Tag Archives: Bistro 33

Eyes on the Prize, Quinn Hedges

Quinn Hedges knows how to work hard

An infamous problem among artists–musicians specifically–is a lack of motivation. Sure, they love to play, but that’s the just tip of the iceberg when it comes to the workload of a musician, and not many are willing to put in the effort. There’s show-booking, recording, media management and of course, practicing. That’s what makes ambitious artists like Quinn Hedges so celebrated. Not only is Hedges a hard-worker, he’s well mannered. During Submerge’s interview with the singer/songwriter, he was attentive and focused, modest about his music and generous with his pleases and thank yous. He seems generally grounded about being a musician–another rarity. Maybe that’s because music was always something that’s been second nature for him.

“Ever since I’ve started gigging, I’ve wanted more. I’ve wanted to get better. I’ve wanted to be playing all the time,” Hedges said.

Hedges grew up in a musical environment and picked up the guitar by the time he was 15. After his father was relocated by Hewlett-Packard to the West Coast, Hedges left his home in Delaware and settled into Northern California. Shortly after, Hedges went to Sonoma State for a degree in Music. During his time in the Music Department he learned the basis for his work ethic. Hedges reflected on the head of the jazz department saying that if someone wants something bad enough, they’ll get it.

“To hear someone like that, so overly critical, say something like that, it kind of stuck in my brain,” Hedges said.

Clearly that advice was taken to heart, because Hedges has been persistently working on music since. After graduation, he began slowly working his way into the Sacramento music scene, starting with small acoustic shows at wineries throughout the area. Finding a steady community through these shows proved to be a bit of a challenge.

“It was a struggle trying to find a place that would regularly hire you,” Hedges said. “I’ve paid my dues in the last seven or eight years, and I’m seeing the pay-off now where places are booking me as a regular.”

While it’s been a bit difficult, Hedges’ hard work over the last several years has finally begun to show. He has worked his mailing list up to nearly 1,000 people and has started to be really embraced by his community of listeners. His consistent effort has also helped him to develop strong relationships with venues throughout the Sacramento area. He now regularly plays happy hours and night time residencies at well-known establishments such as The Torch Club, Pizza Rock, Hyatt Regency and Davis’ Bistro 33.

“It’s cool because if someone catches me playing at The Torch Club, they’ll come back to The Torch Club,” Hedges said. “I’m starting to see more familiar faces at those venues where they saw me first.”

From these types of interactions and regular performances, Hedges has started to build a solid fan base, which helps him to feel like his persistence has been worthwhile.

“Although it’s been a lot of hard work, it’s starting to pay off with the following,” Hedges said.

These shows are normally solo performances, but Hedges plays with a full band as well, consisting of bassist Jamison Aguirre and drummer John Yessen (also a former member of Hedges’ previous band, Fair Trade).

The group plays officially under the name The Quinn Hedges Band, and over the last three years the trio has taken Hedges’ sound and accessorized it, going from more acoustic skeletons to full-bodied bluesy rock songs. Bassist Aguirre provides a strong underbelly while drummer Yessen keeps a steady pulse that tends to brighten the mood of the songs. Playing solo can tend to be more limited in terms of sound experimentation, but having that group support has given Hedges a chance to try out new ideas and sometimes play a more aggressive style.

“Playing with a band allows me to let loose on the electric,” Hedges said.

The result is their upcoming release, Step Outside. While Hedges is still the solo songwriter, the album is a group effort and marks Hedges’ first full-band release. The individual tracks are versatile, going from more jam-based energetic numbers like “Crazy” to scaled-down, nearly ballad-esque tunes like the title track. The trio’s rootsy feel provides a solid base for Hedges breathy, easy listening vocals, similar in sound to other smooth vocalists like John Mayer. The band manages to mix a sensual intimate feel (thanks in large part to Hedges’ voice) while keeping things fun and lively with mid-song jam sessions. Those interludes also show that this is a tight-functioning band working as one unit, which Hedges hopes comes across to listeners.

