Tuesday, February 12, 2008

Ike's Deli & Bakery

Ike's Deli & Bakery
3000 Sunrise Blvd
Rancho Cordova, CA 95742
(916) 635-9808

I live and work in Rancho Cordova and have driven past Ike's dozens of times and always wondered, "What kind of gooddies are being baked next to a gentlemen's club?" I pictured cupcakes and brownies. One day I was driving around thinking of where should I eat and this place came to mind.

As soon as I walked in I was a little disappointed that there was no glass case of cake, cookies or other pastries. What I did find was a good place to get a sandwich. I was hungry and thought that the Italian sausage and meatball sandwich sounded like a hearty sandwich. I approached the counter and gave my order. The cashier asked, “Do you want a whole pocket bread sandwich or just a half?” That should have been my cue to order the smaller portion, but I ordered the full sandwich anyway.

One of the things I heard that the sandwiches were in a pita/pocket bread instead of regular sandwich bread and you see a picture of it in the second picture. How big does the pocket bread look to you? It is 7.5 inches long, 8 inches wide and 3 inches at the thickest part of the sandwich and that equals 180 cubic inches. I’ll let you figure out how much volume that really is.

After I unwrapped the package I cut in into quarters to make sure I would not overeat because after I tasted a few bites that would have been easy to do. It is stuffed with meatballs, Italian sausage, mozzarella cheese and onions. The meatballs were firm, but moist and had a nice flavor to them. The sauce they were cooked in was great, it tasted fresh, had a nice balance of herbs, seasoning and acidity and just a slight touch of sweetness. The sausage was cooked, but not dried out and the mozzarella was literally spilling out. The pocket bread had enough crust to stand up to the other bold ingredients and not get too soggy. All the ingredients worked well together; each providing different textures and flavors.

That sandwich is enough to feed three maybe four people and for under $10. I will definitely have to order their other sandwiches to see how they stack up.












Tuesday, February 5, 2008

Bamiyan Afghan Restaurant

Bamiyan Afghan Restaurant
7622 Greenback Lane
Citrus Heights, CA 95610
(916) 725-6009
http://www.afghancuisine.com/








BEEF SHAMMI KEBAB

Very lean ground beef mixed with spices and seasonings, cooked on the skewer like skinless sausage and served with homemade chutney sauce

CHICKEN SHISH KEBAB


Skinless and boneless cubes of chicken breasts marinated and charbroiled golden and moist on the skewerEggplant (Brony Bonjan)


Sliced steamed eggplant, fried and topped with tomato sauce,. homemade yogurt, and mint


KABELI PALOW


Special rice topped with seasoned almonds, raisins, carrots, flavored with cardamom served with Eggplant or Pumpkin Puree and sauteed lamb or char-broiled chicken. Samosa

Fried crispy, thin dough with filling of spiced eastern peas, potatoes and vegetables, served with homemade cilantro chutney sauce
Sharpara
Traditional Afghan sweet made with milk, cardamom, walnuts and pistachios.



We went here on a cold and rainy night a few weeks ago. The kabobs we had were a little dry and overcooked and did not have a lot of flavor. The eggplant was tender and moist and tasted like eggplant. The yogurt and tomato sauce made the eggplant a little sweeter.


The Kabeli Palow was not memorable as well and the samosas looked like fried won tons. It must have been an off night because everything tasted the same, none of the dishes really seemed any different than any other.