Down Home Cooking from Sacramento Chefs

It’s not always sunny in Sacramento. In fact, lately it’s been bone-chillingly cold. A drop in temperature in this city not only means more layers of clothing, but also ignites a craving for some warm, home-cooked meals. So, when the weather outside is frightful, or it’s just too cold to give a damn, skip dining out and show your kitchen some attention. Submerge asks head chefs from various restaurants in the area to share some family recipes they’ll be serving around the dinner table this holiday season. And even this writer plucks a page from her own recipe book for a meat-free tortilla soup, a perfect, spicy solution for any rainy day.

Arroz con Pollo

Matt Brown | Head chef at the Golden Bear
2326 K Street, Sacramento
Goldenbear916.com

Chef Brown’s ingredients:
4 cups chicken stock
Chicken
1 pasilla pepper
1 Jalapeño
1 yellow onion, chopped
2 cups of rice
Achiote paste
Salt and pepper to taste

Former 58 Degrees and Holding sous chef Matt Brown just started as the head chef at the Golden Bear four months ago. Brown says anyone can whip up his mother’s recipe for Arroz con Pollo, or chicken with rice.

“I love cooking dishes at home that take a good amount of the day and end up heating the house for you. Sear some chicken legs off in a pan, just browning the outsides. Meanwhile, in a blender, blend the peppers into a paste. In the same pan you cooked the chicken, sauté a chopped yellow onion with two cups of rice and brown the rice slightly. At that point, add your chicken stock and your chili paste. Mix in some Achiote paste into the liquid and add your chicken back into the sautéing rice. Bring it to a light simmer, put the lid on your pot and let it cook for 35 minutes, [then] turn off heat and let it sit for five minutes.”

Gingersnap Gravy

Ed Roehr | Owner and head chef at Magpie Café
1409 R Street, Sacramento
Magpiecaterers.com

Chef Roehr’s ingredients:
4 cups of chicken stock
20 gingersnap cookies
Half an onion, chopped
1 oz butter
2 tbsp apple cider vinegar
Thyme, chopped
Salt and pepper to taste

In Roehr’s own words: “If someone finds the need to make a turkey or roast a chicken, this gravy will go really well. This is something that was a family recipe my grandma would make. This is cool and kind of a twist on chicken and turkey gravy for the holidays.”

Put the cookies in the blender until they’re a powdery consistency. Brown the onion with some butter in a pan until soft. Once the onion cooks in the pan, add the powdered cookies with one ounce of butter. When the butter melts, add the stock and two tablespoons of apple cider vinegar. Last, add some chopped thyme and salt and pepper to taste. Roehr says any gingersnap cookies will do, whether they’re from a box or a natural food store.

“My grandma made it every holiday. We always had this ginger gravy on the table for everything. It’s good on potatoes, it’s good on the turkey, it’s good on chicken [and] it’s good on rice. It’s a very distinctive flavor. Actually, it’s been a while since I’ve had it. I’d like to have some now.”

Winter Chicory Salad With Crystallized Cranberries and Blue Cheese

Patrick Mulvaney | Owner and head chef at Mulvaney’s B & L
1215 19th Street, Sacramento
Mulvaneysbl.com

Chef Mulvaney’s ingredients:
Mixed chicory from Riverdog Farms
Shaft’s bleu cheese of Nevada City found at the Sacramento Co-op
Toasted walnuts
Cranberries
Sugar
Egg whites
Mandarin vinaigrette

Patrick Mulvaney grew up on the East coast, so he’s accustomed to fresh, Dungeness crab season, but there’s one tart berry that brings sweet memories of his mother, and ultimately inspired this eye-appeasing salad.

“This is a dish that my mother used to make around Thanksgiving and Christmas. My mother would leave a bowl [of extra cranberries] in the kitchen that everyone would eat. This works with romaine lettuce, arugula or chicory. The stars of the show are really the cranberries that go on top. If you do it with arugula, it kind of looks like a Christmas tree, right? You have the green, the little red balls and the white chunks of blue cheese throughout.”

For a bowl of encapsulated, sugary cranberries, use one cup cranberries, one cup granulated sugar, two egg whites and two tablespoons water. Whisk water and egg whites together until blended, but not frothy. Dip cranberries into the egg white mixture and then roll them into a bowl of sugar until fully coated. Set the cranberries on a plate or wax paper and allow to air dry for up to two hours.

