May 28, 2022
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.
Apr 28, 2022
Over the last year and a half, I have become intimately involved with how farmers and ranchers work to rejuvenate land burned by fire.
My partner, Jarrod McBride, bought a 10-acre ranch bounded by Mountain Ranch, Railroad Flat and Mokelumne Hill in Calaveras County that had been devastated by the Butte Fire in 2015. He calls the land Pasture Works.
While many are scared off by these charred areas, we were attracted to Pasture Works because we saw enormous potential in the less expensive mountainous terrain and felt that once land burns, it will not catch fire for quite some time.
Apr 28, 2022
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.
Mar 28, 2022
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.
Mar 28, 2022
Thin green garlic rings tangle in curly Red Russian kale leaves, the colors white and green in contrast with purple. I drizzle Meyer lemon and extra virgin olive oil vinaigrette on shaved raw asparagus. Next comes fragrant torn mint leaves. The taste of produce from a Yolo County organic farm swims in my mouth.
When I started working in farm-to-table restaurants after culinary school in San Francisco, I wandered through East Bay farmers markets and encountered stacks of mustard greens, leeks, broccoli, Meyer lemons, Valencia oranges and carrots with soil clinging to roots.
Feb 27, 2022
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.
