Elizabeth Weintraub • Sacramento Short Sale Agent • Land Park

Ah, the day before Thanksgiving. When I was considerably younger, this used to be one of my favorite days of the year. Because it's not a school night. The Wednesday before Thanksgiving was the one day out of the year I could stay out late without any consequences. Dance the night away if I wanted and sleep in late the following morning.

OK, I usually had to get up early to stick the turkey in the oven, but I could go back to sleep. Now that I've reached what is referred to as that "certain age," I no longer stay up late, and I get up early because that's when I wake up. I've also discovered that, at my age, it's easier to go out to Thanksgiving dinner with close friends and take home leftovers than prepare it myself.

One of the best places to enjoy a Thanksgiving dinner in Sacramento is The Firehouse Restaurant in Old Sacramento. The ambiance itself is remarkable. This is a historic building, built in 1853, and it originally housed a firehouse. The setting is beautiful, ornate and relaxed, and each dining room is unique.

If I have anything bad to say about The Firehouse Restaurant for Thanksgiving, it's that it doesn't serve dark turkey meat -- no thighs or drumsticks -- but few places around Sacramento do. The menu for this Thanksgiving features a choice between baked brie or lobster pudding for the first course, a mixed green salad with dried cranberries, spiced walnuts, blue cheese & pear or potato bisque for the second course, and the third course is, of course, roast turkey breast, prime rib, monkfish or maple-smoked pork.

I'm getting hungry just writing about it. My husband and I have been going there for 3 years now. The first year we went to The Firehouse, I skipped the roast turkey and felt a little guilty. After all, where I grew up in Minnesota, Thanksgiving is supposed to be all about the turkey. So, the second year, I chose the turkey. Except for the apple-pecan stuffing, which I thoroughly enjoyed, the turkey was, well, white turkey meat. There's not much one can do a turkey breast to make it any better than it already is.

The way to compensate for eschewing the turkey portion of a Thanksgiving meal is to order pumpkin torte for dessert. Skip the pear and pecan crisp. In fact, have 2 servings of pumpkin torte. With pumpkin cream-cheese mousse, spiced anglaise and caramel. When all is said and done, though, the purpose of Thanksgiving is not to stuff one's face with mashed potatoes and turkey. It's to give thanks and celebrate with friends and family.

So, wherever you end up this Thanksgiving, I hope you enjoy your company and have a wonderful Thanksgiving.

You expect nothing less than sheer perfection in food from Rick Mahan, the owner and chef of Waterboy Restaurant in Midtown Sacramento, and his new restaurant, OneSpeed Pizza in East Sacramento, does not disappoint.

This is truly a neighborhood experience. For one thing, it's difficult to find parking at 48th and Folsom, so you're better off walking or arriving on your bike. As the imprint on the glass window says: OneSpeed Pizza. Bikes. Love. There is a chalkboard at the entrance displaying a message. Yesterday afternoon it advertised a Monte Cristo, probably one of the most fattening yet mouthwatering treats a human being can enjoy.

Since I've lost a lot of weight and want to keep it off, I passed on the Monte Cristo. But just the thought of salty ham and melting cheese continues to linger in my mind.

The heart of the menu is pizza. Not just any pizza, but a variety of choices, each prepared with fresh, local ingredients such as spinach and roasted peppers or arugula and caramelized onions. You can see the pizza oven in the center of the photo, which produces a slightly charred but tasty crust on the pizza.

I started off with an Old Soul latte, from a coffee business co-owned by one of my clients, Jason Griest. My husband stuck with water, served from what appeared to be a refillable bottle. He knew what he wanted: pizza with OneSpeed's housemade sausage. I had a more difficult time deciding what I wanted because it wasn't pizza. The choices are basically big plates or small plates, many of which are salads.

I chose the Bitter Greens salad, prepared with arugula, endive, Asian pears, blue cheese, walnuts and balsamico. You know, I like pronouncing the word: arugula. The accent is on the second syllable, and it makes me feel like a cartoon character to let it roll off my lips. I get a mental image of a bike horn blowing up in my face.

But I also wanted to try the daily soup. It was black bean. I imagine the beans were smashed and simmered before adding more beans because the integrity of the beans were intact. The soup was topped by a dollop of sour cream. A bit salty but delightful. When the waiter spotted my empty bowl, he asked if he could take it away -- like, what was I going to do with an empty bowl? Pick it up and lick it? The thought did occur to me. It was that good.

