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.
Hiroshi “Doc” Takemoto and Tsugie “Rose” Dairiki’s country thought their Japanese ancestry made them a security risk. In return, they created and anchored a corner of Placer County that was pure Americana.
Both born in the Sacramento area, the couple returned from three World War II internment camps and established Main Drug, a Loomis pharmacy and soda fountain which operated for the next 63 years. Neither member of the couple is alive today, and Main Drug has been replaced by an Ace hardware store at the corner of Taylor Road and Walnut Street.
Yet in the back of that store, Doc & Rose Ice Cream Bar carries their legacy on. Teens scoop cups of Gunther’s Ice Cream and fruit freezes for customers sitting on blue stools next to a crate of American flags. It’s a little slice of Mayberry intentionally grounded in quainter times, as Cassidy Myers-Sims wrote in a story published Tuesday morning.
A Land Park burger and beer hotspot is considerably newer, having just moved in last year. If that sounds too heavy, I recommend the Greek-inspired salad I made after finding a loose recipe in an Internet comment. And twin Japanese restaurants just opened in a key Downtown Davis space, adding to their owners’ notable reach across the region.
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
Stepdad’s | 2968 Freeport Blvd., Sacramento | 916-330-1628
The 1924 burger at Stepdad’s. (Benjy Egel)
The old Dad’s Kitchen in Land Park is nearly unrecognizable in its new form: Stepdad’s. Opened by Oliver Ridgeway (Camden Spit & Larder) and Melissa and Tyler Williams (The Jungle Bird, Tank House BBQ & Bar) on Father’s Day 2025, it’s refurbished the beloved but divey burger bar with olive green booths, large ovoid mirrors and other polished mid-century modern decor, along with retro wall art and historic neighborhood clippings.
The food is slightly elevated beyond what Dad’s served, though not nearly as much as chef Ridgeway’s Cali-British concept Camden in Downtown Sacramento. Sandwiches, salads, pasta and hearty proteins make up most of the mains, but the house specialty remains a burger: the 1924 burger ($19 with fries), named for the year William Land Golf Course was established. Served with mandoline-thin pickles and onions, melted white cheddar and a mild “Stepsauce” aioli on a soft bun, it’s best paired with the house lager Stepdad’s Lite ($8 for a 14-ounce pour).
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.
I own dozens of cookbooks, consume food media daily and even edit Cooking in Season every two weeks (including the edition below). Yet I found my most recent recipe in, of all places, a Reddit comment under a post for low-calorie, high-protein meals.
One user’s lemon herb grilled chicken salad seemed to check all my weeknight boxes: easy, tasty, healthy and different from recent meals. I dumped a tub of mixed greens into a bowl, finished off containers of feta, cherry tomatoes and carrots we had on hand and stuck two chicken breasts in our new air fryer rather than go through the trouble of firing up the grill. A dressing of olive oil, preserved lemon, lemon juice and Cavender’s All Purpose Greek Seasoning finished off the salad with a welcome splash of acid.
In the news
Construction has resumed on Alchemist Public Market, a $15.5 million project in Sacramento’s River District. Alchemist Community Development Corp. leaders had said the project would die without a $3 million bridge loan in June, but were able to rally enough financial support to keep it afloat. When finished, it’ll include a market, a commissary kitchen, an outdoor food court and more.
Loomis Ace Backyard sells barbecues, Yeti coolers, outdoor apparel — and Gunther’s Ice Cream and fruit freezes from an old-timey counter. Doc & Rose Ice Cream Bar, as it’s known, pays homage to Doc Takemoto and Rose Dairiki, who operated Main Drug at that corner for decades after returning from World War II internment camps.
Zoe Barrie had long considered eggplant one of late summer’s least exciting vegetables — until she tried it at an Edinburgh restaurant while traveling through Europe. Back in Placer County, she reimagined that dish for her latest Cooking in Season recipe: brown sugar and miso glazed eggplant.
Happening this week
- Pier 50 (all-you-can-eat sushi) and Fukumi Chaya (Japanese small plates and ramen) both opened Friday at 226 F St. in Downtown Davis, the high-profile space once home to City Hall. The two concepts mark expansions for Fukumi Restaurant Group, which also has both in Folsom’s Palladio shopping center along with Fukumi Ramen, Young’s Teriyaki and Its Sushi in the region.
- The seventh annual Black Food Festival takes place Sunday at Florin Square in South Sacramento, with a theme of “Love at First Bite.” It’ll have more than 30 booths selling Southern, Afro-Caribbean and West African food, along with cocktails and desserts. Admission is free, though donations support local nonprofit Voice of the Youth.
