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.
Saigon Ơi managed to stand out on Stockton Boulevard. The owners’ new project, Mẹ’s Kitchen, faces significantly less competition — but its own set of challenges.
Mẹ’s Kitchen opened Oct. 30 on Fair Oaks Boulevard, kitty-corner from Loehmann’s Plaza in Arden Arcade’s southwest corner. Everything about that neighborhood — median income, racial demographics, familiarity with Vietnamese food — is different from Saigon Ơi’s surroundings in South Sacramento’s Little Saigon neighborhood.
Those differences are intentional: Michelle Thach, Kim Tran and the rest of their family’s ownership team wanted to grow their business outside of South Sacramento and Elk Grove’s Vietnamese communities. But it also forced them to confront a question many restaurants face when considering expansion: how do you translate a successful concept with different parameters in place?
For Mẹ’s Kitchen, it meant keeping the menu largely the same while adding phở, garlic noodles and bánh mì, the U.S.’ three best-known Vietnamese dishes that owners had previously concluded were redundant in Little Saigon. Other dishes were changed to be less in-your-face and more balanced, since Mẹ’s Kitchen is aimed more at families than a Sunday brunch crowd. It’s open until 7 p.m. six days a week instead of Saigon Ơi’s usual 5 p.m., a two-hour difference that makes early dinners possible. It will eventually have a beer and wine license.
“We wanted to make a point to make it look nice, make it more upscale, because we’re in a different part of town,” Thach told me. “So we kind of wanted to take the dishes from Saigon Oi and kind of elevate it.”
Gami Burger faces a similar situation. The smash burger concept rode a wave of pop-up successes to a Carmichael brick-and-mortar, which garnered long lines after opening in June. A second location is expected to replace Burger Patch in midtown Sacramento in the next couple of weeks. While the space needs little retrofitting, owners Scott Ostrander and Paul DiPierro were still debating just how late they accept orders on Burger Patch’s leftover touchscreens. Now that they’ll be in the city center, they should stay open later than Carmichael, to be sure. But is 2 a.m. worth the late-night staffing it will require?
Business has been relatively slow so far at Mẹ’s Kitchen, Thach said. In time, Arden Arcade residents may fall in love with its bánh mì chảo the way people did at Saigon Ơi. For now, they’ll have to push the word out — and perhaps tweak one or two more details.
Benjy’s Bites
Here’s my favorite item or two from a local restaurant this week. Send me yours at begel@kvie.org.
Tokyo Table | 5701 Broadway, Suite A, Sacramento | 916-229-8181
Tokyo Table’s pesto tuna crudo. (Benjy Egel)
Zhi and Jacky Ruan and Enrikke Valentino, friends from their days in Kennedy High School, opened Tokyo Table last July next to Valentino’s family restaurant Mezcal Grill in Tahoe Park. It’s become the neighborhood’s hottest restaurant in the time since, with hour-long waits for the six-seat bar, intimate dining room and shaded, heated patio leading out to a Japanese garden on weekend nights.
Seats are easier to come by during lunch and the menu remains the same, with delicately sliced sashimi and rolls such as the Power of E (crunchy shrimp tempura and spicy tuna inside, unagi, torched albacore and a trio of sauces on top, $21). Chef Gui Ou’s pesto tuna crudo ($22) is a table-pleasing starter, its buttery bluefin sheets topped with dabs of truffle oil pesto and fanned out around a bowl of tempura jalapeño slices, micro cilantro and ponzu sauce.
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 Sean and his mom Jagruti celebrated his recent birthday by hosting friends for a mega-batch of pav bhaji. Initially created to quickly and cheaply serve Mumbai’s cotton mill workers as the American industry shut down during the Civil War, pav bhaji is a staple Indian street food today and available in Sacramento-area restaurants as well.
A mash of tomatoes, potatoes, onions and broccoli stalks studded with peas and riddled a litany of spices (coriander, cumin, cloves and peppercorns among them), the vibrant veggie curry was served and scooped with buttered, toasted Village Bakery rolls. A more savory option than the usual birthday cake, for sure.
In The News
This garlic chipotle delicata squash skillet takes just 15 minutes to prep and cook. (Zoe B. Soderstrom)
Zoe B. Soderstrom’s latest “Cooking In Season” recipe throws garlic, ground chipotle and Old Town Auburn Farmers Market delicata squash together for a 15-minute skillet dish that’s savory and smoky. Inspired by a restaurant meal she had outside of Tahoe City, it can work as a light dinner or Thanksgiving side.
Happening This Week
- Placer County’s 32nd Annual Mountain Mandarin Festival runs Friday-Sunday at Roseville event center @TheGrounds. The long list of mandarin-infused foods and drinks has included pretzels, mimosas and hot dog relish in years past.
- The Sunrise Recreation & Park District will host its 11th Annual Arts, Crafts, & Artisan Food Fair from 9 a.m.-3 p.m. Saturday at Rusch Park Community Center in Citrus Heights. And Golden State German Shephard Rescue is throwing a meet-and-greet for its pups from 2-5 p.m. Saturday at SacYard Community Tap House in East Sacramento.
- Meza is in the midst of its soft opening where Simon’s Bar & Cafe once stood in midtown. Kasandra Kachakji’s restaurant, first introduced as a local pop-up and catering business, blends her Syrian-Mexican background in tacos and wraps.
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.