Overall, the food was exceptional, but the service was very slow. We arrived about 12:30 and didn't leave until 2:15. It took forever to get our table cleared and the check. However, I devoured every morsel that was placed in front of me, including part of my husband's most delicious sausage pizza. He was a bit annoyed that I continued to check my BlackBerry as it buzzed through lunch, sending emails that said I was at lunch and would get back to the callers later. I thought I was being considerate by not answering my cell. Ah, such is the life of a Sacramento short sale agent.

OneSpeed Pizza. Bikes. Love.

4818 Folsom Boulevard

Sacramento, CA

Serving breakfast, lunch and dinner

Home delivery by bicycle available Tuesday through Sunday nights.

Photos: Elizabeth Weintraub

The Grange has received mixed reviews since opening downtown Sacramento last winter. When I asked my husband where he wanted to go to celebrate his birthday, the word "Grange" left his lips, so that's where I made our reservation.

The Grange is part of a new hotel, The Citizen, remodeled inside an 88-year-old office building. The entrance is on 10th Street, with valet parking on J Street.

The feeling inside the restaurant is that of an airplane hangar, designed to be upscale urban with a bit of an eclectic twist. I sat there imagining elevators and employees running late for work, dropping file folders; it has that sort of aura.

Our waiter, Justin, showed up to take our order within minutes of being seated. My husband ordered sparkling water, and I asked for a martini. Gin or vodka? (Oh, please, gin, real martinis aren't made with vodka.) Tangueray, Bombay or Gorden's? Olives? My husband received his sparkling water but my martini did not arrive. I glanced over at the bar. The bartender didn't look busy. The place was about half full by 7 PM. 10 minutes went by. Still no martini. But we got a small basket of bread with herb butter.

I played with my knife. It was pretty cool. The handle was flat and sideways, and it was purposely placed in the setting to balance on its edge. I asked Justin if my martini order was placed. He shot a look at the bar and went to retrieve it.

One of the great things about the Grange is its chef favors local ingredients, just like my husband does. We belong to a cooperative that delivers boxes of fresh farm vegetables every week. However, one of the reasons to dine out (for me) is to sample dishes that I don't ordinarily get a home, and most of the items on the menu were dishes that my husband prepares.

I selected seared Pacific ahi for an appetizer, which came served on a bed of thinly sliced fennel and red onion. Much as I like fennel and onion, there's only so much of it I can eat, and the portion delivered on my plate was a small salad in itself. The ahi was delicious, served with a bit of aioli. My husband ordered the breaded and fried dungeness crab over fresh pea pods, which wasn't anything out of the ordinary.

For an entree', I figured it's spring and what better time to enjoy lamb than in the spring? Even though I feel a little guilty and sorry for the lamb who gave up its life, as my husband says, it's better than mutton which has to be stewed for hours to soften its strong flavor. Still, my guilt wasn't strong enough to stop me from ordering it. The lamb rack chops were difficult to cut because so much of it was fat. But the flavor was yummy. The fingerling potatoes were a bit overcooked for my liking; however, the mix of spring vegetables, which were peas, carrots and asparagus, were cooked to perfection.

That's more than my husband had to say about his au gratin, which he ordered in place of the fingerling potatoes. The wafer-thin potatoes still had a bit of starch and crunch in places, as though it didn't evenly bake. His hangar steak, which he ordered medium, arrived medium rare, and had to be sent back to the kitchen. I love medium rare, so I tasted a bite before he sent it away, and found it incredibly delicious, melting in my mouth.

For dessert, my husband chose a dish of 3 types of sorbet. Two scoops looked like tomato and watermelon, but of course they weren't. They were Meyer lemon, pomegranate and we couldn't figure out the third. Jason assured us that the Grange has the "best desserts in Sacramento." I guess he has to say that because he works there. I disagree. I ordered a chocolate thing, and what I got was a rounded scoop of a fudge-chocolate with a hardened shell, drizzled with salt, nestled next to sugar-coated peanuts. It wasn't the best dessert I've ever had, but let me tell you, I ate the whole thing anyway.

Three hours later, our bill, with tip, including the martini and a glass of wine each, plus one small port, came to $150, which seems reasonable for that type of restaurant. It's less than we would have spent at Ella's or Waterboy. But the difference is we will go back to Ella's and the Waterboy. I sort of doubt that will give the Grange another shot, but I never say never.

