i know. i want north african food. i want more caribbean food. i want a jewish deli fer chrissakes. and a cafe with normal food. i hate these bastard moguls.
The only thing is Melange pastries suck. It will be so damn crowded now, all the time!
There is a new deli and grocery store on Franklin right near my house that is owned by a Lebanese man and they have yummy falafel and gyros as well as great Middle Eastern groceries.
I would love a Jewish deli.
I think we could go full time at Naked. Those guys love seeing us everyweek. We could try Tupelo as well.
OOOOOOOoooooh! Good falafel you say?
That is something this town DEFINITELY needs. I will have to check it out.
Ally, no Tupelo. Tupelo would be godawful on Sunday AMs because it's the only coffee place in East Sac. I hear it's very busy. Also not very comfy for knitters. The atmosphere is too austere. We could never get loud.
I'm down with Naked Sundays. I do like to see everyone. We can stay at Melange until the Turkey day changeover I guess.
IO is actually excited about the Crepeville. Weirdo, loves crepes.
We need more middle eastern places, african, GOOD, NON- CHAIN italian, carribean, south american...... no more japanese places or paragary sh*te! LOL
I've been to Tupelo on Sundays and it was nearly empty, so maybe doublecheck that info.
That article says that the Crepeville people had three places in SF that they sold. I bet they were the crepe places that our friends in SF always want to go to, because those places look exactly like Crepeville and have almost the same menu. Which would explain my kneejerk "boring chain restaurant" reaction to Crepeville.
Hmm. I heard that around church time it's really busy at Tupelo. Maybe that was disinformation. I still don't think it's a great place to knit thoug, but maybe it's better now.
Know what else we need downtown?
CHICAGO STYLE PIZZA.
Not Zelda's.
I had the same reaction as Beth with crepeville. I got so sick of all the breakfast places in town having the same menu. Same crepes, same potatoes, etc.
I have nearly perfected the Zelda's crust at home so we don't have to miss the place. I know the bad service is all part of the game with Zelda's, but that is kind of a lame game if you ask me. (Last time we called ahead, checked in with the hostess, and still waited an hour and forty-five minutes before giving up and going to Pieces.)
I've only been to Tupelo in the mid-afternoon. It seems to be popular with Sac State professors grading papers. I don't knit so I don't know if knitting and paper-grading are incompatible.
There's always the chance, though, that Melange would've become something much worse than Crepeville. I'm assuming that they were going to be closing regardless so I'm trying not to act like it was some hostile takeover. "You must surrender your quaint location!". Look at what happened to Helvetia. It's not even open to the public. And this will technically only be the 2nd Crepeville in Sac. When Melange was still another Helvetia, I don't recall anyone considering that a chain. Sure, Crepeville's somewhat generic & apparently has it together enough to seem like it sprung up over night (a quality more often associated with a chain) but I can't really blame it for our lack of culinary variety. That falls more on the non-adventurous rep of local diners. It's modern-day Sac. Places like Greta's & Marshall Grounds are being priced out of here. I hate to say it but these days, I'll take anywhere that I can leisurely sit around & leave feeling like I've somewhat gotten my money's worth.
miller
Have you been to Crepeville? I wouldn't say it has the ambience you describe. I've only noticed a downswing at Melange in the past few months, which I now attribute to the new ownership.
We already have a perfectly good and unique crepe place in Sac: Black Cat Cafe. I don't think we need so many.
And for what it's worth, I think Sac has a lot of adventurous eaters, and could sustain a few more kinds of cuisine.
Sac has a lot of variety, or a lot more than other parts of this country. There are great Vietnamese resturants on Florin and Stockton, as well as Chinese, Thai, Indian, Mexican, Nicurguan, etc. etc.
Yeah, we do. And Melange, in its current state, is part of that variety.
Yeah, I actually go to Crepeville somewhat frequently as it's about 3 blocks from my house & always open. Like most downtown restaurants, it's slammed 20% of the time (read, weekend breakfast) & fairly calm the other 80%. And this is no snap, but I don't go there to knit - I go there to eat & talk & I think it's fine for that. Are you sure Black Cat's still open? 2 people have told me it's closed down. And, though I did like it a lot, it was too expensive & the last 2 times I went, the crepes were ice cold & took around 20-30 minutes which, along with almost all new faces working there, led me to believe it had changed ownership. But hey, I'm not claiming Crepeville is the end-all. I'm just glad Melange is still going to be some sort of cafe & not, like, a dance or yoga studio or something that's more specialized. And again, it sounds like Melange was gonna close anyway. Judging by the brisk business it did, I suspect the owner just burned out.
miller
I'm planning a "remember New Helvetia" rally at Melange any day now. Stay tuned.
By the way people, there is a good Jewish deli in Sac. It's "kosher style" not kosher, but that's actually better because it means they are free to serve an excellent ruben. It's called Sam's deli and it's on Greenback. I know, it's not downtown, but at least we have one.
I am not crazy about the food at Crepeville -- I just really don't like crepes, and their portions are insanely huge and I incapable of leaving potatoes on a plate -- but it actually is a pretty good place to just hang out. When I was still in school it was one of the places where I'd go to study over a late lunch. It empties out at about 1 p.m. on weekdays, and that back area is a really good place to just sit and read or work or chat or whatever. There were usually a few other people working or studying there as well.
Knitting on Sunday mornings is just not good for these places. As a cafe, Melange is just about perfect. But as a crepe place, I'll never be able to justify bogarting a table for two hours and just drinking coffee and eating fruit salad.
I will have to investigate the Black Cat issue. I haven't been in a while. Mainly because I've been in grad school.
You should know that the Crepeville owner has quite a reputation in Davis (I know of girls that have quit over this) for sexual harassment. He used to only hire tall, shapely, white girls as wait staff. It was remarkable going in there how similar they were. I have heard (2nd hand..but reliable) that he kept a bed in back and those girls were the ones who could "take it"! I only know of the one that immediately quit. Right after I heard of this (last spring)there was a sudden obvious, big change. He started hiring smaller, thin, more completely dressed and non-buxom women and even one guy as wait staff! There are still 2 or 3 of the original harem and the staff is shockingly binary, as a result. It will be interesting to see what happens in Sac with the demise of a once-great place, Melange (check for that back room "lounge").
Very interesting Rob. I will probably repost this in a new rant related to rumors of a goddamn Starbucks going in next to Tupelo.
Commenting by HaloScan.com
