The Eatery Steps Up to Host the First “Grub With Us” Paleo Dinner in Sacramento

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Last night, The Eatery hosted a $22 per person all inclusive dinner through the Grubwithus dining site. I have no reservations when I say it was a complete success. First of all, I have to applaud the chef at The Eatery, Jess Milbourn, for accepting our group and welcoming the challenge of making a strict Paleo dinner for 12-15 people. Looking at the final dishes, one would never know that Jess had never cooked a Paleo meal before. In fact, if I didn’t know better, I would think this restaurant specialized in Paleo!

Just imagine being Paleo and having a restaurant you can go to and order a meal and not be worried someone is going to sneak a little wheat or sugar in the sauce or put bread on your table. Maybe The Eatery will develop a special menu that all Paleos/Primals in Sacramento can order from when they come in? Wouldn’t that be something?

There were four courses in the meal and here’s what we had:

Smoked hamachi & avocado “ravioli”, togarashi oil, lemon custard

This dish was such a great start to the meal. It’s very similar to what I order when I eat sushi.
I thought it was an inventive take on what a ravioli is… basically a meat stuffed in a little pouch of something… and in this case it was avocado! 🙂 Of course the oils and the lemon enhanced the fish inside. It was fun to scoop up the hamachi with my fork, grab a little bit of the avocado, and swipe my fork through the oil and the custard.

Lamb neck ragu, zucchini noodles, mushroooms, heirloom tomatoes

I love lamb, so this one was a hit with me. I am always happy then extra vegetables get incorporated into a dish somehow. Zucchini instead of wheat? Yes, please! And thumbs up for the in season heirlooms!! 🙂

Berkshire pork meatballs, roasted cauliflower, celery root puree, smoked red pepper jus

This dish reminded me of meatloaf and mashed potatoes. I just loved the red pepper jus.
It reminded me of a similar sauce I made with Paleo crab cakes for our Christmas dinner. 🙂

Coconut & peach custard, toasted almonds, mango puree

This dish really made me consider the care, time, and thought that the chef put into each course of this dinner. The custard was actually a frozen custard and the toasted almonds gave the dessert such a nice range of texture. The bottom layer was a third creamier texture flavored with vanilla. 🙂

Did I mention all the awesome people who showed up?? It was fun to meet other Paleo folks I had never met before! People who don’t look at me funny when I say I don’t eat wheat or sugar and would never pressure me into eating something I didn’t want to. Kind, like minded fitness folks who know what I mean by “WOD” or “clean and jerk”. Yep, it was a whole slew of people from West Sacramento Crossfit! 🙂 I hope we do another one of these dinners soon and that we will all eat together again!

You can “like” The Eatery on Facebook here and follow them on twitter here.

Don’t miss them at this year’s Sacramento Burger Battle. They’ll be one of the competing restaurants. There are only 6 days left to purchase your tickets at the early bird discount!!

Thanks to Ms. Munchie of Munchie Musings for some of the pics and for setting up this dinner.