Thursday, May 26, 2011

Accidentally Classing Up The Joint!


I continued my exploration of Old Sacramento a couple weekends ago, but I did pick up a Saturday shift at work (unusual for me) that began at noon. I decided to wander down to the local 24 Hour taqueria, La Garnacha, to yummy down on a breakfast burrito and horchata. It was a surprisingly chilly walk, and once I got to the patio, I grabbed a Sac News & Review and pulled out my laptop, snagging internet from the bubble tea place across the street. La Garnacha is actually located pretty squarely in the middle of Sacramento's Asian community (not far from Harry's Cafe). I felt exceedingly "Midtown," internetting in the open air and chomping on my enormous burrito; a burrito so big, in fact, that I couldn't finish it!
I went out for Second Saturday, the monthly opening of the city's gallery doors in a citywide party. It was a little lackluster, and gave way to a vague sense of unease, like being alone at an awkward party. I did a little gallery hopping before heading home and to bed. I figured I'd be seeing plenty of art the next day, anyway.
That, by the way, was the end of our clear weather for the weekend. It went from "fairly chilly" to "freezing rain." I traipsed to Old Town with my stately umbrella, and took the more traditional path to the old city, a tunnel that runs under the highways from the Downtown Plaza to Old Sacramento, that I've always thought of as a Time Tunnel since I was a kid.
I made my way to the pier to see the delightfully promising sign posted at the top of this blog. After a rainy walk across town, a hot, delicious, breakfast sounded incredible! Unfortunately, it was a total lie. After making it to the dining room, I was told that Brunch did actually not start until 10 am. I'm not sure if "breakfast" and "brunch" are different, but I arrived about twenty minutes to ten, which seems well within the poster hours. A little perturbed, I decided to go back across the street to Steamers and get myself a delicious Irish Creme White Mocha while I waited. Steamers gained points for their extensive selection of Torani syrups (shortbread!) even while Delta King lost points for LIES! After killing a sufficient amount of time, I made my way back on board. The hostess greeted me very nicely ("There you are!") and I just missed window seating. Nonetheless, I had a fun view across the rain-pelted river.
Now, a little background; the Delta King is, in fact, a historic riverboat cum hotel cum dinner theatre establishment... And I was immediately unsure whether or not they thought I was a guest or not. Which wouldn't be awkward if it had been the menu'd affair that the, y'know, menu out front suggested, and not a buffet. I helped myself to a heaping plate of breakfast foods, ordered a coffee and orange juice, and ate them a little awkwardly, staring out at the storm.


The first round was pretty damn tasty, Nothing necessarily extraordinary, but a good spread of good food. My second go, taking a cue from my eavesdropped neighbor, was to go with foods a little more unique to the riverboat aspect, so I piled my plate high with shrimp, oysters, salmon, and grilled squash. And here's where the buffet both hit and missed; some items, like the salmon, were really good and unique, whereas the squash and shrimp definitely suffered from the "buffet" storing aspect, and both were ice-cold by the time I got to them. This wouldn't have been so bad in the shrimp's case, if it hadn't suffered a little freezer burn from sitting directly atop ice. I made one more trip back for a plate of dessert. Figured I might as well, right? The dessert was perhaps the tastiest bit of the whole breakfast; very well executed chilled cream in a puff pastry.

So I ended up paying the fairly steep bill -- depending on your tummy size, I suppose -- of thirty dollars and making my way over to the Crocker Art Museum. Being the Third Sunday, it was pay-what-you-want day, and I enjoyed several hours of hanging out in the John Buck exhibit and the photoreal area, before making the rainy trek back home, and heading out for some Sunday afternoon karaoke.
All in all, it ended up being a good day, and the class decor of the Delta King was a fun change of pace. I didn't end up using the bathrooms on-ship, so the bathrooms in the rating section are the surprisingly clean Old Town public restrooms. Also worth mentioning is the fact that I was too full, and perhaps a little sheepish, to visit the omelette-scramble station; freshly prepared egg foods could have improved the whole experience tremendously!


Atmosphere: 11/13
Clean: 3/3
Structural: 3/3
Decor: 3/3
Signage 1/2
Service: 1/2

Menu: 5/8
Variety: 2/2
Size: 2/2
Beverages: 1/2
Prices: 0/2

Food: 6/9 pts
Presentation: 1/3
Portion: 4/3 (Bonus Buffet Point!)
Taste: 1/3

Bathroom: 1/5 pts.
Clean: 1/2
Structural: 0/1
Decor: 0/2

Overall: 23/35

No comments:

Post a Comment