Drinks to go and corn pie lunch in a Yolo County farm town

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.

Six years ago this week, California businesses and schools began shutting down to stop the spread of an emerging virus called COVID-19. The pandemic was, in many ways, brutal. More than 100,000 Californians died, businesses shut down and isolation torpedoed the mental health of many.

One of my favorite memories during that altogether awful time was basking on Winters’ charming Main Street, enjoying a summer cocktail under shady trees and historic buildings. The Yolo County farm town (pop. ~8,000) had blocked that road off from traffic and allowed restaurants to spill out from the sidewalks. In that moment, it was a place to take a much-needed breath.

Last week, the Winters City Council broached the topic of expanding outdoor drinking again — this time as part of a summertime “entertainment zone” around downtown. If approved, you’d be able to order drinks from restaurants or bars and sip them while walking around outside, Yolo County reporter Daniel Hennessy wrote. Several Winters restaurants and bars have enthusiastically signed on, including Putah Creek Café, where I dined last week.

Elsewhere in today’s newsletter, we’ve got a guide to spending a great day in another Yolo County city — Woodland. One of South Sacramento’s favorite Vietnamese restaurants has moved into a larger space on Stockton Boulevard. And St. Patrick’s Day celebrations are coming, from Midtown to Roseville.

Let’s dig in.

Benjy’s Bites

Putah Creek Café | 1 Main St., Winters | 530-795-2682

Putah Creek Café has anchored downtown Winters, along with sister restaurant Buckhorn Steakhouse across Main Street, since its founding in 1988. While its pizza oven and dessert cases draw evenings crowds during summer months, the restaurant is perhaps most popular during brunch. I waited 20-30 minutes after biking from Davis last weekend for a meal that was worth every mile.

There’s a rule when I come here with family or friends: someone has to get the corn pie ($15). Studded with kernels and pasilla chiles and finished with a sour cream dollop, it’s a cheesy, savory delight accompanied by tortilla chips and roasted tomato salsa. The fried chicken sandwich ($15) is a strong choice as well, with crispy, crumbly batter falling into a buttered brioche bun with just a hint of heat. For something lighter, try the well-balanced marinated beet salad ($18) while it remains on the seasonally changing menu.

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.

Hump day fatigue had set in, and my partner Abbey and I didn’t have dinner plans. So we settled on a clear-out-the-cupboard version of onigiri, Japanese rice triangles commonly eaten on the go.

We threw a cup of Calrose rice into the cooker with some rice vinegar, then mixed canned tuna and sriracha mayo in a separate bowl. Once the rice was ready, we laid portions of it flat, placed the tuna mixture inside, dusted it with furikake and molded it by hand into sloping triangles. With a strip of nori on the outside of each one, they were ready for a voyage — in this case, to the couch.

In the news

Chris Macias writes Abridged’s arts and entertainment newsletter, Cultural Capital. He’s also a Woodland resident with a lot of pride, as illustrated in his guide on how to spend a great day in “The Woo.” Start with coffee from Morgan’s Mill, assemble a lunchtime Mexican food crawl and finish with Yolo County’s top cocktail program, in his opinion.

Zoe Barrie’s latest Cooking In Season recipe transforms brassicas (a genus of leafy, peppery vegetables) with the aid of your favorite chili crisp and a few accompanying ingredients. She roasted broccoli and cauliflower, but Brussels sprouts and cabbage work fine as well.

The Winters City Council is debating whether to allow residents to walk around a downtown “entertainment zone” with beer, wine or cocktails from local bars. The zone would be in effect on weekends from March through October, plus summer Thursdays. Read more here.

Happening this week

• St. Patrick’s Day celebrations will take over many area bars this Saturday. There’s a 15-bar pub crawl in Midtown Sacramento, live music and a specialty menu at The Boxing Donkey in Roseville ($10 cover) and a free late-night shepherd’s pie at Stoney’s Rockin’ Rodeo on Del Paso Boulevard.
• Mulvaney’s B&L is celebrating its 20th anniversary with a pig roast from 2-6 p.m. Sunday at 1215 19th St. in Midtown Sacramento. Tickets are $50 apiece, or $25 for hospitality industry employees.
• Quán Nem Ninh Hòa shut down its existing South Sacramento location, but reopened in a larger space at 5860 Stockton Blvd. (once home to Yang’s Noodles) on March 5. The popular Vietnamese restaurant, which has another location in Elk Grove, is known for its build-your-own spring rolls and has added a few menu items in its new digs.

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.