🚀 go-pugleaf

ouyang@canal.aero.org (Henry OuYang) wrote:

>Anyone have a list of good Sacramento restaurants?  There is no Sacramento 
>newsgroup and I don't know of any websites.

>Thanks,
>Henry

Hi, Henry, 

Here's a bunch of recommendations that were passed on to me last
November when I made a business trip to Sacramento. This list is
special to me since the woman who posted it, Susan Sapirstein, has
since passed away. She was a great friend of this newsgroup. Here's
her posts:

In ba.food, hattie@netcom.com (Susan Hattie Steinsapir) wrote:


>In no order of preference:

>1.  Vallejo's - mexican - 14th & O, and 4th & S  cheap and delicious
>their breakfast is spectacular and a real bargain

>2.  Capitol 6th floor cafeteria - State Capitol 10th & L  go for 
>breakfast; cheap and where the power is; food's good

>3.  Frank Fat's - "L" Street between 9th & 8th - not the world's greatest 
>Chinese food but okay - this is a mainline legislative hangout

>4.  Morton's - "L" at 5th Street - steaks, pretty fancy for Sacramento 
>but great steaks  husband says the martini is very good.

>5.  The Broiler Room - "J" Street at 10th  classic cave-like steak house  
>wonderful steak salad at lunch  huge Porterhouse for $23 with all the 
>trimmings (salad, potato, veggie)

>6.  Lemon Grass Cafe - 9th & "I" Street and Stockton Blvd at Colonial Way 
>(across from the medical center)  great place for lunch.  wonderful 
>salads, great soup, reasonable prices, nice atmosphere

>7.  Megami Bento Ya - 10th Street between "j" and "K"  sushi for lunch at 
>the sushi bar  - very pleasant, good prices, generous servings  go after 
>the lunch rush and Alan is likely the itaemae  - he's a card

>8.  Willie's Burgers - 16th Street and "X"  the quintessential greasy 
>burger in all it's incarnations  cheap and tasty  after hours, this place 
>is sort of a DMZ where you'll find cops, guys who look like suspects, and 
>hoody looking kids

>9.  Tower Cafe  -  16th & Broadway  sort of pretends to be a restaurant 
>but everyone who works there is too busy being cool.  Pricey, strange 
>items.  I do not think Jim what's his name is a genius.  I think he's got 
>a trust fund, a great location and is dumb enough to believe what is 
>written about him.  We ate there and my husband saw this guy and asked 
>me, "Can that man find his way out of the room without help?"  I said, 
>"Hey, that's our host."  The waiters are just like the boss.  For some 
>reason, this place is packed.  Beats me.

>10.  Fuji's - 13th & Broadway   very nice Japanese restaurant that's been 
>around for years.  Nice sushi bar.  The sushi chef is a very nice guy.  
>Fuji's has great food, nice atmosphere, full bar, good service, and is 
>moderately priced.  The Korean strip steak is great.

>11.  Edokko - 5th & Broadway  Japanese noodle house  decent prices, good grub

>12.  New Station - 18th & Broadway   seafood Chinese.  Great food, cheap 
>prices.  Always filled with Chinese families having a great time.

>13.  Andy Ngyugen - 20th & Broadway   Vietnamese, good, reasonably priced 
>- well, cheap

>14.  Zelda's - 21st Street near "O".  World's best pizza.  Cash only 
>joint.  Good selection of beers.  A couple of us would be more than happy 
>to meet you at Zelda's.  I can't say enough about their pizza, so Iwon't 
>try.  After one of Zelda's pizzas, everything else is just tomato sauce 
>on dough.

>15.  City Treasure - "L" Street and 18th  Very nice place   smallish 
>menu.  I haven't eaten here yet but everything I've heard marks it as a 
>quality place.

>16.  Jalisco Taqueria - 16th & D Streets   Clean, authentic taqueria.  
>Tacos are small but very tasty and cheap.  You get a lot of soft drink. 
>The tamales are too small.  I haven't tried a burrito but this is a very 
>nice little place.  Watch the passing parade of Sacramento's less fortunate.

>17.  Paragary's, Bernardo's, Capitol Grill, El Centro   Randy Paragary is 
>trying to capture the food market in Sacramento.  I'm not fond of the 
>Paragary restaurants but I am a dissenting opinion.  YMMV.

>18.  Damn, I am blocking on Biba Caggiano's restaurant.  It's at 28th and 
>Capitol.  Mrs. Caggiano is a celebrity chef, cookbook author, and 
>successful restauranteur.  The food here is excellent.  Make reservations 
>and wear grown-up clothes when youdine there.  It helps to say "Dr." or 
>"Honorable" when you make the reservations.  ,-)  <G>

>These are some picks for downtown Sacramento.  I have some for other 
>areas which I'll post separately.

>And the list continues.  

>19.  Viet Ha  - a Vietnamese place, incredible food, low, low prices - 
>our current favorite.  It's on Florin Road just east of Stockton 
>Boulevard.  They also have a second place 2794 Woodberry Way, corner of 
>Folsom Blvd. and Mills Park Road.  Unless you're a local, you're likely 
>to get lost trying to find the Woodberry Way Viet Ha.

