Travel Column: The Sacramento River Parkway

     Sitting on the convergence of two rivers, Sacramento is uniquely blessed with scenic trails. Sacramento State students are well aware of the American River Trail that winds past their school.

     A less well known but equally scenic trail runs along the Sacramento River through the Pocket neighborhood. An easy access point to this hidden jewel can be found at the intersection of Riverside and Captain’s Table Road, near the Fruitridge/ Seamas exit off I5.

     The trail picks up behind the La Riviera Hotel and runs north towards Old Town. The trail runs along the top of the levee separating the river from I5. Walking the trail offers a juxtaposition between the urban frenzy of the freeway and the bucolic, slow-moving river. The freeway is screened off by trees for the most part, but is still visible off to your right as you walk north. Not to worry however, the traffic noise is muffled and you are more likely to hear the honk of migratory birds than the bellow of truck horns.

     The glass and steel office buildings downtown can be glimpsed though the trees as the trail winds along with the river. Unfortunately for would-be commuters from the Pocket /Greenhaven neighborhoods, the trail does not quite reach downtown. The trail peters out at the marina at the foot of Broadway.

     A lack of commuters doesn’t mean a lack of traffic however. Those wishing to enjoy a leisurely stroll along the path need to be aware that the Spandex-Boy Bike Brigade uses the trail for time trials. Thankfully, the trail is wide and both groups seem to be able to co-exist.

     For those left footsore and weary after exploring the trail to the north, respite may be had back at the hotel at the foot of the path. La Riviera Hotel is home to Scott’s Seafood, an upscale restaurant and bar overlooking a marina built into a bend in the river. Be forewarned that if you’ve been working up a sweat on the trail or have been splashing around at the water’s edge, The Maitre’d at Scott’s may not give you the best table in the house.

     For the adventurous, or those too dirty and sweaty to be seated at Scott’s, an old-school neighborhood bar can be found nearby. If you continue south along Riverside from the La Riviera Hotel, you can pick up the trail again in about a mile or so at 35^th Ave. As you walk south along the top of the levee, you can look down on the river flowing to your right and Riverside Blvd on your left. At the end of the trail, about a mile from 35^th Ave., lies The Trap.

     The Trap is an institution in the Pocket neighborhood. It’s a clapboard shack that seems to lean away from its foundation. Inside is a short wooden bar and a lone beer cooler. Nothing’s on tap and don’t bother asking for a mixed drink. Bud longnecks are $2. A 24oz can of Pabst Blue Ribbon costs $3. The patrons favor longhair and tattoos; mind your manners around the pool table.

     The Sacramento River Parkway remains in the shadow of the contiguous American River trail because it is segmented and forces users onto city streets for blocks at a time between access points. This might be it’s strength however; because it weaves back and forth between the levee and surface streets, it connects the Greenhaven, Pocket, and Land Park neighborhoods. The Sacramento River Parkway provides an easy way to explore some of Sacramento’s oldest neighborhoods.

Restaurant Review: Superb Burger

     Is there anything as quintessentially American as a cheeseburger? The old cliche may call for apple pie, but ask yourself, which have you eaten more recently: apple pie or a cheeseburger?

     This restaurant review deals with cheeseburgers so let us, right from the beginning, define our terms. First, and most important, is the understanding that I am not talking about the depressing lumps of protein served by the fast food chains under various trademarked names like "Big Mac" and "Whopper." Those things are a slur on cheeseburger’s good name.

     Nor am I talking about "gourmet" burgers, like the kind you find at a steakhouse: too big, too expensive, and made from too high of a quality beef. A cheeseburger is cheap grub, made from the leftover cuts of meat. As any chef will tell you, the flavor is in the fat.

     Those two qualifications aside, there are no rules for what goes on a burger. The ground beef is but a blank palette for a creative and talented grill master.

     I have found the ideal expression of the cheeseburger right here in Sacramento. It is served in a spartan outpost on the corner of Fruitridge and Power Inn Road. The Superb Burger is housed in an unassuming cinder block building next to auto repair shops and other industrial businesses.

     The inside decor is similarly utilitarian but the draw is the food not the atmosphere. The Superb Burger’s basic fare is their $4.99 cheeseburger and fries lunch special. Don’t let the price fool you, it’s a perfect example of how a passionate grill man can make humble ingredients sing. It’s a 1/3 lb. beef patty seared over a flame grill with American cheese and onion, lettuce, tomato and pickles on a sesame seed bun. There is nothing exotic to it but every component is perfectly realized. The meat has a taste of the char from the grill but the middle is tender and juicy. The vegetables are fresh and crisp and the bun is substantial enough not to get soggy without being chewy.

     And then there’s the fries. The french fries need and deserve a mention of their own. Each batch is cooked fresh with the burger and served right out of the fryer, too hot to touch. They are big and crunchy and, unlike so many other french fries, actually taste like potatoes. The truth of the matter is, that with a burger as good as they make, they could get away with serving weak fries, the fact that they make superlative fries is a credit to their integrity. Remember that all of this is at a price point that is competitive with the dreck that the burger chains serve. Superb Burger’s $4.99 cheeseburger is undeniably one of the best deals in town.

