Benjy Egel

2 months ago | yahoo.com | Benjy Egel

Smash burgers in midtown Sacramento. Vietnamese-inspired cocktails in Folsom. Indian fusion in Antelope. Philly cheesesteaks in Fair Oaks. These 17 new restaurants opened across 12 Sacramento-area cities in March 2025, adding new places to eat in nearly every corner of the region. Four restaurants opened in Sacramento proper, while two opened in Rocklin and Elk Grove. Roseville, Rio Linda, Davis, Fair Oaks, Cool, Folsom, Antelope, Placerville and Woodland all added one apiece.

2 months ago | sacbee.com | Benjy Egel

Folsom’s most ambitious restaurant concept is shutting its doors after less than nine months in business. Its replacement: Placer County’s favorite taco joint. High-end Northeastern Mexican restaurant Cantina Pedregal will close April 19, its operators announced Thursday. It’ll rebrand as the second location for Nixtaco, Patricio Wise and Cinthia Martinez’s acclaimed Roseville taqueria and distillery, at 185 Placerville Road, Suite 150 in Folsom Pointe shopping center.

2 months ago | sacbee.com | Benjy Egel

Craig Haarmeyer can sum up chenin blanc, the varietal for which his West Sacramento winery is known, in just four words. “Chardonnay without training wheels.”The versatile, affordable white wine is enjoying a resurgence among California winemakers, as well as some tuned-in customers. That’s good news for farmers 20 minutes south of Sacramento in Clarksburg, where chenin blanc has been the keystone grape for decades.

2 months ago | sacbee.com | Benjy Egel

Grab-and-go dim sum in the Pocket. An award-winning burger in Curtis Park. Neapolitan-style pizza in Placer County. Afghan, Mediterranean and American dishes between the same brick walls in East Sacramento. These were the best restaurant meals that I, The Sacramento Bee’s food and drink writer, ate in March 2025. Each review was first published in my free weekly newsletter on Sacramento-area food and drink happenings.

2 months ago | sacbee.com | Benjy Egel

Behind nearly every Sacramento-area restaurant of note, there’s only one brick-walled fish market on Broadway. Most major Sacramento-area restaurants source seafood from Sunh Fish, Nguyen Pham’s store at 1313 Broadway. Founded by Pham’s parents in 1985, it’s the supplier for the upper echelon of Kru Contemporary Japanese Cuisine, Allora, Localis and The Kitchen, as well as comparatively casual places like Kansai Ramen & Sushi House and Bawk.