Best meals I ate at Sacramento restaurants in April: Food reporter’s notebook

A meal’s setting can stand out as much as what’s on the plate.

That was clear at Loomis plant nursery, where salad greens are grown within sight of brunch munchers, or at an Uzbek food truck by a busy North Highlands road.

Location can be about convenience, too. An eye-catching Thai restaurant would be a worthy coda to any shopping trip at West Sacramento’s Ikea, while Natomas workers make up the lunchtime crowd at a poke joint.

These were the best restaurants that I, The Sacramento Bee’s food and drink reporter, dined at over the month of April.

All of these reviews were first published in The Bee’s free weekly food and drink newsletter; visit https://t.news.sacbee.com/webApp/mccSignUp?newsletter=sacbee_food_drink_newsletter to sign up.

High-Hand Cafe

A segment of Placer County already knows High-Hand Cafe as a go-to spot for birthday brunches and bridal showers. The rest of the region would do well to visit the restaurant within Loomis’ High-Hand Nursery, where a bevy of plants and a koi pond create an amiable backdrop for breakfast and lunch.

Scott Paris opened the nursery in 2003 and proceeded to build out a multifaceted complex on more than 40,000 square feet. It has an olive oil and vinegar shop, an on-site brewery, a boutique, an art gallery, a lumber showroom, a jewelry store, a scented candle shop, even a stage for concerts.

A separate coffee shop sells High-Hand fruit butters, olives, pickles and more to-go. Some of the High-Hand Cafe’s menu comes from the grounds, too, such as the butter lettuce for the grilled salmon salad ($25) with avocado and a sesame vinaigrette.

The almond wood bacon and pear pizza ($23) felt like a true High-Hand production as well. The meat was house-smoked, and the pie was baked in a wood-fired pizza oven. Topped with caramelized onions, a caramelly fig reduction and a restrained handful of bleu cheese, its chewy crust bubbled up into giant corniciones.

Savory, sour and sweet collided on the chicken cider sandwich ($18, including a side of potato or pasta salad). The symphony of flavors met on housemade bread (pies and brownies are baked in-house, too) with brie, apple butter, Granny Smith slices and walnuts.

Address: 3790 Taylor Road, Loomis.

Hours: 11 a.m.-3 p.m. Tuesday-Friday, 9 a.m.-3 p.m. Saturday and Sunday, closed Monday.

Phone number: (916) 660-0117, Extension 3.

Website: https://www.highhandnursery.com/taste-the-cafe/

Drinks: Full bar; beers are brewed on-site.

Animal-free options: Many vegetarian choices, including a southwestern veggie omelet or mandarin salad. Some can be made vegan.

Noise level: Pleasant outside, slightly louder indoors.

Manaao Thai Cuisine

Ikea’s Swedish meatballs may be hard to pass up, but there’s a more vibrant, tastier alternative a short drive away from the furniture store’s West Sacramento location. Manaao Thai Cuisine is Wantana Rusjan and Paul Phoonset’s family-run restaurant, serving Thai classics as well as regional fortes.

Rusjun’s parents opened Manaao in 2009 after immigrating from northeastern Thailand, also known as Isan, an economically-depressed region where most people are ethnically Lao. Sticky rice and meat skewers rule Isan cuisine, and “Mom’s Specialty” still gets its own section on the menu.

That section and one called “back menu” are home to Manaao’s most interesting dishes, such as a hot pot stew called tom zabb kra dook moo ($19). Pork ribs, white button mushrooms and coconut meat swam in a restorative broth that was tangy, spicy and salty.

The poo nim pad pong karee ($20) is worth ordering as well. Its star is deep-fried soft-shell crab, the crunch of which can barely be heard through an earthy yellow curry with mushrooms, orange tomatoes and bell peppers.

Pla pad cha ($20) looked like a spice lover’s dream, its tender white fish surrounded by yellow peppercorns, garlic chili paste and green pepper slices. In reality, it was reserved enough to enjoy the sublimely-cooked protein, though a plastic cauldron of rice is still recommended.

Address: 715 Harbor Pointe Place, Suite 200, West Sacramento.

Hours: 11 a.m.-3 p.m. and 4:30-9:30 p.m. Monday-Friday, 11 a.m.-9 p.m. Saturday and Sunday. Happy hour is a convenient 6-9 p.m. on weekdays.