The Short Sale Savior, by Elizabeth Weintraub, coming in June 2009.

Photo: Big Stock Photo

My husband and I finally found time to check out the new buffet restaurant that just opened in Sacramento. The World Seafood & Sushi Buffet is located south of Land Park, past Fruitridge on the east side of Freeport near Claudia.  It's a non-descript building. We showed up for lunch last Wednesday around 1 PM, and the place was practically deserted, so I don't know how many customers were actually there around noon. Without customers in the room, the air was chilly.

It's a huge dining space, filled with lots of empty tables, so we received superior service from the staff -- most likely because there were few customers to fawn over. Although, our server did forget to bring our hot tea until we reminded him. About 1/3 of the space on one end is devoted to cafeteria-style food selections, set up in a square with a few counters off to the sides. Unlike China Buffet on Broadway, navigating the maize was a bit confusing.

I suspect the owners of World Seafood were trying to diligently follow city health codes. For example, the sushi was set on ice. I'm not certain if the rice was rolled too tightly or it simply froze while sitting on the ice, but I probably could have done serious damage to my toes if I had dropped a piece on my foot. While wasabi was available, there were no bowls or small trays set out to mix it with soy sauce, so I had to grab a soup bowl from the other side of the room for that purpose.

Since I desperately needed some warmth, I headed back to the soup selections. They all looked delicious and steaming hot. I tried a bowl of beef and barley, which was flavorable and fabulous.

Our server saw me smiling and asked if we would like to sample some freshly prepared hot and sour soup from the kitchen, and he brought us out two bowls. My husband asked our server to identify the type of vinegar, and our server ran back to the kitchen to get the answer. It was white Chinese vinegar, which blended nicely with hot pepper. The won ton soup was simmered in a rich broth, which was equally delightful.

World Seafood says in its advertising that it boasts an unforgettable culinary experience, featuring international foods from the Mediterranean, Latin America, Asia and, of course, America, with more than 150 dishes. The French-fried onion rings were cold and soggy. The Italian pesto pasta was also cold. I passed over the snails, with their chewy little bodies protruding from the shells. The sign said the snails were prepared in an English style, which I later found out from a resident blogger, that British agent Sheldon Neal, meant they were cooked with herbs instead of garlic. French snails are simply a delivery system for butter and garlic.

The best pasta was shrimp, even though it wasn't as warm as it could have been. Much as I love shrimp, though, I passed over the Indonesian fried shrimp because I dislike having to pull off the heads. Most people, I understand, eat the heads, but just thinking about the crunchy sensation on my teeth was enough to say no.

My husband said the beef stroganoff was very good, the pasta cooked al dente and the beef, moist. The dim sum offerings were slim, maybe 5 or 6 different dishes were available. We tried something that was smushed into bamboo shoot halves that melted in our mouths; it seemed to be shrimp-based. They also had the usual selections of steamed sticky rice wrapped in seaweed, pot stickers, pork buns and pork suimai.

By the time we considered dessert, I was really too satiated. There was a sign by the ice cream that said due to health regulations, customers could no longer scoop their own ice cream and are required to ask a server for assistance. I chose a small square of chocolate cake layered with chocolate mousse and an icing that tasted like creme brulee. It was the best chocolate dessert ever. I would go back to World Seafood and Sushi buffet just for that dessert alone. It was incredible.

World Seafood and Sushi Buffet is located at 5675 Freeport Boulevard. Phone: 916.392.8889. Lunch is $7.95 and dinner is $11.99. But ask for a 50% off-coupon during the Grand Opening celebration, which lets you buy one adult buffet and gives you half-off on the second order.

The Short Sale Savior, by Elizabeth Weintraub, coming soon to a bookstore near you.

Photos: Big Stock Photo

Ever since the 1980s, I've been dining on sushi and sashimi at least once a week or so. I'm like an addict who needs a fix. After a week without sushi, I begin to feel a strong craving for raw fish. I don't want to turn into a walking thermometer like Jeremy Piven, but if I find hamachi in the vicinity of my mouth, in it goes.

A Japanese restaurant opened in Sacramento a couple years ago down Freeport, just south of Sutterville from Land Park called Akebono II. I think the first Akebono is in Granite Bay. It's a strange location for such a wonderful restaurant. The place is sandwiched between Rite Aid and Hollywood Video on the west side of Freeport, next to where Filco's used to be (I think) and a stone's throw from Raley's. Not your ideal setting, but what the hey.

