Three Restaurants, Three Months: The NorCal6

Ahhhhhhhh ... the maintenance of the 'ole blog when it comes to The NorCal6.

Sometimes it's effortless, other times not so much.

June and July were mostly non-events.  We hit The Melt in Folsom and Danette's Brick Oven Pub in July, the latter having been visited in a previous year. Both?  Were adequate when it came to food and atmosphere.  

No drama, no surprises and it was agreed we'd return again.

Now ... Rocker Oysterfeller's in downtown Placerville last month?  Different story all together.  Oh, the drama ...

 

The food was rather good.  I partook of Louisiana Hot oysters (even though I know it's rarely a good idea to order seafood far, far away from the sea) and some Blackened Gulf Shrimp Tacos.  Tasty stuff indeed, despite being a bit on the pricey side.  (And, truth be told, I was kind of pressured into ordering oysters ... but I really didn't mind getting hornswaggled in that department.)  Pete and Missy ordered the same thing, Smashburgers.  Pete said his was delicious.  Missy's was a letdown, she said - overcooked and not very tasty.  My failing recall forgets what Laurie ordered but I do remember Grant got the Molasses & Bourbon Pork volcano Shank which he enjoyed right down to the very last.

So, overall, the food worked.  The appetizers?  They did start off the evening with any sort of anticipation once served ...

A plate of Bear Battered Onion Rings was proffered while we were all talking and, by the time I got a chance to take a gander at them, there were 3 rings left ... and pretty anemic looking ones at that.  I didn't remember seeing anyone going for them so I surmised the order was a singular half dozen rings, all told.  

"What happened to the rings?!?" I asked.  With I would have nabbed a shot of them for evidence.  Grant ordered some Cheesy Jalapeño Pull-Apart Bread and, if I didn't know any better, it came from the middle of Death Valley.  It was that dry.  No dipping sauce or butter or other was offered with it, so butter was requested ... but by the time it got there it was too little too late.  (Skip this item if you go there.  Trust me.)

And, in the mix, was our waitress who was not only scatter-brained but appeared out of sorts with the entire concept of waitressing.

The first couple beer orders I attempted weren't available.  On the third try - a Henhouse Stoked! Hazy Pale Ale I ordered with emphasis on the "Stoked!" because of the exclamation point - she asked me "The dessert?"

"The dessert?!?" I responded.  "No ... the beer."  I had not idea what she was talking about.  And, apparently, neither did she.

"Oh, yeah ... okay.  Got it."  And off she stumbled to put in my order.

It took an inordinate amount of time for the drinks to come but the food came in relatively quick order.  But ... most of it was served to the wrong person.  As noted:  Our waitress wasn't the sharpest took in the shed.

Interestingly and at one point ordered an additional brew ... and I attempted to so same.  But each time I was spurned, ignored as if I was a ghost.  This was rather amusing to Grant but let me flabbergasted.  I could see our waitress' tip diminishing to a trickle as the moments ticked by.

And then when all was said and done the checks came ... complete with automatic 20% gratuities already attached.  

On the inside?  I was slow burning, on the way to fuming.  But ... on the inside.

I wasn't going to allow the substandard service of this gal get in the way of everyone's enjoyment of the get-together nor was I going to expose my inner asshat.  

But come on ... an automatic gratuity for a "large party" as detailed on the receipt?  Since when did 6 people encompass a large party?  I buried any comments I wanted to unleash and pleasantly paid the bill without incident.

Tasty food (though a touch pricey), terrible service.  

It's going to take convincing to get me back there, this I know.

.......... Ruprecht  ( STOP bad, ditzy waitressing )

The NorCal6: Sacramento Grilled Cheese Festival, 4.29.23

 

You know ... it's a wonder The NorCal6 even made it to the Sacramento Grilled Cheese Festival at all last month.  (What with my accidental cancellation of the original tickets purchased and their re-acquisition.  What a cluster ...)

But we made it.  And, for the most part, a terrific time was had by all.

