Spook-tacular Sacramento bars get Halloween makeovers this October — here’s how to find them
Spirits await in a pair of Sacramento bars — and not just vodka or rum.
The Snug and Tipsy Putt are independently launching monthlong Halloween pop-ups, each hoping to become local Halloween lovers’ favorite haunt.
The Snug is one of 35 bars across North America hosting a pop-up called Black Lagoon, originally launched in Toronto in 2021. It’s a dark celebration with touches of goth and metal culture, said Lindsay Nader, the marketing director for the Snug’s parent company, Irish Hospitality Group.
Cleverly-named cocktails such as the Hex Appeal (Fords gin, honeydew melon cordial, lemon, Lustau dry vermouth, and absinthe) come in decorative cups available for purchase. There are festive nonalcoholic drinks as well, and some cocktails including the Siren’s Song (aged rum, Lot 40 rye whiskey, Giffard Caribbean Pineapple liqueur, spiced oat orgeat, Lustau Amontillado sherry, lime and Bitter Queens bitters) can be made as mocktails.
“It’s not about drinking alcohol. It’s just about gathering and not looking at your phone for a little while and talking to your friends, talking to a stranger, talking to the bartender,” Nader said. “Having something that’s as fun as this Halloween pop-up is just kind of a great way to get people out and about and having fun.”
In Downtown Commons, Tipsy Putt’s attached speakeasy Trophy Club will become a “spookeasy” Friday for the third consecutive year. Dreary lighting and ghastly decor shroud the normally-bright hideaway, creating a sinister environment to sip a Poison Apple (apple brandy, rye, maple, bitters and a black salt rim) or have your fortune told at palm readings every Thursday night through Nov. 3.
Tipsy Putt’s basement mini-golf course and beer bar will be illuminated by blacklights, and side rooms have adopted themes from movies such as “Ghostbusters” and “Beetlejuice.”
“Once we get into October, everyone’s like, ‘we’re done with summer. Let’s just lean into this spooky fall vibe,’” said Jenny Robinson, Tipsy Putt’s chief marketing officer. “It’s not jump scares. It’s just a spooky environment to be enjoying a cocktail.”
Both bars appear to love a seasonal transformation. Irish Hospitality Group snatched up the rights to popular Christmas pop-up “Miracle” for the Snug and the Butterscotch Den after the Red Rabbit Kitchen & Bar closed last year. Tipsy Putt drew in revelers with its “Club Blitzen” theme and festive cocktails.
“We just want to do as many of them as possible. They’re really fun for the community, and they’re great for our business,” Nader said. “As we got closer to Christmas, every night was just a Friday night. We’re not quite anticipating that in the first two weeks of October, but I think as we get closer to the actual date of Halloween, we’re going to be putting more (employees) on the schedule (and) batching a prepping more juice.”
What I’m Eating
I’ve wanted to dine at Cantina Pedregal since visiting Folsom’s high-end northeastern Mexican restaurant before it opened in July. Built on Nixtaco Mexican Kitchen & Distillery owners Patricio Wise and Cinthia Martinez’s roots in Monterrey — and elevated through a partnership with Canon owners Brad Cecchi and Clay Nutting — it’s unlike any other restaurant in Northern California.
Most area taquerias trot out staples from Jalisco and Michoacán, but Mexican cuisine is as regional as the United States’, if not more. Monterrey influences Cantina Pedregal’s decor — custom cups bear the outline of Cerro de la Silla, the famous mountain Wise grew up rock climbing — as well as chef de cuisine Bucky Bray’s small plates and shareable proteins.
If there’s a flagship dish, it’s cabrito en salsa ($49), Monterrey’s famous stew made here in a cumin-oregano base (and with adult goat instead of the traditional but hard-to-find kid). The gamey braised meat and savory sauce really shine on their own, accompanied only by sauteed onions and housemade tortillas. It’s all you need.
Cantina Pedregal’s owners say it’s the Sacramento region’s only restaurant with a Vesuvio, an indoor charcoal grill/combination oven used to char dishes such as the grilled black chicken ($49). Served with salsa roja and grilled scallions, it’s fragrant, salty and hearty, an easy-to-love platter meant to split among the table.
Canon’s focus on small plates and multiculturalism shows up in the sweet corn tetela ($10), a triangular Mitxtec blue-and-yellow masa pocket topped with summer succotash and a smear of housemade labneh. Hamachi crudo ($20) is a highlight from the menu’s “raw” section, its pickled onions, radishes and groundcherries plated around the fish in leche de tigre like a beautiful biodiverse pond.
Cantina Pedregal
Address: 185 Placerville Road, Suite 150, Folsom
Hours: 11:30 a.m.-9 p.m. daily
Phone: 916-790-8479
Website: https://cantinapedregal.com
Drinks: Extensive, intriguing cocktail program that includes but goes beyond tequila and mezcal. Nixtaco’s Dorotea gin also makes appearances.
Vegetarian options: Enough small plates, sides and salads to happily make a meal, but none of the shareable mains.
Noise level: Relatively quiet
Outdoor seating: Patio with ample room
Openings & Closings
▪ Fans of Essy’s Kabob in Old Foothill Farms will want to try Essy and Mali Tork’s new fast-casual grill house, X Chicken. Beef and chicken kebabs are still menu staples at 13479 Bowman Road in Auburn, along with falafel bowls and baklava.
▪ Juanes Ramazzini opened Bambina’s Pizza & Pasta on Sept. 21 at 1610 R St., Suite 130, in midtown Sacramento’s Ice Blocks development. Inspired by Ramazzini’s daughter Isabella, it serves handmade pastas and three variations of pizzas or flatbreads: thick Sicilian dough, oval-shaped pinsas and a house pizza style inspired by northern Italy.
▪ Ramazzini partnered with the late Chris Jarosz to open Anonimo Pizza in February 2022 at 400 12th St., but with Jarosz’s daughter looking to leave the restaurant industry, the Alkali Flat pizzeria will shut down by Oct. 15. Ramazzini will then open a new restaurant called Luccas in its place, with the same crust he developed for Anonimo plus calzones and Detroit-style pizzas.