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.
I really appreciated the extra hour of sleep Sunday coming off Halloween the night prior. But it’s a tough bargain given that 5 p.m. sunsets will hit later this week. Can’t we just have the first one?
Seasonal shifts, of course, impact how we eat. I’m gravitating toward soul-warming soups and stews in this City of Treats edition, and even salads I’m eating get heartier and leaves start to fall. On the drinks front, I’m starting to cool my Donna’s Pickle Beer obsession in favor of Urban Roots barrel-aged stouts, and hear rave reviews from my colleague Savanna about the latest Cooking in Season cocktail recipe.
Let’s dig in.
Sign Up for the City of Treats Newsletter
Get the latest Sacramento food news from Benjy Egel in City of Treats — delivered every Tuesday.
Benjy’s Bites
Corner Shawarma | 3095 Sunrise Blvd., Suite A, Rancho Cordova | 916-915-0101
Bags of candied peanuts and jars of Sacramento-made honey line the counter at Corner Shawarma, a fast-casual falafel shop opened two years ago this month. Sofia Shakhmyradian’s restaurant has the quick, tasty Middle Eastern wraps and sandwiches one craves, along with an international lineup of soups and stews including Thai tom yum, Moroccan hareesa, Armenian khashlama and Russian solyanka.
Superb shawarma ($14-$17 depending on meat) lavash wraps come neatly stuffed with crunchy carrots and cabbage, a creamy dill sauce and your choice of marinated chicken, beef or lamb. You can pivot to all kinds of variations from there — adding cheese, jalapeños or (my preference) fries, pulling out the veggies in favor of more meat, piling the fillings on top of each other in a box. Döner ($13-16), the Turkish forefather of shawarma as well as gyros and al pastor, lets the meat’s flavor shine through with fewer spices on a panini-pressed roll.
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.
Thanks to everyone who wrote me their Top 5 favorite Halloween candies after last week’s newsletter. I had all of mine but Sour Patch Kids on Saturday, along with several sweet, boozy hurricanes made from a drink mix brought back from New Orleans years ago.
Come Sunday, I was ready for something decidedly healthier, and thought of a favorite farro-cauliflower salad my mom makes. Taken from the blog Cookie + Kate, it’s got lots of different notes throughout — salty Kalamata olives and feta, bright lemon and spring mix, heat and crunch from the chili crisp I always spoon over the top. For our protein, my partner Abbey also pulled together Alyssa Marshall’s smothered chicken with paprika, herbs and a pre-sliced mirepoix we keep on hand.
In the news
Jayna Gyro owner Yusuf Topal and his brother Levent will open a European-inspired café in Midtown Sacramento’s Ice Blocks development next spring. JEYAS Café & Pâtisserie, as it’ll be known, will open where Pressed Juicery once stood, with chef Antonio Coriano leading the pastry program.
Appletinis are back — yes, really. And so is Zoe Barrie, with a Cooking in Season version of the neon green cocktail of the 1990s. Her apple pie martini recipe involves creating a cinnamon sugar rim, blending together spiced Honeycrisp apple concentrate and adding vanilla vodka, though it can be made nonalcoholic as well.
Corti Brothers owner and world-renowned gourmand Darrell Corti’s collection of Japanese cookery is the subject of the Crocker Art Museum exhibit “A Fine Feast,” which opened Sunday. Corti’s pieces date back to the late Edo period (1615-1868) and include an elephant-shaped sake pot, a stoneware plate with a grape motif and a 15-piece picnic set made to look like a boat. Mike Dunne, who’s known Corti for decades, has the story.
In the news
- Roku Japanese Cuisine, arguably Placer County’s best sushi restaurant, expanded to Folsom and began its soft opening Monday at 1009 E. Bidwell St. The tempura gindara appetizer and autumn of Canada rolls were highlights of my September visit to the Roseville location.
- Buddha Bowls & Rolls also opened Monday, expanding from two Downtown locations to a third in East Sacramento. The new one at 5644 J St. will have the Asian fusion bowls, sandwiches and sugarcane drinks that have proved popular so far.
- Indian American coffee shop O’Laichii Cafe will begin its soft opening Nov. 9 at 1490 Eureka Road, Suite 170 in Roseville, formerly home to Julian’s Pastry Nouveau. Chai is the signature drink, with various twists including ginger and saffron, while the food menu will include crêpes and a daily quiche.
- I’m judging the Sacramento Jewish Food Faire’s second annual Best Bagel Contest on Sunday at the Scottish Rite Masonic Center in East Sacramento. Swing by to say hi and get your fill of cinnamon babka, chopped liver and creations such as chicken schnitzel on challah with Iraqi amba sauce.
