Perfect Monday Night in Sac

Oh if only I were in my bed writing about the wonderful time I had tonight from the comfort of my own bed. Instead I'm sitting on a hotel couch in Redding, eating olives from Safeway, wishing it were last Monday. That's when I had the perfect Monday night in Sac.

After work, Spiderwoman and I headed over to Trader Joe's. I consider myself an expert in Trader Joe's shopping, so I filled her in on some of my super secret insider tips. Like did you know their pre-marinated Korean beef ribs are perfect for cooking? Or that their asparagus can either be steamed or oven roasted? Where would Spiderwoman or you guys be without me filling you in?!? Anywho, we walked the store and I continued to point out the obvious... then decided we had enough food-shopping and wanted to do some food-consuming.

My first thought was to head right next door to Burr's Fountain, located on Folsom Boulevard near 49th Street. I've always driven by and seen people sitting on the picnic tables outside and they looked like they were enjoying themselves. Well, they must have been enjoying their ice cream, because I don't think they would like as happy if they were eating dinner there. Inside they have a sort of deli that serves up mostly sandwiches. Everything looked pretty plain and possibly not so fresh. With so many great places to grab a sandwich in Sac, I wasn't going to waste my calories there.

Spiderwoman and I wanted to try some place new, but every place I pulled on Yelp was closed on Mondays. I was trying to think of what was close, and remembered one of my favorite dinner spots. How could I forget? 33rd Street Bistro was right down the street, had a nice little patio, and had some delish sandwiches on the menu. Off we went.

We drove over to the restaurant located on 33rd Street and Folsom Boulevard. There are a couple of other locations in El Dorado Hills, Davis and Midtown (just down the street on 16th and K Streets), but this one is my fave. The Midtown location is a little on the trendier side, so I never feel as laid back in there. However, with that comes great people watching, especially for weekend brunch (hot bag of donuts! Seriously!). The Davis location is actually pretty awesome with a humongous outdoor eating area, but is too far away for me to enjoy. And the El Dorado Hills location... well I actually haven't been out there but I can't imagine it's better than the original location Spiderwoman and I chose.

We set up shop on the front patio which sits right on the Folsom Boulevard sidewalk. It's the perfect spot to watch people drive by, ride by on their bikes, or run or walk by. And on a night like we were having, it was the perfect spot to just sit back and enjoy the awesome weather. Nothing beats a summer night in Sac.

We couldn't decide on what to eat because it all looked good (especially after grocery shopping). Last time I was there I had the Tillamook Cheddar Cheeseburger and Fries, and finished it off with their much loved Trio of desserts (how can you go wrong with three normal sized portions of dessert? By the way, my pants can answer that question). Because we couldn't settle on anything we decided to split. First up, The Gorge:


This hearty sandwich is loaded with turkey, bacon, havarti, greens and mayo on a ciabatta bun. You can see they don't skimp on the turkey which is a plus right off the bat. Combined with the soft texture of the havarti and distinguishable creamy-ish taste, the luxurious herby mayo (any time I eat full-fat mayo I consider it luxurious), crispy bacon and the hearty bun... MMMMM MMMMM MMMMM. It is a very satisfying sandwich. Well, it was a satisfying half. Next up was The Puget Sound:


This super-calorie treat is a mix of crab, shrimp and artichokes topped with Tillamook cheddar sandwiched between two crusty pieces of sourdough. The genius part is the sourdough served with seafood... perfect combo. I don't know what the binding part of the mix is... I'm assuming mayo and possibly a bit of cream cheese. Either way it makes for a super rich filling. The seafood taste was not overpowering as teh creaminess took care of that. Not exactly the healthiest choice but that's why they serve it with salad right?

It was too bad the salad the sandwiches came with wasn't all that great, because I barely ate any of it... making my meal even that much healthier for me. It's basically just greens and a very light dressing of olive oil and a little bit of vinegar (or even just plane old lemon juice). No tomatoes, no croutons, no cheese, no nothing. I thought, If I wanted diet food I clearly wouldn't have ordered the sandwich!

The lack of greens in my meal would have been the perfect excuse to turn down dessert. I didn't need more calories in the form of bad carbs and saturated fat... but what fun would that have been? I have you guys to entertain and tell my adventures to. If I passed on dessert, would you have been satisfied with just tales of sandwiches? I think not!

But-- and there's always a but (or in the case of this meal, a butt)-- how could I survive my second night in Redding if I didn't have dessert to reminisce about? We will all have to wait until tomorrow to hear about the dessert that I know will at least make one of you ready to hop in the car and come visit me. In Sac, not Redding.