The food is superb. It's a bit more expensive than, say, Sushi Cafe or Ricksha, but the fish seems fresher, lighter, cut with precise care, and the presentation is lovely.

I ordered the sushi and sashimi lunch box for $12.95. First course, of course, was miso soup dotted with tofu, which lets me play with my chopsticks while I'm waiting for the soup to cool down. I always pick out all the tofu and eat it before I drink the soup. Our waitress was friendly, efficient and fast. When I asked if I could take a photo of the sushi bar, her eyes light up, and she said, "Is this for your web page?" Then she told the sushi chefs to smile as I snapped away.

My husband requested ramen with pork and mushrooms. The bowl arrived, as big as your head, filled with plump chewy noodles and plenty of steam. I tasted the broth, which was rich and satisfying, as though it had been simmering all day, and perhaps it had.

Usually the place is packed, but yesterday there weren't very many diners there. I hope it was the weather that kept people away and not the downturn in the economy. Maybe they were watching football. Which reminds me, the big screen TVs on the walls were picking up a satellite show of Sumo wrestlers, dressed, naturally, in loincloths. I've never given much thought about sumo wrestling, but even without sound, the show was fascinating. I found myself glancing up to watch the matches, which didn't last more than a minute, wondering what would happen if one of their thongs slid the wrong way.

Just the program to watch while dipping my tuna in wasabi and soy sauce. I highly recommend Akebono II. I give it five stars for food, quality, service but 3 for location and ambiance. If you go there, you'll most likely agree that the sushi is the best in Sacramento.

The Short Sale Savior, by Elizabeth Weintraub, coming to a bookstore near you.

Photos: Elizabeth Weintraub, Sacramento Real Estate Broker

I heard about the Market Club from my neighbor in Land Park a year or so ago but never got around to going there until recently. The restaurant is within walking distance from my house, too. It's a little scary looking for some people's tastes -- nestled in the middle of the produce shipping yard between Broadway and McClatchy on Fifth Street. This is an area filled with industrial buildings and dusty parking lots. Not the sort of place the public typically wanders around.

However, if you go there at lunch, you'll find business guys in suits mixing with truck drivers, produce workers and people who look like they could be homeless. The Market Club also serves breakfast. Its lunch specials change from day to day, and whether you dine there for lunch or breakfast, your plate will be piled with food bigger than your head. To say the portions are generous is an understatement.

To get there, you'll head south from Broadway and make a right into the second gate for the produce yard. If you cross the railroad tracks, you went too far. Drive past the rows of produce trucks and modular buildings about halfway into the yard. Stop, look to your left, and you'll see it. The place features a shoehorn counter with bar stools and tables are over to the left. The restaurant is packed every day with customers, and looks like it hasn't changed one bit for the past 40 years. It's a blast from the past.

You can order hamburgers, cheeseburgers, broasted chicken, pork chops, short ribs or corned beef and cabbage for lunch, depending on the day. Breakfast is the usual greasy spoon affair -- omelets, eggs any way you like 'em, potatoes and toast, sides of bacon, ham or sausage or, on certain days, fried rice. If you're dying for Spam, that delicious canned creation (Yuck, I had to eat that stuff as a kid and ick) from Austin, Minnesota, you might want to order spam and eggs.

I ordered the four-egg cheese omelet with a side of bacon and my husband ordered corned beef hash. We arrived about 11 AM on Sunday and managed to squeeze into the counter crowd. By 11:45 AM, our food had not yet arrived. I waived at the waitress who brought me a plate piled high with bacon. Shortly before noon, my breakfast omelet was delivered. My husband's, however, was missing.

"Sorry, hon," the waitress said, "But we're out of corned beef hash."

My husband was livid that he had to sit there for an hour without being informed that his breakfast choice was unavailable.

"I can get you something else," the waitress offered. She did not offer an apology.

My husband replied that he'd just as soon sit there {and fume) while I ate my omelet. I don't blame him for being irritated, but I probably would have ordered something else than go without breakfast.

The omelet was great, buttery smooth and extremely cheesy, almost too much cheese. In fact, it was like eating a pound of cheese, but I happen to like cheese. I would go there for lunch, too, but I'll have to find somebody else to be my lunch date because my husband won't go back.

