AM24: New Glory Eatery & Taproom

11:30AM, 7/3/2022

https://www.newglorybeer.com/eatery/

Happy Independence Day! On Sunday I headed out to New Glory Eatery & Taproom, located way down Douglas towards the lake in an isolated little commercial development called Quarry Ponds Town Center. I’ve been to this center a few times before, notably for Sparkles Ice Cream (which looks to be closed now). I first became aware of New Glory when my trivia team and I checked out King Trivia at the South Sacramento location, which is strictly a brewery/taproom with no food served. The beer was solid and despite how out-of-the-way it was we went back a few times until they suddenly stopped hosting trivia.

Today I arrived a few minutes before opening and took the time to snap some drone shots, remembering when I flew out over the pond in back that the entire back end of this center has a patio. As I landed and packed up I could hear them open up and someone welcoming a small handful of people waiting out front. With that I headed in. The space is large and bright, with windows letting in lots of light from 3 sides. When you step in you are greeted by a bar to the right, which wraps around the corner into an area with more bar seating. To the left is the main dining room, flanked by the front end of the kitchen that runs all the way to the back where the patio doors are. I was greeted right away and opted to sit in the dining room (on my previous visit I sat at the bar).

(Taken from the back of the dining room, the patio is to the left)

I was hooked up with a few menus (food, specials, beer) and a water and quickly greeted by my server. I took some time going over both sides of the tap list, thinking a flight was sounding good. One thing I appreciated about New Glory in my brewery visits was not only that the beers were good, but that they had a nice variety of styles available. Most breweries tend to favor a style or two and that’s 90% of the menu. Here they have lagers, pale ales, IPAs (NE and WC), sours, stouts and porters.

I ended up going with a flight of the following:

• DDH Use ‘Em or Lose ‘Em – Northeastern DIPA 8.1% ABV – American Double IPA brewed with double the amount of a special blend of Pacific Northwest Hops and fermented with our expressive ale yeast for a huge blast of pineapple, mango, and sweet mandarin. (5oz, $3)
  • This is a solid NE IPA all around.
• Holy Spumoni – Stout – Imperial / Double 13.3% ABV – This creamy, spumoni inspired beer is all about the layers. It was barrel-aged in bourbon barrels for 24 months to give it that extra bit of complexity. Layers of decadent chocolate and vanilla start the flavor journey, followed by nutty pistachio, and then finally, subtle sweet cherry. Saluti! (5oz, $4.50)
  • Wow, this is like dessert in a glass. It starts off strong that quickly gives way to sweetness that lingers long after the initial sip.
• Yasss Cream (Extreme) – Imperial Creamsicle Sour 8.5% ABV – To put it quite frankly, we slayed this beer! It’s extreme for a reason. We packed our tanks to the brim with Cara Cara orange purée, milk sugar, and a whole-lotta vanilla. Yasss! This beer’s got that smooth creaminess and that juicy sour citrus punch. What’s not to love? It’s fabulous! (5oz, $3.25)
  • A sour that’s only mildly sour, instead leaning hard into that unmistakable creamy orange flavor. Very nice.
• Mystery Chords – West Coast IPA 7% ABV – This beer’s got that classic New Glory flare. It’s like a riff you keep returning to: distinct, melodic, and catchy. Do you enjoy flavors of tropical fruit with a mild dank finish? Yep, this westy’s got all that thanks to Citra, Simcoe, and Mosaic hops! It’s our jam! Coming in at 7% ABV. (5oz, $2.75)
  • A nice, mild and crisp IPA with light floral and tropical notes.

On to the food. Last time I was here I tried the Bacon & Brie burger (pictured just above), which was incredible. Today I gravitated towards the small plates and appetizers. When my server came back to see if I was ready to order food, I had a couple questions. 1. What was the current Tots creation (looks like it rotates each month). She pointed me to the little specials menu which listed the Sloppy Tots (sloppy Joe mix, bacon, cheddar cheese, crème fraîche, green onions)[$15]. And 2. Did she recommend the Fried Avocado Tacos (three soft corn tacos, beer battered avocados, citrus slaw, ubahdank-pickled jalapeños, chipotle crema, side of house-made tortilla chips and roasted salsa)[$17] or the Grilled Shrimp Tacos (three soft corn tacos, cajun shrimp, citrus slaw, avocado crema, chipotle crema, side of house-made tortilla chips and roasted salsa)[$17]. She thought for a moment and then suggested the shrimp. I went ahead and ordered both the tots and the shrimp tacos.

