The Abridged version:
- Placer County native Becky Grunewald walks us through a great day in Rocklin, from morning through night.
- Start at Pause Coffee House for a cup of coffee before checking out one of two record stores.
- There are plenty of primo pints for beer drinkers, from West Coast IPAs at Shred Beer Co. to German styles at Kathrin’s Biergarten.
You can have a lovely day in any neighborhood or suburb across the Sacramento region. In this series, we’ll explore them, starting with Rocklin. Want to tell us what a beautiful day in your neighborhood looks like? Email abridged@kvie.org with your recommendations.
My first indication that something was a bit special about Rocklin was when my record-hound husband pointed out that there were two record stores there, and, in his estimation, they were both good ones. By my unscientific calculation, that means that Rocklin has about one record store per 37,500 citizens, while Sacramento has about one per 76,000. So Rocklin has twice as many record stores per capita as Sac. What gives?
A city of roughly 75,000 people between Roseville and Auburn in Placer County, Rocklin was named for, uh, rocks. Granite, in a quarry, to be exact. Did anyone discuss naming it Granitetown? We will never know.
So, rocks, lots of record stores and then there’s the beer. Rocklin’s award-winning craft beer scene is well worth a stop for anyone with a taste for suds.
I myself am a daughter of nearby Lincoln (go Zebras!), but that doesn’t so much influence my selection of Rocklin for a day trip. For what it lacks in the way of a walkable downtown, Rocklin has several special businesses worth your time. Here’s how to have a great day there.
Morning
Sacramento has many, many third-wave coffee shops (a phrase that characterizes carefully crafted drinks and high quality beans, often sustainably sourced), but Rocklin has only a handful. Of those, Pause Coffee House stands out as being the most like one you would find downtown. It has high ceilings, gray-and-black industrial accents, and rough-hewn, wooden furniture, mostly in the form of long, communal tables.
Pause, which also has Loomis and Fair Oaks locations, serves Arkansas-based Onyx Coffee Lab coffee, including pour-over options. They have a menu of light breakfasts, including a breakfast sandwich on an English muffin with egg, melted cheddar and smoky Canadian bacon. Grab a pastry provided by Ettore’s Bakery & Cafe (the ultra-crispy almond croissant is a good choice) or Sugar Plum Vegan if you’re avoiding dairy and eggs.
Time to hit up a record store next, and you need to decide your vibe – punk/’80s or more jazzy? If the former, head to The Audio Nerd. Steve Holt opened this store nine years ago, and he says it has strong support from locals and folks from Sacramento and the Bay Area. He credits these loyal customers and his 5,000 social media followers with keeping him in business – and the fact that he sells audio equipment such as turntables and receivers. Fun fact: In 2015, Holt bought the entire remaining stock of the legendary, now-closed Sacramento record store, The Beat.
Holt chuckles ruefully when he speaks of his first four years in business being the only record store in town. At that point, Hi-Tones Record Store opened. Hi-Tones’ claim to fame is that it’s an authorized dealer of Blue Note Records, a classic jazz label dating back to the 1930s. The next closest one to the Sacramento area is in Nevada City.
Both stores boast a varied selection of both used records and reissues. If you like vinyl (don’t say “vinyls,” kids!), I suggest you hit up both.
Afternoon
Hopefully you’ve scored a few records at this point and have worked up an appetite for lunch. Time for a at Mezcalito Oaxacan Cuisine.
If you are like, “tlayuda, zuh?”: a tlayuda is a signature Oaxacan dish that looks, but does not taste, pizzalike. It’s a large, toasted corn tortilla smeared with refried black beans and artfully topped with shreds of Oaxacan cheese, avocado slices, salsa and a meat of your choice. I’d recommend chorizo or tasajo; Mezcalito’s tasajo is juicy, grill-marked strips of tri-tip strip rather than the salty, jerky-like version one might find in Oaxaca.
That savory tasajo can also be found in abundance in a taco, laced with sweet sauteed onions and topped with chapulines (nutty, crunchy toasted grasshoppers) if one so desires, and I do. If picking grasshopper legs out of your teeth isn’t your idea of a good time, try the enmoladas, chicken enchiladas enrobed in spicy, lightly sweet mole negro. Mezcalito has a wide array of dishes, Oaxacan and not, including the Yucatán pork dish cochinita pibil, but the Oaxacan dishes are what make it worth the drive.
Now it’s time for a beer or two, and you have some world-class choices. Moksa Brewing put Rocklin on the beer map in 2018 with its hazy IPAs, unfiltered, juicy brews that originated on the East Coast and swept through Northern California. The trend and Moksa are still going strong, with a full offering of hazy and West Coast IPAs.
A newer contender is Shred Beer Co. from brewers Zack Frasher and Amy Heller. Frasher previously brewed for Moonraker Brewing in Auburn and Slice Beer Co. in Lincoln, and Heller was the head brewer at Arrow Lodge Brewing east of Los Angeles. Shred won small brewery of the year at the Great American Beer Festival only 3 months after opening in 2023, making it a real destination for national beer tourists. Rest here and have a crisp, quaffable West Coast IPA.
Night
If the answer to “what’s next?” is “more beer,” let your choose-your-own-adventure day lead you to the next best thing to Deutschland in the greater Sacramento area: Kathrin’s Biergarten, owned by Frankfurt-area native Kathrin Grosse.
The outdoor patio, with its white gravel, gnarled oak and string lights is echt biergarten, and the beer list is deep, German and meticulously curated. Kathrin’s also has a lengthy food menu, including an Oktoberfest platter on offer year-round. It’s a feast for two with five sausages of your choice (some housemade, some not), a large schnitzel, fries and cabbage of both the sauerkraut and sweet red (rotkohl) varieties. Kathrin’s goes extra hard for Oktoberfest, so try to make it there for that season, but the beer list is reliable all year.
At a certain hour, it might be time to say goodbye to Rocklin. But if you have a designated driver, an appetite and/or a golden set of pipes, head for Loree’s Little Shack by the Railroad Track for dinner and drinks with a side of karaoke. Loree’s has been open since 1996 but looks much older, probably because it’s in a building that has housed cafes since the 1930s. It has karaoke every night and is known for its tequila selection, tacos served gooey with American cheese and piquant “firebox” pinto beans served in a small mason jar.
You can also end the night at Quarry Park Amphitheatre, an outdoor concert venue that opened in 2016. Bands such as The English Beat, Gin Blossoms and Everclear played on the barnlike stage during the 2025 season while up to 1,500 attendees sat on blankets or low chairs atop the grass.
Vinyl, tlayudas, karaoke and some of the best IPAs in America. Rocklin is worth a visit.
Becky Grunewald is a freelance journalist in the Sacramento region.