• The Market Club is located at 2630 Fifth Street.
• 916.498.9953
• Open 5:30 to 1:30 Monday through Friday
• Sunday: 6:30 to 11:30 AM
• No credit cards.

Photos: Elizabeth Weintraub

The Short Sale, by Elizabeth Weintraub, coming from Archer Ellison in January 2009.

My associate, Rose Mary Swart, invited me to lunch at The Firehouse Restaurant in Old Sacramento. That's Rose Mary, on the left. I don't know who she is sitting next to. OK, it's me. Rose Mary says she loves to celebrate the beginning of fall by doing lunch in the tree-canopied courtyard of the Firehouse Restaurant, and this may very well become a tradition with me, too.

Out of all the dining areas at The Firehouse, the courtyard is my favorite. The biggest problem during autumn is keeping the little tiny seeds that fall from the trees off your table. But the temperature was perfect, in the low 80s, and dining outdoors without having to endure bus fumes and whatnot is delightful.

For those of you who have not experienced The Firehouse, here's a little background. It actually WAS a firehouse in 1853. It has the distinction of being the first historical building to be restored in Old Sacramento, situated on Second Street between K and L and a block from the Sacramento River. It opened in 1960, and retains its original antiques and artwork today. The Firehouse has won a ton of awards for excellence in food and wine, and when Ronald Reagan was governor of California, he held both inaugural dinners at the restaurant.

The choice for an appetizer was tough. Should we order the Camembert served with golden brown baguette crostinis or should we try the grilled peach gazpacho? Even though I had my eye on the steak for an entrée, I surrendered to the drunken balsamic steak shown above. It was pan roasted and glazed with a white balsamic-bourbon glaze, served with an onion-thyme marmalade and oven-warmed heirloom tomato confit with crumbled Valbreso feta.

The courtyard's center feature is this water fountain, topped with a bowl of fall flowers. The floor and walls are old clay-fired brick. All of Old Sacramento is a good ten feet lower than the rest of Sacramento, so if you feel like the city is above you, it's because it is. Old Sacramento was originally a waterfront commercial area during the Gold Rush days. Many of the original buildings constructed back then remain today and have been restored. It has horse-drawn carriages, wooden sidewalks and a true nostalgic feel. You'll find lots of restaurants, old-fashioned candy and ice cream shops and shopping, alongside historic museums. For a small fee, you can hop the train and ride in an open car along the river.

Rose Mary chose the Scottish King salmon. It was chargrilled with a fresh herb beurre monté, accompanied by sautéed asparagus and pine nut-sun-dried tomato-kalamata olive fregola. I love salmon but have it so often, I decided to pass on a fish selection.

My toughest decision was whether to have the blackened ribeye with garlic mashed potatoes and sautéed spinach or go for the sirloin. I love spinach. I think I wanted to be Popeye when I grew up. I'd eat it right out of the can, that's how much I loved spinach. Fresh, frozen, canned, I don't care. I'm a spinach nut. So I really considered it. But as you can see by the photo, I selected the top sirloin.

Another vegetable weakness of mine is mushrooms. It was the wild mushroom chasseur that made me order the top sirloin, which was served with garlic mashed potatoes and sautéed carrots and green beans.

As if all that food wasn't enough, we decided to splurge on dessert. Should we share a dessert or be truly decadent and order each our own? Well, by now you probably know the answer to that. We both opted for the Chocolate Decadence, made from a bittersweet chocolate cake with silken ganache raspberry coulis and crème anglaise.

After that lovely two-hour lunch, it was back to work to conduct a final walk-through of a home in Natomas and pick up keys from a listing in College Greens. A nap would have been nice, but work comes first. It's not often that I am able to treat myself to a long lunch of delectables nor enjoy the company of my colleagues in such a relaxed and charming atmosphere. If that opportunity presents itself to you, jump on it!

If you're looking for a great restaurant with reasonable prices in Midtown, look no further than the L Wine Lounge. Even though I knew the address, I grabbed the wrong door knob on 18th Street instead of walking around the corner to L Street. You can see why I sometimes walk into the wrong homes when on broker tour. I'm directionally challenged. But in my defense, the sign over the door on 18th did read 1801.

