El Novillero

4216 Franklin Boulevard
Sacramento, CA 95820-1136
(916) 456-4287

Oh, The Nov! This place is a freaking institution of Sacramento. Located in a shadier area of Franklin, they are nice enough to have a well lit parking lot, and the place sort of looks out of place. But people flock here.

When you go in the middle of the restaurant is done up like an outside courtyard. We ended up in a back room all by ourselves which at first I was sad about. Then I started hearing the screaming kids and crying babies. Back room was just fine.

The food here is sort of like the Mexican you grew up with. Solid, delicious, and a ton! Seriously, Bump's burrito was bigger than his head. His leftovers barely fit into the Styrofoam takeout container. And if you know to ask, they will give you flour tortilla chips which are the tastiest damn things ever! And have I talked about the beans? I couldn't stop eating them. Nairb cleaned his plate, we still don't know how.

One drunk noted that there is a 3 booze limit. After her initial outrage she came to realize that is was more of a dare. Eat an entree and just TRY to keep drinking.

The Nov has been in business for so long for a very good reason. Comfort food at it's best.

Espanol Italian Restaurant

5723 Folsom Blvd
Sacramento, CA 95819
(916) 457-1936

It's the Italian restaurant with the Spanish name and supposedly the oldest restaurant in Sacramento. Not much has changed since this place opened and that is the drawback and the charm depending on how you look at it.

We have a lovely waitress and the minestrone soup and salad are pretty delicious. Spaghetti got an okay vote, but you come here for the charm, or so I'm told. Actually I wasn't there at all. I'm piecing this together from our journal and RobotGoBen's leftovers.

I'll go ahead and apologize for this half-assed post. I really need to get a blogging backup for the Thursdays I miss.

Truly sorry. I can't give you back your 25 seconds you wasted here. Please pick another post to read.

Revolution Wines

2831 S Street
Sacramento, CA 95816
(916) 444-7711

It's Cinco de Mayo and we don't usually celebrate drinking holidays that fall on a Thursday since it tends to be amateur night. Call us snobby, but you know it's true.

So what is further away from a Mexican restaurant than a wine bar? Exactly!

Revolution Wines used to be on P Street down a little pathway between two buildings. I loved it since it was very unique. But they moved to S Street where they have a full-blown kitchen and room to hangout. Overall, a great move! Their menu might be small, but the variety is lovely and the small portions are just fine since we are talking about rich, deliciously flavored foods.

You can do a wine tasting of 7-8 wines for $8, or just buy a glass of what you know and love. Either way, it's not too bad on pricing and you can tell the food has been developed to bring out the best in their wines.

Here is a sample of what folks had. Black truffle mac n' cheese, savory chicken pot pie with crusty skirt, brie and red pepper bruscetta, goat cheese and roasted garlic crostini, roasted beet salad, farmer's selection of meats and cheeses, coffee mouse, homemade "poptart" pastry. And they were all really good.

Staff were a little disorganized, but they let us do the tasting at our big table, which meant coming back over for every pour. And they let us stay past their 9pm closing since they were staying to close down anyway, AND they even offered to get us coffee from Temple next door.

Overall, it was a great time and I would suggest it to anyone. Go, take your time, try their wines and nibble your way through their menu.

"Should I eat the skirt, or just go for the meat?" - NakedBob
"This yodeling is the shit!" - Sharon
In the meantime, Shooter was eating a whole lot of bacon.

Roseville Pub Crawl, Birth of NakedBob

Boxing Donkey, Owl Club, Trocadero, Taqueria, Boxing Donkey

NakedBob loves himself a pub crawl and it they can happen in his backyard of Old Roseville, he can wear his kilt, AND he has the next day off - well, Happy Birthday to NakedBob!

We had a nice crowd at the Boxing Donkey for some good eats. They changed the menu quite a bit but what they had was still really tasty. It was a quiet night so we just sort of took over. NakedBob got some lovely recycled/reused cards and even a vintage mag called Climax.

We moved on to the Owl Club which if you have never been, you really need to check out their beers on tap. Very respectable selection and the bartenders are always fun to talk to.

NakedBob spent the rest of the night moving along to other places and drinking his fill until about 3 am. So much so, that he wasn't' quite sure where he ended up after the Owl...although it did come back to him by Friday evening. Nice time!

El Pueblo Cocina Mexicana, Birth of Naiby

6608 Folsom-Auburn Road #1
Folsom, CA 95630
(916) 987-5797

(In the melody of Barry Manalow's Oh Mandy"
"Oh Nairby, you can and you brought me a turkey,
And I sent you away! Oh Nairby,
You're a dirty slut, dirty slut monkey,
And you're crappy and lame, Oh Nairby."

We love our Nairby. He just might be the best of us...so we must ridicule him with our lovingly crafted song.

El Pueblo is in a little shopping center in Folsom and has a bar in the back of what sort of seems like should be a store front. It's a little odd but the people were nice and the food was tasty. Weird thing is they only used the ass-end of the limes to garnish their margaritas.

Nairb has a fabulous birthday request.
1) go to Bevmo
2) buy some of your favorite booze
3) drink said booze
4) write a limerick or draw a picture about the booze drinking in honor of his birthday.

There once was a Jenny from Nantucket
Who kept all her rum in a bucket
Some felt that was queer
and said they'd much prefer beer
But if you don't like rum, you can suck it
- The Jenny

There once was a Bob who drank Jack
Because it puts hair on his back
When going to raves
He felt he needed to shave
So th metros won't give him no flack
- Naked Bob

My oh my that's a mighty fine brew
It gets me drunk but it don't make me spew
Without Dale's Pale Ale
I surely would fail
To say happy birthday to you
- The Other Ben

"They put whipped cream on my pina colada...bitchin'!" - the Canadian

Takieng, Birth of Jarla

4400 San Juan Ave # 8
Fair Oaks, CA 95628
(916) 966-0660

When Sluggy made reservations, after a few misunderstandings they finally put the reservation under Larla. Sure, why not.

So we are celebrating the birthday of Jarla, a wondrous occasion as she was rumored to have been born in a rickety barn. Ask Bumpy for the folk song detailing the event.

And since I suck, I missed her birthday. Bad blog writer. I have no useful insight. Here is what was in the journal. Floggings for me.

"Welcome to the Rapture" party including angel food cake, drinks that light on fire, deviled eggs, Rosemary's Baby loaf and the rapture raptor.

The food was determined to be "YUM".

Jarla's cat Buckwheat now has a happy kidney while Jarla got this delicious coconut ice cream.

Golden Bear

2326 K Street Sacramento, CA 95816 (916) 441-2242

Mainly due to the Rivercats season opener, attendance at The Golden Bear was down to a meager 4 persons. But Shooter, BumpyTruck, Jarla, and TheJenny know how to have a good time no matter what.

The GB has a smallish neighborhood feeling with plenty of hipsters sprinkled liberally throughout. They were out of the Juicy Lucy burger for the evening, so we went with the Red Caesar Turkey Sandwich and Sausage & 'Slaw Pizzetta.

Good mix of music, the food was quite tasty, the staff was attentive and friendly, and we all agreed that it would be a great bar to frequent if you lived nearby. After each taking a turn at trying to draw Gaddafi in the mini-journal, we called it an early night and snuck next door to Rick's Desert Diner to grab some slabs of cake to go.