Jun 28, 2025
If the farm-to-fork movement has a scribe who tells the story, the scribe’s name is Mike Dunne.
In 50 years of writing about regional wine and food, Dunne followed the pioneers, witnessed their successes and setbacks, and helped set standards that fortified our position as California’s capital of culinary excellence.
Dunne spent most of those years at the Bee, where he wrote about wine and reviewed restaurants. Along the way he got to know luminaries such as Alice Waters, Julia Child, Robert Mondavi, Randall Grahm and Darrell Corti.
After reporting and thinking about their ideas for a half century, he notes they “continue
to have a lot of influence and set the standards. They have very strong voices within the California wine and food scene.”
Jun 28, 2025
Two years ago, I wrote a couple of paragraphs about a new wine bar at Southside Park called Betty.
Here was a comfortable and cute place for a bottle of wine, package of macaroni or quick bite. Two years and an ownership change later, Betty’s a must-visit destination.
The revamped Betty is more than a wine bar. Led by Chris Barnum-Dann, chef at Michelin-starred Localis, Betty serves breakfast, lunch and dinner with approachable, unpretentious, satisfying style.
A local wine bar should offer vino from around California, plus global labels. Betty is far more ambitious. To call it a wine bar discounts its range.
May 28, 2025
In Midtown, we can enjoy Capay Valley’s bounty without leaving our sycamore-lined streets.
The Yocha Dehe Wintun Tribe’s Séka Hills brand opened an olive oil, vinegar, honey and wine tasting room next to Ice Blocks.
“We’ve had eyes on a more urban location for a while,” says Jim Etters, Séka Hills director of land management. “Sacramento, especially Midtown, has a lot of people who are really interested in where their food comes from. We grow it, we process it, we package it and we take it to the consumer.”
The Midtown shop builds on the success of an original tasting room in the Yolo County town of Brooks. At the new store, I tasted six Capay Valley olive oils. From the mild arbequina to the buttery and delicate taggiasca, to the spicy and herbaceous picual, each oil is sustainably grown on land the Yocha Dehe Wintun are reassuming and caring for in traditional ways.
May 28, 2025
Joanne Suavillo and her husband Ray have run The Lumpia Truck for more than five years. Their new restaurant, Spoon and Fork, is a grab-and-go spot on Broadway that serves some of the most flavorful dishes in town.
The Suavillo’s restaurant is new. Yet the food and service act like they’ve been open for years. In a way, they have.
“We’re still figuring out a few things with staffing,” Ray Suavillo tells me. “But we’ve been running the truck for years and could turn over 1,000 plates without batting an eye.”
Apr 30, 2025
Peruvian cuisine, a triumph of fusion cooking, is having a moment. Chicha Peruvian Kitchen Midtown puts those global flavors center stage.
Chicha opened last summer, taking over from Pronto, a fast casual Italian concept. Chicha’s vibe is young and fresh. The funky hitch of Cumbia songs and the sway of salsa tunes play over the hi-fi. Service is attentive and friendly.
It’s a sit-down restaurant that feels more casual than it actually is. Decorations are cheeky. Murals of jungle cats and haunting female gazes stare out along one wall. Souvenir statues of llamas and bulls, brightly painted and delightful, sit on shelves.
Yet at Chicha, the napkins are linen. Every dish comes elegantly presented.
Peruvian cooking brings together influences from around the world. The indigenous culture has always been deft with the use of seafood, beans, squash and ever-present potatoes.
Apr 30, 2025
On a clear morning at Goldbud Farms in Camino, after rains saturated the hilltop, we walked rows surrounded by peach, apple and pear trees. Branches bristled with rouge, white and faint pink blossoms.
Trees were building for summer’s fruit yield—a perfect balance of sugar, acid and soil.
Goldbud grows award-winning grapes and heirloom peaches, nectarines, plums and pluots. The farm also produces organic citrus, such as blood oranges, tango and owari satsuma mandarins. There are Meyer lemons and yuzus, pears and apples.
