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’m back from a wonderful week on Maui, having escaped the thick tule fog for sunny beaches and warm ocean water. Hopefully, you only noticed I was gone if you emailed me or followed me on Instagram; Abridged reporter Savannah Kuchar and contributors Keyla Vasconcellos and Zoe B. Soderstrom kept people looped into local food during my time off.
Hawaiian food is a multifaceted cuisine, shaped by the people who came to the islands over the years — Pacific Islanders, East and Southeast Asians and U.S. military servicemembers, among others. It’s how you end up with ramen’s cousin saimin, gravy-drenched loco moco or malasadas, Portuguese-inspired doughnuts filled with tropical fruit custards. For a deeper understanding of Hawaiian food, I recommend checking out (or gifting!) the cookbooks of Sheldon Simeon and Alana Kysar.
I’m now missing the sunshine and my fishy friends, of course, but also the decent-to-great food readily available at convenience stores and supermarkets, much like in Japan. While you won’t find me trusting gas station sushi or hot dogs on the mainland, I happily snacked on spicy tuna hand rolls and chicken katsu musubi, which were never more than a few minutes away on some refrigerated or heated shelf. I ate four meals in four days from Foodland’s poke bar, where the shoyu-marinated ahi and pipikaula (salted beef) were as flavorful as at any restaurant I’ve ever tried.
It could be a long few months of gray for you, me and everyone else in the region. One tropical respite on the horizon: Ululani’s Hawaiian Shave Ice, the islands’ most popular stand, will open in February in Old Sacramento. Until then, cozy up!
Benjy’s Bites
Here’s my favorite item or two from a local restaurant this week. Send me yours at begel@kvie.org.
The Char Market | 4717 Whitney Ave., Carmichael | 916-291-6903
The Char Market has become a people’s favorite since opening in 2023, even being named as Yelp’s No. 3 Mexican restaurant nationwide last year. I wouldn’t go that far, even in Sacramento County, but the small, fast-casual Carmichael spot has captured its audience with a mix of Instagram-ready flair and Cali-Mex innovation.
While Gunther’s Ice Cream sandwiches between conchas recently left the menu, the flagship bone marrow remains. Its showmanship is best captured when served in-bone as part of a plate ($27 with rice and mixed veggies) rather than drizzled over the top of asada tacos ($18 for two, +$6 with bone marrow added, served with rice and charro beans) in flour tortillas for extra richness that ends up dribbling down the forearms. For a more restrained brunch option, try the chilaquiles burrito ($17 with the recommended addition of chicken), a wrapped-up mix of rice, tomatoes, shredded cheese, fried eggs and a piquant salsa.
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, my sister and our partners whipped up a surprise dinner for our parents one night of our Maui trip. Happy hour was grocery store poke and taro chips with our go-to lanai drink: POG (passionfruit-orange-guava juice), pineapple juice, rum and maraschino cherries with a bit of the grenadine. A simple salad with ginger-miso dressing followed, then chicken wings tossed in Soy Vay island teriyaki sauce that’s easily available on the mainland. The next morning, I peeled the leftover meat off the bones for fried rice, which used up the remaining eggs and bell peppers before checkout.
In The News
Pasquale’s Italian Pizzeria will slice its last pie on Dec. 31, general manager Jocelyn Avera told Abridged. The family-owned Carmichael pizzeria has been a fixture on Fair Oaks Boulevard since 1975.
Eldo Chophouse & Kitchen has fine dining trappings, but twice-daily happy hours keep people from breaking the bank at the El Dorado Hills restaurant or its adjoined card room. It’s helmed by Brock Macdonald, the former chef over Beast + Bounty and LowBrau in Midtown Sacramento.
Satsuma season is upon us, and “Cooking In Season” has the recipe for your latest farmers market haul. Zoe B. Soderstrom’s satsuma-fennel-walnut salad takes 30 minutes to prepare and help balance heavy winter meals.
Happening This Week
- More than 100 vendors will pop up at the Sacramento Asian Sports Foundation in Elk Grove on Saturday for The Creative Space’s fifth annual Holiday Food & Craft Fair. Stop by for tastes from Mellobun Bakery, Bangin’ Bowls and more.
- The Village by the River, a farm west of Sacramento International Airport, will host “A Taste of East Africa” on Saturday afternoon. Entry is free; just pay per plate of Tanzanian, Kenyan and Ugandan food, such as the barbecued meat dish nyama choma.
- Pera Mezze House opened Dec. 6 next to its sister concept, Mia Restaurant & Bar, at 1465 Eureka Road, Suite 100 in Roseville. While Mia skews Italian, Pera offers Turkish and Greek dishes and cocktails in an elevated setting.
Correction: This story was updated at 2:37 p.m. on Dec. 17, 2025 to properly reflect malasadas’ place of origin.
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.