Hundreds of spectators gathered Thursday night to watch waiters and waitresses from Sacramento restaurants as they gave their best definition of speedy service in the second annual Bastille Day Waiters’ Race in the courtyard behind 1801 L Wine Lounge. Waiters and waitresses from 25 central city restaurants made two laps around the block bounded by 18th and 19th streets and L Street and Capitol Avenue. With one hand, participants were required to balance a tray with a bottle of Perrier mineral water and two champagne glasses filled with water. The race began at 7 p.m. “From my perspective as the French consul, it’s great, that in a town like Sacramento, we have young waiters and waitresse

Big Brothers Big Sisters has partnered with eleven celebrated Sacramento restaurants for “Cocktails for a Cause” in July. These eateries are lending their best mixologists to create refreshing, innovative cocktails to generate funds for Big Brothers Big Sisters of Greater Sacramento throughout the entire month of July. Beginning Friday, July 1st and continuing throughout the entire month, DeVere’s Irish Pub, District 30, Dive Bar, Ella Dining Room and Bar, Grange, L Wine Lounge, Lounge on 20, Mulvaney’s, Pizza Rock, Red Lotus and Zocalo will be serving a delicious cocktail, aptly named the "Big Brother/Big Sister" or something similar. Every one of these eleven Sacramento hot spots will c

Sacramento Ronald McDonald House fans have an opportunity to show their support by donning red shoes at the Second Annual Red Shoe Crawl that will be held June 26. Crawlers will begin at the Sheraton Grand Sacramento Hotel, wandering around J and L streets at their own pace to enjoy the delicacies of Midtown and downtown Sacramento. Proceeds from ticket purchases will benefit the Sacramento Ronald McDonald House and Camp Ronald McDonald at Eagle Lake charities. The Sheraton will provide the first selection of food by Executive Chef Russell Michel, of both the Sheraton and Morgan's Central Valley Bistro. “We are working to create a great local taste,” Michel said “We always want to surp

Ever wonder who's peer-recognized as the best bartender in Sacramento? Who makes the cocktails that scintillate the palate, dazzle the mind and always keep you guessing? Go no farther than 19th Street: we have a local treasure right here. For the second installment on the All-Star Bartender Series, I'm speaking of Chris Tucker. Tucker has been a Northern California local for much of his life, and after working in San Francisco for a period of time, and learning a great deal about his craft, he decided there was something special in Sacramento worth coming back for. So upon returning, Tucker has been working with L Wine Lounge and moonlighting at Shady Lady Saloon ever since. More than a

This Tuesday people will (hopefully) be flocking to their polling places around Sacramento to vote. In honor of democracy, there are a few places around Sacramento who want to thank those who took the time to vote with special election day deals. Marilyn's on K (908 K St.) Guests with an “I Voted” sticker will get a discount on the cover charge ($3 instead of $5) to see the band MRQ at 8 p.m. MVP Sports Bar and Grill (2110 L St.) Guests with an “I Voted” sticker will be treated to the “Democrat Special.” Shots of Jack Daniels for $4, mixed drinks for $4, draft for $2. L Wine Lounge (1801 L St.) With the proper sticker, guests get happy hour all night: $3 beer, $6 featured wines and $4 c

Pedestrian traffic may have appeared somewhat peculiar in Midtown on Saturday. Merry crowds of golfers, and a pirate or two, took to the streets in droves for the first annual Albie Puttin’ Pub and Putt Crawl presented by Go-Girl Energy Drink. Tickets were $25 for walk-ups and $20 for those who preregistered. All proceeds from the event went straight to Albie Aware Inc., a foundation dedicated to supporting women struggling with breast cancer. Executive Director Cindy Love, was a close friend to Albie Carson. The foundation was formed after Carson died of breast cancer in 2002. “We started the foundation because she was not given the proper testing after she was diagnosed, and we would

