I so hope it’s still there. I think we’ve been since 2020.
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Yes, hoping so too - hard times for the restos the past 2+ years.
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A long impassioned outing, for sure, but the way to rectify is a list of great restaurants for us to drop in at.
I just drove through Sacramento. I didn’t stop. i coulda used a couple of tacos. It was after 10p on a Sunday. Where would you have sent me?
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looks solid, on the list!
say i am going through at a more normal hour, what’s close to 80 and quick?
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Cocina Dona Chuyita (on Jefferson Blvd, just west of the 80 off of Park Blvd)
And for something from left field, try Naija Boy Tacos – think W. African Tacos (in the vein of the more famed Korean tacos a la Roy Choi’s Kogi tacos) (on 16th / G St. off the 80)
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This makes sense. For good and bad, often times one critic can drive things. Think of LA before Jonathan Gold. Much of it was there but someone needed to take on that giant geographic region and he did…and it wasn’t overnight.
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Totally! I mean, think of his year on Pico Boulevard alone. It’s not like that food didn’t exist before he visited. For sure, sometimes when I go back to Sac my favorite haunts are more like when Gold returned to a previous favorite but more often I see areas that have been built up, others becoming more diverse and bringing grocery stores to match, an increasing fluency in imported liquors, etc., etc.
Living in LA it’s like watching it all through a keyhole. I only get snippets here and there but pretty amazing snippets all the same!
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That was a nice read. Gold was great at what he did, eat and then write about it….just over and over. I like the bit about going back to a taco joint and it going down hill. I recently went back to Taqueria Cancun at Mission/19th. The al pastor burrito was generally the same, but something was missing, or my tastes have changed…and I realized I could get a better version in Oakland. It happens.
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If there’s good thai to be had beyond the ‘everywhere basics’ (pad thai, drunken noodle, green/red/yellow/massaman curry, satay and springrolls, and, maybe, larb.) I have yet to find it. But I got spoiled living in SoCal for a number of years, and got accustomed to places like Sapp, and Luv2Eat, where pad thai was the clearly the least interesting thing on the menu.
Please, by all means, share! I’d kill for a place that did a decent dry noodle special.
fwiw I just posted a bit on a new bakery in town, and I’m going to copy a few of my FTC posts over here as well. FTC is a lovely place but they’re VERY SoCal oriented. Maybe putting things here will be of a little more use to the wider food community.
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Thanks for the recommendation, we went there earlier today for lunch. Totally worth it, also picked a bunch of stuff from the freezer.
For lunch we got the lu-ru-fan bento box, which came with cabbage and purple rice. You get to pick two sides, I picked stewed pork (da bomb) and an egg. My wife got the zha Jiang mein noodles (black bean sauce). It was quite good (I’m not a noodle fan). We also got the oyster omelet to go, but I had. taste. Way better than what we’ve gotten from shih-lin. Also got a bunch of frozen stuff which I’ll write about later.
Dropped into Osaka-ya next door, cute store. Got a few mugwort mochi, was a bit too sweet for my wife. Also got some butter mochi, spam musubi. On weekend they have hot bento boxes
Overall the two places are well worth a visit if you are in the area
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This shows me that Eater SF is the “Parade” magazine of the food scene. Frank Fat’s? are you kidding?
I agree. The list is decent, but the food scene in Sacramento is excellent and this magazine can’t be even nearly fully aware of it.
Sacramento is my adopted home town now that I’ve been here a decade. It’s by far the smallest city in which I’ve lived and at first I lamented my lot and took comfort in being near the Bay Area, Napa, and Tahoe. But now I know that Sacramento has excellence in most every area and things are constantly improving.
I could make lengthy comments about several areas in which Sacramento restaurants are outstanding. But rather than giving a comprehensive review, please know that Sacramento has sufficient numbers of people who appreciate excellent cuisine that when restaurants pop up that are creative and try to achieve the next level, the people of Sacramento are able to recognize their efforts and support them.
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I’ve found this to be true for the most part. I’ve only really been here full time since mid 2018, but I’ve seen the choice and quality of dining out to have gone largely in really good directions. There have been a few really unfortunate casualties. Yang’s Noodle was a fantastic Chinese place that was one of the few places in town to echo a place like 101 Noodle Express in the SGV. Alas, losing their first chef and COVID did them in. Then there was South, with some of the best fried chicken ever, that had to close down due to the married owners divorcing and still dealing with who “owns” the recipes. And then there’s the saga of Lou’s Sushi. (tl;dr- talented dude was a good sushi chef. Fallout with business partners. opened his own place. it was great. got sick of the hassle and now works for UC Davis cafeterias)
But there’s SERIOUS skills around town, from Pizza Supreme Being (slinging some of the BEST east-coast style slices you will find ANYWHERE in California) to Gunther’s Ice Cream (a old school local favorite that could go up against Salt 'n Straw handily) to street tacos, it’s a place that (finally) seems to be punching at its weight class, restaurant wise.
The influx of Bay Area money has been hell on the home and rental market, of course (same as everywhere) but it most certainly has brought the demand for more, better, and wider food choices. So we got that going for us. Which is nice.
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Gunther’s might be the best ice cream anywhere. I’m not saying that it is. I’m just saying that if the Omniscient declared it so, I wouldn’t be surprised.
Yang’s noodle was a great spot and we went there frequently. I think the owner or chef may have had some serious health issue that forced retirement.
Lou’s sushi was creative. We would go on Sunday afternoons and sit in their patio. Has the quality changed since changing hands? I felt it stayed about the same.
South was outstanding. I used to take family members and friends there any time they’d visit. I hope they come back in some form.
I am sad Taylor’s kitchen seems to have not survived the pandemic. I liked the ambiance and the simple yet delicious menu.
Cafe Rolle was a great French sandwich shop that closed just prior to the pandemic. Now chef Rolle makes sandwiches at Corti Brothers, which might be the best grocery in the world. I’m not saying that it is. But if the universe announced that it in fact is the best, I wouldn’t question it.
The chef at origami holds his team to a high standard. And for a while he was doing a tasting menu that I thought rivaled the best food in the city.
Allora and localis and waterboy are all great.
Majka pizza is just a delight. And now they are doing pasta. Cheeseboard pizza in sacramento!
Scorpio coffee might be the best espresso in sacramento. The owner is a truly world renown barista.
Maydoon is excellent Persian food.
Restaurant Josephine in auburn is worth the drive and a wonderful French bistro.
Hawk’s provisions. Kru sushi. Ming Dynasty for dim sum. So many more.
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Never been to that one, but the last Friday of every month there’s a food truck gathering w music and some
community service booths at the park near my place.
I’ve had mixed results at events like this. A lot of the trucks seem genuinely unable to handle the amount of people these things attract. No one wants to wait in line 30 minutes to order a chicken sandwich which will take another 30 minutes to be prepared.
For the record, here’s the schedule:
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You’ve never been to Denio’s or just the food truck Friday?
A really fun flea market, and huge.
Lots of produce, fruit, and things like olives.
To start.
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