The tots arrived in a hot cast iron skillet, piled high with sloppy joe mix and plenty of melty cheese, which I found as far down as the first layer of tots. This was delicious. The tots were perfectly crisp. This was a gigantic portion, best to be shared but I did my best and put away about half of it. The skillet kept this nice and hot all the way to the end, including a break where I focused on the tacos until those were gone.

The tacos each consisted of two large shrimp over top the light slaw and topped with the vivid green avocado crema. The house-made chips with roasted salsa were awesome, thick and super crunchy. If I could easily get chips like this at the supermarket I’d be a much larger person. I got a bit of that cajun spice but the crema really smoothed out that flavor far into the background.

I’ll probably need to come back and try those avocado tacos sometime. They’ve caught my attention on both visits so far. I wonder if they are anything like the amazing avocado tacos from Austin’s Torchy’s. I spent the last part of my visit here picking at the tots and sipping on Holy Spumoni for dessert. I’m a fan, both of the brewery and of this excellent restaurant.

#272: Curry Pizza House

11:45AM, 3/13/2022

https://currypizzahouse.com/

Today I headed over to Curry Pizza House, located at Douglas and Sierra College, to see what they had to offer for lunch. This is a small but rapidly growing chain with about a dozen locations and nearly as many listed as coming soon. All but one are in CA, with most of those being in the Bay Area. As you probably gathered from the name it is a Indian/Pizza fusion concept. This isn’t the first one we’ve had in Roseville so far. Chicago’s Pizza With A Twist (AKA PizzaTwist) played with these flavors on pizza already.

I’ve been kind of jonesing for these flavors recently and it’s also been a little while since I’ve had pizza so this was a very enticing choice for lunch. After realizing I was down an hour this morning do to the time change I packed up and headed out the door. I arrived at about 11:45 and headed in to a very quiet store. Well, quiet other than the droning of the oven hood, which is located strangely very close to the front door. No music was playing, though about 25 minutes into my visit it was turned on, at a low volume. There was a TV in the corner near the door playing basketball at a very low volume as well. Only sitting right underneath it did I even notice the sound was on.

The space is small, no doubt most of their business is take-out. There are just a few tables to sit at along the wall. On that wall is a nice mural. Browsing through the photos of their other locations I see that a nearly identical mural is featured in most if not all of them. Overall the space is clean and modern.

I was greeted by a woman from about halfway back in the kitchen as soon as I walked in, asking me if I was picking up or ordering. She met me up at the register to take my order and pointed out a couple menus on the counter. I had already pretty much picked out my order earlier at home but took a peek to make sure what I wanted was also on this menu. It was, but with some new information. I was planning to do a half and half pizza and this menu specified prices for a large or X-large half and half. I asked if they did 50/50 in less than a large and was told no, large is the smallest they offer. And that’s the story of how I now have leftovers in the fridge.

Anyway, I went ahead with the large and ordered half Palak Paneer and half Curry Chicken Masala [$25.99]. I hastily selected a beer from the four tap handles, which ended up being a Dust Bowl Taco Truck Amber Lager [$6]. After I sat down and took a closer look at my receipt I was thinking that it felt close to Round Table prices.

The woman, who by the way was the only person I saw working there the entire time, looked mildly busy, not that I had a great view over the counter from my booth. It took about seven minutes for my beer to be brought out, and another 14 minutes for the pizza.

The beer was nice, light and refreshing. It could have been about 10-20º cooler. I’m noticing more restaurants and even taprooms are serving beer a bit warmer than I’d prefer. Lack of pre-cooled glasses are a part of it. It just makes me appreciate those places that serve beer super cold and crisp even more I suppose.

