The Abridged version:
- Readers wrote in their favorite convenient, affordable Downtown Sacramento lunch dishes in response to a previous Abridged by PBS KVIE article.
- People raved about Little Morocco Cafe’s chicken tagine, Camp Cove’s grain bowls and Bangkok @12’s pineapple fried rice, among others.
- Four Mexican restaurants were suggested: La Cosecha, Cariño Mexican Cuisine, Vallejo’s Restaurant and Cilantro’s Mexican Restaurant & Bar.
After weeks of eating out around Downtown Sacramento, we recommended 11 tasty, affordable and convenient restaurants near state offices. We also asked readers to tell us their other Downtown favorites — and they delivered.
From the shadows of Sacramento Superior Court to a stone’s throw from CalPERS headquarters, this is where people find midday relief in the form of a burrito or rice bowl.
By the end of the 2010s, Bangkok @12 Thai Restaurant (900 12th St.) was as well-known for its food as for cars crashing through its walls (once a repeat phenomenon). But rest assured: concrete barriers now keep unwanted autos out of Teerayut Phupong’s restaurant, allowing customers to enjoy an array of lunch specials or pineapple fried rice in peace.
Take the time for tea service at Little Morocco Cafe (716 Seventh St.) if you can. Jamaleddine Kabbaj and Samira Bentaleb’s small restaurant under the 7th & H Apartments also draws rave reviews for its lentil soup and chicken tagine with green olives and preserved lemon, the latter also available on a sandwich.
Readers recommended four different Mexican restaurants, starting with La Cosecha (917 Ninth St.) in the soon-to-be-renamed César Chávez Plaza. Owned by Ernesto Delgado Hospitality Group, which is also known for Mayahuel and Octopus Peru (temporarily closed) not far away, its chile verde plate with rice, beans and tortillas drew in our reader.
A few blocks away, Cilantro’s Mexican Restaurant & Bar (705 J St.) stood out for its super burrito and super nachos as well as Hugo Cervantes and family’s hospitality. Cariño Mexican Cuisine (729 J St.), its year-and-a-half-old neighbor on the other end of the block, caught another reader with its bright pink exterior — then nailed potato tacos, they said, with orders ready to go within 10 minutes.
Then there’s Vallejo’s Restaurant (1900 Fourth St.), founded by brothers Arturo and Efrain Vallejo more than 30 years ago. It’s one of the few options today near CalPERS, with a $9 chile relleno lunch special (including rice and beans) that’s hard to beat.
Finally, Camp Cove (1401 O St., Suite B) is not just a recommended option for grain bowls and vegetarian items near the Capitol: It’s the region’s only Australian café. Step inside when a beach vacation feels out of reach.
