Garden to Grill
2315 K Street • Sacramento
From Turkish-style kabobs and baklava, to German-imported brews and old-fashioned frankfurters, the corner of K and 23rd streets is quite the new Midtown hotspot for a quick bite to eat, or even a more relaxed and slower paced destination to seek Sunday brunch. The area recently welcomed the comforts of soul food with Sticky Gator slapping a new coat of paint on the old Rick’s Dessert Diner building, but there’s also a new color scheme on the block located across the street at Garden to Grill, a place known for its vegan and gluten-free burgers.
Once classic white in color, the structure’s new lively paint job boasts yellow and green hues, which radiate brightly amid the tall shady trees of the surrounding neighborhood. Behind the newly painted face of this familiar Midtown building is a house of history. Over its lifetime, former businesses like the True Love Coffeehouse poured an immeasurable amount of hot coffee for guests who often occupied the covered back patio for hours lost in board games and conversation. Next, the Sugar Plum Vegan Café opened its doors and offered hungry customers sweets, paninis, burgers and an all-you-can-eat Sunday brunch, but with a healthier and sometimes gluten-free stance.
This time around, the 100-year-old building continues to host vegan and gluten-free customers, now under the new ownership of Rey Ortega and his business partner Ron Russell. The two inherited Sugar Plum Vegan in May 2012 and quickly shortened the name to The Plum. Yet in order to establish their new business venture’s identity amid the crowd of restaurant choices on the grid, the two ultimately settled on Garden to Grill, inspired by Sacramento’s farm-to-fork movement.
“For [Sacramentans], I definitely think if they want to try something that will make them feel better about themselves, this is the place to be,” says Ortega of his restaurant’s plant-based menu. “We’re really sort of a transitional burger joint for those people who want to get healthy [and] who want to try something new… I think we really fill that gap.”
Ortega, a 21-year vegan with 22 years’ experience in the baking industry, also owns the Sun Flour Baking Company, a wholesale vegan and gluten-free bakery located on Marconi and Fulton avenues. So, it’s no coincidence that all the colorful pastries filling the glass case inside the restaurant are his gluten-free creations made with oat flour. At $3.50 a cupcake, try the chocolate cherry, a rich and dense chocolaty cake with a deep red cherry-filled center, topped with a lightly sweetened whipped cream. Dozens of other flavors that also line the pastry case include: caramel crunch, lemon coconut, birthday cake and even seasonal choices like pumpkin and caramel apple.
Garden to Grill still serves familiar items on its menu that former Sugar Plum Vegan customers will quickly recognize, like the sweet potato avocado panini or any of the risotto sunflower seed burgers. Yet, Ortega stresses that although he inherited these items, he used his “food formulating” skills to spice up each recipe after he solidified his 15-member staff.
“I’m very familiar with the food business. So, I took it upon myself after I got rid of the chef to refine everything here and make it better because it was really suffering for the longest time. It was really inconsistent and it was driving me crazy,” admits Ortega. “I’ve done it a gazillion times for a lot of people, I food formulate. I take the recipes, break them down into grams and I make adjustments.”
His new formula for the restaurant’s risotto sunflower seed patty caught the attention of Buzzfeed’s 21 Juicy Burgers that will Change Your Life list last November. Now, although this Internet media company is more known for their quizzes that match users to their celebrity doppelgangers using questionable algorithms, they’re apparently self-proclaimed foodies as well.
Nonetheless, Garden to Grill’s Veggie Burger is listed fourth sandwiched between the Hatch Burger at Umami Burger of Los Angeles and any meat patty found at Hodad’s Burgers located in San Diego.
When the ache for a fatty burger is undeniable, but undoubtedly goes against your waistline’s better judgment, the more guilt-free choice is obvious: try veggie! The California Burger at Garden to Grill is crowned with thick slices of avocado and tempeh bacon, dressed with pickles, lettuce, tomato and vegan 1000 island all housed between sesame seed buns and priced at $12.85. Or, if the more classic burger is more your style, try the Basic Burger or Gardein Vegan Burger at $10.95 with shredded lettuce, tomato and pickles. All burgers are served with garlic and herb fries.
In honor of National Sandwich Month, the sweet potato avocado panini inherited from Sugar Plum Vegan made PETA’s Top Five Vegan Sandwiches list in August 2011. The sandwich, described as a “mouthwatering” choice, is still on the menu at Garden to Grill. Thick cuts of sweet potato, avocado layered with roasted onions and tomatoes and a vegan poppy seed aioli between toasted ciabatta costs $11.25.
With a blend of fresh and familiar menu items, Garden to Grill looks forward to new changes like vegan soft serve ice cream in chocolate-vanilla swirl, and a faster style of food service.
“In the next two weeks, I’m going to change it to more like a Chipotle-style service to where you can get your food immediately instead of having to wait for it,” describes Ortega. “That’s what we’re heading toward right now, like literally. So, when you come in you order it right as you’re standing there and then you can go. We’re trying to cut out about 30 to 45 minutes of your time with the new, faster service.”
Despite the more efficient changes in the works, Garden to Grill is still open to customers every day of the week with its burgers, soups and salads, or even the more sweet treats topped with the new vegan soft serve ice cream because Ortega says you can’t have savory without something sweet.
Garden to Grill is open seven days a week! For hours and more info visit Gardentogrill.net or call (916) 706-3302.