On to the pie! This thing was packed from edge to edge with toppings. I sort of went back to my thoughts on RTP pricing and decided it felt like a pretty decent value for the sheer amount of chicken, paneer and other ingredients you get. The slices had a little bit of weight to them. The crust held up really well to it. Without being overly crunchy, blackened or burnt in any way, the crust had a very nice structure to it that helped keep all the toppings in place when picking up and holding a slice. I only lost a couple pieces of chicken to my plate the entire meal, which I thought was incredible for what should have been a very messy pizza.

On both sides the sauce/cheese/toppings were well assembled and very consistent throughout. Toppings were well seated into the cheese layer, which played a big part in how the whole thing held together.

The Palak Paneer consisted of pesto sauce, cheese, spinach, red onions, masala paneer, green chilies, ginger and garlic. The green pesto could be seen around the edges peaking out across the crust. The combo of green chilis and ginger gave each bite a mild to medium kick of spice. After a few bites it was really nice and hot. I loved the little cubes of paneer, which had crisped up just around the top for a little texture boost. Overall I enjoyed this half and would have it again.

The Curry Chicken Masala consisted of curry sauce, cheese, bell peppers, red onion, diced tomatoes, masala chicken and cilantro. I don’t usually care for cilantro but will tolerate it when it’s not a major ingredient. Here they had used a ton of it and it was the first flavor that hit my senses, for both smell and taste. It was however quickly overwhelmed by everything else on this side of the pie, and I had no issues with it. Man I loved this side. Although I’m still full as I type this a couple hours later, just thinking about it again I considered grabbing a slice of it from the fridge. I think the star was the curry sauce, which was incredibly well balanced with everything else. The chicken was plentiful, tender and flavorful, and the onions were just right, a bit softened by their time in the oven with just a bit of a satisfying crunch inside.

I have to admit, I sort of expected to like this place just due to the fusion concept but that Curry Chicken Masala really knocked it out of the park. Should I return here again I think I would do a create your own and add some paneer to this.

#260: BOSS. Pizza + Wings

12:30PM, 10/2/2021

https://bosspizzapluswings.com/

I picked this place out earlier in the week and I’ve been gradually more excited about the day as it came up. I didn’t know much about this place other than it seems to be a ghost kitchen. They don’t have any storefront and looked like they might be operating from John’s Incredible Pizza. I recall seeing a positive mention on Reddit or social media a month or so ago. I finally visited the website today to figure out what my ordering options were as far as in-store, on a website or on an app. They are available by phone, the website or through a variety of the usual food delivery apps. There are 6 locations total, scattered throughout CA with a couple in NV.

Once I got to the website I was intrigued by the “Cali-Detroit” style pizza they were talking up. Besides Little Caesars (I guess you can call it pizza) I’ve only had one Detroit-style pizza I can recall (found a photo of it, below) from a place on K St in downtown Sac called Pizza Rock, now closed. It was phenomenal. Anyway this sort of piqued my interest and I was off to place an order.

(Detroit Red Top from the now closed Pizza Rock in Sacramento)

It’s a nice clean site and easy to get to the menu. I hate when sites make you start an order to look at the menu…oh and you want to start an order? Now you need an account. Not here, very straightforward. That said, I did need to start an order to see the pricing, but they still didn’t require an account at all, even through checkout. They did ask for an email address. I’m not sure why since they didn’t email me an order confirmation or any receipt.

I wanted to get a half and half with something simple and something more unique to this place (they talk about their bacon here and there: BOSS Bacon – Thick sliced hickory smoked bacon, caramelized with pepper flecks for an extra kick). Unfortunately half/half is not an option so I went all in with a standard combo (The Works – All the goods: pepperoni, sausage, bell peppers, onions, mushrooms, and olives.)[$16.99]. I also wanted to get some wings, and the most economical way to do that allowed me to also try the Vampire Tots from the sides. I grabbed the 6pc wing combo, bone-in, half with lemon pepper flavor and half with sweet chili. It comes with a choice of fries or tots, including the jazzed-up Vampire tots (Vampire Tots Tots seasoned with garlic and Parmesan cheese with choice of ketchup or spicy ketchup.) as well as a soft drink [Total combo = $11.99].

