March at Selland’s

Second Wednesday Wine Tasting
Wednesday, March 11th • 6-8pm • $15
Once again, we are planning to pour some of our favorite wines. We will have some that are being featured at the Kitchen and Ella, as well as some wonderful ones that fall in that ‘nice price’ category. Come on in… it could be crazy. See you next week!

St. Patrick’s Day
A Week of Lucky Green
Starting Tuesday, March 10, Selland’s will be doing classic Saint Patty’s fare: Corned Beef, Cabbage and Potatoes. And Selland’s does it as good anybody in town.

New Items
As some of you may have noticed, we have made a few changes to our café menu here at Selland’s! Our carefully crafted, new selections have been made with you in mind.

Perhaps most exciting is the addition of our Chicken Bacon Pizza, which comes with a creamy béchamel sauce, goat cheese, bacon and fresh arugula. A staff-favorite, this pizza is sure to please. Replacing our Roast Beef sandwich is the Hot Beef Tenderloin with the same tomatoes, red onions and mayo on a toasted soft roll, only now with a premium cut of marinated meat.

We’ve also added a Beef Tenderloin w/ Blue Cheese- a gourmet delight complete with caramelized onion, blue cheese, mayo and fresh arugula on levain. For lovers of Nancy’s Roast Pork, we have two delicious new sandwiches. One, simply named Roast Pork Sandwich, is served warm and comes with caramelized onion, brie and mayo on a soft roll. The second, the Open-faced Pork Sandwich, comes on levain, smothered in house-made, rich pork gravy. These new menu-items are here to stay, and we’re confident you’ll love them as much as we do!

As always, we’ve made some adjustments to our hot and cold food selections to usher in the coming season. In our hot case, we will be offering steamed Asparagus with butter, lemon, and parmesan. Also, in the hot case is our panko-crusted salmon with soy and ginger, already popular! The cold case will of course see the return of our Spring Salad with asparagus, peas, broccoli and toasted hazelnuts. Also making a comeback will be the Broccoli Salad with cashews, sunflower seeds, chopped bacon, celery, and golden raisins – a celebration of fresh flavors.

A new feature here at Selland’s is our Take Home and (H)eat. Work downtown and love to stop in for lunch? Now you can bring Selland’s home for the family! In our cold case, you will find an assortment of pre-cooked items: all the classics including whole meatloaves, our macaroni and cheese and potatoes au gratin, lasagna bolognaise, roasted veggies and more. All are cold and ready to be packed up and taken home for dinner. We will even provide you with simple re-heating instructions!

Has the comfort of layers left you with a couple more inches around the middle?  That can leave some of us in the same frantic state as a geometry quiz.  No worries, the problem can be easily solved by working through it…grunting, pushing, and sweating through it, that is.  Turn to the experts to retrain your body and mind and shed that winter weight.  24-Hour Fitness is currently offering 10 free personal training sessions if you use twenty between March 1st and April 30^th.  That’s like offering extra credit just for putting your name down on the paper.  So hurry in to one of Sacramento’s many 24-Hour Fitness locations and get yourself back in shape, or at least the square root of you².

It’s FAT Tuesday—the last day to dabble in debauchery before practicing an exercise in self-restraint during lent (if you are into that kind of self-imposed restriction)

Here are 5 suggestions to bring the New Orleans’ spirit to Sacto:

VooDoo Magic
Relax after work in Celestin’s VooDou Lounge for Happy Hour to get the good times rolling with cocktails and a variety of Creole and Cajun dishes.

Balcony on Bourbon
Sip on Bourbon at Mix’s weekly event “Scotch & Stogies by the Fire” and you might think you’re on a rooftop in the French Quarter.

Big Easy
Take it easy at home… make a Muffaletta sandwich by picking up the bread and fixings at Corti Bros. while watching Adam Sandler in the Water Boy.

Cajun Kitchen
Order gator, frog legs, and fried Oyster Po-Boys from Sandra Dee’s Famous BBQ and Seafood for a taste of the bayou.