“It’s been a long time coming for the band, it shows that these aren’t just a bunch of songs thrown together,” Hedges said. “It also shows a maturity in my songwriting from my previous album.”

Hedges has been releasing material since 2006. This newest album (his third release) gives fans a chance to see Hedges step away from his softer, solo-based style and play more rock-based crowd pleasers. Maybe even a little more cheery.

“My last album was solo acoustic. It was fairly dark, but this has some more upbeat stuff,” Hedges said.

Lyrically, the album follows suit with Hedges’ previous work and focuses on his own experiences, varying from individual relationships to larger universal curiosity.

“There are a couple songs just reflecting on life, there are definitely a bunch of songs about women,” Hedges said. “I kind of tend to write from a personal standpoint.”

His vulnerability is highlighted on songs like “Feel This Way,” which reflects Hedges’ personal questions, complemented by bluesy instrumentation with a strong interludes of electric licks and splashes of cymbals that help the song maintain an intimate feel.

The album is not only aided by the help of a band, but family as well. Hedges’ father, Bernie Hedges (who plays in Sacramento-based The Blues Hounds) plays pedal steel on the title track. Hedges’ sister Hilary Hedges (who plays in the cover band, The Hits) also added to the record, along with drummer Yessen’s father, John W. Yessen.

After the release party on Aug. 15, 2012 at Harlow’s, Hedges plans to continue playing consistently around Northern California, keeping up with his current residencies and focusing on getting the album to a wider audience. Hedges even has additional material that could lead to “possibly another album on the horizon,” Hedges said.

Bottom line is, Hedges will keep moving forward.

“Just pushing as hard as I can,” Hedges said.

Quinn Hedges is true to his word with shows lined up in various venues around the Sacramento area throughout August and beyond. His CD release show, however, should not be missed. You can catch Hedges and his band at Harlow’s on Aug. 15, 2012. Go to http://harlows.com/ for more info. Davis music lovers can also see him on Aug. 17, 2012 as part of his residency at Bistro 33. He’ll be back in Sacramento at Torch Club on Aug. 21, 2012.

Under the Canopy

Tree House Dinners are Truly a Movable Feast

Words by Adam Saake – Photos by Debbie Cunningham

The sun went low, and at a touch before seven, a light breeze swept over the Midtown Victorian porch, cooling guests from the belated summer heat. Small, natural artifacts of sticks, kumquats, found rocks and candles were scattered on overhangs and railings. On a table in the corner, a bottle of Sommariva Prosecco was submerged in an ice-packed watering can and flutes were filled at leisure while brown paper bags of popcorn with fresh dill were passed around. A total of seven guests, strangers, were quickly sharing stories and salutations over ceviche and cucumber. This was the beginning of chef Kevin O’Connor’s underground dinner he whimsically calls Tree House.

“The name Tree House came to me at 4 a.m.,” says O’Connor. “Tree House evokes juvenile thoughts and I aim to do the same with my style of cooking.”

O’Connor himself might be the only thing juvenile about what goes on at Tree House (which by the way is at a table in his dining room). The talented young chef of Ella, and most recently its sister restaurant, The Kitchen, is a mere 22 years old. A clean-cut red head who looks more relaxed in a cut-off Iron Maiden t-shirt than he does in a chef’s coat, this cooking star in the making worked his way from dishwasher up–sans culinary school. As a teen, he hopped around different restaurants like Masque and Bistro 33, but things took a sharper turn when he moved downtown and began cooking at Mason’s, now Cafeteria 15L.

“I helped open MiX and shortly after the opening I moved to the South of France for a few months,” says O’Connor. “After culinary enlightenment dans la sud, I came back home to Sac and joined Kelly McCown at Ella shortly after he came.”

It was this trip to the South of France that would later become the inspiration for his monthly underground dinners.

