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.
Leaves are turning, temperatures are peaking in the 70s and there’s still more than an hour of sunlight after 5 p.m. We’re in Sacramento’s all-too-short swing season, that fleeting few weeks between summer heat and winter chill when you want to spend as much time outside as possible.
This is one of the best times to live in the region, and that’s true on the culinary front as well. Farmers market vendors are still peddling the last vestiges of summer produce, Apple Hill is celebrating a bumper crop and the Crock-Pot beckons louder with every occasional drizzly day.
I’ve gotten a head start on soup season, by choice and by necessity. I’m writing this immediately after a bowl of Phở Bolsa’s bún riêu thanks to contributor Becky Grunewald’s recent recommendation, and I’m eager to try Zoe B. Soderstrom’s new “Cooking In Season” recipe using butternut squash from Roseville Fountains Farmers’ Market. Earlier in the week, I zhuzhed up miso-ginger broth at home and slurped egg flower tofu soup at South Natomas’ Yi Long Dumpling in an effort to settle my stomach without compromising too much on taste.
There’ll be plenty of soup time throughout the winter, though. Set up a picnic, grab a patio drink and catch some Vitamin D while you can. We’ll miss it when it’s gone.
Benjy’s Bites
Gander Taphouse | 3550 Taylor Road, Loomis | 916-672-6127
I visited Gander Taphouse for a wedding welcome party on Friday night, and walked into what felt like Loomis’ backyard. Kim and Nate Peters’ 4,400-square-foot beer bar and restaurant has become an anchor on the tiny Placer County town’s main drag of Taylor Road since opening in 2019, and drew a crowd big enough to fill up both its gravel parking lots on my visit.
Wedding guests and live music revelers lined up for pints of The Monk’s Cellar beer or “Loomis Water” (Coors Light), with a few grabbing some sustenance as well. I opted for an NA glass of KC Kombucha’s stone fruit flavor with a Cubano sandwich ($16.50), which piled lean roasted pork, smoked ham, pickles and melted Swiss cheese between panini-pressed bread. Firm beans dominated a side cup of chili ($3).
Egel’s Nest
I live, play and cook in this community just like you. This recurring section is a window into my life outside of restaurants and bars, always with a food and/or drink angle.
As mentioned in the intro, my stomach’s been a bit off lately, an inevitable casualty of this job. Yet the BRAT diet (bananas, rice, applesauce and toast) gets boring quickly — and is no longer recommended because it deprives the body of healing nutrients. With a sensitive stomach and little time on Wednesday, I heated Trader Joe’s miso-ginger broth on the stove, then dropped in frozen chicken dumplings before drizzling beaten eggs in at the end. The result: an easily digestible, nourishing dinner with a welcome amount of flavor.
In the news
Midtown Sacramento’s newest restaurant opens Wednesday, and it’s a doozy. Good Neighbor will replace Beast + Bounty at 1701 R St. in the Ice Blocks development, continuing the tradition of open-fire cooking while leaning into a more casual concept. It’s the latest project from Urban Roots Hospitality Group, which also owns Urban Roots Brewing & Smokehouse, Bawk and Cervecería at The Shack. Contributor Keyla Vasconcellos had the scoop Friday.
Save your seeds when scooping out this year’s jack-o-lantern. Zoe B. Soderstrom’s latest “Cooking In Season” recipe, butternut squash soup sourced from Newcastle farm The Natural Trading Co., is topped with candied curried pepitas (also known as pumpkin seeds). Dashes of brown sugar, cayenne peppers and chili and curry powders transform these seeds from compost to something gourd-geous.
Happening this week
- On Friday, Sutter’s Fort will hold its fourth annual “Farm-To-Fort” sampling of local food and drinks, with all proceeds benefitting the Runnin’ for Rhett Youth Fitness Program.
- Rancho Cordova will host a couple of food festivals this Saturday: Taste of Korea at IYF Sacramento, and Sudanese Culture Day at Town & Country Event Center.
- Other options Saturday include a family-friendly Oktoberfest celebration at St. John’s Lutheran Church in Midtown Sacramento, with food from Mulvaney’s B&L and The Rind, and the Orangevale Pumpkin Palooza, where you can enjoy bites from local food trucks while watching chickens carve jack-o-lanterns by beak.
- Boba tea chain T% Coffee + Tea began its soft opening last Saturday in Rocklin West shopping center (6827 Lonetree Blvd, Suite 102). Look for tall cups of Vietnamese coffee, taro milk tea and Oreo smoothies.
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.