Kau Kau, the new Hawaiian hotspot in East Sacramento, has already hit its stride. Open only four months, this home-style island eatery feels like it’s been part of the Sacramento food scene for years.
I typically don’t judge a restaurant until at least six months after opening. Menus change, personnel shifts. The realities of opening a new business in any environment—not to mention a pandemic—mean things aren’t always at their best the first few months. But Kau Kau nails it.
Kin Thai Street Eatery opened in December 2020, a tough time to start a restaurant. Yet the lively Midtown spot thrived from the start.
Intense flavors and novel dishes familiar to Bangkok street markets make this exceptional restaurant flourish, even in difficult times.
Street food is having a moment. Over the last decade, street food, especially Asian street food, jumped many rungs on the culinary ladder. Thanks to television personalities Andrew Zimmern and the late Anthony Bourdain, less adventurous diners have seen how some of the world’s best food comes from small stands on busy streets.
The Green Room, one of East Sacramento’s newest eating and drinking spots, brings refined cocktails and small plates to J Street. This offering from Billy Zoellin and Amber Michel, owners of breakfast standout Bacon & Butter, is a rebrand of their second B&B location.
When the pandemic shut down restaurants, Zoellin and Michel decided to try a new formula at their J Street space. Rather than a second Bacon & Butter less than 3 miles from their Broadway location, the sibling pair overhauled an East Sacramento storefront and turned it into a modern, inviting cocktail lounge and small-bite gastropub.
In jazz parlance, a standard is a tune everyone knows and every musician can play. An artist plays a standard to put their stamp on it, toy with it or mold it to their personality.
Downtown’s new restaurant The 7th Street Standard at the Hyatt Centric doesn’t get its name by coincidence. Chef Ravin Patel takes common food constructs and makes them his own. Familiar recipes play with unfamiliar rhythms.
He juggles flavors from multiple continents, often in the same dish. Improvisation feels like an ingredient, yet it’s born of intense study and years of perfecting his craft.
Patel worked at Michelin-starred kitchens and lent his skill to the Selland restaurant group. His knowledge of local, national and international cuisine is on display in a menu that is tight, approachable and titillating.
If you haven’t been to Old Sacramento recently, you may not know the historical district has undergone a rebrand. The dining scene remains varied and, like most tourist districts, fluid. But three local treasures—The Firehouse Restaurant, Rio City Cafe and Fanny Ann’s Saloon—have stayed the course. They offer novel dining experiences that are quintessential Sacramento.
The Old Sacramento Waterfront, as it’s now known, aims to draw tourists and locals with an interactive, playful take on the historic district. You’ll find Instagram-ready sculptures, amusement park rides and more candy than a dentist would recommend. You’ll also find food and drink worth a visit.
Jamie Cavanaugh, owner of Pure Soul Plant Based Eats, doesn’t mind if you aren’t vegan. “I care what I eat,” she says. “I don’t want to eat meat or dairy, but I don’t mind if the diners at my restaurant are vegans or vegetarians or just taking a meal off from their usual diet.”
She adds, “I just want to serve good food.” And she does.
Cavanaugh opened the small eatery in East Sacramento during the fateful month of March 2020. Taking over a corner storefront previously occupied by The Wienery, Pure Soul battled shutdowns, lockdowns and slowdowns its first two years. Today it’s positioned to be busier than ever.
