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.
Technically, summer doesn’t start for more than another month. But between 90-degree heat, sunsets after 8 p.m. and an influx of food festivals each weekend, I can feel Sacramento’s most underrated season creeping in.
Yes, really. As I recently told our Yolo County reporter Daniel Hennessy, for all the bellyaching about Sacramento heat, the summers around here are a blast. Even for those of us without summer vacations, they mean post-work drinks on the shores of the American River, Delta breezes whistling through Clarksburg grapevines, peach shakes from Whitey’s Jolly Kone, and bursting farmers market stands that end up fueling homemade ice cream.
We’re getting the first taste of that now, with a slightly diluted version of the infamous heat. As dishes change with the seasons, I’m flagging a standout fish taco spot that should satiate even notoriously hard-to-please SoCal transplants, as well as a salad with tahini-ginger dressing for when heating up the kitchen sounds unbearable.
This week’s City of Treats also includes dispatches on a new Sichuan restaurant, the California Honey Festival and a tea ceremony run out of a Sacramento plant shop. Let’s dig in.
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Benjy’s Bites
El Abajeño Tacos | 109 Atkinson St., Roseville | 916-784-3535
El Abajeño Tacos isn’t one of those taquerias with dozens of items stretched across multiple menu boards. The snug Mexican restaurant across from Denio’s Farmers Market & Swap Meet has picked a couple of dishes and nails those items. Soft drinks only, less than eight tables between the patio and dining room and no tortilla chips, but pots of stews bubbling and asada sizzling on grills in the open kitchen.
El Abajeño offers four choices of meats, but most people pick the birria ($14 for a bowl, or less in burritos, tortas or sopes). It’s one of the region’s best — dark maroon shredded beef swimming in a salty broth that’s rich without being oily, served in floral plastic bowls with corn tortillas on the side. Fish or shrimp tacos ($3.50) ride equally rarefied air, fried to a beautiful golden brown and loaded with cabbage, sour cream and a surprisingly fierce pico de gallo.
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 parents spent Mother’s Day visiting their favorite child in Georgia (I kid, the dog is their favorite), so my partner Abbey and I hosted her family for Sunday dinner. The evening started with glasses of prosecco and Joshua McFadden’s crostini with English peas, goat cheese and mint while we played cards, with many more top chefs’ recipes to come.
Abbey was one of the intrepid souls to brave Ferrari Fisheries’ hour-long line Friday for the first California-caught Chinook salmon in nearly four years (more on that below). We spread Rub with Love Salmon Rub over the fish and grilled it over a sheet of aluminum foil to catch the juices. Served with rice, steamed broccoli, Caroline Chambers’ salad with tahini-ginger dressing, Samin Nosrat’s Ligurian focaccia and sauvignon blanc, this king of fish was worth the wait. For dessert: Zoe Barrie’s sweet cherry sundaes.
In the news
Anchor & Tree Coffee Roasting Co. has expanded from Midtown Sacramento to the Crocker Art Museum. The small-scale, environmentally-focused roastery now runs the museum’s café, with sandwiches such as the “BL-Thiebaud” and “banh Monet.” Its owners recommend drinking their coffee black to fully taste it, but offer a range of seasonal espresso beverages as well.
Fresh-caught California king salmon is back in Sacramento fish markets for the first time in nearly four years. Also known as Chinook, the prized fish was off-limits for California fishermen during the 2023-2025 seasons due to low population numbers. Daniel Hennessy has the story.
Ziru Mo and Olive Olsen, formerly coworkers at Scorpio Coffee, now run recurring Taohua Tea ceremonies at Southside Park plant shop Signa. Inspired by a joint trip to Taiwan, the intimate ceremonies offer an oasis with intention. Read more in this article from Abridged Community Reporters program member Natachi Mez, or watch this YouTube Short for more.
Aviator’s Restaurant, a family favorite at Sacramento Executive Airport, will remain closed for up to two years, the Sacramento County Department of Airports announced Sunday. The building faces many issues, including mold, asbestos and underlying structural damage.
Happening this week
- The nationwide festival FoodieLand will bring more than 100 food and drink vendors to Cal Expo from Friday-Sunday afternoons, with bites ranging from lumpia buckets to smash burgers on doughnut buns to oxtail macaroni and cheese. Admission is $12 per person, and customers then pay for food and drinks once inside.
- The California Honey Festival will sweeten the Yolo County Fairgrounds on Saturday and Sunday in Woodland. The free-to-enter event will include cooking demonstrations, a kids’ zone and a mead garden.
- Sichuan City just opened at 7777 Sunrise Blvd. in Citrus Heights. The Chinese restaurant specializes in dishes with Sichuan peppercorns’ tingling heat, such as mapo tofu, dan dan noodles and suan cai yu, a poached fish soup with pickled mustard greens.
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.