The Fest, an annual gathering of all things grilled cheese, was strung out over the course of a weekend.  Saturday featured UNLIMITED samples of specialty grilled cheese sandwiches, craft beers, regional wines, desserts and more for those 21 and older while Sunday was the family friendly day where the food samples and drink were available for individual charge, not the free-for-all of the day prior.

 

No ... I don't know why Grant feels the need to announce
he's #1 in many of these photos ...

Grant, Kelly, Missy and I got in an hour early courtesy of V.I.P. passes and Pete and Laurie joined us shortly thereafter.  Street parking was relatively easy when we got there.  I can only imagine how strained the parking situation got as the event got close to go time.

Held at Southside Park in downtown Sacramento, you couldn't have asked for a better location.  It was pleasant, sunny and never got too hot over the course of the thing.

And, oh ... the comestibles they had coming out the booths!  Let's highlight a few, shall we?

There was a BBBJ, a blackberry bacon brie & jalapeño grilled cheese concoction from Bella Art Works that was surprisingly tasty.  Additionally, this same joint featured the Mother Clucker, breaded chicken, provolone, cheddar and honey mayo.  Damned good stuff.  Two particular sandwiches from Rancho Rio Bravo Catering - the Cowboy Up (smokehouse brisket, smokey cheese, TexiCali blackberryy red wine & cracked pepper) and the Wranglers Roundup (smoked pulled pork and cheese with duck plum cranberry sauce) - were exceptional.  

I didn't get the chance to grab two specific sandwiches I was looking forward to from Sacramento Pop Up Truck: The Crustacean (a lobster and Gruyère grilled cheese) and The Surf And Turf (a brisket, lobster and Gruyère creation).  There was only so much you could get to as the day wore on and the crowds increased in size.

But one of my favorites was a French onion grilled cheese sandwich that came with a side of French onion soup.  There were two vendors featuring French onion grilled cheese so I'm not sure which one I got from who but, whichever one I got my hands on, was the right pick.  It was outstanding.  And I wish I would have gone back for seconds.

But, you have to understand, there wasn't just grilled cheese on the menu.  There was beer tasting as well, raising this little get together to an entirely different level of affair.  It was a grilled cheese festival and brewfest, too!

Yes, my beard is black. That's an entirely different post ...

At Ease Brewing Company, Great Notion Brewing, Morgan Territory Brewing, Track 7 Brewing Co., Boring Rose Brewing Co., Sierra Nevada Brewing Company - Chico were some of the breweries present along with a few more I don't recall.

And, if that wasn't enough of a good time, there were distilleries in attendance as well handing out tiny sample shots and signature cocktails as well!  Humboldt Distillery, J.J. Pfister Distilling Co, River City Brands, South Fork Vodka to name a few.  It was J.J. Pfister Distilling which had a very, very tasty rye whiskey sample I gravitated to a a time or several.  I even got Grant to give it a try.  And he didn't dislike it, a bit of a surprise there.  (Grant? Not a rye guy.) And once Pete and Laurie got there, Pete was drug here and there to give the various samples a try, too.  The girls were drinking some foo-foo sweet pink grapefruit vodka punch refresher from South Fork Vodka that wasn't too shabby.  Even Missy was digging on it ... and she doesn't like grapefruit. 

Needless to say, with all the food being munched on and all the liquids swigged, we had a pretty damned good time ... enough so we all concluded we'll be headed back next year. 

In conclusion, I may have had a little bit too good a time at the festival.  But what's a little frivolity among friends?  Even loud ones like me? 

As the saying goes (a recent one I've come to embrace):

Next up?  Our house ... were there's gonna be a Bunko Party with a Mexican food theme ...

The NorCal6: Soriano's Restaurant, 3.11.23

Left to right: Michael, Grant (and his wallet), Pete, Laurie, Kelly, Missyall of who participated in"The Case Of The Missing Wallet That Wasn't Really Missing"

For those of you paying attention to this blog, you may have noticed there was no NorCal6 blog entry for February.  That's because a couple members of the group (Missy and myself) ended up contracting COVID at the end of January.  So we took it easy, worked our rehabilitation grooves and applied our energy-less efforts into getting as well as possible.  (Update: A month plus later, there's still some lingering fatigue and I'm not certain my taste buds are quite up to snuff ... but we're back in the saddle again.)

