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’ve driven past Gold Club Centerfolds for years, often with a chuckle at its Highway 50-facing sign: “Great Food, Sexy Dancers.” When I heard the Rancho Cordova business was making a real effort in its kitchen, rolling out the city’s first locally-owned Hawaiian restaurant and one of its few late-night spots about a year ago, I figured it was time for a visit.
I headed out to Centerfolds and Da #1 Hawaiian Grill on a recent Friday night, my girlfriend in tow as a chaperone. We paid the $35 covers (soda, juice and coffee included) and settled into comfy upholstered chairs reminiscent of a dim sum parlor. Among the things I learned in this reporting process: alcohol is banned at all fully nude California strip clubs.
The venue, not to mention that entry price, will inherently keep some people from dining in at Da #1 Hawaiian Grill. Centerfolds’ customers aren’t always that interested in food anyway, a manager said. The club switched from a pretty generic burgers-and-fries menu to Hawaiian food in part to attract outside customers on DoorDash, Uber Eats or Grubhub.
So far, it seems to be working. About 65% of Da #1 Hawaiian Grill’s revenue comes from orders on those three apps, particularly late at night on Friday and Saturday, when most Rancho Cordova restaurants have shut down (this one stays open until 2:30 a.m.).
Centerfolds is the only Sacramento County strip club with a kitchen, but this type of “dinner and a show” is common elsewhere. Portland has the all-vegan Casa Diablo, while Magic City in Atlanta is known as much for its lemon pepper wings as its dancers. That can make these traditionally gendered spaces more enjoyable to audiences of all stripes: Sacramento-raised rapper Saweetie went to Magic City on her first date with former Migos member Quavo, whom she then saw for about three years.
It’ll probably be my last dispatch from a strip club for a while, much to my editors’ relief. But as the Abridged daily newsletter said when the story dropped Thursday, there are few places I won’t go to find good food.
Benjy’s Bites
Pancake Circus | 2101 Broadway, Sacramento | 916-452-3322
Confession time: before writing this morning’s article on Sacramento’s 11 defining restaurants, even I hadn’t been to one on the list. That’d be Pancake Circus, the iconic 55-year-old diner at 21st Street and Broadway known for its Googie architecture and clown décor. Adnan Anwar has made a couple of minor upgrades since buying the business in 2021, but it remains a well-worn favorite for kids and old-timers.
The fluffy buttermilk pancakes ($3 for one, $5 for two and $7.65 for four) are an obvious must-order, though a stack of three comes included with most breakfast entrees, from country-fried steak with eggs ($15.50) to linguiça omelets ($13.65). Abridged associate general manager of news Ryan Lillis estimates he’s been there more than 100 times and swears by the salty corned beef hash with eggs ($14.85).
To see more of my maiden Pancake Circus voyage, check out this video by Abridged visual journalist Denis Akbari, who joined me for breakfast last week.
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.
My penance for dragging my girlfriend to a strip club: helping organize the spread for her spooky book club night. I hit the gym while she and her gal pals broke down the 1938 gothic novel “Rebecca,” but not before plating bell peppers with spinach-artichoke dip and laying out a cheese board (Brie, Toscano cheese with black pepper, dried tangerines, salami).
My personal favorite, eaten as a post-workout snack with a cup of mulled wine, was pigs in a blanket with Larrupin Goods’ Swedish-style mustard-dill sauce, brought back from Humboldt County by my mom and available online. Dessert was Meyer lemon bars made with the fruit from my grandma’s tree (Ina Garten’s recipe) and gluten-free chocolate chip pumpkin bread.
In The News
Loco moco lap dances and an argument-inducing list of defining Sacramento restaurants were the major headlines this week. But don’t sleep on Chili Smith Family Foods, the region’s only heirloom bean shop, which sources all its legumes from within a two-hour drive. Owner Steve Smith provides the homey charm, while operations manager Dom Lobato brings downtown Sacramento cooking experience to the quaint café.
The Sacramento Kings are in Oklahoma City tonight for the start of a four-game road trip. When they return to Golden 1 Center, fans on a budget will want to head to Section 222, where one stand sells subtly-advertised stadium beers for a mere $5.
Clarksburg winery Silt Wine Co. has pulled out 20% of its grapes as value has plummeted countywide, Yolo County reporter Daniel Hennessy wrote. As the wine world deals with saturation, tariffs and changing consumption habits, Silt is making high-end sparkling grape juice and juice boxes for local kids.
We asked local chefs and restaurateurs: “What’s one food you can’t stand?” They’ll spit out everything from offal to stevia, they said.
Happening This Week
- Halloweekend kicks off early Thursday evening with Mas Taco Bar’s spooky bartending class at the R Street Corridor and Arden Town Shopping Center locations. A Halloween bar crawl with at least six stops starts from midtown’s Zebra Club on Friday and Saturday nights, and kids get a free lantern with prior registration at the Autumn Lantern Festival & Night Market this Saturday and Sunday on Power Inn Road.
- Día de los Muertos follows Halloween on Nov. 1 and 2. “Day of the Dead” celebrations will take over the Latino Center of Arts & Culture in Upper Land Park (Friday-Sunday), Vernon Street Town Square in Roseville (Saturday) and the Davis Cemetery District (Friday-Sunday).
- Highland Noodles celebrated its grand opening Saturday in Ridge at Creekside shopping center. It’s the fourth location for the Milpitas-based company, and the first Roseville restaurant to specialize in Chinese hand-pulled noodles.
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.