The entrance is on L Street, directly across the street from where the battles have been escalating between the developers of the L Street Lofts. Since my company, Lyon Real Estate, was the exclusive listing broker for this project, let me say that regardless of the outcome of those squabbles, the L Street Lofts are magnificent, chic, urban and hey, you've got to love the exposed air ducts in the ceilings. The floor-to-ceiling glass views of Sacramento are remarkable. And where else can you get your money's worth for $500 a square foot in Midtown?

My husband had picked up tickets to see that classic LA punk band "X" at Harlow's last Thursday. Then we invited another couple to join us and tried to get extra tickets for them, but the show was sold out. As a compromise, we decided to go as a group of four to dinner and then let my husband and my associate's husband go on to the show themselves.  Harlow's wanted $100 to reserve a table, and they weren't serving dinner that night, so if I had to stand throughout the show, it was better my husband take a buddy instead of me.

As we waited for my husband to show up, we ordered cocktails. One of the special drinks caught my eye -- a vodka martini, but I don't believe martinis should be made with vodka and ordered a real martini instead. It arrived in an unusually large martini glass with an unusually small amount of gin, and no olives!

The L Wine Lounge features a three-course prix fixe dinner and, since I'm the adventurous sort, that's what I ordered. It's very affordable as compared to the $150 dinner at the now closed 55 Degrees. I enjoyed a delicious charentais melon soup, grilled Bavette steak with potatoes anna and hericot verts, the latter which was a bit stringy and crunchy. The steak melted in my mouth, and the potatoes were thinly sliced, stacked and cooked to perfection with a tiny bit of crust. Ordinarily, I don't like bread pudding, but this dessert was made with cubes of lightly buttered and roasted bread, mixed with currants, and was simply phenomenal. The wine pairing was wonderful but the portions were not what one would call "generous" at about two ounces, except for dessert which was a miniscule one ounce.

After the guys left, my associate and I stayed behind to talk. We asked for a Frangelico but the restaurant had none. Instead, it offered me a taste of Benedictine. Wow. If you had lit a match in front of my face, you would have seen a blow torch.  Benedictine is made in France from plants and spices, and is still manufactured by the same methods used by the monks who created this liqueur in the 1500s. Very sweet with a high alcohol content. I didn't want to crawl on all fours out of the restaurant, so I passed on the dessert drink. Cost of the three-course prix fixe with wine pairings was a reasonable $45. Without the wine, $30. I give the L Wine Lounge 4.5 stars.

Photo: Big Stock Photo

If you're feeling in an extravagant mood and find yourself watching too many episodes of Iron Chef -- perhaps daydreaming of becoming a panelist at Kitchen Stadium (not gonna happen, the show is over) -- then I've got just the place for you: The Kitchen in Sacramento, located in the Arden Park neighborhood near Arden Fair. Chef Noah Zonca and Executive Chef Randall Selland have hit on a winning concept. Like Selland's restaurants in downtown Sacramento, Ella, and Selland's Market Cafe in East Sacramento, the focus is on fresh ingredients.

Only One Seating Per Evening at The Kitchen

Although I hear there is often last-minute seating, my husband made our reservation for August last May. It's not your average run-of-the-mill restaurant. They call it a demonstration, because the guests are front and center. The doors open at 6:30 PM, and there is only one seating per evening for about 50 people. Guests are encouraged to wander the kitchen, talk to the chefs, explore the wine cellar and mingle with each other. Most of the seating is around the presentation area, bordered on three sides by marble counters. A few tables line the windows and wrap around the counter area.

Does Eating Furry or Feathered Animals Annoy You?

Chef Noah is flamboyant and starts the show. He's a comedian, too, engaging the diners as he cracks jokes and talks about the history and origin of each ingredient. Although he touches on some sensitive concerns such as if you don't know where foie gras comes from, he's not going to tell you, he makes it clear that the restaurant will accommodate vegetarian requests.

If You Dislike Goat Cheese, Try This

The first course was The Kitchen BLT without the bread. Well, bread was served on the side. Chef Noah promised that people who don't like goat cheese will love it. I happen to adore goat cheese, but this cheese was extraordinary -- fresh, creamy, no bite and a bit of sweetness, accompanied by house-cured bacon, heirloom tomatoes, baby lettuce with a sliver of arugula and a balsamico that costs $145 for a small bottle. It was so delicious that when our server, Eric, overheard me threatening to pick up my bowl and drink from it, he brought me two glasses of a yellow and a red tomato juice. My husband asked for a side dish of balsamico to soak up bread, and Eric was at his side in a flash with a generous serving of this aged vinegar.