>20.  Ming Wa - Fantastic Chinese seafood and these hotpots.  More food 
>than humans can possible eaten is brought out and one cooks the meat, 
>shrimp, veggies in broth.  I'd suggest going with at least four people, 
>order 2 of the hotpots and then round out the meal.  This place is new 
>and filled with Chinese families having a great time.  There are two 
>menus.  The white person menu and the Chinese menu.  Well, the Cantonese 
>stuff and then the Mandarin cuisine.  Get the fancier menu.  This is a 
>top-notch place and very reasonably priced.  It's on Stockton Boulevard - 
>I'm sorry I lost their business card with the address.  It's south of 
>Fruitridge Road and across the street from one of the larger shopping 
>malls - it's on the west side of the street.

>21.  There are a number of noodle house, small pho places, etc. on this 
>stretch of Stockton Boulevard.  I like the noodle house on the east side 
>of Stockton which looks as if it's in an old fastfood sea food place (it 
>is).   Great selection, low prices.  Sorry can't remember name.

>22.  New Paris Cafe.  This is on Stockton Boulevard across the street 
>from the graveyard and next to the large Chinese grocery store.  I have a 
>soft spot for the New Paris.  The pho is very good.  They have french 
>foodon the menu, but they don't prepare it.

>23.  Scott's.  In Loehman's Plaza at Fair Oaks and Fulton.  Yep, this is 
>Scotts as in Scott's.  The food here is consistently excellent.  They 
>have a nice wine selection; pleasant and accomodating management; 
>sometimes dopey waitresses; and a very comfortable atmosphere.  Try to 
>get one of the booths so you can sink into a banquette.  an everything 
>included dinner with wine will be about $30 a person.  The flank steak 
>with garlic mashed potatoes is wonderful.  They have a delicious pepper 
>charred raw ahi appetizer with wasabi dressing which is my favorite.  I'd 
>recommend Scott's over Mace's which is nearby.  Scott's does the same 
>stuff, has a lovely atmosphere and more reasonable prices.

>24.  Paragary's.  On Fair Oaks, the south side, between Howe and Fulton.  
>Again, I'm not a Paragary's fan but most people like it.

>25.  Caffe Ettore.  On Fair Oaks, in a small strip mall near Paragary's.  
>This is a wonderful bakery, coffee shop, lunch and dinner spot.  It has a 
>European ambiance and is a very pleasant place.  The baked goods are great.

>26.  Sushi Sei.  In same mallette as Caffe Ettore.  This is a cozy 
>Japanese restaurant.  They have a nice sushi bar.  The place is very 
>homey and comfortable.  The food is quite good.

>27.  Cafe Napoli.  In yet another strip mall on the same side of the 
>street as Paragary's, Caffe Ettore and Sushi Sei.  This place is an 
>experience.  It's a pizzareia run by Persians.  So, there are kabobs, 
>too.  The pizzas are very tasty - made in a wood-fired oven.  When Cafe 
>Napoli opened they had the cheapest spaghetti dinner on the planet.  
>Prices have gone up but not to nose bleed proportions.

>28.  Baghdad Cafe.  5800 Madison Avenue.  Turkish food and lots of it.  
>This place is great.  The lamb shishkebab is some of the best I've ever 
>eaten.  I can't say nice enough things about this place.

>29.  Rogelio's at Gold River.  You'll have to call and get the address.  
>This is on my must eat there list.  I have read only positive things 
>about the food here.  The owner was recently featured in an article in 
>the Bee and even if the food turns out to be disappointing (which I 
>doubt), I have nothing but respect for his incredible efforts.  It's 
>supposed to be a very dressy place - it ain't no Toritos.

>I know I'm forgetting stuff....

>30.  Bud's Buffet.  This is a sandwich place on 10th Street between J and 
>K.  Bud prepares all of his own sandwich meats.  The pastrami is very 
>good.  The sandwiches are generous and moderately priced.

>There are other places I could mention which I haven't.  I'm not taking 
>advertising, so I don't have to be nice to anyone.  In general, the Bee's 
>restaurant reviews are pretty good.  The Sacramento News and Review used 
>to be more hard-hitting but then someone got their nose out of joint and 
>the reviews have been kinder and gentler.  Sometimes so kind and gentle 
>that they recommend places which are frankly, in my opinion, awful.

>There are some other little places Ihaven't mentioned because most 
>ofyouhave time constraints when you come here.  Farah, the Persian kosher 
>caterer has a small retail outlet on El Camino Avenue.  Great stuff - 
>stop for falafel.

>You'll notice an absence of Thai.  Sorn Daeng is the best Thai restaurant 
>in Sacramento.  However, on a recent Friday, they were closed.  I hope 
>it's not permanent.  Lemon Grass has a restaurant on Fulton near Fair 
>Oaks; some Thai dishes are served.  The Siam Palace on Franklin is just 
>okay.  It's very expensive for what you get and very standard.

>I hope this helps.  If you just need a quick sandwich, one of the best 
>places is Safeway on Alhambra.  They make a monster sammy for $3.50.  Get 
>a 25 cent soda from the machine in front of the store.  Go over to 
>McKinley Park and sit on a bench near the pond and watch the ducks, geese 
>and other waterfowl.  Life is sweet.
>-- 
>Yours, Susan
>_____________________________________________________________________________
>Susan Hattie Steinsapir       hattie@netcom.com        Sacramento, California

>  	 Nov. Recipes: Southwestern Matzoh Balls, Savory Muffins, 
>		Pomegranate Jelly and Syrup, & Cheese Kugel
>                     http://www.andreas.com/susan.html



Of these places, I tried Vallejo's (great Mexican breakfast), the
State Capitol (skip it), Zelda's (great!), Biba's (also terrifc, but
expensive) and Fuji's (wonderful sushi.

Good eating!

David Goldsmith