If you’re feelin’ extra saucy, make the mandarin vinaigrette from scratch. Mulvaney’s tips include one part acid, three parts olive oil, one shallot, two garlic cloves, one spoonful of Dijon mustard, one mandarin, salt and pepper to taste. Vinegar is optional.

“Drizzle in the oil slowly. I usually use regular olive oil. If the mandarin’s are tart enough, you don’t need any vinegar. If they are sweet, you just use a little champagne or white vinegar to bring that acid level back up.”

Tortilla Soup with Cilantro-Lime Tofu

Steph Rodriguez | Amateur chef by day, writer by night

Steph’s ingredients:
1 cup chopped cilantro
1 white onion
1 can black beans
1 cup corn
1 package extra firm tofu
1 jalapeño
2 green peppers
14 oz veggie broth
2 8 oz cans tomato sauce
1 14 oz can diced tomatoes
2 tsp olive oil
2 tsp cumin
1 tsp chili powder
1 tsp cayenne

I love soup; especially tortilla soup. But, as a vegetarian, it’s hard to find non-chicken tortilla soup anywhere around this town. So, I forgo the restaurants and make my own with cilantro-lime baked tofu bits. It’s a hearty take on a classic recipe that can also be labeled vegan if you leave out the cheese and corn tortilla toppings. But this writer loves cheese. Sorry vegans.

Soup:
Start by roasting your onion, jalapeño and green peppers in the oven at 350 degrees for 15 to 20 minutes. Once done, throw the jalapeño and peppers into a plastic bag for five minutes so it’s easier for the skin to be peeled. Throw the onion and roasted peppers into a blender and blend until smooth. In a large pot, add your liquids over medium heat, blended chili paste and spices. Stir everything well and let the soup simmer for half an hour, watching closely. When it’s done simmering, add in the black beans, corn, half-cup cilantro, tofu bits and let the soup simmer for another 10 to 15 minutes. Lastly, fry up some corn tortilla strips, sprinkle cheese and cilantro for garnish and enjoy.

Tofu:
The trick to a well-marinated tofu is pressing all the water out of your block. Squeeze the liquids out by pressing with your hands and then finish it off by squeezing the block between paper towels. Slice long, thick rectangles and marinate for up to two hours. The marinade calls for one tablespoon olive oil; a quarter-cup lime juice; two cloves garlic, minced; two tablespoons chopped cilantro; two teaspoons chili powder; a pinch of cayenne pepper and of course; salt and pepper to taste.

Golden Bear
2326 K Street, Sacramento

K Street seems like the place to be these spring days in Sacramento. Many shops, ventures, bike routes and bars are found from downtown to the Business 80 on-ramps.

However, most pertinently for our foodie purposes, a plethora of places to eat can be found on this path. As the season has coyly exhibited its sunny splendor, one eatery has emerged from a sort-of hibernation with a patron-pleasing epicurean sensibility.

Although the Golden Bear didn’t completely stop selling pints of beer, it reopened in the middle of March with renovations done to its tail end. Owners Jon Modrow and Kimio Bazett kindly took time to chat with Submerge to give us the skinny. The location’s previous owners built an illegal patio addition to this 1840s structure, which ultimately came to be a fire-code violation and renovations were required, Bazett said.

For a bar with an obvious sense of California pride, Bazett and Modrow had a group of UC Davis design students and friends create branding and interior aesthetic. In complete concurrence, the owners jumped on board with the contemporary furniture and bright, inviting color splashes.

They wanted to keep design cohesive throughout their bar, using a “monster money budget” to remodel the indoor back patio.

Cool, custom upholstered booth-ettes are paired with sheen-y tables and accented by hanging cylindrical lights–the likes of the oil lamp’s electric brother. Removable skylights and high-powered fans to suck cigarette smoke out of the patio make the patio an indoor/outdoor hybrid.

The Golden Bear entrepreneurs seem to have no intention of letting any half-assing happen when it comes to food, and brought on a new chef to be the ultimate addition to the “top to bottom” renovations recently revealed.

