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.
It’s a surprisingly festive week for the middle of February. Presidents Day gives many a respite from work next Monday. Lunar New Year lands a day later. And in case you forgot, Valentine’s Day is coming this Saturday.
The last of those can be a funny one. Single folks can feel lonely, early-stage daters are feeling out their statuses and couples weigh just how much they want to participate this year.
A well-researched argument could probably convince me that Valentine’s Day exists mostly to keep Hallmark and Russell Stover in business. But it’s a day about love, something we can always use more of — and not just the romantic kind. Long before I was boo’d up, my parents made sure I felt the love by leaving sour Skittles or Look! bars at my place at the table on the morning of Feb. 14. And until a certain age, we dropped mini Airheads and heart-shaped pieces of edible chalk into classmates’ baskets along with notes of friendly affection. In my eyes, we never age out of letting loved ones know where they stand.
For those looking spending Saturday night on a date, get your restaurant reservations in while you still can. But remember, the best gifts come from the heart. Spending extra time making a special meal for or with your loved one — homemade pasta, say, or 2023’s viral “Marry Me chicken” — can be as touching as a nice meal out.
Whether you’re single, partnered or somewhere in between, I hope this week is a sweet one. Let’s get to it.
Benjy’s Bites
Here’s my favorite item or two from a local restaurant this week. Send me yours at begel@kvie.org.
Brasserie du Monde | 1201 K St., Suite 100, Sacramento | 916-329-8033
Depending on your definition, Brasserie du Monde may be the last true French restaurant remaining in Sacramento city limits. Founded in 2015 as Brasserie Capitale, its 2021 name change resulted in some artistic updates and an expanded bar program (more than 30 signature cocktails and mocktails). But chef Isaac Hernandez and chef de cuisine Elimar Ruiz have kept the downtown restaurant’s sense of place intact with classic dishes set to the backdrop of red velvet booths and mellow live music.
French onion soup ($12) is a logical place to start in winter, and Brasserie du Monde’s may be the best in town. A thick layer of melted Gruyère cheese seals in rich beef broth and soaked-through hunks of bread in the small white pot. For a hearty main, try Guillaume’s cassoulet ($45), which places garlic sausage slices, pork belly confit and a salty, fall-off-the-bone duck thigh atop buttery Tarbais beans.
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.
Like many professional and amateur chefs, I headed to the Sunday farmers market under the Highway 50 overpass unsure of what exactly I wanted. When I found one seller’s fine-looking beets, it made me realize I hadn’t yet made a dish this winter with one of my favorite root vegetables.
I roasted my red and golden beets for about an hour at 350°F, then separated the greens and stems and sautéed them both, giving the stems a bit longer in the pan. Once the beets had cooled, I cut them up and mixed them in a salad bowl with some of the beet greens, sheep’s cheese, half an orange (peeled and diced), chopped walnuts and cilantro. With a finishing drizzle of blood orange olive oil, I had a tasty, nutritious lunch for several days in-office.
In the news
For years, people have asked Adamo’s Restaurant owner Chiara Adamo if her family’s Midtown Sacramento pasta joint serves pizza. Now she can direct them across the grid to Dodici Pizzeria, their new restaurant that opened last week. Its Puglia-style pies are thin with modest edges, and come with toppings both classic and creative.
Sacramento craft beer pioneer Pangaea Bier Cafe will close March 19 after nearly 18 years in Curtis Park, owner Rob Archie said Tuesday. Archie will look for a new Pangaea location after being unable to come to a lease agreement with the building’s landlords, his father Lee Archie and Lee’s partner Hanju Morrow.
Zoe B. Soderstrom’s latest Cooking In Season recipe uses spring onion greens and bulbs, along with cream cheese, sour cream and mayonnaise, to create a seasonal dip for chips or veggies. It takes about 45 minutes to make, plus an hour of chilling time.
Happening this week
• Lunar New Year is one week away, and celebrations ushering in the Year of the Horse have already begun. The biggest one still to come: a Tết festival and parade at Elk Grove Park on Feb. 14 and 15, which includes Mardi Gras components and is expected to draw around 10,000 people. Admission is free, with Vietnamese and Asian-Cajun food available for sale.
• Lodi Wine & Chocolate returns this weekend for its 29th year. Billed as “the most important business weekend of the year for the Lodi winemaking community,” it includes winery tours Saturday and tastes over small bites on Sunday. Tickets are available online.
• Willie J’s Burgers & More is closing after more than 13 years in North Natomas, its owners announced on social media Sunday. Willie Jefferson and Chhing Chau have sold the restaurant to operators who plan to install their own concept, but not before a farewell open house on Feb. 21 with a bouncy castle on the patio.
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.