After a decade of putting their dream of opening a res-
taurant-slash-brewery together on hold, beer buddies Rob Archie (owner of Curtis Park’s Pangaea Bier Cafe) and Peter Hoey (former head brewer of Sacramento Brewing Company) finally opened this indoor-outdoor biergarten in May 2018. Boasting a 3,300-square-foot shaded patio, Urban Roots features a rotating lineup of suds poured from its 48 tap handles, from house-favorite saisons like the recent Tomorrow’s Verse to hoppy IPAs such as Like Riding a Bike, which won gold at the 2018 California State Fair. If you come for the beer, stay for the barbecue: Executive chef Greg Desmangles slow-smokes his brisket, pork and turkey in a custom 6-ton smoker over cherry and oak logs, and serves them sans sauce (a quintet of house-made sauces act as optional condiments) on metal trays alongside Southern-inspired sides like whipped yams with marshmallows and aged whited cheddar and black pepper grits made with recipes passed down from Desmangles’ Louisianan grandparents.