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.
To fully experience a city means using all one’s senses: seeing, hearing, touching, smelling and, of course, tasting.
Last Tuesday, I named my 11 Sacramento restaurants that define the city’s dining scene, from the high-brow (Localis, Mulvaney’s B&L) to the low (Jimboy’s Tacos, Đức Hương Sandwiches). By the end of the day, it had become Abridged’s most-read story since our site launched on 9/16.
Putting together a list like this is about feel as much as fact. Longstanding neighborhood institutions deserved their places, but this city and its dining scene have changed drastically over the past 15 years, and omitting newer torchbearers would be a sin of its own. Sacramento’s diversity of residents and cuisines ought to be recognized, with the acknowledgement that sometimes the foods that capture mainstream appeal have to meet taste buds where they are. With no constraints, this list could have easily expanded to 22 or 50 or 100 spots; as it is, I nodded to dozens of additional restaurants Sacramentans should visit outside of the main 11.
Some readers agreed with all 11; others exercised their democratic freedoms in the write-in box at the bottom of the article. We’ve collected roughly 80 write-ins of snubbed restaurants over the past week, with the most popular ones to be shared in an article Thursday. Get your nominations in by midnight!
Still have questions about this list, my job or anything else in the Sacramento area’s food scene? I’ll be hosting an hourlong Reddit AMA on r/sacramento starting at 11 a.m. this Thursday. Pop on and say hi.
Benjy’s Bites
Here’s my favorite item or two from a local restaurant this week. Send me yours at begel@kvie.org.
Tony Baloney’s | 5059 College Oak Drive, Sacramento | 916-334-0274
Tony Baloney’s looks every bit of its 62 years, in all the best ways. The divey Italian deli was founded by the late Tony Recchia in 1963 and had six locations over the years, with the final one remaining in unincorporated Sacramento County north of American River College.
Wood-paneled walls, flowers in old milk jars, plastic Coca-Cola cups and tile-topped tables lend the restaurant some nostalgic charm. You can sit anywhere, Recchia’s widow Dorothy tells customers, with the inherent implication that the single-chaired table covered in photos, newspaper clippings and heartfelt notes remains a shrine to Tony Baloney himself.
There are salads, pizzas and spaghetti with housemade meatballs, but most customers come to Tony’s for the submarine sandwiches ($13.55 for a seven-inch, $15.80 for a footlong), particularly the pepper steak. Chopped steak, green peppers, onions, tomatoes and a liberal dusting of salt and black pepper pile into a toasted roll from Napa’s Sciambra French Bakery.
“We’ve sold a million of those,” my server said, and while that might be hyperbole, the pepper steak sub is so popular that Tony’s keeps its ingredients immediately behind the counter to expedite service. The lean pastrami sub is simple yet excellent as well — just pickle chips, a side container of mild horseradish sauce and some of the most flavorful smoked meat you’ll find at a local sandwich shop.
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 went to a pair of Halloween parties this weekend — a Friday night Davis bash with high school friends who were still partying at 1 a.m. and a family-friendly daytime Little Pocket hang Sunday where kids raced across the backyard. Friday’s hosts offered vibrant his-and-hers potions: pink lemonade and vodka in her “Witches’ Brew,” and a truly vile vat of orange soda, vodka, rum and a hint of Tabasco sauce comprising his exceptionally strong “Flying Dutchman.”
Sunday’s potluck included Costco pizza, the “worms in dirt” pudding cups I’ve been missing since childhood and cookies topped with freakishly realistic but fake cockroaches (half dates stuffed with peanut butter with chocolate legs). My simple contributions: a bottle of cheap wine on Friday, and a plate of ooey-gooey Rice Krispie treats on Sunday.
In The News
Abridged broke news last week of Punch Bowl Social’s impending closure in Downtown Sacramento. Billed as a secondary anchor in Downtown Commons, the 23,000-square foot “eatertainment” venue filled up before Kings games but shut down entirely during the pandemic and watched its parent company file for bankruptcy. It will close by Dec. 24, and 83 employees will be out of jobs.
Pasifika Foods, a new restaurant on Northgate Boulevard, makes Fijian, Samoan and Tongan dishes you won’t find anywhere else in Sacramento. It’s owned by Fijian immigrant Sanjay Mani, who owned Mani’s Curry House in South Sacramento about 15 years ago. Read more here.
Zoe B. Soderstrom’s latest “Cooking In Season” recipe tops honey cardamom panna cotta with the super-ripe Hachiya persimmons available now at area farmers markets. It takes just 20 minutes to make, but needs to chill for two to three hours after.
Happening This Week
- There’s at least a trio of local events worth checking out this Saturday. Rocklin coffee shop Placer Roasting Co. kicks off its “Gilmore Girls” takeover at 8 a.m. with themed drinks and baristas in character. The annual Foothill Wine Festival will drop into Folsom’s Palladio shopping center at 3 p.m., offering tastes from more than 50 wineries for $66.50 (or $116.50 for two people). And Stoney’s Rockin’ Rodeo celebrates its 18th birthday Saturday on Del Paso Boulevard with free garlic chicken from 6-8 p.m. and free late-night spicy biscuits and gravy.
- It’s far from February, but SacTown Mardi Gras is still throwing a party. The local community group’s Jambalaya Festival & Art Exhibit will take over Sammy’s Restaurant from 2-6 p.m. Sunday on Del Paso Boulevard. Admission is $20 for adults, while kids eat free.
- Sushi Kawa just opened in Arden Town Shopping Center at the intersection of Watt Avenue and Fair Oaks Boulevard in Arden Arcade. It’s owned by Andy Zheng, who previously sliced nigiri at Davis’ renowned Hikari Sushi & Omakase. Sushi Kawa is casual by comparison, but still has nine-course omakase service for $60 per person.
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.