I finished placing my order at 12:30PM and had a pickup time of 12:58PM. This is where things started to go sideways. I had placed the order using my desktop computer. The order confirmation page was clearly intended for a mobile screen, all scrunched down to a narrow column. On it was a button that you tap to check-in once you’re parked in their curbside parking spaces. Obviously I couldn’t click this button from a couple miles away (there is a phone number you can alternatively call when you arrive too), but I made it happen with remote desktop from my phone, just to play this out as intended.

(A lonely a-frame outside a red door is the only indication that you are in the right place)

I arrived and checked in at 12:59, entering information about the make/model/color of my car and putting the hazards on as instructed. After watching the steady stream of people going in and out of both John’s and Rockin’ Jump for a while, I gave the number a call at 1:15. This was a slightly jarring call because initially I was met by a robot that told me it was connecting me. Ok. Then a woman answered for John’s Incredible Pizza. I let her know I was here for BOSS Pizza curbside pickup and she put me on hold to check, then came back in less than 30 seconds saying it would be out in “a sec”. Back to waiting and watching, another 15 min went by and I called back at 1:36. This was basically the same phone call except it was a different woman and the time given was “8 minutes”.

I considered going in at some point but having peeked inside the red door when I arrived, to see what it looked like, I would have had no idea where to go to ask about it. Literally the only place you will see their logo is on that A-frame sign out front. It’s just John’s Incredible Chaos and a mass of kids beyond the door. To the second woman’s credit, her estimate was pretty close, although still a couple minutes short. At 1:47 someone brought my order out to the car, mentioned that utensils were in the bag (brief aside, what utensils would you expect to receive with pizza, wings and tots? There were none in the bag of course, just a straw) and that was that.

I brought it home and opened the box to reveal a heavy rectangular pie, about 9×13″. It was not as enticing as the website showed. What should have been a crisp, buttery crust was limp and clearly underdone. The toppings were all there, in addition to what looked a lot like Round Table’s fire roasted tomatoes, which was not as advertised.

This was a big disappointment. It was not very hot and ended up being a dense block of bread, cheese and greasy toppings that wanted to all roll off the slice the second you looked at them wrong. The toppings themselves, particularly the veggies and mushrooms were actually ok. The meats were not particularly notable. Although the cheese was well melted, it had long since solidified. I think this was made sometime after my first call and left to sit under a heat lamp while the wing combo were forgotten and then rushed after call #2. I am typing this the next morning and having thrown a couple slices into the oven (450º for about 11 min) for a balanced breakfast and I can say that this gave it some new life with a nice, crisp crust and actual, thermal-heat. Even that didn’t elevate it beyond anything very ordinary, unfortunately.

The pizza has some potential. Unfortunately it was fumbled and lost deep in a ball pit somewhere in that giant Chuck E. Cheese competitor. At it’s best I think it would only rank among the most average pizza we have available in Roseville.

The Vampire tots didn’t look like they had any garlic or Parmesan on them. They did have a bit of a garlic taste though. They were still relatively crisp and mostly warm. I had picked out the spicy ketchup to go with these, out of curiosity, but I think I was given regular ketchup because I got no spice whatsoever from it. I set it aside after dipping four or five tots. They were totally…fine.

Digging into the wings, one of the stars of this order (not that it says much) were the lemon pepper flavored wings. This was supposed to be an order of 6. They were pretty tiny little guys and I like to think I received 10 wings because the people making them also acknowledged this fact, but it’s just as likely to have been an error. That said, the lemon pepper was very strong. Bright lemon cut with the bite of a heavy dose of black pepper. These felt a little overcooked, though the chicken was still reasonably moist within.

Last but not least were the sweet chili wings. These were drenched in a dark, syrupy sauce. Unfortunately I can’t tell you how these tasted because they didn’t taste like anything. It was quite the mind-warp. They really looked like they would have a rich, sweet and/or spiciness to them. It was just nothing.

This was a bit of a roller coaster from when I first heard of them, to the concept of a Cali-Detroit style pie, through the long wait, non-existent customer service and overall disappointing food. I can’t see myself ever returning. The 1.5 rating is mostly held up by the strong lemon pepper flavor, the OK tots and that re-heating the pizza stepped it up a bit.