Megan's Bake Shop

Today I investigated West Sacramento's first cupcake bakery, Megan's Bake Shop. Located in the shopping complex right off of 50 and Jefferson (across from Chevron), you can't beat the location for convenience.

 

Daily flavors are posted on the Bake Shop's Facebook page, as well as on the board outside the shop.

 

 

Today, the cupcake flavors included Maple Bacon, Almond Raspberry, Churro, Reese's, Banana Chocolate Chip, and several more. I was pleasantly surprised to discover that not only cupcakes are sold here, but a wide variety of cake- and candy-making supplies. Classes on a variety of cake-making skills are offered as well. The beginner's class is 4 weeks long and $45, and sounded like a good deal to me.

Recent college graduate Megan told me that originally her plan was just to teach the classes and sell supplies only, but her grandmother (the famous Carol of Carol's Restaurant on West Capitol) convinced her to do the bakery as well. 

 

So... how about those cupcakes? 

 

I tried three cupcakes today: Churro (cinnamon cupcake and frosting), Reese's (chocolate cake with chocolate and peanut-butter frosting), and Maple Bacon (chunks of bacon in the cupcake, topped with maple frosting and crumbled bacon mixed with maple syrup).

I thought the flavors were creative and liked that the cupcakes were moist and freshly-made from scratch that day. (Yes, I asked.) With the cupcakes plus the versatility of the store with the supplies and classes, I'm very happy to welcome this new addition to the neighborhood.

Finally, I am a sucker for filled cupcakes (think lemon cupcakes with lemon curd filling), and I hope that soon some of the offerings will be filled with delicious goodness. I will be back to try more flavors as they change regularly!

Review: The Eatery Opens in West Sacramento

One nice thing about being in the process of moving is that it gives you a perfect excuse to eat out. We were very excited to try out the much-anticipated new addition to the West Sacramento Southport Town Center Plaza, The Eatery. To locals, this is the spot where Q'doba used to be, but you'll hardly recognize it now.

The interior looks like a chef collaborated with an Anthropologie designer and this is what they came up with - muted colors, floral patterns, re-purposed mirrors and bedroom furniture, and lots of space.

This upscale casual non-chain restaurant is a first in our town, and many people are obviously glad to have it here. Although the Eatery only opened in the last couple of weeks, the place was hopping on a Thursday night around 6pm.


The food features comfort American cuisine and strives to maintain a strain of simplicity. A few things they did well:

Look out, Squeeze Inn! There's a new burger in town. This burger was excellent - perfectly cooked to order, a great bun that didn't get soggy (my pet peeve), crisp butter lettuce, and mildly sweet zucchini pickles on the side. The french fries, sprinkled with salt, pepper and fresh herbs, were formidable as well, actually tasting of potato instead of oil - how refreshing!

My one suggestion: The beef is labeled "natural", which doesn't mean a whole lot these days. If they, like Burgers N Brew, used Niman Ranch beef, this burger would be about perfect in my book.

The chef is keepin' it simple with a dessert titled "Cookies and Milk". Three chocolate-walnut cookies with milk for dipping - how can you go wrong with that?

The restaurant is new and just beginning to get its footing and makes a few missteps. The BBQ chicken salad was utterly devoid of BBQ flavor, and really should have been called Fried Chicken Salad. It contained mixed greens, fried chicken pieces (dabbed with a miniscule amount of BBQ sauce - I think), cubes of white cheddar cheese, biscuit croutons, almonds, a teeny bit of fresh corn (needed more!), and a buttermilk dressing. While it was still a tasty salad, the sweet and tangy BBQ flavor I was looking forward to just wasn't there.

Since it's so new, I fully understand that it may take some time for the Eatery to work out all the kinks. I am nonetheless thrilled to have a place like this in our town. I look forward to seeing how the menu will change (seasonally I hope?) and improve with time.

Does West Sacramento Need a Food Revolution?

I have been an avid Jamie Oliver fan since I began watching "The Naked Chef" in high school, charmed by this quirky, charismatic chef with an irresistible accent. I admire him now as a person who has not been content with professional success, but has used his fame to promote positive change in child nutrition all over the Westernized world.

After watching the most recent episodes of his "Food Revolution" television show, currently set in my home state (but in LA), I began to wonder how Oliver's cry for change applied to my own neighborhood. I decided to do some investigative work on West Sacramento school lunches, choosing to examine a K-8 school, the local public high school, and a charter school.
Example #1: Southport Elementary (K-8):
The menu I found online is conveniently vague, often citing "veggie" or "fruit", but we all know that not all veggies and fruits are created equal. In some schools, pizza sauce and french fries qualify as veggies! And throwing a scoop of bagged salad and a scoop of canned peaches doesn't exactly make up for a poor quality main dish, in my opinion.

