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.
The United States’ most food-focused holiday lands on dinner tables and buffet lines this Thursday. By now, many home cooks are beginning to prep for Thanksgiving dinners big and small.
There’ll be 10 of us digging into garlic mashed potatoes, cranberry relish (see below) and barbecued turkey at my grandmother’s Thanksgiving table this year. My hair stylist said she’ll host about 30 in Elk Grove, and while I love a crowded table, that’s a bit more than I or my kitchen could stomach.
There are easier options, too. Abridged news editor Dan Smith ordered a turkey from Urban Roots Brewing & Smokehouse, happy to pass that task off to the popular beer-and-barbecue joint. I’ve also been away from loved ones on Thanksgiving, and found refuge at the restaurants that keep their doors open. Here locally, the list includes Captain Buffet in Arden Arcade, Three Pines Bistro & Bar in Colfax and Bennett’s in Roseville, Rocklin and Sierra Oaks.
For those doing Thanksgiving at home, “Cooking in Season” writer Zoe B. Soderstrom will be back Friday with a creative recipe to use up some of your leftovers. For now, enjoy your holiday with friends, family or simply a good meal.
Benjy’s Bites
Here’s my favorite item or two from a local restaurant this week. Send me yours at begel@kvie.org.
Village of Om | 1915 S St., Sacramento | 279-222-4819
Village of Om’s Oshi salmon roll. (Benjy Egel)
Last week, it was shrimp tempura rolls and bluefin tuna crudo; this week, it’s vegan sushi. Village of Om’s dark, romantic space is a date night restaurant for plant-based eaters, using ingredients such as snow fungus, gobo root and sunflower-based “Parmesan cheeze” to create something without comparison in Sacramento’s dining scene. Opened nearly a year ago by Andy Nguyen, whose family had a longtime eponymous vegetarian restaurant on Broadway and now backs Belly Burger next door, it’s a secluded space one block removed from a busy Midtown Sacramento corner. While there’s a full bar, sparkler-topped birthday cocktails and the soft rumble of the light rail line are the extent of the commotion.
Some Village of Om dishes mimic fishy tastes, such as the Oshi salmon roll ($23.50). Laid atop rice, avocado and cucumber with spicy mayo and teriyaki sauce, the mycoprotein/algae/vegetable oil product had the taste to make you believe it was real salmon, even if the texture was a bit different when eaten on its own. Others such as smoky seared eggplant nigiri ($8 for two pieces, $15.50 for five) were more vegetable-forward. Mushrooms are deployed throughout, perhaps best in the trumpet ceviche ($20), which crackled like Pop Rocks as its lime juice hit the massive sesame rice chip.
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.
I fully understand resistance to canned cranberries’ syrupy nature, which just seem to blanket an already-heavy Thanksgiving meal. But when left raw, cranberries’ tartness can be the perfect thing to cut through starchy potatoes or dried-out turkey.
One solution: the cranberry relish I make for my family’s Thanksgiving dinner each year. The mixture is simple: one 12-ounce bag of whole cranberries (the recipe is even printed on some bags), one cored Fuji apple and one unpeeled navel orange, all roughly chopped in a food processor. Sweeten to taste — I use about ½ cup of sugar — and add a ½ cup of chopped walnuts, provided there are no allergies. Multiply that formula to fit your table and layer the leftovers on to Black Friday sandwiches.
In The News
Sweetgreen’s first Sacramento-area salad shop is just a week away from opening. A cult favorite in Southern California, it’ll be on the ground floor of a new mixed-use building in Midtown Sacramento, with a Campus Commons location to follow on Dec. 16. Read more here.
Sacramento’s food insecurity problem continues to worsen, with the county food bank network feeding 12% more people in October than September. That means more people face potential chronic health issues, including coronary heart disease, strokes and cancer, Abridged health and wellness contributor Brianna Taylor wrote.
Happening This Week
- Sacramento Hmong New Year will take over Cal Expo from Friday-Sunday. Look for sticky rice, papaya salad and lemongrass-infused sausages in addition to concerts, a breakdancing competition and the Miss Hmong California pageant.
- Classy Hippie Tea is hosting a relaxed fall festival Saturday, with farm-to-table bites, an artisan market and a chili tasting competition. The celebration of “earth, art and spice” is being held at the tea shop in North Oak Park.
- Onigiri Burgers is currently having its soft opening across the street from William Land Park (4001 Freeport Blvd., Suite 110). It specializes in Japanese- and Hawaiian-influenced burgers, with proteins such as eel or chicken katsu.
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.