Restaurant Reviews
Artistic Ambitions
hu Mai, the new restaurant by Chef Billy Ngo, excites on every level. The space pops, the dishes wow. With casual dining and take-out dominating restaurant openings these days, this elegant spot stands out.
Ngo is a force with three award-winning Japanese restaurants: KRU Contemporary, Kodaiko Ramen & Bar and Fish Face Poke Bar. Ngo’s lineage, however, is Vietnamese and Chinese. Chu Mai celebrates that lineage. It celebrates Ngo’s mother and the Asian American culinary experience.
Piping Hot
Two recent coffee additions serve more than coffee. Zoe Coffee & Tacos pairs excellent dishes from Mexico and El Salvador with traditional coffee shop fare. The Coco Cafe draws on its Thai roots. Both expand what coffee shops can be.
Zoe Coffee & Tacos, opened in June 2024, is a fantastic little shop tucked into a corner of Poverty Ridge in Midtown.
A stone's throw from the construction site where The Sacramento Bee stood, this tiny spot makes the most of its footprint. Once, it was part of the Bee’s delivery truck garage.
Owner and chef Josue Acosta recalls his Salvadoran roots to make excellent pupusas, tacos and more.
Father Knows best
Opening a new restaurant called Stepdad’s on Father’s Day is cheeky. It’s also fun. And fun is what Stepdad’s owner Tyler Williams is all about.
“Getting the doors open on any new project is a lot of work, takes a lot of people and requires a lot of compromises,” he tells me. “But once you get the doors open, it’s time to have fun. And that’s my favorite part.”
Williams, his wife Melissa Williams and chef Oliver Ridgeway are the ownership team at Stepdad’s in Land Park.
You may know Oliver Ridgeway from his Michelin-recognized restaurant, Camden Spit & Larder. His reputation is sterling, and his ability to highlight local farm-to-fork bounty while staying true to his English roots says everything about his ability as a chef.
Flame On
In place of an Irish pub, a sophisticated Mediterranean restaurant has emerged. Field-N-Flame Midtown, open since March, took over de Vere’s Irish Pub with an extensive remodel. What had been a convivial, rustic spot is now an elegant, cosmopolitan dining room.
The 1500 block of L Street has seen significant turnover since the pandemic. The block was once known for pubby good times, drinking at de Vere’s or the Public House, noshing pub grub and catching whatever game was on TV. Now the stretch is home to impressive dining.
David English’s delightful Juju, a cocktail bar and small bite room, holds down the block’s west end. An upscale taqueria is moving into the old Public House at 16th Street. Field-N-Flame shores up the middle.
Perfect Aim
Chef Brad Cecchi and his team at Canon have six mentions in Michelin guides. It’s easy to see why. Canon is an elegantly casual dining room that highlights every ingredient in the enterprise, whether those ingredients are on the plate, in the glass or part of the exceptional service.
Opened in 2017, Canon began as a strange room in a strange place. Almost invisible near Stockton Boulevard, the vibe was different. Experiments with dim sum-style delivery and adventures in fermentation came and went. Now Canon is among the city’s best restaurants.
The feel of Canon’s dining room is modern—a big departure from the surroundings. The stark, industrial nature of 34th Street camouflages what lies within.