Patrick Mulvaney is serious when he says, “Whatever comes in the front door goes on your plate.” A leader of the local farm-to-fork revolution, Mulvaney and his wife, Bobbin, built their reputations around the farm-fresh ingredients and local produce that comprise his masterful Chef’s Menus. The offerings at Mulvaney’s Building & Loan change daily to accommodate the harvests and the seasons.
Pure bittersweet chocolate ganache. Liquid caramel punctuated by fleur de sel. Almond praline with crunchy croquant. The display cases at Ginger Elizabeth Chocolates reveal a world of sweet sophistication unmatched in Sacramento. Formally trained chocolatier and pastry chef Ginger Elizabeth Hahn and her husband, Tom (who manages the business), have created a decadent hot spot, selling delicious items made from the finest ingredients.
Under the guidance of chef and owner Yasushi Ueyama, ramen becomes a culinary art form that is as much about health and wellbeing as flavor. Following a successful career as a restaurateur and chef in Kobe, Japan, Ueyama and his family arrived in the U.S. in 2001 and opened restaurants in Folsom before founding Shoki Ramen House with co-owner and wife Kathy in Midtown.
From its first meal in 2009, Magpie Café has defined the term “farm-to-fork.” Seasonal menus, locally sourced ingredients and a sustainable environment have been goals consistently met by this ambitious Sacramento restaurant, which expanded from its R Street home uptown to 16th Street in 2014. Co-owners Ed Roehr and Janel Inouye maintain the original location as a base for their powerhouse catering business (which provided their introduction to the hospitality industry).
At Localis, chef-owner Christopher Barnum-Dann celebrates Northern California dining in every way: each plate embraces the Sacramento restaurant ethos of local sourcing but eschews a rustic presentation in favor of treating every dish like a work of art. Take for example the beet salad: showcasing beets in multiple ways, the dish features ruby red and golden beets, roasted, smoked and pickled, with a light sifting of ingeniously engineered beet “dust.”
One hundred sixty years ago, passenger trains rumbled down R Street from Sacramento to Folsom. Next came freight trains serving endless warehouses. Today, locomotive history merges with industrial cool and the sleek modernity of a revitalized neighborhood at Iron Horse Tavern.
