Sunday Funday has become a ubiquitous term in Midtown this summer. I'm not sure who started it, but it is everywhere. While the days of meandering through Midtown neighborhoods on your cruiser may be over (due to the impending Northern California monsoon), there are still plenty of great deals and fun activities in Sacramento on Sundays. If you've survived your Saturday night, head out drinking on Sunday. Or fight that hangover with bottomless Mimosas.
This was my day yesterday (and I'm really glad I had today off for Columbus Day):
Brunch at Tuli Bistro. Ok, certainly not budget friendly, but holy cow was it good! Bottomless mimosas were a good deal at $8 per person. Their version of Eggs Benedict was so good I could have licked my plate. Jen's spicy goat cheese scramble looked delicious. The people at the table over had the breakfast pizza and the biscuits and gravy. I'm not sure Tuli can make anything that's not spectacular, and with brunch they really seem to have hit their stride. Super laid back, friendly service, and a beautiful day on the patio. I couldn't have asked for a better start to my day.
Jen and were on our bikes and headed over to Taylor's Kitchen for their weekly "Dick's Picks" wine tasting. I love this wine tasting. For $10 Richard Ebert, wine guy of Taylor's Market and Taylor's Kitchen, pours 6-8 of his current favorites. There's no real method to his madness, he just wants people to try something new. He's great--funny, friendly, loves to tell you about wine and quote Shakespeare. His wife is always there and she's super adorable. They have a great cheese and snack selection to munch on, and they are always willing to pour a little more if you haven't quite decided on a wine. Dick also picks wines that are super economical--I don't recall ever seeing anything over $20 on his list. Now, you may be asking why I would promote a $10 tasting when there are plenty of wineries around where you can taste for free (and I protest when they charge). I know Dick is going to pour something worthwhile. The wine is always good, the company is always fantastic, and they are always generous with the pours. It's totally worth the $10.
And more wine at 58 Degrees... Ok, it's no secret that my girlfriends and I love 58 on Sundays. Their no-corkage fee Sundays are a fabulous idea. Post not-so-great-Sac Bee review and perhaps in response to these tough economic times, 58 has reworked their food and wine menus. The result is more economical food choices (instead of the full cheese plate you can pick one or two, etc) and even cheaper wines. They have a few reds under $30 a bottle, which is a great deal normally, and on Sundays when you take $15 off the price it's a fantastic deal. Our service last night was still a little on the sketchy side, but there are some servers who really know their wine. Sit at the bar for the best service.
So, dear readers, what's your favorite Sunday spot?
Showing posts with label wine bars. Show all posts
Showing posts with label wine bars. Show all posts
Monday, October 12, 2009
Saturday, February 28, 2009
Wow?
According to the Merriam Webster Online Dictionary "wow" can mean either a "striking success," or "a distortion in reproduced sound consisting of a slow rise and fall of pitch caused by speed variation in the reproducing system." I'm not sure which definition L Wine Lounge is using for their WOW (Wine On Wednesdays -- get it?). Katy and I were searching for wine the other night (seriously, is that hard to find?) and when we found 58 Degrees packed to the gills, we decided to try something new. Here's the thing--we really tried to go outside of our comfort zone. We tried something new. I think we should get points for that. Unfortunately for us, L was WOW "used to express strong feeling". This feeling was not pleasure.