“Tree House began after I moved home from France. Every Sunday for a month and a half I would make dinner for my host family and their friends while I was in France,” O’Connor remembers. “These dinners were coursed out and showcased my creativity that was flowing while I was exploring food Mecca. I used produce from the farm, the town market, neighboring farms, hunting, foraging, and wine from their winery.”

The Tree House dinners are something to that effect, except O’Connor doesn’t have France or a farm–in spirit, sure, but he did have the winery this time. Craig Haarmeyer of Revolution Wines supplied all the wine pairings for the latest dinner, including the current vintage of their award-winning port.

Guests were leisurely enticed inside to sit at the table, well lubricated with Prosecco and conversation and ready for what O’Connor had up his sleeve. Once seated the night began with an amuse bouche, a small introductory appetizer that literally translates to “mouth amuser,” which consisted of prosciutto, pan-fried quail egg and a house-made hollandaise sauce. It was served simple and elegant in a Chinese ceramic soup spoon. Down the hatch. This single bite immediately excited the table and was a clear window into O’Connor’s cooking philosophy; one in which breakfast was clearly fair game for his introduction. Revolution’s Verdelho port, a sweeter white, paired beautifully, and we were on our way.

O’Connor’s plates have a touch of seriousness mixed with a pinch of brilliance and are lathered thick with humor. He grinned as he described courses like the pistachio encrusted foie gras with roasted peaches, calling his concoction “a foie gras candy bar.” His time in France came out in this dish too. He explained to the table one of the first and most memorable meals he had that was simply a bowl of pistachios, some peaches and a bit of foie gras. This was his translation–and what made each course so fantastic. He cooks off the pure joy of his memories with a little help from random musings.

“I’m inspired by the strangest things sometimes. A walk by the river, a 2 a.m. junk food binge, my food-filled childhood,” says O’Connor.

That “food-filled childhood” that O’Connor attributes to his father introduced a standout dish that was a play on mustard chicken. O’Connor’s father would make him a comforting plate of mustard chicken with a panko crust when he was a kid. To do honor, the most visually attractive plate of the evening arrived. Chicken rillettes with a half-moon toast was presented on a square, gray stone slab, dusted with an orderly stripe of honey mustard pretzels and garnished with a circle of pepper and mustard flowers. Rillettes is like a pate where the meat is slowly cooked in fat, duck fat in this case, and then is cooled and served like a spread. O’Connor “marinated the chicken, cured it for a day and braised it for about four hours,” to give it the texture and consistency he desired. This plate stood out the most and really showcased O’Connor’s creativity and technical execution.

An eight-hour sous-vide pork belly with barbeque beans, compressed watermelon and a salad of pickled watermelon rind (an ode to summer, perhaps) was followed by a simple offering of local goat’s milk cheese, Bing cherries and thyme flowers. Simple and to the point; elegant and delicious. Each course offered a new idea, an interesting thought or an adventurous leap to take (O’Connor encouraged guests to suck the brains from a fried prawn head during one course). The Tree House dinner finished with a mind blowing dessert course of cinnamon sugar toast, maple blueberries and a cereal milk anglaise for dipping that was inside of a hollowed-out egg shell. Guests enjoyed port to pair and moments of silence swept over the table as plates were literally licked clean.

A satisfied Tree House assembly took refuge on the porch, enticed by 15-year aged Glenlivet scotch being poured from a transparent globe decanter. O’Connor emerged from the house, sans chef coat and ready to be part of the conversation. His left arm is tattooed with a crude chef hat, crossbones and knives with the mantra, “Cook to Live, Live to Cook.” “It’s being covered soon,” he said. But, there’s no hiding his passion for food and for the people he cooks it for. And as hidden as the underground dinners might seem, there is a Facebook page and O’Connor has special wording that keeps him out of trouble–for now.

“We aren’t a real underground restaurant…we are a ‘private dining cooperative’ where like-minded foodies pitch in for dinner that happens to be at a residence,” says O’Connor.

Where he takes these dinners is up in the air for now, but there’s talk of catering, pop-up events and cocktails in alleyways. Ideas are flowing and O’Connor’s love of Sacramento will keep him right here for those adventures.