Bead-worthy
After eating Cajun catfish, gumbo, and hot wings, slurp down a Bowla at Tex Wasabi’s. Made with 64 oz. of pure alcoholic fun, it’s possibly the only concoction that could rival the French Quarter’s famous Hand Grenades and make you want to earn some beads.

They paved paradise, and put up a parking lot…

When Joni Mitchell yodeled those words, I doubt she pictured Roseville’s well-designed and upscale version of a strip mall.

The Fountains is the purists’ version of a strip mall—a place where you can fill an oversized vehicle with groceries and grab an ice cream cone but not feel too bad because the bags are reusable, say “Whole Foods,”and the gelato is made with locally-grown fruit.  From Smith and Hawken to Anthropologie, the Fountains offers a way to indulge in all the convenience of corporate America without feeling completely guilty.

The Counter is the best example of how the most stereotypical example of American gratuitousness—massive fat grams in supersize portions—can actually be socially responsible.  Devoted to using only the freshest, local, and most sustainable ingredients, the Counter allows you to design your own burger with gourmet toppings that range from Gruyere cheese, sundried tomatoes, or a fried egg. The way it works is simple—choose from grass-fed, hormone-free beef, turkey, chicken, or a homemade vegan, veggie patty, decide on either a traditional bun or bowl, and then devise your own combo of cheese, veggies, and sauces. If you’re feeling less creative, they also offer pre-designed signature burgers and sandwiches.  Equally fresh and delicious, the onion strings and fresh-cut sweet potato fries with accompanying BBQ sauce and buttermilk ranch were a great way to start out the meal. But, skip the measly side salad, despite wanting to feel better about consuming grease by also having some greens.

So get in your hybrid, crank up the Joni, and head to the one burger joint that even the most un-showered, dread-locked, vegan, hippy-dippy would approve of…

In watching the final four duke it out in last night’s “Top Chef,” I could not help but be inspired to sharpen my knives, get into the kitchen, and start chopping. Considering a pizza is a canvas for a concoction of individual ingredients, it seemed like a fitting way to meet my desire to emulate my favorite chefs as well as a way to get pumped for the finale.

Try any of the following flavor combinations inspired by each contestant. All ingredients can be found at Trader Joe’s. Start with their pre-made pizza dough (white or wheat) found in TJ’s refrigerated section. Each package says it works for 4 pizzas, but plan on 2 per bag as you will need ample room for toppings. Split dough into 2 balls and roll out with a rolling pin on a floured, non-stick surface.  All dough should be baked at 350 degrees until bottom is golden brown.

Hosea’s Pacific Rim Pizza
As a trained seafood chef, Hosea can’t help but mention that in every challenge.  Here’s a tribute to his Washington background.

Ingredients: White pizza dough, smoked salmon, capers, red onions, and plain cream cheese.  Bake pizza dough without toppings.  Once cool, spread with plain cream cheese and finish with the rest of the toppings.

Jeff’s Miami Vice Pizza
Blonde hair and blue eyes, Jeff is like the Ken of the competition.  Inspired by Jeff’s tropical roots, here’s a different take on a Hawaiian pizza.

Ingredients: Wheat pizza dough, mozzarella, fresh pineapple cut into chunks, Canadian bacon, diced onions.  Start the onions in butter in a sauté pan.  When translucent, add in the fresh pineapple and reduce until caramel in color.  Spread the dough with the onion and pineapple mixture, sprinkle on cheese and finish with Canadian bacon slices.

Fabio’s Hot Italian Pizza
The accent, facial hair, and biting comment makes him as irresistible as this pesto pizza.

Ingredients: White pizza dough, ready-made pesto, fresh buffalo mozzarella, oil-packed sun-dried tomatoes, red pepper flakes.   Spread with pesto then finish with the toppings.

Leah’s New York Steakhouse Pizza
Not the most creative of the contestants, here’s a more straight-forward approach that has bacon because she just “loves it.”

Ingredients: Wheat pizza dough, crumbled blue cheese, cooked steak cut into strips, arugula, fresh bacon bits. Layer steak and blue cheese on dough then top with arugula.  Finish with bacon sprinkled to taste.

Carla’s NOLA Pizza
Bringing the love and the heat, this pizza is inspired by Carla’s Southern roots.

