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.
Halloweekend is approaching, and whether you’re team candy corn or not (give me the mixed bag with pumpkins and chocolate corn), it’s an easy-to-love holiday for anyone with a sweet tooth, witchy bone or affinity for dress-up.
While I recently moved to a neighborhood without many trick-or-treaters, I’ve spent decades curating opinions about the best giveaways one can give. I’ll never forget one neighbor’s hot dog bar with green and purple ketchup, or the young women who opened their door to a pile of king-sized bars.
These are my five favorite Halloween candies, though honestly, I’m a fan of most. Except Whoppers. You can keep your Whoppers.
- 100 Grand Bars. The best of all worlds: chocolate, crispy rice on top and a thick layer of caramel through the middle, all tied up in an eye-catching red wrapper. Worthy of its name.
- Reese’s Peanut Butter Cups. Invented by former Hershey’s employee H.B. Reese in 1928, the mix of chocolate and peanut butter has been nailed down at this point, along with the firm rim. They’re a timeless winner — and for what it’s worth, the ice cream bar version is my first choice at convenience stores.
- Nerds Gummy Clusters. The best large-scale candy innovation of the past decade, in my book. Fruity-tart Nerds wrapped around bite-sized chewy centers, with a broad range of flavors but none that need skipping? Yes please.
- Sour Patch Kids. There’s citric acid, to be sure, but it’s more restrained than Warheads or Sour Skittles. Balanced with the sweet gummy bodies, there’s both initial shock and lasting appeal — they’re something you can easily enjoy longer than you should.
- Butterfingers. Give me a Snickers, Baby Ruth, 3 Musketeers or Heath bar, and I’ll be a happy camper as well. But as I’ve gotten older, Butterfingers have slipped up the rankings thanks to their crumbly, toothsome filling. For an even better version, seek out Cadbury’s Crunchie bars, which have a delicious honeycomb filling but sadly haven’t caught on much this side of the Atlantic.
You can share your Top 5 with me at begel@kvie.org, or at @egeleats on Instagram. Back on the savory menu, we’ve got dumplings in East Sacramento, sardines with “kelp sprinkles” at home and two new restaurants in Davis.
Let’s dig in.
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Benjy’s Bites
Lin Dumpling | 5539 H St., Suite 50, Sacramento | 916-389-0333
Between the narrow dining room, the assembly line counter and the mural of peppers, onions and tomatoes underneath, there’s little mystery that Lin Dumpling used to be a Subway. Consider the swap a significant improvement for budget dining near Sacramento State, as owners Xinping and Coco Lin (natives of China’s Fujian province) have been turning out East Sacramento’s best Chinese food since opening about a year ago.
As someone whose favorite fast-food restaurant was once Panda Express: Lin Dumpling’s is the best orange chicken ($14 with rice, $15 à la carte) I’ve ever had. It’s freshly fried to remain crispy under a sweet sauce with chunks of actual orange peel, the favorite of Xinping and Coco’s server son Zi. The dumplings are among the region’s peak as well, be it wontons in housemade chili oil ($14 for 12) topped with additional heat, giant black pepper beef dumplings ($14 for 10) teeming with ginger and scallions or stumpy shu mai ($8.50 for four) two ways — the traditional Cantonese, or Shanghai-style with sticky rice.
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.
The tinned fish corner of my pantry has started overflowing, a problem of the “steak too juicy, lobster too buttery” ilk in my mind. But in the interests of sparing my colleagues’ nostrils and sharing with my partner Abbey, I’ve been saving several until we’re both home and needing a simple lunch.
That was this Sunday, and a tin of Patagonia Provisions sardines in coconut curry got the nod. I toasted the end of a sourdough loaf made by my mom, mashed sardines onto each slice and spooned the Thai-inspired yellow curry over the top with its peppers and potatoes. The final step: a generous dusting of Barnacle Foods’ kelp sprinkles for tinned fish. While the salt mix does indeed include dried Alaskan kelp, its panko breadcrumbs, crumbled fried onions and dried garlic shone through more.
In the news
The Sacramento Kings’ 2026-27 season tipped off last week, and well, it’s been tough sledding so far. But whatever the team’s record on the court, there’s a wealth of dining options within a 10-minute walk of Golden 1 Center. These are 11 of my downtown favorites before a game or arena show.
The region’s first Hmong barbecue joint, Sactown Hmong BBQ, opened last Wednesday on Franklin Boulevard in South Sacramento. Owner Ger Her has been selling ribs, pork belly and lemongrass-stuffed sausage under the same label since 2019, starting on Facebook Marketplace and progressing to catering gigs.
Happening this week
- Souper Hustle will begin its pop-up residency Wednesday, operating out of a kiosk next to Good Neighbor in Midtown Sacramento. It’ll be dedicated to soups and cheesy toasties through the winter.
- Tequileros celebrated its Davis location’s grand opening last Saturday at 875 Russell Blvd., Suite 120 in the Davis Collection shopping center. The neon-lit taqueria and tequila bar has rapidly expanded to Fair Oaks, Roseville, Arden Arcade, Elk Grove and Galt, plus another 11 locations statewide, since launching in Lodi in 2021.
- Also in Davis, Munchie Man will begin its soft opening Tuesday afternoon at 119 D St. Founded as a Socal’s Tavern pop-up in 2023, it’s built around meals and memories from the life and travels of owner Christopher Fairman, a local restaurant industry veteran, such as The Austinite (a barbecued pulled jackfruit sandwich) or Thai tea panna cotta.