Anywho, as threatened in the previous NorCal6 blog entry, Soriano's Restaurant in Diamond Springs was our next venture.  A Salvadoran / Mexican mix awaited us, something I was ready to explore.  Not the least reason of which was because I was rather hungry that day having only eaten breakfast.  

The staff was friendly enough and greeted us warmly on our arrival; they were genuinely happy to see us and thanked us for coming in as they seated us.  Chips and salsa were served and Missy and I chatted and looked over the menu while we awaited Grant, Kelly, Pete and Laurie.  Missy ordered a wine margarita and I kept things light with a Coke.

Shortly, Grant and Kelly walked in.  (Funny little aside here: As Grant sat next to me, he put his wallet down on the table and skewed his cell phone atop it, I assumed so he could access it if need be without picking it up.  More on this shortly.)  Pete and Laurie we're a few minutes behind them.  Then it got down to the business of ordering ...

With the orders taken and concluded, the conversation rolled out.  And at one point Grant shot back in his chair and called himself an idiot for forgetting his wallet at home.  I didn't say a thing, knowing his wallet was practically beside me and out of his purview blocked by his phone.  That exasperation lasted a bit before he realized he did, in fact, have his wallet as I picked up his phone and asked "You mean ... THIS wallet?"  I was accused of harboring knowledge of it without telling him and I freely admitted to being guilty.  The looks and laughs around the table were more than worth it.

Mine? The "Borrego y Mas": a lamb shank entrée (the "borrego") with your choice of an enchilada, tamale, or taco filled with the protein of your choice (the "mas"). It came additionally served with marinade sauce, pico de gallo and sliced avocado along with rice and beans.  Others in our party weren't as "experimental" as I was, leaning toward the more traditional Mexican fare ... and there's nothing wrong with that in the least.  I also request an appetizer, some "chiles" which were Soriano's version of stuffed jalapeños.

The outcome, from my perspective, was delicious.  The borrego was fall-off-the-bone tender and flavorful, definitely a different take on how I've had lamb previously.  It wasn't quite the same for everyone else, however.  Comments ranged from "okay" to "meh" on the tastiness scale so it appeared I got the better end of the dinner experience.

The caveat, however, was the staff forgot my chile appetizer.  I didn't squawk about it however because, as it turned out, it wasn't included on my bill.  And I wasn't upset in the least being I was pretty well stuffed from my dinner.

At the conclusion of the meal, a dessert flan was brought out for "the birthday boy" Pete whose birthday was nowwhere near the date of Saturday, March 11th.  I interjected rather loudly while looking at him with raised eyebrows "I had no idea it was your birthday, Pete!" but he didn't catch the clue and pooh-poohed the dessert away, stating matter of factly it was NOT his birthday.  The staff noted someone had called ahead to make certain the celebration was observed but no one at our table was the instigator.  It was surmised the waiter had gotten it wrong ... and the flan was hurried away.  I glared at Pete and told him he just lost a free dessert.  But ... a flan was saved that evening so no harm, no foul.

You need to understand: During these little dinner get-togethers there is lots of talk and storytelling and cajolery and laughter among other things.  At one point Kelly was practically in tears over something I said (I forget what), Missy was adamant about some hefty subject she was on about (something I had done, no doubt), Pete waxing poetic about some such and a straw was even thrown at Laurie because her memories about past events had come into question.  (She's kind of known for this which is half the fun.)  In other words, we usually have a pretty good time when we do our monthly "swingers meet up" as most of our kids like to call it.

As it turned out, we were the second to the last group to leave the joint that evening.  But, as we did so, there was the late Saturday night wave of people who began to shuffle in.  

Next Up: The end of April sees us attending the Sacramento Grilled Cheese Festival.  

 

.......... Ruprecht ( STOP )

The NorCal6: Misadventures In Monthly Get-Togethers

We've been getting together in the neighborhood of 7 years running, the lot of us.  