Phone number: (916) 572-0792

Website: http://manaaothaisac.com/

Drinks: Full bar; soft drinks include sodas and Thai iced tea.

Animal-free options: Many, though they’re Thai restaurant staples rather than the more obscure dishes.

Noise level: Surprisingly quiet, given the concrete floors.

Poke Fix

You smell the essence of Poke Fix the moment you walk in. It’s warm, relaxed, in tune with the mellow hip-hop playing from the speakers. It’s the scent of workers on their lunch breaks, and platters of fish baking in the oven.

The poke shop across from Natomas Marketplace shopping center opened in 2017 with bright lights, packaged Hawaiian snacks and intriguing build-your-own-bowl options. Proteins include spicy garlic tuna, albacore, Japanese scallops, and while brown rice and sushi rice are my go-to bases, zoodles are an option as well.

An Oahu-raised friend once complained to me that most Sacramento poke places just throw fish onto a rice bowl and cover it with sauces, rather than marinating it for hours beforehand. Well, Poke Fix passed that test with its Hawaiian bowl ($14), a tropical mix of salty ahi, pineapple chunks, cucumber slices and sesame shoyu.

The nori-wrapped flamin’ tuna burrito ($16) was essentially split into two halves. One had the fire of raw jalapeños, sriracha and tuna covered in spicy mayo; on the other side, fried onions, cucumber, imitation crab mix and (strangely) lettuce did their best to cool the mouth.

There are basic sushi rolls and cooked items, too, including miso-glazed salmon ($14). While the 5-ounce piece of fish had a crispy exterior and a creamy drizzle that formed a pretty cross-hatch pattern, I found it a little overcooked and less enticing than the fatty raw salmon available in poke bowls.

Address: 3880 Truxel Road, Suite 200, Sacramento.

Hours: 11 a.m.-3 p.m. Tuesday-Friday, 9 a.m.-3 p.m. Saturday and Sunday, closed Monday.

Phone number: (916) 333-4366.

Website: http://www.thepokefix.com/

Drinks: Beer, a soda fountain and various canned teas and juices.

Animal-free options: Only one, a vegetarian bowl with tofu, avocado, wakame, edamame, seasonal fruit and more. Build-your-own bowls can be made vegan as well.

Noise level: Low.

Caravan Uzbek Cuisine

Caravan Uzbek Cuisine is the Sacramento region’s only eatery dedicated to the foods of Uzbekistan, a Central Asian nation of 35 million people. Far from the heart of Sacramento and with no seating, this North Highlands halal food truck needs to be intentionally sought out.

Couple and owners Farkhod Soatov and Aziza Ibragim grew up in Uzbekistan’s capital city of Tashkent, then immigrated, moved to Sacramento and opened Caravan in a lot near the corner of Watt Avenue and Elkhorn Boulevard in 2020.

Uzbek food shares some similarities with Afghan or Persian cuisines, with influences from Silk Road trade and centuries of Russian/Soviet control. Grains and meat dominate the landlocked country’s culinary landscape, though pork is rare because most people are Muslim.

Caravan only serves five items when fully stocked, and the truck was sadly out of kebabs (chicken, ground lamb or shish kebabs) and kazan kebabs (a lamb-and-potato Uzbek dish) on my visit. I was most disappointed not to try lagman, a hearty beef noodle stew.

Uzbekistan’s national dish, pilaf ($12, also known as plov), was available. Spiced long-grain rice formed a base for soft garbanzo beans, sweet roasted carrots, raisins and fatty beef fried in a manner similar to carnitas.

The other option was shawarma ($10), with a choice of shaved beef, chicken or lamb to go inside cross-hatched grilled pita. Ask for a side of the creamy orange housemade hot sauce with a quick kick; it’ll brighten up the cabbage/cucumber/bell pepper slaw inside the wrap.

Address: 3525 Elkhorn Blvd., North Highlands.

Hours: 12-8 p.m. Monday through Saturday, closed Sunday.

Phone number: (916)860-7777.

Website: https://www.instagram.com/caravangoodfood.

Drinks: Canned sodas.

Animal-free options: None.

Noise level: No seating; road noise moderately high, if you choose to enjoy your food on-site.