We got there at about 10 to 6, and decided to wait for WOW (it starts at 6pm). Our server was very nice and brought us water and glasses. WOW works like this--every Wednesday L features a different winery, and you get 5 tastes and free snacks for $10. Brilliant! I don't remember what winery was featured last Wednesday (Siduri?) but they had a viogner, a couple of pinots (one of which was fabulous) and a syrah. The wine was good. It was fun. They also had a fabulous triple cream brie and salami to nosh on. It was kind of fun getting up, circling floor and getting our own wine. And we were having a good time until I was sipping wine and noticed something sharp in my mouth. That sharpness was a shard of glass, clearly from a wine glass. In all fairness, this was not L's fault. I'm not sure how it got in there. I used the same glass the entire time, and the wine-pourer (is that a word?) opened a new bottle for me for the last taste. I don't know what happened. The hostess saw that there was something going on and came over to see what the commotion was. She very kindly got me a new glass. I couldn't fault them for it--but the entire time I was wondering where our server was. (For more glass in the glasses experiences you can read my friend Dave B's review of Nishiki here)
We tried our last wine and decided that we'd stay for another glass of wine. Sure. the shard of glass was weird, but not their fault. We sat for a few minutes to wait for our server to bring us menus (she had to come back to fill our water glasses for the 15th time, we figured.) Katy used the restroom (too much water). I tried making the "please come over here" face at our server. She ignored me. I tried making the "I'm really bored and need some wine face." She was too busy wiping out clean wine glasses. Seriously. Katy returned. We sat some more. By this point we've decided that we just want our check. Still no server. Our water glasses were empty for the first time that evening. Meanwhile, the crowd becomes more and more pretentious yuppy (not our scene) and we REALLY want to leave. I'm guessing we sat there for a good 15-20 minutes until I finally saw some guy who seemed like he was the manager and I chased him down to get our check. He runs our cards, leaves the tab and says, "That was 2 WOWS!" Um, ok. Here's a tip--just because you call it "WOW" doesn't mean that it's the truth. Katy and I left saying "Wow--that was really crappy service." And our server, probably said, "Wow, they didn't leave much of a tip." (I left nothing I was so pissed. Katy left a dollar. We're not sure what was more insulting.)
You can make excuses for shards of glass in your wine, but there is no excuse for bad service! We went to 58 Degrees just to get the bad taste out of our mouth.
We got there at about 10 to 6, and decided to wait for WOW (it starts at 6pm). Our server was very nice and brought us water and glasses. WOW works like this--every Wednesday L features a different winery, and you get 5 tastes and free snacks for $10. Brilliant! I don't remember what winery was featured last Wednesday (Siduri?) but they had a viogner, a couple of pinots (one of which was fabulous) and a syrah. The wine was good. It was fun. They also had a fabulous triple cream brie and salami to nosh on. It was kind of fun getting up, circling floor and getting our own wine. And we were having a good time until I was sipping wine and noticed something sharp in my mouth. That sharpness was a shard of glass, clearly from a wine glass. In all fairness, this was not L's fault. I'm not sure how it got in there. I used the same glass the entire time, and the wine-pourer (is that a word?) opened a new bottle for me for the last taste. I don't know what happened. The hostess saw that there was something going on and came over to see what the commotion was. She very kindly got me a new glass. I couldn't fault them for it--but the entire time I was wondering where our server was. (For more glass in the glasses experiences you can read my friend Dave B's review of Nishiki here)
We tried our last wine and decided that we'd stay for another glass of wine. Sure. the shard of glass was weird, but not their fault. We sat for a few minutes to wait for our server to bring us menus (she had to come back to fill our water glasses for the 15th time, we figured.) Katy used the restroom (too much water). I tried making the "please come over here" face at our server. She ignored me. I tried making the "I'm really bored and need some wine face." She was too busy wiping out clean wine glasses. Seriously. Katy returned. We sat some more. By this point we've decided that we just want our check. Still no server. Our water glasses were empty for the first time that evening. Meanwhile, the crowd becomes more and more pretentious yuppy (not our scene) and we REALLY want to leave. I'm guessing we sat there for a good 15-20 minutes until I finally saw some guy who seemed like he was the manager and I chased him down to get our check. He runs our cards, leaves the tab and says, "That was 2 WOWS!" Um, ok. Here's a tip--just because you call it "WOW" doesn't mean that it's the truth. Katy and I left saying "Wow--that was really crappy service." And our server, probably said, "Wow, they didn't leave much of a tip." (I left nothing I was so pissed. Katy left a dollar. We're not sure what was more insulting.)
You can make excuses for shards of glass in your wine, but there is no excuse for bad service! We went to 58 Degrees just to get the bad taste out of our mouth.
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