Manderes

Manderes

One of my favorite beer joints / restaurants in Folsom is a small pub and grill at 402 E. Bidwell called Manderes. They have a motto that says "No Crap on Tap" and they mean it. This place is just like Cheers. Brent (pictured above) and Dave, the owners, along with Avalon, Lindsay, Tim and the rest are super friendly and always make you feel welcomed in their "home"

Manderes only serves the best of the best beers and wines, and their food is very good.

Some of their great beers include my favorites: Alagash, Leinenkugel, Anderson Valley, Deschutes, Lagunitas and at least 100 more choices between on tap and bottled.

I've had a lot of fun going to this place over the past 1.5 years since they opened and once a month they host a really fun beer tasting event that always packs the house. They usually showcase a brand or style of beer each time that includes a tasting of the best selections along with an entree' for $18. It's held on the 2nd Wedensday of every month

If you're ever in the Folsom area, I highly recommend you all check out this restaurant and bar.

They have daily food specials consisting of grilled salmon, pork chops, and more, and their regular menu consists of such tasty dishes as Chimay Glazed Chicken, Korean Bulgogi (which you know I like) and they do up a really great steak, ribs, shrimp and more.

Be sure to try their cheesecake blintz dessert sometime too!

Another thing to note about this great little place, they've won many awards since opening: They're in the list of Draft magazines Top 200 bars in the NATION, they were ranked in Sacramento Magazine as one of the best things to do in the Sacramento area. They won KCRA 13's Best Beer Selection in Sacramento, and they have won several times for Best Bar in MyFolsom.com's Best of Folsom selection.

Check out Manderes at:
http://manderes.com/
402 E. Bidwell Street
Folsom, CA. 95630
(916) 986-9655

Football Food Munchies

Are you ready for some football?

Sunday is traditionally NFL Football Day, generations of Americans have made this a past time at their houses for decades and today is that big day. Lots of folks fire up the grill, bust out the beers and chow down on munchies of all types, from chips to hot dogs to tacos.

In our household, we usually crank up the big screen and start with the football talk shows and we let those shows run while we work around the house and get a few things done. Then its game time.

To make this a nice easy relaxing day, we get lazy on the food prep and do what I call "cheating". We pick up a few frozen appetizers and we'll make those through out the day, just snacking here and there as we're watching the games. This is kind of a brunch of sorts for us.

Personally I don't recommend buying pre-packaged stuff like this often because there's usually a ton of calories in these things. Home made food is always the best and most times more nutritious. However, once in a while is not bad and there's something really nice about not having to spend time prepping food and cooking for at least one day a week.

Today's cooking chores will be easy... I just unwrap the appetizer, pop it in the oven (microwaving just isn't the as good as baking) and in about 15-20 minutes we have our food with easy clean up being a simple toss of the wrapper into the recycle can.

We've tried many different frozen appetizers over the years and I can tell you, we've had some bad ones, but once in a while we've had some really good ones.

We've found some really good appetizer selections at our local Trader Joe's Grocery store, they're one of our favorite places to shop for groceries in Folsom (in addition to WinCo, Raley's and The Nugget).

Our menu today is Mini Beef Tacos, Chicken Empanaditas, Pizza Rolls, Arancini and of course some ice cold beer to wash it all down .. a junk food junkies delight. (stay tuned for more later, I'm going to be making a salmon pizza).

We made an interesting find the other day at Grocery Outlet - some Wolfgang Puck appetizers, figured it can't be that bad if Wolfgang put his name on it.

Here's the description: Arancini, Italian risotto balls blended with shiitake
mushrooms and three cheeses. Included tomato-basil-garlic sauce. As I was hoping, this was really good. In fact everything we're having is pretty decent.

I'm surprised that "tv dinners" have evolved so well. They're nice for a good quick meal.

Have a great Sunday everyone and I hope your favorite teams win today!

Go 49er's!