or the other. If this place is representative though, I see a lot more Elk Grove dining options in my future. Ordered to-go, so we picked up the takeout menu. They had a menu with a good two  pages of vegetarian options (this was when I was vegan). And what an amazing selection! I finally settled on sweet basil tofu. Minor mishap: I asked for steamed tofu, not fried, but it came out fried, dangit. Barring that, this is some

food: 5/5 experience: 3/5 overall: 3.5/5 Lonzo's is the shit and they don't even know it. I first encountered this place when I was at a smoke shop next door. I didn't really think to check it out because they advertised themselves as a bakery but then a girl walked out and smiled at me so I took that as a sign. That and the fact that my friend was drunk as hell and I thought some carbs might soak up some of the damage. Turns out a croissant didn't stop him from throwing up about ten minutes later. We came back to try out the food. Now I didn't know you could combine mango juice with seafood but Lonzo did exactly that and boy does it taste wonderful. This is the tiradito de pescado. You can upgrade it to seabass for twelve dollars more. Yipes. Mango ceviche though, that's good shit.  Well I guess it's not ceviche but whatever. It's good. I came back years later to try more ceviche and this time got the mixta. It's got mussels, shrimp

food: 4/5 experience: 3.5/5 overall: 4/5 In Sacramento you have basically four options for Southern food. There's South, the Porch, Fixins (reviews to come), and Sarom's which has been here the longest. They have two locations, in North Sac (the main one) and Elk Grove. The North Sac one is kinda ghetto but it's the flagship so we went there our first time. The wait there is long, especially on a weekend and especially on a Sunday. People like to linger. One table lingered inconsiderately for at least a half hour after they were finished before they left. It was clear a big line was piling up at the door but that's the type of crowd you're competing with here I suppose. Our dishes were served about ten minutes apart from each other so we were already off to a pretty bad start. Anyway, we got pancakes and French toast the first time we came. French toast: 3.5/5 It's a solid French toast, nothing special. You could probably make just as good French toa

food: 5/5 experience: 4.5/5 overall: 5/5 Lou's (now "Midtown Sushi") was recommended to me by fellow friend of the blog David O. after I voiced my complaints about never having had outstanding sushi. Lou's, it was said, is five-star sushi. And who am I to not take food  recommendations? So I went on my merry way to sushi on this occasion in hopes of some excellent grubs. The place is small and packed, especially on a Friday night. They all greeted us as we walked in which was nice. We opted for take-out. If you want a good Lou's (Midtown) experience don't get take-out. We were pretty much ignored the whole twenty minutes it took to make our two rolls. They didn't even start on them until fifteen minutes after we ordered. But they happily gave us the bill as soon as we ordered. We watched as some customers who were seated after we ordered got their sushi ahead of ours. Argh. The sushi though? Yea, 'tis five-star sushi. We got the Princess and th

food: 4.5/5 experience: 2.5/5 overall: 4/5 Freeport Bakery is one of Sacramento's most beloved bakeries. Why? I dunno. It's small and family-owned? I guess? People just go here. There's almost always a line no matter what time of day but it moves fast. They can be a bit snobby here to be honest. The interior is rather small but they do have outside seating which offers a nice view of the light rail and Curtis Park's own McDonald's . On to the goods. Danish: 4/5 I mean, danishes are danishes. The best part is obviously gonna be the filling. They got apricot, cherry, mixed berry, and plain cheese. I got me a mixed berry. It's only got a thumbprint's worth of jam inside and a small circumference of cheese. The cheese is very cream-cheesy in flavor, as opposed to tasting more like custard. The fruit tastes alright I guess. I just wish they put more filling. Bear claw: 4/5 Bear claws are always good and theirs passes. The almonds on top are sweet.