Who says authentic BBQ can only be found in the South? The 2nd Annual “Smoke and Fire” BBQ Cook-off is coming to Sacramento on Saturday, May 4th, and it’s bringing along both cold beer and live music. The BBQ competition heats up with eight Sacramento Fire Station teams, each fighting for the top prize in tri-tip, ribs, and most creative “Chef’s Hat” categories. From noon until 4:00 p.m., various activities will include community booths, antique fire trucks, awards ceremonies and, of course, a BBQ lunch for $10.00 ($5.00 for children). To get their own personal judging experience, attendees can taste three different competitors’ dishes for $5.00. Tickets can be purchased online or at the

The old gas station on the corner of Alhambra Boulevard and T Street is scheduled to open next week as Tako Korean BBQ, selling tacos and burritos with a Korean flair. “It’s really big in L.A., and we wanted to bring the concept up here,” co-owner Alex Won said Monday. “We’ll have beef, pork and chicken with a Korean sauce and slaw on tortillas.” The concept is similar to GoGi’s Korean Barbecue, which opened inside Cafeteria 15L last year. Details are still being finalized, but the tacos and burritos will likely be sold in combo plates with rice, and salads will be available. Won said diners should expect to pay between $6 and $8 for lunch. Also planned for the space is a selection of

Now that the weather is heating up nicely (other than today of course), it’s time to get the grill cooking, too!  Just in time for the start of the summer grilling season, the next “Live With the Chef” cooking class at Arden Hills Resort Club & Spa is this Wednesday evening (starting at 6 p.m.) and is focused on creating a BBQ blast in your backyard.  The talented Chef Rina will demonstrate grilling tips and techniques and share new ways to cook fresh, flavorful and nutritious meals on the outdoor grill. This special monthly cooking class is focused on incorporating fresh ingredients designed for a healthy and well balanced diet. You're invited to join this ongoing adult cooking series -

The plink of a ukulele and the beat of drums filled the air when the Pacific Rim Street Festival took over Old Sacramento Sunday. Despite temperatures reaching into the 80s, thousands crowded the streets and plank wood boardwalks from end to end of Front Street to enjoy the celebration of Asian and Pacific Rim culture at the annual street festival. The day included a long lineup of events including live music, taiko drum demonstrations, arts and crafts booths and activities just for children. A bevvy of pageant beauties paraded through the streets during the festival, each one a winner in the 2011 Miss Vietnam Sacramento pageant. The festival is an opportunity for people to experien

Mongo Mongo Mongolian BBQ restaurant at 19th and J streets opened Saturday, and owner Jonathan Ng said he is pleased with the customer turnout. “It’s been good, we’re really excited to be open,” Ng said Monday. Much of the interior design still needs to be finished, Ng said, but getting the restaurant open and focusing on the food was the top priority. “It’s kind of barren, but we’re working on it,” Ng said, adding that interior décor details are being worked out. In order to keep the garage doors installed when the business was Garlic Shack – which shut down after only three months – Ng said a unique setup had to be made to meet health department regulations that stipulate the kitchen

Flavorful barbecue and hearty sandwiches will be at the top of the menu at Big Joe’s BBQ when it opens its doors in January at the former Fog Mountain Café space at the City Hall Garage. The City Council is set to grant a five-year lease Tuesday for Big Joe’s BBQ to open at 1000 I St. According to the city staff report on the new lease, Big Joe’s currently has a successful catering business and plans to offer a variety of BBQ sandwiches – including pork, grilled chicken and tri-tip – with side dishes, and the restaurant will have an outdoor grill. For five years, Joe “Big Joe” Dunlap operated Big Joe’s BBQ in Citrus Heights, and Dunlap’s partner, Angelo Negrete, has owned Fuddruckers, a

Imagine the perfect french fry. For me, it’s medium-crispy on the outside, hot and creamy inside, generously salted and with a distinctive freshly-fried aroma. Sacramento is blessed with many such perfect fries and my Potato Posse and I set out on a mission to find them. We limited our search to casual eateries that are local to Sacramento. We focused exclusively on basic fries – no blue cheese topping, pungent garlic or dipping sauces to mask their essence. Just the potato and maybe a little seasoning. Size and shape didn’t matter in our survey– the fries could be regular, thick-cut, shoestring, curly (senseless mutations of perfectly good fries) or crinkled. After much arduous research

A Midtown barbecue restaurant that closed in late December has reopened with a new name, but customers might not notice a difference. My BBQ Spot, 2502 J St., closed its doors Dec. 23 and reopened as Luck’s BBQ Jan. 7, but the core concepts of the restaurant didn’t change. “We have new owners and the same cook,” said Manager Carlos Lopez. The most popular dishes are the tri-tip and ribs, said John “John-John” McCarty, the restaurant’s cook, who also ran My BBQ Spot for the past two years. He recommends the brisket as well. McCarty added that the menu and serving style are the same as My BBQ Spot. “All of our meats are smoked for an hour, and then cooked,” he said. Lopez said all the

           Right now, I have 11 different hot sauces and a full pound of fresh jalapeño peppers in my fridge. It’s about par for the course. I incorporate chili peppers into almost every meal I prepare. For me, a really great meal is often a battle of attrition, from which I walk away sweating, with saliva flooding my mouth, tears welling in my eyes and endorphins coursing through my veins.            To paraphrase the great George Costanza, I would drape myself in chili peppers were it socially acceptable.            Sunday was the inaugural Roseville HOT pepper festival & chili cook-off. It is a rare event that can pull me away from the morning games on NFL Sunday Ticket, but a hot peppe

A double shot of the deepest Chicago and Texas blues--from the some of the biggest living legends of the genre are arriving in town this Sunday to play an afternoon all ages concert in Sacramento.“BLUES ON THE GREEN 2” stars The Blues Broads and the Nick Gravenites Band. Honored emcee is blues radio legend and harp man, Mick Martin. Sunday, Sept. 26 The Green @ Capital Public Radio/ southernmost corner of Sac State University 7055 Folsom Ave./Sacramento    Doors: 1 PM      Showtime: 2 PM  With a wall of soul sound that could tumble Jericho, four powerful women singers stand at the front of the stage and make believers of every audience member. Rocking, scolding, testifying and torching,

It's August 8, 2009, Saturday and the day is hot. When the days are hot like this, people have an itch. They have an itch for doing a barbeque. I head over to William Land Park with one of my paranormal investigators Chantal Apodaca. Preparing hotdogs, sausages on the BBQ pit was Shannon 'Ms. Macabre' McCabe. Members of HPI all brought a variety of dishes and we were able to feast and socialize throughout this whole day. One investigator brought baseball gear and everyone was involved in good social conversation and had no time to play the American sport of baseball. Plus, most of us had our dogs with us. I had Pika and HPI (pronounced Hi-Pee) with me. Pika and HPI had a great time sociali

It has never occurred to me that Father's Day weekend always happens at the same time as the summer solstice. Is that by coincidence? The longest, sunniest day of the year falls on the weekend that we celebrate our Dad's. That's kind of cool! At least for those of us who celebrate them. Otherwise, think of it as an extended day for you to be having fun! This weekend is packed with family friendly events for the whole family to enjoy at budget friendly prices. There are a few things I've mentioned that are a little more pricey... but they sound so fun! Whatever your budget is and whomever you'd like to spend your time with, check out what this weekend has in store. Thursday 6.18 Class: Sm