California Grubbin'

food: 4/5 experience: 4/5 overall: 4/5 Warning to all soy allergies: almost everything at Mikuni has soy in it. Noooo! Even the potstickers (gyoza). Dammit, I love potstickers! Why you gotta take that away from me, Mikuni? And I don't get to try the tuna sliders either? :'( But Mikuni takes allergies very seriously, which I respect and appreciate, so they won't serve anything to you if they think it's risky. Mikuni is known for their sushi anyway, so that's mostly what I eat here. They have seven locations within driving distance of the Sacramento area. I have tried some of the small plates as well. My favorite is probably the Spicy Dream 1. Seared albacore with two types of sauces. It's basic only if you underestimate how good seared tuna is. Had to get this one without sesame seeds so I sent it back. Hate doing that. A similar one is the BBQ white tuna, which is cubes of tuna on a skewer with dipping sauce. Just as good but more fun to eat. ...

food: 4/5 experience: 5/5 overall: 4/5 Dunkin' recently underwent a name change earlier this year and now they're simply known as "Dunkin'". Why? I don't know. Maybe it sounds cooler. Maybe there was too much alliteration and people were getting confused. Maybe the tiny amount of ink it costs to write "donuts" was getting too expensive. We may never know. What we do know is Dunkin' is America's doughnut shop. They've expanded worldwide even. Their flavors are plentiful, though you'll have to do some hunting to try 'em all. Here's some reviews of the ones I could find. Pumpkin: 5/5 Seasonal item, also comes in doughnut holes which I got. Good stuff. They're dense like the Krispy Kreme with a light glaze, and they've got a solid pumpkin flavor with a hint of spice. Not too sweet. Double chocolate: 4.5/5 This is decorated for the Halloween season as you may tell. It's a chocolate cake doughnut with c...

food: 3.5/5 experience: 2/5 overall: 3/5 I guess this place is okay for what it is. A big Italian joint in a strip mall. Technically they got my order wrong the first time. I ordered a mini pizza and they gave me a medium. So I was waiting for my mini pizza and I went up to the counter and they said they'd just charge me for a mini and leave the medium. Which is fine but like, my pizza was getting cold by then. Wish they'd told me. The flavor was Mitch's Tuscan Delight. It was average. A vegetarian pizza. The crust was pretty good for thin crust, and the garlic sauce was yummy. Not as good as Domino's . I wasn't going to come back since I'm hardly ever in the area but I thought I should give them a second chance. Couldn't go full Italian without trying the pasta. Their pastas didn't look too inspiring to me. Just your typical alfredo, marinara, pesto, or wine sauces. Lacking in creativity in my opinion. I just tried the cheese ravioli with ...

food: 4/5 experience: 1/5 overall: 3/5 Consider this a retroactive review, from my vegan days. As long as my affair with Andy Nguyen has been going on (a few years now), I'm afraid it'd be impossible for me to honestly rate him above a 3. You see, I became vegan in high school. A year after that, I discovered Andy. I lived in Sacramento. I was vegan. It was inevitable our paths would meet. Soon enough, we had a steady thing going. I'd swing by every month or so, then every few weeks, and at one point we were seeing each other on a weekly basis. We had some delectable meals together, we did. I enjoyed when he cooked up his special soy fish for me. Oftentimes I'd even invite a friend over to join me, but I always felt that special connection between me and Andy. After a while, I began to take notice of a few things. First, it was the little things. Not refilling my water all night until I finally broke down and asked. Failing to notice my attempts to grab y...

Hello again! It's your friendly biweekly California Livin' post! On this fine day we will take the trek one (or two?) states over to Arizona, where Daylight Savings Time isn't a thing anymore (RIP late summer sunsets). Let's start with a list of things you will find among the many tourist attractions of Sedona. Crystal rocks. Crystals. Lots and lots of crystal shops. People selling crystals in crystal shops. Psychics. "Aura photographs". UFO tours. Astrology readings. Chakra balancings. Shamanic healings. Glass candles. Many hand painted glass candles. Glass candles that glow in the dark but don't smell. Most likely sold in the shop next to the crystal shop. Stores selling what can only be described as "desert clothes". Also popular in Palm Springs. Native American jewelry yet no actual Native Americans. (This gets a little political so I'll leave it at that.) What else can you find in Sedona? Red rocks. Lots ...

food: 4/5 experience: 1.5/5 overall: 2.5/5 Maru Ichi specializes in one thing and that is noodles. They have ramen and udon and soba. They also have some other menu items but those aren't important. First thing I noticed they charge a dollar extra for toppings. Uhh one dollar for two nori sheets that are worth 0.6 cents? If I want bamboo and mushrooms that'll cost two dollars more? Please. So. Ramen seems like it's generally served with pork. I don't like pork. This eliminated every option except veggie ramen which was shoe flavored which I also don't like. I had to get a pork dish. Poor pig died for nothing cus I didn't eat it. Good thing I'm not vegan anymore so I have no moral qualms about that. I don't like bone marrow and pork fat so that eliminated the tonkatsu. I don't like miso or garlic or soy sauce. I had one option left and this was spicy miso (pre-soy allergy) aka ramen so spicy miso it is. It was pretty good I guess. It tast...

food: 5/5 experience: 5/5 overall: 5/5 Broderick is a bar-slash-restaurant in West Sac that specializes in, well, bar food primarily. There are five or six Broderick locations in the greater Sacramento area but this is the only one that serves brunch (to my knowledge). The interior is pretty sparse and somewhat reminiscent of a saloon with the wooden seats, floors, and bar. They have high-top tables as well as regular tables and they serve all ages. We came in the early afternoon and it got really busy around 1:00 or so, oddly enough. So the traffic can vary. It gets a bit noisy inside due to the acoustics so be forewarned. Bread pudding French toast: 4/5 Bread pudding though. You really have to screw up to mess up bread pudding. This was labeled French toast but it's really just two slices of bread pudding. It's good, but a little one-note in flavor. It's got a custard-caramel flavor and they load it with syrup. Definitely filling. A little too filling. Bi...

food: 5/5 experience: 5/5 overall: 5/5 Zocalo is a Mexican restaurant in midtown. Most people don't know this, but they have brunch! Score. I had to check it out. Since it's not a major brunch hot-spot, there's no wait time. We were seated immediately and given the customary chips, salsa, and black bean dip. All good. You know I'm a carb lover so I had to try their French toast as soon as I saw it on the menu. Good news: it comes in half orders! The waiter gave us a full order even though we said we were splitting a half. He still gave us the half price. Hurrah for good service! For a Mexican place these guys can make some mad decent French toast. Moist, thick sliced bread that's not too heavy, topped with almonds, berries, sweet cream, and crunchy granola. Don't pour syrup on it - you'll ruin its delicate sweetness. I didn't want to leave their brunch forever without trying at least one other thing, so I opted for their brunch bōl. ...