Move over Mom, Dad's in the Kitchen

Dad's Kitchen

2968 Freeport Blvd. 

Sacramento, CA 95818

After witnessing our friends Angel and Rebekah's wedding the night before, we had a little time to sleep off the effects of the rum and cokes from the reception by sleeping in until our checkout time. We also had about an hour and a half window before our 3 pm flight out of Sacramento, so of course, that meant we had time to cross another restaurant off of my list for this weekend. We headed to Dad's Kitchen in the Land Park section of Sacramento.

Since we had such good luck with the last Diner's, Drive-In's and Dives spot we tried on this trip, we decided to tempt fate and give this restaurant that Guy Fieri ate at six years ago a try. Dad's has been around for nine years now, and from what I have been able to ascertain that is a record for this building, which had seen its fair share of restaurants go out of business in this small, cramped strip mall which is also home to a pizza place and is right next door to what we hear is a really good bakery, Freeport Bakery.

Since there are only ten parking spots in this shopping plaza, we had to find a spot behind the restaurant, but there are some nice houses nearby, so it made for an excellent short stroll to the front door of Dad's. Once inside, you'll notice some old school pinball machines to your left, which I imagine would be a great diversion if there's a wait for a table during your stay. We, fortunately, had no wait and got a table right away in the smaller than imagined main dining area. The larger patio is just past the dining room and has fans and heaters for their customer's comfort.

We were at Dad's on a Sunday, so we ordered off of the brunch menu, which is offered from 9 to 2 pm only on Sundays. The menu features a good assortment of breakfast items, but there are also some burger and sandwich options for people that are not feeling the breakfast vibe. We quickly made our choices and waited for our food to arrive, which it did in a very timely manner.

I guess Katie was feeling the breakfast vibe because she got this Mom's Omelette ($11.50). This veggie focused omelet included three eggs, spinach, mushrooms, and tomatoes, and was blanketed with plenty of jack cheese. She devoured this omelet and was pretty impressed with how fresh all the veggies were inside of this. She did not feel it was extremely heavy either. She loved the biscuit that came with this, but the home fries were extremely overcooked to the point that they could have been called burnt. Even with the potato snafu, Katie liked her meal and would be encouraged to try more off of the Dad's menu.

I already knew what I was going to have before even walking in the door of Dad's because I had seen this burger on Triple D. What you have here is the Dad's Burger ($14 plus $3.50 for the upcharge of getting onion rings).  This burger patty was encrusted with plenty of bacon and the blue cheese crumbles were inside the burger. This was a delicious burger, and worthy of all the praise it receives. The burger patty was full of flavor and cooked to a very tender medium, the bun was soft and pliable, and what bound this burger all together for me was the very well done Aleppo chili spread that came with it. It added a  touch of heat and the sauce kind of helped cut the blue cheese and bacon, which can sometimes overpower. Very balanced flavors here. The onion rings are fantastic at Dad's. They are heavily battered, but there's also a big onion in there, so they work. They are topped with parmesan cheese and a balsamic reduction which I thought was odd until I tried them. To push these rings over the top they came with a roasted red pepper aioli, which I could not get enough of, and even used it on my burger as well. A three and a half dollar upcharge for three onion rings might seem excessive, but you won't be sorry once you try them.

Dad's Kitchen really sent us off to the airport with full stomachs and a satisfying meal. The food was excellent and if we lived closer, this restaurant would be in our heavy rotation of places we hit up frequently. Not an overly huge menu, but I'd like to try their meatloaf, Cuban sandwich, and the interesting sounding buttermilk fried artichokes if we make it up this way again in the near future. Our service on this early afternoon was solid, and our server Brittany did a wonderful job keeping tabs on us throughout our stay. I really enjoyed the quirky atmosphere here, with the old school advertising all over the walls, and the sense that they don't take themselves too seriously. I guess Guy Fieri was two for two on our trip up north and has kind of redeemed himself for some of the clunker restaurants we have visited that were on his show.

Out of five panthers, (because this restaurant is a stone throw away from Sacramento City College, and their mascot is the panther), five being best to zero being worst, Dad's Kitchen gets 3.5 panthers.

For more information about Dad's Kitchen, head to their website here: http://ilovedadskitchen.com/