Ingredients: White pizza dough, shredded mozzarella, hot sauce, sliced fresh green peppers, sliced white onions, Cajun shrimp.  Using peeled and de-veined shrimp, sprinkle with season salt and red pepper flakes.  Sear in a pan until shrimp turns pink and ends curl.  Then, spread cheese on dough followed by the shrimp, onions, and peppers.  Add dash of hot sauce to taste.

Jamie’s “I cook scallops AND corn” Pizza
Though she used scallops in almost every dish, the chilled corn soup made us most want to visit Jamie’s restaurant, Absinthe, in San Francisco.

Ingredients: Wheat pizza dough, smoked mozzarella chopped into small cubes, roasted red pepper spread, frozen white corn, arugula.  Cook the frozen corn.  Spread roasted red pepper spread on dough then top with the rest of the ingredients finishing with the corn.

Stefan’s “Sexy” Pizza
This guy would try to hit on an eel if he could.  Though dessert is always “a risk,” here’s a delicious way to end an exciting season.

Ingredients: Any pre-made cookie dough, dark chocolate chips, sliced strawberries, whipped cream.  Roll cookie dough out flat and bake.  Melt chocolate chips in microwave, stirring every 30 seconds to prevent scorching.  Spread chocolate on cooled cookie dough and top with strawberries and whipped cream.

Eliza Doolittle perfected the Queen’s English by patiently practicing the above rhymes over and over to reform her Cockney tongue. Let 58 Degrees and Holding (

And, at only $10, it’s a fair price, my lady.

Although the food and shopping is worth the drive, the primary reason I find myself making my way to East Sac is when I need a good coffee spot to plug in the laptop and get some work done. Tupelo Coffeehouse and Roasting Company is a compromise between a stereotypical, dimly lit Bohemian coffeehouse with bongos and poetry and the culturally-sterile, corporate-America version of a coffeehouse, “Starsucks.”

Tupelo is one of the latest creations in the “Naked Lounge” series of coffeehouses, which local entrepreneur Christopher Pendarvis has built with love from the ground up. What makes this place different than your typical coffeehouse? Where do I start? Not only is the coffee tasty, and the baked goods to die for (delivered fresh daily from another local favorite Bella Bru), but they offer free WiFi, are open 365 days a year from 6am to 11pm, the music is almost always golden oldies (as opposed to angry Alanis or Fiona Apple), and the atmosphere deviates from what you would normally expect from a local java spot. Instead of gaunt, turtleneck and beret-wearing patrons, Tupelo is a frequented by everyone from young, eager businessmen meeting to launch new investment projects to students clutching their organic chemistry or constitutional law textbooks to young mothers stopping in for a quick pick-me-up with kids dressed so well they’d give Suri Cruise a run for her money. The servers are genuine as it’s no secret they may be recovering from the night before, which I would much prefer to the superficial treatment of a saccharine-sweet barista repeating rehearsed lines from the company manual.

The only criticism I suppose I would give Tupelo is that they are so good at what they do, that it is often busy and difficult to get a spot at certain times of day. Other than that, Tupelo provides a perfect complement to the East Sac vibe and is a sparkle of light in the dark world of drab coffee spots.

Rain on the eve of V-day, how fitting for Friday the 13^th.  In the spirit of gore and revulsion of a day devoted to superficial outpourings of roses and chocolates disguised as legitimate expressions of love, we have provided a run-down of some of the most gruesome sites in Sac:

LITTLE SHOP OF HORRORS
Sugar Shack- Cheap clothes, tacky store, perfect for Halloween.

NAIL CARE IF YOU DARE
Capital Nails- With toenail clippings left on the floor, it could be mistaken for a cannibal’s lair.

DIGESTIVE DANGER
Plum Blossom- Food so greasy it will spook the shit out of you. Literally..

PISS-SCARED
Streets of London- You could pee your pants from the way it smells in there… BONUS… no one will notice since it seems like you’re in a bathroom, anyway.

FREAKY FRIDAY
Club 21- Get freaky-deaky on the dance floor with some serious whackos… great place to go on V-Day if you want to catch V.D.