Enormous lamb legs served atop Iraqi pilaf. Surprisingly tasty sushi in a Broadway dive. Chicken, blackened on a unique grill at one restaurant and roasted in homage to a San Francisco institution at another.
Sumer Nights
I capped one of Sacramento’s final 100-degree days of the year by heading to Sumer Nights , Abbas Allaftah’s Iraqi restaurant in Arden Arcade. Opened last June in an expansive Country Club Plaza space, it replaced a former Cajun seafood joint, nautical ropes and decor from which still show up on the wood-paneled walls.
I generally have a pretty big appetite. It’s what’s allowed me to down a local fast food joint’s 10×10 smashburger earlier this year, and place second out of 12 competitors in a Jimboy’s Tacos -eating competition last month.
So hear me when I say: Sumer Nights’ entrees are big enough to split among at least two people. Each comes with a luscious yellow lentil soup, a quartet of sides such as tabbouleh or baba ghanoush and khubz, a circular flatbread spilling from the basket…