Au revoir to French pastries at this beloved Sacramento sweets store
Ginger Elizabeth Chocolates made some of the best pastries in Sacramento. Its namesake loathed doing so.
The midtown Sacramento chocolate shop will no longer make baked goods aside from macarons, founder Ginger Elizabeth Hahn announced in an Instagram video last week.
No more airy pain au chocolat, no more fluffy almond cakes, no more bourbon-soaked monkey bread.
But for Hahn, the change means no more baking at 2 a.m. and no more managing the rollout of 200 items per year. She plans to grow Ginger Elizabeth’s online store, teach more cooking classes and perhaps expanding to another brick-and-mortar location.
“All it did was like pretty much not only kind of ruin my life, but it took away from my creative energy with the things that I love, which would be chocolate,” Hahn said in a phone interview. “I don’t like baking viennoiserie. It’s not something that I personally like.”
Pastry chef Daniel Lindsey did much of the baking, but Hahn had trouble finding other employees to work before the crack of dawn, she said.
Fans might have sensed something was amiss when Ginger Elizabeth discontinued the city’s best breakfast sandwich in June. Lathered with tomato jam and made using ingredients from five Sacramento-area family farms, the $12 sandwiches would have had to cost about $25 to make a profit once labor and other expenses were factored in, she said.
Customers bought about 20 breakfast sandwiches per weekday and about 150 on Saturdays, Hahn said. When the sandwich was discontinued, she heard about it.
“If those people who complained all the time wanted to come in every week and get a breakfast sandwich, maybe it’s something that I would have kept doing. Probably not,” Hahn said. “But when asked where I want to see the company in five to 10 years, no scrambled eggs came into my mind. No croissants came into my mind.”
Hahn and her husband Tom, who have separated but remain business partners, closed their original chocolate shop in the Handle District last summer after 16 years to consolidate operations at 2413 J St., Suite 120. They also closed a San Francisco location in 2020, moving much of the furniture to the J Street location, which they own.
Breakfast sandwiches and pastries came into the fold when that new store opened in October 2020, but Ginger Elizabeth’s business was built on chocolates and macarons, the latter of which account for 35% to 40% of store revenue, Hahn said. Ginger Elizabeth will continue to offer macaron ice cream sandwiches and desserts such as pots de crème in addition to chocolate bon bons.
What I’m Eating
Yerevan Bar & Restaurant is illuminated by a glowing green light around the building, one that stands out as you drive Fair Oaks Boulevard in Carmichael. Green remains the theme inside the Sacramento region’s most expressly Armenian restaurant as well, the color of the chairs, curtains and faux foliage that give a cooling effect in a refined dining room.
Founded by Akob Darmoyan in March 2023 and named after Armenia’s capital, Yerevan has quickly become a cultural gathering spot for Sacramentans with roots in the Caucasus region. The menu is dotted with hard-to-find dishes with roots in Armenia and neighboring countries, and a banquet hall was holding a raucous party on our Friday night visit.
Lavash, bread and hummus are complementary, but you might want to order ajika ($10) as well. A Georgian red pepper dip, its smoky flavor stood out amid a current of medium heat.
Don’t miss khinkali ($16), four giant Georgian soup dumplings with plateaued flat tops that are essentially a West Asian version of xiaolongbao. To eat: hold a dumpling by its thick stem, flip upside-down, bite a small hole and suck the broth out. Eat away at the dumpling, including the beef patty inside, before discarding the stem.
Armenian barbecue skewers called khorovats are a national dish, and while pork is a go-to, the chicken lula kebab ($29) made for an herb-forward, tasty collection of ground meat. Adventurous eaters would do well to try the nicely-cooked tvjvik ($29), beef liver and hearts stewed with peppers and onions in a tomato broth.
Yerevan Bar & Restaurant
Address: 7600 Fair Oaks Blvd., Carmichael.
Hours: 4-10 p.m. Tuesday-Thursday, 4-11 p.m. Friday, 2-11 p.m. Saturday, 12-10 p.m. Sunday, closed Monday.
Phone: (916) 620-9999.
Website: https://yerevansac.com/
Drinks: A fledgling bar program comprised of standard cocktails and a few choice liquors and wines.
Vegetarian options: Borscht, salads and few other options.
Noise level: Loud.
Openings & Closings
▪ Flora & Fauna will open its brick-and-mortar downtown Sacramento cafe on Feb. 5 on the ground floor of Park Tower at 980 Ninth St. Angelika Feldman launched Flora & Fauna as a catering company in 2022 with a focus on locally-sourced, seasonal ingredients.
▪ Burly’s Bar & Market permanently closed last Saturday, less than eight months after the vegan eatery opened at 2014 Del Paso Blvd. in Old North Sacramento. Owner Gabriel Aiello will continue making shrubs, sodas and other beverages under the Burly Beverages brand.
▪ Downtown Sacramento food hall The Bank is temporarily closing for renovations, but at least one vendor will shut down for good. Sac Poke Bros’ last day in business will be Friday, the coda on five years of Hawaiian-inspired poke bowls at 629 J St.
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