The following is from City of Treats, a food and drink newsletter by Abridged Senior Food Editor Benjy Egel. Want it sent directly to your inbox? Sign up here.
Tabloids are full of TV stars acting like jerks once the cameras cut. They’ll never include Pati Jinich.
The Emmy-nominated, James Beard Award-winning host of “Pati’s Mexican Table,” “La Frontera” and “Pati Jinich Explores Panamerica” (all on PBS) stopped by KVIE’s newsroom for lunch before her talk at the Crest Theatre earlier this month.
Pati’s fans, who came from as far as Washington for the Crest Theatre event, love her for her rich explorations of regional Mexican cuisines as much as her personality. Born in Mexico City, she’s a mom of three whose genuine exuberance pairs with outstanding technical knowledge that shines through the camera.
I interviewed Pati at around 1 p.m., emceed her event later that night and stuck around to watch her interact with hundreds of guests — signing cookbooks, taking pictures, having full conversations in English and/or Spanish while the next in line patiently waited. The last woman in line was a 90-year-old in her wheelchair, who told Pati in Spanish that she and her grandson watched “Pati’s Mexican Table” together every afternoon on PBS. It was past 10 p.m. by then, but Pati treated her like she was the first guest of the day — then shot an impromptu social media video with me on her way out the door.
Best thing I ate
Chef Burma | 1020 16th St., Suite 10, Sacramento | (916) 661-5976
I couldn’t get enough of the Broadway on Tour musical “& Juliet” at the SAFE Credit Union Performing Arts Center on Sunday, and the downtown Sacramento meal that preceded it was nearly as good. Chef Burma, Sacramento’s lone Burmese restaurant and cocktail bar, opened in March at the corner of 16th and K streets. It’s owned by Myat Mon, who started with My Burma in downtown Davis; while the menus have considerable overlap, Chef Burma is in a slightly nicer, airier space buoyed by natural light.
The vaunted tea leaf salad ($17) is a must-order every time, a near-perfect balancing act of different flavors and textures. But the platha starter with coconut chicken curry dip ($12.50) is right up there as well. Flaky on the outside with a chewy center, the handmade platha (known as paratha elsewhere in Asia) is the right vessel for the scrape-the-bowl chicken curry, though it’s offered with a veggie option as well. For mains, the dry curry chicken ($19) packs serious flavor and mild heat, with lemongrass, galangal and fresh turmeric doing some heavy lifting.
Egel’s Nest
My friend Rachel organized a toddler-friendly Rosh Hashanah celebration last week at Southside Park. While the kids raced around the Universal Universe playground, grown-ups loosely chased after them with honey-covered apple slices, pitted dates or pomegranate seeds in hand. My household’s contribution: round challah à la Molly Yeh, the circular bread representing the cyclical nature of this new year ahead. It was hard to put down, particularly with a swath of honey butter, but I liked Yeh’s potato challah recipe even more when we made it last year.
In the news
In our interview, I asked Pati Jinich about Mexican cooking, balancing tradition with innovation and Season 14 of “Pati’s Mexican Table,” which dropped on Friday.
Abridged contributor Becky Grunewald tackled that second topic as well in an article on Pho Bolsa, a longtime Vietnamese restaurant in South Sacramento’s Little Saigon neighborhood undergoing a partial reinvention.
UC Davis Ph.D. student Anna Dobrolowski gave us the lowdown Monday on where to eat near campus, similar to what Sacramento State alumnus Chris Woodard did last week. And visual journalist Denis Akbari filmed me coming in a disappointing second in Jimboy’s Tacos’ annual taco-eating competition for charity. Viewer discretion advised (not really, but it’s a little gross).
Happening this week
- The 62nd annual Sacramento Greek Festival is coming to Annunciation Greek Orthodox Church this weekend, with vendors slinging roast lamb, saganaki and much more all day Friday-Sunday in East Sacramento.
- Other events on Saturday include the free Salsa and Chilis Festival at Rainbow Mini Park (South Sacramento), Bacon & Brews Bash in Vernon Street Town Square (Roseville) and Oktoberfest celebrations at LogOff Brewing (Rancho Cordova) and Jackrabbit Brewing (West Sacramento).
- Kado Asian Fusion just opened at 2007 Broadway, the longtime home of Andy Nguyen’s Vegetarian Restaurant. The new restaurant leans Japanese, with vegetarian sushi and a 100-year-old soy sauce recipe, similar to what Edwin and Dawn Kado have served from their food truck (Kado’s Asian Grill) for years.
- The Snug’s annual “Black Lagoon” pop-up takes over the midtown bar Wednesday. Look for spooky cocktails and decor until Nov. 3.
Benjy Egel is the senior food editor at Abridged. Born and raised in the Sacramento region, he has covered its local restaurants and bars since 2018. He also writes and edits Abridged’s weekly food and drink newsletter, City of Treats.