The Wine Flight is a Must and Lobster Mushrooms To-Die-For

The wine flight was exquisite. For the first course, The Kitchen selected a 2007 Leitz Riesling Spätlese Rüdesheimer Magdalenenkreuz, Rheingau. For the second course, a 2006 Melville Pinot Noir, Estate, Santa Rita Hills, accompanied the tarts. One of the tart selections was changed from wild boar to free-range goat, which I suspect is a bit more chewy than the boar would have been, had it been available. Another tart featured lobster mushrooms, which I believe come from Australia and taste just like lobsters. It was incredible. And another was made with chanterelle mushrooms.

The Best Sushi and Sashimi Ever!

At this point, I was satiated, but we were invited to leave our seats and wander out to the patio for an intermission, where we were presented with trays of fresh sushi, the freshest I've ever had. Chef Noah promised this sushi would not be Sacramento sushi, and he was right. The wasabi came from Japan and is very expensive. It's not that powdery green stuff, this wasabi was shaved from the root itself. Ordinarily, I would not eat fresh scallops as I prefer those cooked, but one slithered down my throat anyway, and I loved it. A guest asked another, "Do you know what you are eating?" And the guest responded, "No, and I don't care; it's delicious."

The next course consisted of Maine lobster and wild white prawn open-faced sliders with a tuna salsa. The wine selection was a Russian River chardonnay, which I felt was a bit too light for this dish. In fact, when we were leaving, the manager asked us what we thought. You know me, I always speak my mind. So, I mentioned that the wine selection for the fourth course didn't match as well as I had expected, and the manager said it was actually a substitute and indicated the staff had expressed a reservation about it as well. But it wasn't far off.

Tenderloin so Tender You Can Cut it With a Knife (excepting rare)

We finished the fifth course of tenderloin and peaches in foie gras with split bone marrow, paired with a 2001 Seavey Vineyard Cabernet Sauvignon “Caravina" from Napa Valley. Bone marrow, even in very tiny portions, which I tried to eat, wasn't something I truly appreciated. I noticed my husband didn't eat all of his bone marrow, either, so we asked for a "kitty bag" and brought them home for our cats, whom, I may mention, also didn't eat it. I suspect I would have liked better if I had spread it on a cracker.

By Dessert, I No Longer Remember The Name of the Wine Served, Nor Care

The dessert was perfect. Berries with ice cream and a chocolate fudge-like brownie. Our bill? Let's just say the dinner for two was $300, without tip and without wine. Was it worth it? Every dime. I give this restaurant five stars. Go. You won't be disappointed, I promise!

Photo: Big Stock Photo

I bring home take-out a lot, and not just because my new range and oven is sitting in my living room during the remodel. Basically, it's a time-related issue. I rarely have time to cook, especially during the week, plus my husband is the actual in-house cook. And some nights he gets home from work totally exhausted to find me sitting in front of my computer yelping about where's my dinner! So, he drives over to Broadway and brings home Pad Thai from Taste of Thai or Scallops in Lobster sauce from Fortune House.

However, I don't have the patience to wait in a restaurant for take-out, so I generally order from L&L Hawaiian BBQ or go to Quiznos or Subway. Turns out that I am not alone. In today's Sacramento Bee, reporter Phillip Reese says take-out places have jumped 28% in the Sacramento metro area over the past six years. In 2005, there were 2 L&L Hawaiian BBQ joints and now there are 9. I lean toward the fried shrimp, which used to cost $3.99 and now has jumped closer to $5, but still, it's a bargain and yummy.

Next door to L&L Hawaiian BBQ is Quiznos. Both of these restaurants are located about 8 blocks from my home in Land Park, so it's a quick trip to pick up a fast meal. Quiznos, says the Sac Bee, has grown from 17 stores in 2005 to 30 today. If you never drive past Riverside, you may not spot these two restaurants, as they're tucked away in a newer strip mall between Broadway and X Street, across from the gas station and kitty corner to Target.

To make up for the calorie count in the fried shrimp at L&L Hawaiian BBQ, I sometimes order the Honey Bourbon Chicken on an oven-toasted bun at Quiznos. It's only 320 calories. But not if you buy a chocolate chip cookie to go with it. :)

Photo: Big Stock Photo