Sacramento Restaurants
Your Friends and New Neighbor
The Urban Roots team moves into midtown’s Ice Blocks and creates a retro-cool hangout spot with Good Neighbor. Order a wood-fired pizza for the table, then get the flame-broiled burger and pavé fries for yourself.
Stepping Up
When the beloved Dad’s Kitchen closed in 2024, a family of veteran restaurateurs swooped in to resurrect the space. Enter Stepdad’s, the cozy Land Park restaurant by the owners of The Jungle Bird, Tank House and Camden Spit & Larder that makes you instantly feel right at home.
In the Name of the Mother
With Chu Mai, James Beard Award-nominated chef Billy Ngo honors his mom and the dishes he grew up loving, while putting his own spin on Vietnamese and Chinese classics. The result is a noteworthy new restaurant whose dishes taste both comfortingly familiar and excitingly fresh.
Paradise Found
Marrying old-world charm with new-world optimism, V’s Paradise in Old Sacramento is a love letter to our city’s rich immigrant history. A classic American steakhouse with a dash of Asian-inspired umami and a sprinkle of Armenian spices, it’s a destination restaurant where the menu is brimming with unexpected flavor twists.
Double the Dumplings
For many, the journey to Journey to the Dumpling just got a whole lot easier. The celebrated Elk Grove restaurant has expanded into midtown, introducing its signature 18-pleat XLB, hand-pulled noodles and other hot and steamy chopstickery to a new group of dumpling devotees.
Cheese the Day
The same thin sourdough crust, zesty sauce and “world-renowned” cheese. Almost triple the space in which to serve up his slices of heaven. After going lean during the pandemic, the proprietor of Pizza Supreme Being goes all in with an expanded downtown showcase for his one-of-a-kind pies.
Where the Chefs Eat
Who’s hungry? We are! Which got us thinking: “Who better to ask for great restaurant recommendations than a bunch of the region’s top chefs?” We’re talking Michelin-rated chefs, as well as chefs who have cooked for U.S. presidents, one who has won a James Beard Award, and more. In all, we asked 15 local culinary leaders where they like to go after they’ve hung up their aprons. And trust us, their answers—which ranged from celebrated white-tablecloth establishments to casual hidden gems—didn’t disappoint. So if you’re not hungry now, well, you’re about to be.
Ramen Revival
Shoki devotees, rejoice: Two years after closing their last beloved noodle nook, husband-wife owners Yasushi and Kathy Ueyama relaunch with a smaller menu but bigger flavors. Can we get a ramen amen?
Love Shack
The Urban Roots team brings new life to a beloved East Sacramento hangout, retaining its unique flavor while reimagining it with a Mexican comfort menu. Cervecería at The Shack, welcome to the neighborhood.
Chow Bella
Willow serves up love, Southern Italian style, with a side of colorful and texture-rich décor. After three tough pandemic-impacted years, the downtown restaurant scene is looking up.
Planting Ideas
At Burger Patch’s new Land Park location, husband-and-wife owners Phil and Danea Horn think outside the vegan bun and launch an innovation lab, where they’ll be cooking up new creative plant-based concepts. Fishless fish tacos, anyone?
The Boy with the Dragon Tattoo
The list of his regulars reads like a Rolodex of Sacramento’s culinary elite. Randall Selland. Molly Hawks. Ginger Elizabeth. Now, two years after opening the sophisticated expansion of his celebrated restaurant Kru—known for its exquisitely crafted sushi—top chef Billy Ngo is going underground, literally, for a new venture with a concept as unpretentious as he is: a basement ramen bar. How did a boy born in a Hong Kong refugee camp become a thirtysomething star of Japanese cuisine in Sacramento? The story, it turns out, is written in ink. On his skin. And luckily, for those who haven’t seen him naked, it’s also told in the pages that follow.
Where The Chefs Eat
So where do the ultimate foodies go? We asked 20 of our region’s top chefs where they like to grab a great meal when they hang up the apron in their own kitchens. Their answers ranged from Michelin-rated hot spots to hole-in-the-wall neighborhood gems. Armed with these tasty restaurant recommendations from our most in-the-know gourmands, get ready to tuck in that napkin and chow down around town.
On Sale Now!
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