From L-R: Owners Jon Modrow and Kimio Bazett with Chef Billy Zoellin

A few weeks fresh off a year cooking for the Highcroft Patrón Racing Team, passionate young Billy Zoellin is the new executive chef accomplishing clever culinary feats with his “punk food” and gastro-pub fare, something they all agree “seems to be what Sacramento is missing.”

The Golden Bear has one of the only chefs who shops personally at farmers markets. This act of taking that food and “making it your own” is what Chef Billy considers “punk food.”

Everything is prepared in-house, using local products (within a 100-mile radius) and consciously attempting to keep the bar’s carbon footprint as small as possible, Chef Billy said.

Having a clearer conscience about serving customers, patrons and friends healthier food is a bright point for Bazett, he said.

The kitchen serves filling American lunch classics like burgers (Juicy Lucy Burger), chicken sandwiches, meatball sandwiches, cheese appetizers and a form of fries; however, many options are light, bright, fresh and healthy.

For lunch, complex-yet-uncomplicated salads and vegetables are available. For brunch (Saturday and Sunday 10 a.m. to 3 p.m.), seasonal menus feature veggies, frittatas, a colorful Ahi bagelwich and ripe, sweet fruit.

Being a good little eater, I went with my gastro-instinct, trying the fried cheese curd small plate ($5), Bledsoe pork meatball sandwich ($9.50) and a few “smashed fries.”

Pan-seared and served with a romesco aoli, the melty drops of cheese had just the right amount of cheese crust crunch and creaminess. How can you not love cheese?

I’ve come to truly appreciate pork (thanks to the beau), and the pork flavor of the meatballs in the sandwich successfully tasted true. Seasonings, along with an understated “red sauce” clearly made from fresh tomatoes, accentuated the eight mini ping-pong ball-sized meatballs. Lightly pickled shallots offered a not-too-tangy, nor too-salty, vinegar tinge and complemented the meaty sandwich, topped with slightly pungent provolone cheese. Spongey Bella Bru streak roll worked nicely as an encapsulating bread bed, holding and absorbing sauce and flavors.

A choice of smashed fries or salad accompanies sandwiches. For a buck more, eaters can opt for the red leaf Caesar salad. It’s a rouge version of a Caesar, paying ode to such Tijuana origins by featuring Lola Rosa lettuce, crisp capers, Cotija cheese, toasted pepitas, croutons and a smokey achiote Caesar dressing. Pleasing in flavor and just the right amount of dulled lettuce crunch.

Investigating these “smashed” fries, I found that if a fingerling potato wanted to be like a popcorn kernel, it could. Only the smallest fingerlings are par-boiled then bashed a bit, then fried (the only deep-fried menu item) in soybean oil and lightly spicy seasoned. A house-made ketchup in deep maroon made from ground New Mexico chilies, must-have-been-roasted tomatoes and nice amounts of pepper hold the fries hand while doing the flavor dance in your mouth. So happy they are.

As for dessert? The dudes who call the shots maintain a great relationship with their neighbor, The Dessert Diner, located next door. After asking about the possibility of a donut, Chef Billy said if it ever happened, bacon would be integral.

Local, fresh, well intentioned, “punk” and with a sense of humor, Chef Billy has pizzazz. And his cuisine is so sexy in a realistic way, like the posh “girl next door” of food.

I’m so excited about the playfully salacious future creation of a palate-cleansing house-made gummy bear that the Golden Bear Chef Billy hinted at. I won’t apologize for finding the concept to be rather casually provocative.

I know that burgers have been talked about and talked about in our town; however, I look forward to trying the Lucy burger: Sacramento’s introspective version of the cheese skirt burger, with fontina cheese hidden on the Inside of the Niman Ranch Angus beef patty.

Golden Bear has emerged like a well-intentioned youth does from college–looking the same on the outside, but with internal improvements. With future plans for a front-of-house facelift, The Golden Bear will become an even spiffier looking bar. Featuring a pint of beer and a shot of Jameson as the proclaimed house drink, pours parallel those of everyone’s favorite dive bar, but with the panache of an ultra lounge. Like an ultra high-dive neighborhood lounge where everyone is a VIP, dress code is as you like (with respect) and there’s no cover.

It’s not likely that the Golden Bear will lose its reputation for being a solid spot to sip a drink, but its reputation for offering scrumptious gastro-pub eats will certainly come to precede itself.