     Superb Burger’s menu is split into two parts with half devoted to burgers and sandwiches and half given to Asian influenced dishes. The sandwiches include different burgers like the Western, which has bacon, and the California, which includes avocado. They also serve grilled chicken sandwiches and Philly cheese steaks. The Asian side of the menu includes teriyaki-style rice dishes and sides such as pot stickers. I must confess that I have not tried any of these things. I am sure that they are good but I am obsessed with their cheeseburger.


     In a town like Sacramento, with a plethora of exotic and novel eating options, it can be easy to over look small, nondescript diners like the Superb Burger. Perhaps that’s part of the pleasure however, the sense of discovery, of finding a diamond in the rough.

     Superb Burger is located at 5665 Power Inn Rd. at Fruitridge. They are open Monday through Saturday for lunch and dinner.

TV Review: Community

     Community is part of NBC’s Thursday night comedy juggernaut that includes The Office and 30 Rock. Unfortunately, watching Community in the same line-up as the critically acclaimed The Office and 30 Rock only makes the show’s weak writing seem that much worse.

     It is a situation-comedy about a group of older adults enrolled in junior college. This is played for laughs. We’re supposed to regard them as losers for going back to school in middle-age. As someone who returned to Ju-Co at age 29, I was not amused by this premise.

     Personal objections aside, the show stars Chevy Chase as Pierce Hawthorne, a ne’er-do-well scion of a wealthy family and Joel McHale as Jeff Winger, a disgraced ex-lawyer who had no law degree or license. They are surrounded by a collection of quirky, kooky, fellow students that exist to provide fodder for insults and one-liners from McHale and Chase.

     Of the ancillary characters, Abed Nadir, played by Danny Pudi, and Troy Barnes, played by Donald Glover, are notable because they act as "zanys." In the classical Italian street theater Commedia Dell’Arte, the Clown mocked the main characters in the story and the Zany mocked the Clown. Similarly, the subplots involving Abed and Troy are, ironically, comic relief in a comedy. Abed and Troy segments are also usually surrealistic flights of fancy that parallel the main story.

     In last Thursday’s episode, "Advanced Gay," Pierce and Troy each struggle to emerge from the shadows of their respective overbearing fathers. The main plot is about Pierce altering the family business to cater to the gay community (hence the show’s title) despite his bigoted father’s objections. The subplot involved Troy being forced to choose between following in his father’s footsteps to become a plumber or pursuing his talent for repairing air conditioners.

     Chevy Chase seems to still be playing the role of his eponymous title character Fletch from the inexplicably popular movies. Even his jokes seem recycled from the Fletch flicks. When he is greeted by another character, he responds: "At your cervix." You know, like "at your service" but with a pun on a lady part! Somewhere in Hollywood, a writer received a paycheck for penning that line.

     The main story was a trite homily about rejecting bigotry. What was interesting about it was how many derogatory stereotypes about gays the writers managed to cram into story that is ostensibly about overcoming intolerance. For example, the gays are all depicted as mincing and feminine. Also, it is implied that the reason the gay community is into the products Pierce’s company produces (Handi-wipes, not that it matters to the plot) is because they have found a deviant sexual use for them.

     The Troy subplot was a dream-like story that imagined the building trades as being shadowy cults like the Freemasons. It featured John Goodman in a cameo as the head of the college’s air conditioning repair school. Goodman had some funny lines describing the origins of air conditioning technicians. "We started as slaves; fanning the pharaohs with palm fronds," was how he explained their beginnings. It was more interesting than the main plot but it was not original. The concept of renegade cabals of HVAC technicians goes back to the movie Brazil which came out in 1985.

     The main problem with the show however, is one that is common to many sitcoms. The characters have no distinct personalities, they exist soley to trade insults with the other characters. One character refers to Pierce’s trouble with his father as being "edible" in nature, later in the show, she demonstrates broad knowledge of psychological concepts. How can a person who didn’t know edible from oedipal suddenly channel Sigmund Freud? Easy, both times the character was simply setting up Joel McHale for a one liner, not speaking as a fully drawn character.

     Community is slightly weirder than other sitcoms but it relies on the same cliches and hacky jokes that a million other shows use. It is a clunker in NBC’s otherwise exceptional Thursday lineup.

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     On a related note, the producers of The Office and Parks and Recreation have reached a level of product placement that rivals Steven Spielberg. The last segment of Parks and Recreation featured two main characters driving off on a romantic road trip. The director made sure to include lots close ups of the VW logo on the car’s grille. As the last scene closed with the couple gazing out over the Grand Canyon, an ad for the Volkswagon Passat came on. Coincidence? Not when the last segment of The Office ends with a character playing with his iphone and referring to it as "the one everyone has," and the next commercial played is for the iphone. Is it too much to ask that the commercials be kept in the commercial breaks? Sitcoms are only about 22 minutes long as it is, there is not enough time to both be funny and fellate the advertisers.