Why Abridged’s food editor chose to review burgers

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.

When I was promoting my cookbook of recipes from Sacramento-area chefs a couple years ago, I visited a rotary club in Dixon. I was ready to talk about Kodaiko Ramen & Bar’s Japanese curry or Mezcal Grill’s ceviche, but that wasn’t what one audience member wanted to discuss. What, he asked me, were the best burgers around here?

That question stuck with me. Hundreds of Sacramento-area restaurants have at least one burger on their menu, but I could only rattle off three or four that I would heartily endorse at the time. So much of my focus is on highlighting unique dishes and cuisines at local restaurants, from Fijian curries to Georgia barbecue stew to peanut butter ramen, that I’d somewhat glossed over the most all-American food out there.

No longer. Last week I published my list of the Sacramento region’s 13 best burgers based on seven months of gut-stuffing research. The list includes cheap eats and decadence, a Davis student hub and an off-menu Rocklin wower, dive bar smash burgers and a James Beard Award finalist chef’s creation. It does not include dozens of burgers that were good, not great, and were therefore left on the proverbial cutting room floor. Give the list a read, then tell me what I missed.

Today’s City of Treats also includes creative tacos benefiting local nonprofits, highlights from a Lunar New Year feast, an eye-catching new Greek restaurant and a belated Mardi Gras celebration set to stretch from Capitol Mall to Old Sacramento. Let’s dig in.

Benjy’s Bites

Here’s my favorite item or two from a local restaurant this week. Send me yours at begel@kvie.org.

Masa Masa | 2310 Pleasant Grove Blvd., Suite 130, Roseville | 916-305-7865

Try the Hawaiian burger at Kitchen747, or walk across Village Westpark shopping center to Masa Masa, one of West Roseville developer Juli Hilton’s other concepts (along with MoJoe’s Cafe). Colorful walls brighten the small taqueria with a mission “to spread human kindness through food,” and each taco purchase benefits a linked nonprofit — carne asada ($5.50) to the Latino Leadership Council, say, or tofu al pastor ($4.50) to the Placer LGBTQ+ Center.

While Masa Masa offers traditional options, invention is where it thrives. The adobo cauliflower taco ($4.75) takes its acidic flavor from a marinade that’s Filipino, not Mexican, and the hot chicken ($5.50) with pickles, slaw and spicy ranch builds to a crescendo inside its housemade corn tortilla. The Masa Masa birria crunch ($16.50) reimagines Taco Bell’s Crunchwrap Supreme for a sit-down meal, melting Monterey jack cheese between the flour tortilla’s folds and filling the middle with shredded beef, peppers, iceberg lettuce, salsas and Flamin’ Hot Cheetos. 

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 friend Jeanne outdid herself with this year’s Lunar New Year party, folding more than 300 pork and vegetarian dumplings with the help of her partner Zac. I arrived to find them steaming on the porch, with about 25 friends and more food inside.

There were trays of spring rolls and prosperity-symbolizing hot garlic fish from Happy Takeout in Oak Park, along with homemade Chinese mustard greens and tangyun (sweet rice balls with red bean or black sesame paste fillings). I parked my rear at the snack table and nibbled on dried winter melon, shìbǐng (dried persimmons also known as hoshigaki) and bánh chưng, mung beans covered in sticky rice and wrapped in banana leaves.

It was plenty of brain food for a group game of “Jeopardy at a very Chinese time in your life,” broadcasted on the TV with the categories “Happy,” “Chinese,” “New,” “Year,” “Moon” and “Horse.” Red envelopes were given to the winners, but I wouldn’t know what was inside them.

In the news

Want a killer smash burger in Midtown? How about an award-winning turkey burger in Davis, or a venison patty in Arden Arcade? These are the Sacramento region’s 13 best burgers, in my opinion. Read through the list, then nominate another in the form at the bottom.

The Sacramento region’s most ambitious Greek restaurant, Mati Modern Greek Cuisine, just opened in Roseville. Its owners were born in Turkey, just across the Aegean Sea from Greece, and grew up on dishes such as kolokithokeftedes (zucchini fritters) and arnisia paidakia (grilled lamb chops). Read more here.

Zoe Barrie (initially introduced to readers as Zoe B. Soderstrom) is back with her latest Cooking In Season recipe: herbed cheesy garlic bread. She’s a fan of The Baker and the Cakemaker, a 17-year-old Auburn bakery that makes appearances at several area farmers markets, but any rustic sourdough loaf will do.

Happening this week

• The fifth annual City of Trees Parade & Mardi Gras Festival will trumpet its way down Capitol Mall into Old Sacramento on Saturday. There’ll be food trucks galore beside the floats, and a golden ale made specifically for the event by Oak Park Brewing. Kids get in free, while adult tickets start at $11; the party begins at 3 p.m. and will go into the night. 
• Got a family spaghetti recipe you’re particularly proud of? Enter it in The Airport Saloon’s spaghetti cook-off on Saturday afternoon. The Cameron Park restaurant and bar will give out cash prizes to winners.
• OBO’ Italian Table & Bar opened Feb. 20 in the El Dorado Hills Town Center space formerly home to sister concept Selland’s Market-Cafe. The two restaurants’ menus have some overlap, but OBO’ focuses more on pizza and pasta.

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.