Taste: The region's latest food, drink & restaurant news for March 10
Sweeten up your weekend with a midtown chocolaterie’s cupcake celebration and a coffee festival in Winters. Plus, check out the newly revamped Coin-Op, the latest poke bar in midtown, a new coffeehouse in Tahoe Park, and a Vietnamese street food restaurant that just opened its doors in Citrus Heights.
Bo Urban Corner
After 20 years of launching various restaurants around the Sacramento area and in his home country of Vietnam, Freeman Nguyen introduced this new venture in early January in Citrus Heights, serving up a simple menu of Vietnamese street food in a sleek, modern setting with bright red bar stools and wooden booths under lantern lighting. Patrons can choose between fresh spring rolls, rice bowls or banh mi sandwiches with their choice of protein (chicken, beef, salmon, shrimp or tofu) and garnishes like vermicelli, cucumbers, roasted peanuts and daikon. The salmon banh mi is one of the most popular dishes and Nguyen suggests ordering it spicy with jalapeños and a house-made creamy Sriracha sauce. 6001 San Juan Ave. Citrus Heights. 822-0003. bourbancorner.com
Coin-Op Game Room
This hip underground bar and arcade underwent a renovation in February to spruce up its décor and menu. According to Evan Louis, Coin-Op’s managing partner, his team rearranged machines, painted the floors to resemble a colorful game of Pac-Man, and added new tables to allow patrons more room to gather over plates of comfort food, like Coin-Op’s new meatball sub on a house-made baguette with meatballs smothered in mozzarella, Parmesan and garlic butter sauce. Other new menu items include a sun-dried tomato and artichoke pizza, a summer spinach salad with candied walnuts and cranberries, and a B.L.T. with cheddar, and roasted red pepper aioli and a fried egg. 908 K St. 661-6983. coinopsac.com
Cupcake Day at Ginger Elizabeth Chocolates
Get your just desserts on Saturday when the popular midtown chocolate shop Ginger Elizabeth opens its doors for this annual event, offering four flavors of the hand-held delicacy: cookies and cream; coconut lime capped with Tahitian vanilla bean buttercream; salty caramel with devil’s food cake and fleur de sel caramel frosting; and red velvet (using the recipe of owner Ginger Hahn’s grandmother) topped with cream cheese frosting and crunchy Valrhona Chocolate pearls. The shop is open from 10 a.m. to 10 p.m. and will bake hundreds of cupcakes for the occasion, but they have been known to sell out quickly in previous years, so get there early to line up for your favorite. Begins at 10 a.m. 1801 L St. 706-1738. gingerelizabeth.com
Ohana Poke Bar
Midtown’s newest stop for fast-casual poke bowls opened in mid-February just a block from Raijin Ramen House. Ohana Poke Bar, which also has a location in San Francisco’s Chinatown, offers diners their choice of customized Hawaiian-style poke boxes and premade grab-and-go boxes for those in a lunch rush. Start with a mini cup or a regular box filled with a base of either brown or white rice (or kale and mixed greens if you’re going low-carb) and your choice of protein, ranging from ahi tuna to salmon to albacore. Add toppings like seaweed salad and garlic edamame before finishing things off with sauces like roasted garlic cilantro. 1809 S St. 376-7603. ohanapokebar.com
Rosested
Tucked away behind Tahoe Park’s popular breakfast haunt Bacon & Butter and its neighboring thrift boutique, this casual, closet-sized coffee shop opened under the radar in early February. Owner Jonell Medina says she wanted to create a relaxing neighborhood hangout on a stretch of Broadway that lacked a walk-in coffee shop (save for a Starbucks down the street.) Named after her mother Rose, the coffeehouse offers a humble menu of drip coffee, Two Leaves tea, Italian sodas and traditional espresso drinks from beans roasted by Vallejo-based Moschetti, Inc., including the Tahoe Perk (a brewed coffee of the day spiked with two shots of espresso). Check out the eclectic farmhouse décor, including antique window shutters and chandeliers, while you chill with your coffee and munch on fresh fruit and snacks like zucchini bread and granola bars. 5901 Broadway. 736-2125
Steady Eddy’s Coffee Festival
Winters’ beloved coffee shop is hosting its very first Coffee Fest on Saturday, March 11 with coffee, tea and beer tastings, food from nearby restaurants like Buckhorn BBQ and live music. Owners Jamell and Carla Wroten hope to make the festival an annual event showcasing local businesses, and this year’s proceeds will go directly to Project Playground, a nonprofit dedicated to rebuilding the structure at Wooden Park on Main Street. The coffeehouse will be serving up popular roasts like its dark Bulldog Blend while Turkovich Family Wines pours vino and Yolo County organic grower Farmer Shep offers up local produce, eggs, lamb and pork for sale. Free. 12 to 5 p.m. Rotary Park. 201 Railroad Ave. Winters. 530-795-3588. steady-eddys.com
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