Golf, pub crawl and breast cancer are usually not three topics you see together. But then again, Albie Puttin’ is not your typical pub crawl. Saturday, Sacramentans can play a nine-hole game of miniature golf and enjoy drink specials all while helping breast cancer patients. All ticket sales will benefit the Albie Aware organization — founded to help provide resources such as paying medical fees to breast cancer patients. This is the first pub crawl event fundraiser that Albie Aware is holding, sponsored by Go-Girl Energy Drink. The crawl will begin with at noon Saturday at deVere’s Irish Pub. Each restaurant or bar has made its own themed hole and will feature drink and food specials,

On Saturday, August 7, Midtown Sacramento played host to the Foursquare Pub Crawl. Organized by Sacramento's Midtown Business Association in order to promote the new Midtown brand, the event featured teams from a number of Midtown establishments. Team leaders were chosen because they were Foursquare Mayors of the participating locations. Foursquare is a dynamic new social networking application that allows users to know what business are close by, what establishments are trending based on the presence of other Foursquare users, see tips published by other users, and even see maps to help guide them to where they want to go. For businesses, Foursquare allows them to know who is visiting

We are excited to announce a special opportunity and want our users, as part of The Sacramento Press community, to be the first to take advantage. How would you like to save 51-90 percent on Sacramento's top restaurants, salons and businesses every day? Well, now you can! We introduce to you: Deal Ticket. It’s really easy to sign up and start saving. Every day, we feature a fantastic deal from a local business. That deal is featured for one day only. You click to buy the deal and save money by doing so. All you have to do is sign up for the daily Deal Ticket e-mail so you don’t miss out on deals you’ll love. To give you an idea of what's in store, we have great deals at Tuli Bistro (60

Share the news! The Wellness Task Force unofficially declares the third week of May, "Health and Fitness Week." To celebrate we are offering two great opportunities to engage in some fun activities with us. Let’s Move! Walk the Park Join the Wellness Task Force and your downtown Sacramento friends in a fun walk around the Capitol and receive a free goodie bag for participating! Thursday, May 20, 2010 from Noon to 12:30pm West Steps of the State Capitol   RSVP here by May 17th to ensure you receive your goodie bag. We'll need your name, email address and phone number. View event flyer. This event is sponsored by the SmartSpot division of PepsiCo. Fit Crawl 2010  There are still a few ti

Sacramentans love their local businesses. A handful of local businesses recently won $500 grants from Intuit Inc. as part of its "Love a Local Business" competition, in which customers nominate businesses for grants. Three businesses are awarded weekly, and nine local businesses have already won the grant from the software company known for its TurboTax and QuickBook programs. "Sacramento overwhelmingly wants to support their local businesses," said Heather McLellan, a director at Intuit Inc. "There's a real wish for them to thrive here." In addition to the weekly winners, Intuit is hosting a "Love a Local Business Event" Saturday and Sunday at 1801 L St., where local business owners ca

Jessica Summers-Miller is the owner of Loft 1513, a very chic clothing boutique located in San Francisco. Originally from Sacramento and Hiram Johnson High School graduate, doing a fashion show and sale in Sacramento was an easy choice for Jessica. Jessica also happened to be long time friends with Marcus and Kolea Marquez, who own L Wine Lounge, which was the venue for the night. The show came together in a very short period of time as they elected to do much more than just the typical fashion show. Proceeds from the sale portion of the fashion show as well as the bar tab would be donated to the Red Cross for Haiti earthquake relief. Jessica said she always wanted to do a super int

From French bubbly to tequila cocktails, local bars and restaurants are creating a range of options for a New Year’s Eve toast.  Lounge on 20 will serve a cocktail called “By the Fire,” which was created by bartender Steven Oberlander. The drink will give customers the feeling of “eating pie on the holidays,” said Garrett Hintze, Lounge on 20 bar manager and buyer.  The $12 cocktail features Nocino walnut liqueur together with a small amount of pear liqueur. Oro de Oaxaca mezcal will be added to the drink. The cocktail will have a Buffalo Trace bourbon base, giving it a “crème brûlée honey tone,” Hintze said. He described the drink as “very balanced,” noting that it’s not overly sweet.

