Restaurant Find - The Porch, Sacramento, CA

We visited The Porch for The Cyclist's b-day and it was too good not to share.

Let's start with a question:  If you go out to eat and you are still dreaming about the food over a week later, is there something wrong with you? that means it was good right?  Right!!  I should probably add that the particular food I'm dreaming of was not even what I ordered, but what I shamelessly tasted (more than once) off of Mrs. Bestie's plate....

That's right.

Fried chicken y'all.

Being the child of a hippie granola woman meant I never ate any real fried chicken (KFC doesn't count) until I sampled this.  Oh the shock and awe!  It's true.  To the best of my memory I never tried real fried chicken until I visited The Porch.

Thank you hippie granola mom.  For if it wasn't for you secluding me from the sinful wonder of fried chicken I certainly would not be the mostly healthy eating exercising lady I am today.  Mom does know best.

But oh lordy.  That fried chicken goodness.  That Buttermilk Fried Chicken....airline breast, leg & thigh, yukon mashed potatoes, sausage gravy, collard greens, buttermilk biscuit, green tabasco honey...I think I love you.  But my thighs hate your guts.

I did not try the biscuit although I would have loved to take a giant bite of it's flaky, fluffy goodness.  Mrs. Bestie would have slapped my hand, and rightly so, but it looked and smelled delicious.

The Cyclist and I actually shared (!) two entrees, the  Crab Cakes (carolina red rice, sautéed broccoli & greens, apple wood bacon, remoulade)  and the hanger steak (which is not listed on the on-line menu so my fancy description is mashed potatoes, garlicky kale and some type of mustardy cream sauce).  I shamefully do not have photos of either one.  I did not bring my camera (we were celebrating The Cyclist's birthday, why would I do something like bring a camera?  Fail.) and I was too busy eating.  Unfortunately The Porch does not have photos of this food on their website (like the one above that I stole), so you will have to go yourself to see it.  The crab cakes were gigantic and tasty.  The hanger steak was delicious and perfectly cooked and oh me oh my, the sauce was so tasty too....even the kale was good.  Wait, was I supposed to eat that or was it a garnish?  Who cares, it was good!

I also tried:

Fried Green Tomatoes 9

mixed greens, apple wood bacon, roasted red pepper vinaigrette, goat cheese, pecans

Fried to perfection and had a great flavor.  

Southern Mule

Absolut APeach, ginger beer, lime simple syrup, muddled basil, and blackberries 7.50

This cocktail was dangerously good!  Refreshing and did not taste like a cocktail, i.e., dangerous.

Here is my one complaint...

Skillet Cornbread 8

apple wood smoked bacon, green tomato jam, jalapeno honey butter  

The cornbread needs work y'all!  I feel like the mini skillet may have something to do with it (too shallow?) but the cornbread also had an eggy-ness too it.  No good.  Corn bread should be cake-like (in my opinion).  Additionally, although I can appreciate putting bacon in everything, I think it should have been left out of the cornbread.

Other items ordered at our table:

Hearts of Romaine 13

hearts of romaine, corn & tomato relish, tomato basil vinaigrette, blackened crawfish, pecorino romano, fresh avocado

There's a crawfish on top!

Grilled Chicken Salad 12
spinach, apple wood bacon, cucumbers, roasted red pepper vinaigrette, grilled chicken breast, corn bread croutons

I did not try, but heard it was salty.  Also, the chicken was more like chicken salad (like a chicken salad sandwich salad), which is a little deceiving based on the menu description.

Shrimp Po’ Boy 16
french bread, lettuce, avocado, crab mayo, white cheddar, apple wood bacon, pickled onions, cornmeal fried shrimp

This was BIG and looked good.  I heard no complaints.

Stuff I would like to try when I go back:

Grilled Brie 10
house made jam, grilled crostini bread, spinach, balsamic honey reduction

Of course I want to try it, it's cheese.

Shrimp & Grits 22
bell peppers, onions, mushrooms, creamy white cheddar grits, tasso ham, blue crab gravy
Because of that hippy granola mom I've never had real grits either.  And, they look like this:


Southern Sunday
House infused bacon Woodford Reserve bourbon, 100% pure maple syrup and fresh egg whites…. shaken hard served over ice 8

Because who doesn't want to try a cocktail that is bacon infused?!

For those of you familiar with Sac-town, The Porch was formerly Celestine's.  Although I'm sad to see Celestine's go, The Porch is a great addition to mid-town dining.  The re-model of this restaurant turned out great.  The removal of the wall separating the bar and dining area really opened the place up.  Plus, I love the decor and color scheme.  Check it:

It should also be noted that there is a great on tap beer selection:

Beer On TapLeffe, Blonde 10 oz 4.5 
Lagunitas, Pils 5 15
Mammoth, Hefewiesen 4.75 14.5 
Rubicon, Monkey Knife Pale Ale 4.75 14.5 
Speakeasy, Big Daddy IPA 5 15
Widmere, Brrrbon 10oz 7 
Big Sky, Powder Hound 4.75 14.5
Abita, Turbo Dog 4.75 14.50
La, Trappe, 10 oz 8
Rogue, Hazelnut Brown 6 18
Sudwerk, Dopple Bock 6 18
Victory, Stout 5 15

Thank you The Porch for providing us with something different, new and most importantly, tasty!
Yelp Review here

Dear Fried Chicken,

Me, my thighs and The Cyclist will be back for you.  We will share you and enjoy you and not break our rule of everything in moderation.  So there!

Love,

Cyclist & Wife