Two of Sacramento’s most prominent musicians are joining forces for a weekly songwriter’s showcase at Cafe Colonial, a new-ish all-ages venue located next to the Colonial Theatre on Stockton Boulevard. The Tune-Up started at Kevin Seconds’ long-defunct True Love Coffeehouse many years ago and has been resurrected a number of times since at various venues. This time around, Seconds will co-host with David Houston weekly on Wednesdays at 8 p.m. starting on Dec. 18, 2013 (note: there will be no show the following week on Christmas, obviously). There will be no cover charge to attend the Tune-Up, so if you can, bring a little cash for food, drinks and if you feel so inclined to tip the songwriters. Each week, Seconds and Houston will host, alongside special guests like Tom Hutchison of the Knockoffs (Dec. 18), Dr. Velocity (Jan. 1, 2014), Warren Bishop (Jan. 8, 2014), Autumn Sky (Jan. 15, 2014) and Jackson Griffith (Jan. 22, 2014). Check out Facebook.com/tuneupsacramento to keep an eye out for upcoming guest performers.
Road Warrior, Lover
Photo by Jonathan Russell
When I listen to Shannon Curtis’s music it makes me want to run and kiss my girlfriend in the pouring rain as I swing her around time and time again (in slow motion of course). It may sound cheesy, yes, but this piano playing singer/songwriter writes incredible love songs, the kind that make it easy to daydream you’re in a dramatic scene from a late ’90s chick flick. Shannon’s most recent EP, Paris Can’t Have You, is her second release in just nine months on Saint Cloud Records, which according to their Web site is, “the smallest record label in the world.” Small label, big voice, I say. Shannon was midst of a two-month tour across the nation that will land her in Sacramento on Apr. 28 when she performed at the True Love Coffeehouse. She was nice enough to take some time out of her rigorous schedule to talk to Submerge about the ups and downs of touring so much, love, and what the future holds for this pop-star in waiting.
First off, where are you now and how has the tour been thus far?
That’s an excellent question and one that some days I’m not entirely sure of! It’s easy for me to lose track of time and space when on the road [laughs]. But today I’m fairly certain that we’re on our way to St. Louis, MO. The tour’s been really fun so far. I’ve gotten to play in some new cities like New York and Washington DC. And the cities I’ve been to before have been really fun, too, because the crowds are super enthusiastic.
You seem to be quite the road warrior. What are your favorite and least favorite aspects of touring?
One of the best things about touring is that I get to see fans all over the country face to face and play for them in person. That’s really what motivates me to tour as much as I do. But I do also enjoy seeing new and different places. And it’s fun to get to know cities that I don’t live in since I have the opportunity to visit them so often. Like I have my favorite pizza place in Chicago and my favorite coffee joint in Seattle. Every time I go back to a city, the more it feels like an extension of “home.”
Not actually being at my home is one of the downsides of touring, but I really do appreciate being there once I get back. The long drives in between tour stops can get hard, too. But I spend a lot of time listening to NPR—Robert Siegel and Michelle Norris of All Things Considered are like best friends to me out here!
The five songs that make up your new EP, Paris Can’t Have You, are bursting with emotion. Where do you find the inspiration to write such mature love songs?
Ah, I’m just a melodramatic at heart—a sap, probably. I don’t write much else but love songs. Sometimes the inspiration comes from my own life and relationship experiences, but sometimes they come from elsewhere. On this record, there’s one song that I wrote after hearing a friend of mine tell me over lunch about a less than desirable situation she found herself in with a fella. And there is another song that was inspired by a headline on a magazine at a grocery store check out line.
In the song Don’t Call Me, you sing, “Don’t ask me to come over when you can’t sleep at night, I’m not looking for a good time, I’m looking for the love of my life.” So, How is the search going so far?
[Laughs] Thanks for checking in. Yeah, you know, I’ve got a pretty excellent fella in my life. “Don’t Call Me” is actually the song I just mentioned writing for my girlfriend. But I’ve known guys like that, too. I imagine most girls have. So it’s easy to really feel that song when I play it.
You are a native of Sacramento, correct? What drove you to your current residence in Los Angeles?
Sacramento is actually my adopted hometown. I was born and raised in Stockton, went to college in San Francisco, but I lived in Sacramento for several years before moving to Los Angeles. Both of my parents live in the Sacramento area now and all of my friends are there, so, essentially, it’s home. After some pretty jarring personal changes a few years ago, I decided I wanted a new town, and I picked Los Angeles, even though I didn’t know a soul there when I went. I’ve always sort of liked it there when I’ve visited. I know, that totally flies in the face of the attitude I’m supposed to have about southern California, being a native of Nor-Cal. But I’m really enjoying it. There are a bunch of people doing creative things there. It’s great energy to be around. And, frankly, being able to wear flip-flops in January isn’t a terrible thing!
Where do you see yourself in five years? What are you hoping to accomplish with all of this?
Aw, man! The five-year question! I don’t know why I’ve always shied away from that question. Maybe it’s because I’ve found that it’s really important for me to live one day at a time. That said, I hope that in five years I’ll be doing what makes the most sense to be doing each day—like I try to do now. And I hope that will still involve writing, recording, and performing music. It seems that the more I spend time doing things that are true to myself the more success I experience in what I do. Right now, playing the piano and singing love songs is really comfortable and fun and very “me.” It would be great to have that same sense five years from now, too.
Do you plan on ever putting that pre-med biology degree to work?
Uh, no, I don’t think so. Aside from acting like a smart-ass when I’m able to answer the occasional Trivial Pursuit science question!
For more information visit Shannoncurtis.net