The main dishes being served to the children sound heavily processed, previously frozen as opposed to freshly made, and heavy on fat: chicken alfredo, chili dogs, pizza, chicken nuggets, corn dogs, and tater tots. This menu was used in all the K-8 schools in the Washington Unified School District from May-June 2011.
Example #2: River City High School:
I found the worst food overall on this incredibly outdated menu from last November, although there does appear to be more variety compared with the K-8 schools, which could be good or bad. Nearly every daily featured main dish appears to be fried, processed, or both. Chicken Fried Steak. Rib B Que Sandwich. Popcorn (read: fried) Chicken. Most mysteriously: Pepperoni Stuffed Sandwich. (?)

Hamburgers and pizza are available every day and a high school student could ostensibly subsist on a daily diet of these two items. I have the sneaking suspicion we're not talking about grass-fed beef or whole wheat buns.

The saving grace is that a salad bar is available daily and the menu proclaims that "all options come with fruit, salad and milk". Again, there is vagueness - is this fresh fruit or processed? Low fat milk or chocolate milk with as much sugar as a candy bar? Are we counting French fries as a veggie? Huge room for improvement here.
Example #3: West Sac Prep Charter School
By far the best of the bunch, which is obviously tied to the fact that they are independent from the universal school district menus. All students receive breakfast and lunch at no charge to their families. While a menu was not available online, the school's website says that school meals include:
- All Natural turkey & beef products are purchased from Niman Ranch
- Meals have no trans fats, reduced sugars and are high in whole grains
- Organic lettuce & vegetables
- Meats purchased from Applegate Farms (even our hot dogs are organic)
- Tillamook Cheddar & All Natural American cheese ( with no dye added)
- Barilla Plus Pasta (a whole grain product)
- Two vegetarian options daily (!!!!)
As a final clincher, their plates are biodegradable & compostable!

Conclusion: Dear Washington Unified School District: We can do better. We must do better. Others have done it, and so can we. We need fresh, healthy meals in our cafeterias and a school garden in every school. This is a challenge to rise to the occasion.

West Sacramento Farmer's Market

My love affair with farmer’s markets began with a trip to the Ferry Plaza Farmer's Market in San Francisco just after I graduated from college. Never had I seen such an array of attractive- no, more like immaculate- produce in my life. Nor was I previously aware that fruit could taste as sweet and satisfying as the samples that were handed out by eager vendors. Tiny apricots that popped like bursts of sunshine in my mouth. Dark, tiny strawberries with an intense flavor far outshining anything the grocery store could dream of selling.

After my discovery, I was pleased to learn about more accessible, nearby options. First, I visited the market at Davis, where neighborhood food vendors like the Hotdogger, local musicians and enthusiastic student protesters all created a strong sense of market attendance being a community affair.

Last summer, I took an out-of-town friend to the downtown afternoon market at Caesar Chavez park, where we selected a bag of perfect pears for a crisp so delicious we later declared it superior even to the apple version. Despite the melting heat of a late-summer heat wave, we were rewarded for our market sojourn with the discovering of outstanding locally produced Bariani Olive Oil and an unexpected performance by the Sacramento Ballet promoting their current production.

Each market offers unique products, from home-spun, hand-dyed wool in Point Reyes to burdock root and tomato juice in Portland. There were disappointments along the way, like the meager offerings at a disappointing Elk Grove market that supposedly lasted to “dusk”- yet was already starting to pack up when I arrived at 6pm. But though I traveled near and far, I always hoped that my own community in West Sacramento would be able to muster up their own market someday.

Today my dream came true. I give you the first West Sacramento Farmer's Market:

Fresh lemonade, a bargain at $1 a cup (above)
and free market bucks if you ride your bike (bike parking shown below)

Gorgeous Raineer cherries (above) and
hot house heirloom tomatoes grown here in West Sac (below)

Fresh flower bouquets (above) and
Oyster mushrooms at the mushroom stand (below)

Free samples of bean sprouted quinoa (above) and
French Icicle radishes from Dave's Pumpkin Patch (below)

Live music by Mike McGowan and the Mighty Delta
Roadmasters (all local West Sac residents except one)

Inside my market basket: green onions, heirloom tomatoes,
apricots, and green leaf lettuce

Dinner at the Hotdogger (featuring market heirloom tomato slices
and Maui Onion mustard). Delicious and a deal at buy one, get one half off!

Above: the dessert menu for the Eatery (scheduled to open in July by Target)

and their Strawberry Shortcake below

We have a great time and hope that the Farmer's Market has found a permanent home here! Thanks to all the fantastic vendors and city officials who finally made this dream a reality.