“I’m inspired by the people that say Sacramento sucks and by the people that have faith in it becoming a food city at the same time. I want to start forming a Sacramento cuisine,” says O’Connor.

One Tree House at a time.

Tree House dinners happen once month at an undisclosed location in Midtown. For information on how to register, visit Facebook.com/treehousesacramento or Treehousesacramento.blogspot.com

Any Way You Spin It

Spin Burger Bar
1020 16th Street – Sacramento

Words & Photos by Adam Saake

They say you are what you eat. Over the past year or so it has not gone unnoticed that Submerge’s “Refined Tastes” has dedicated much space to the almighty burger. It’s not that we favor burgers or establishments that serve them, it’s that Sacramento continues to turn out press-worthy product. And hell, we don’t mind eating them.

The newest addition comes from the closing of Bistro 33 that was located on the corner of 16th and K streets. The once-popular SRO-operated business wasn’t enjoying the success that the Haynes brothers originally envisioned, so they decided to close the doors and start from scratch. For months, white sheets of paper with black images of bicycles lined the windows and the logo read, “Spin Burger Bar.” The popularity of bicycle-themed restaurants is evident here in Sacramento and curiosity loomed as to what they would do differently.

For starters, Spin is a burger bar. Menus are glued to old 12-inch vinyl sleeves and the drinks menu slides out–very clever. Chalk paint covers most of the walls, and patrons are welcome to add their own artistic flair. Above the bar, bicycle wheels are mounted and strung together, and a crank at the opposite end keeps them spinning in perpetual motion. Venture to the back corner and you’ll find track bikes mounted on rollers for the purpose of Gold Sprints that they hold every Wednesday night at 9 p.m. for prizes, or daily if you just want to school your friends. Kudos for creativity–but how’s the burger?

The Spin Burger is an 8-ounce, “specially blended” patty that you can build your own way. There are a staggering number of choices, from the cheeses to the toppings to the sauces, and a few are real conversation starters. Want some mac ‘n’ cheese on your burger? How about brie cheese or pomegranate ketchup? All the basics are there too: bacon, avocado, grilled onions, etc. The possibilities for putting together a really amazing burger are all there, but there’s also the potential of creating something like a Captain Crunch sandwich, so choose carefully. I went with cheddar and pastrami and played it safe with Spin’s special sauce, a thousand island of course. Techniques vary for putting away a burger of this size, but I prefer the cut-in-half, which never seems to fail. Except this time. I got about halfway through and the bottom piece of my bun completely fell apart, leaving half of my burger almost inedible. I tried to blame my cutting skills, but the first bite told the whole story. Forgive me for using a cliché food writing term, but the bun was spongy. If you get only two things right with your burger, it’s got to be the patty and bun. One out of two ain’t bad, because the patty was delicious as was the pastrami that was generously piled on. Hopefully it’s just a kink that needs to be worked out.

Fries are extra but it was totally worth it when I saw the heap that accompanied my burger. They also have sweet potato fries, which are my personal favorites. I came back for a second visit almost for that fact alone, but also decided to attack another burger on the menu that I learned is served on a more “standard” bun. The fresh-tasting, perfectly toasted bun is what contributes to making burgers like that of Formoli’s Bistro or The Golden Bear some of the tastiest in town. Spin has the ingredients to compete, and I tasted it when I tried the “Double D,” which featured two patties, two slices of American cheese, lettuce, tomato and Spin sauce. In fact, I made quick work of it and almost ordered another.

The service was great. The bartender Kate was pleasant and informative, and my food came out quickly. The beer selection includes local brew Monkey Knife Fight from Rubicon and each day of the week has a clever name like Fat Tuesday and Widmer Wednesday. During their happy hour, 3:30 to 7:00 p.m., enjoy $2 pints of that theme beer. Look out for an additional happy hour being added during Gold Sprints on Wednesdays. A word of advice: heavy cycling and copious drinking might lead to…well, watch from a distance.