We call ourselves The NorCal6.

Three couples, 6 friends, who decided instead of planting our asses on the couch in front of the television on a Saturday night, we were going to damned well get out into the world and do something.

It started out simply: We picked out a restaurant to explore, some new, different place none of us had been previously.  Converse.  Eat.  Solve a few world problems.  

And we agreed we'd do this monthly. Make it "a thing."

After a year, it morphed into hitting up events (i.e. The Asparagus Festival) and destinations (i.e. Mendicino), but the basis of the idea was still intact: To get off our asses and socialize instead of being lumps, if only for a couple hours.

More than half a decade and we're still at it.  

Hey ... who are The NorCal6 anyway? Why don't we take a moment to get to know them ...

• Grant - Big dude, relatively quiet.  Loves his beers.  Usually the first one to ask the question where our next month's outing will be
  
• Kelly - Grant's wife, The Designated Driver of the couple and lover of charcuterie and anything on the coast (her happy place, she says)
• Laurie - The infamous question asker: "How much is that?"  "Is it good?"  "How big is the portion?" ad nauseum ...
• Pete - Laurie's husband.  Along for the ride and pretty much happy no matter what we do
• Melissa - Michael's better half, "the picky eater" and often the DD in her own right (which I greatly appreciate)
• Michael - I'm the loud one, usually game for anything.  Instigator.  Non-conformist.  I'll talk to anyone anywhere we go.  Oh ... I'm loud, too.  I may have forgotten to mention that.

Funny thing: In all the years we've been doing this, I don't know why we've never properly documented our little get-togethers.  Oh, we've bantered about it, that we should put together some kind photo album of our outings or some such.  But we've rarely shot photos (of us or the locales we've visited) at our soirees, we've barely kept track of the different restaurants we've been to ... blah, blah, blah.  And at this last meeting it was suggested - for the umpteenth time - we get our shit together and document our comings and goings somehow.

This time?  I took it to heart.

So ... here goes. 

 

Saturday, the 14th, we ventured out into the rainy late, late afternoon to Out Of Bounds Brewery in Folsom, a locale one of our group had been to previously for a company-hosted event.  An early dinner was in order (along with brews we hadn't tried for the beer drinkers of the clan).  Needless to say a bevy of selections was commandeered.

Hangry Chicken Wings, Buffalo Cauliflower, onion rings and fried pickle spears were the appetizers shared all around. All were great ... but the "Ring Of Fire" sauce for the wings had a funky tang to it, the only real downside to the lot.

Beers? Yes! A delicious Milk Stout and a Blood Orange Wheat (2 of these, as a matter of fact) were quaffed.

Drunken and Craft Burgers, Smoked Mac & Cheese, Tri-Tip Arugula Salads and a Margherita Flatbread were on tap for the main courses.

My Drunken Burger was a huge, terrific mess and even came with a fried jalapeno speared garnish-like through the top of the bun, which I added to the innards of the burger.  The fries accompanying the thing were the kind you couldn't stop popping into your mouth ... and there appeared to be better than a double serving of them. Half came home with us. The wives assured us that the Smoked Mac & Cheese was top notch.

Of course, the dinner wasn't the only thing.  

The conversation flowed.  It was catch up time with everyone, what new things came up or were noteworthy since the last day of the old year, the last time all 6 of us were together.  I spilled Kelly's water moving dishes and almost tagged her with a wet lap.  And I dripped sauces from the appetizers and my burger all down the front of me.  (You can't take me anywhere sometimes.)  Plus, our waitress was top notch, noting and accommodating all our trivial (probably annoying) little requests.  (Yes, she was tipped well.)

 

So messy ...

Dessert?  Nope.  We were all too full to hit up one last course.

By the time we left Out Of Bounds Brewery, the rain had stopped and it was clear driving all the way home.  Another successful congregation.

Next up:  Soriano's Restaurant in Diamond Springs for Salvadoran / Mexican food come February ...

.......... Ruprecht ( STOP )