Saturday morning I contemplated whether or not I should eat breakfast. My stomach was inexperienced with grub crawls, the Eat Your Art Out Crawl would be my very first. I settled on eating something small. Luckily I lived close enough to walk to the captain meeting place and by the time I had gathered my team's bags and badges, my stomach was growling. Of the 18 restaurants and dining establishments in the Crawl, I had eaten at all of them but five.  My team, Team Snuffleupagus, started at Brew It Up! where a fruit platter and blue cheese kettle chips awaited. This was a good warmup for the digestive system, not too heavy, and easy to eat. Lucca was one of the restaurants I hadn't tri

I did it; I blinked. How is it possible? It seems that only yesterday I pulled the sundresses, shorts and sandals out of winter storage; bared my pale shoulders to the warm summer sunshine; traded the flannel sheets for the 400 ct Egyptian cottons; hard to believe, but (dare I say it?) summer is almost over! With only five weeks left until the Autumnal equinox, we'll be hearing the crunch of autumn leaves and Jack Frost'll be nippin' at our noses before we know it! Aack!! With these chilling thoughts in mind, I feel an inexplicable desire to squeeze in as much summer fun as possible, before the rumored El Nino sets in, and the umbrella and galoshes replace the halter tops and Coppertone.

Ever wondered where to try a good glass of wine in Sacramento? This Tuesday night, Grubrawl USA's Winecrawl will guide a group through Sacramento's bars, lounges and restaurants with extensive wine selections. The tour begins at 6 p.m. at L Wine Lounge, then continues to Michelangelo's Italian Art Restaurant, The Grand Wine Bar and 58 Degrees and Holding Company before ending at Lounge on 20. It costs $25 to register. Grubcrawl USA started as a food crawl organization, touring a number of Sacramento's restaurants. The group has held a bike crawl, a Mardi Gras crawl, and will now expand into the realm of wine. "The wine crawl adds a focus on different types of wine tasting at the stops,"

It takes more than just top-shelf liquor to make a fine cocktail. It takes creativity with quality ingredients, inventive bartenders to mix them and establishments that like to be on the cutting edge. Starting Monday, the second annual Midtown Cocktail Week Sacramento begins a celebration of really good cocktails and the culture behind them: the people, the places, the spirits and the innovation of the city's growing artisan cocktail movement. "The cocktail movement -- it's just a movement toward quality," said 31-year-old bartender Erick Castro, considered by some to be the "godfather" of Sacramento's cocktail scene. "It's like the rebirth of a craft. And when you get down to it, it ju

Twitter has become a common and powerful tool, if not essential, to reach and communicate with customers for many businesses. I, as founder of Radee Wine, Inc., a start-up wine importer and marketer, also use Twitter to talk about our wines and to learn about customers and other players in the industry. While Twitter gives tremendous access to information about business and people, there is nothing like meeting those behind the profile photos in person. This Tuesday, owners of three wine companies, James David Cellars, MAS Wine Company, and Radee Wine will gather and showcase the wines at Sacramento’s first Vino Tweet Up at L Wine Lounge in Midtown Sacramento. What makes this event intere

Foodies and wine enthusiasts united Saturday at Cesar Chavez Park for Raley's and Seventh Annual Grape Escape, presented by Raley's and Bel Air for an evening of drinking and munching. For $40 in advance and $50 at the door, ticket-holders took part in a three-hour taste marathon, sampling cabs, chards and merlots from more than 50 top wineries from six counties in Northern California and gourmet appetizers from Sacramento’s favorite eateries. Award-winning wineries like San Joaquin’s Van Ruiten winery (voted Wall Street Journal’s Best Zin) and Calaveras County’s Twisted Oak winery (Gold Medal winner from the Riverside International Wine Competition) set up shop along with brewery favori

Even though Valentine’s Day is over, that doesn't mean the chocolate has to stop. On Saturday, Feb. 21, the L Wine Lounge will host its first wine and chocolate tasting. The tasting includes an informational speaker from Ginger Elizabeth chocolates, who will also provide a chocolate dessert bar. The L Wine Lounge will specially pair seven artisan chocolates and seven wines and will offer a unique chocolate cocktail. The cost is $45 per person and includes tasting of selected wine and chocolates. The tasting is from 1-3 p.m. Seating is limited, so to reserve a spot call the L Wine Lounge at (916) 443-6907