Best restaurant meals I ate around Sacramento in June | Food reporter’s notebook
Summer heat finally started to descend on greater Sacramento this June. The region’s food scene has bites to match.
Pick up terrific Italian sandwiches for a lake day or office lunch, dive into Cali-Mex fusion at a new-ish taco bar or end the day with time-tested sangria and Puerto Rican food on Broadway.
These reviews were first published in The Sacramento Bee’s free weekly food and drink newsletter, which hits inboxes at noon each Wednesday. Visit https://bit.ly/bee_food_drink_newsletter to sign up.
Lola’s Lounge (2424 16th St., Sacramento)
Tower Cafe has one of Sacramento’s best (and best-known) patios. Across the street, a less-heralded patio combines Latin American thatched-roof beachy vibes with the greenery of a plant nursery.
You can eat indoors at Lola’s Lounge, Annette Serrano’s Puerto Rican/Spanish restaurant at 16th Street and Broadway. But it’s more fun to sip a glass of sangria ($11) made from a 90-year-old recipe in the comfort of “el jardín de elda,” the dinner-only restaurant and bar’s hummingbird-friendly outdoor garden.
Named for Serrano’s daughter, Lola’s Lounge first opened in Elk Grove before jumping to central Sacramento in 2019. It’s one of the few places around to get dishes such as pastelón ($18), a sweet-savory layered dish made with plantains, ground turkey, tomato salsa and cheese and sometimes referred to as Puerto Rican lasagna.
More eye-catching was the paella ($50, serves two), a mixed-up pan of chicken, shrimp, chorizo, mussels and clams baked over saffron rice and topped with potato chips, of all things. A fun dish to share, but I could have done with a little less spice to better taste the delicate saffron.
Address: 2424 16th St., Sacramento.
Hours: 5-9 p.m. Tuesday and Wednesday, 5-10 p.m. Thursday-Saturday, closed Sunday and Monday.
Phone number: (916) 389-0429.
Website: https://lolaslounge.net/
Drinks: Full bar.
Animal-free options: Not many, aside from an intriguing salad with beets, ricotta, pistachios and a guava vinaigrette.
Noise level: Low outside, slightly louder inside.
Dominick’s Italian Restaurant & Deli
You’ll find some of Placer County’s best sandwiches at Dominick’s Italian Restaurant & Deli in Granite Bay Village Shopping Center. Founded by Dominick and Raquel Bellizzi in 2003, then sold to David and Heather Galasso last year, it’s split between a more upscale dining room and a busy deli/market with only outdoor seating.
The Godfather Hero ($11 for a half sandwich, $18 for a full) is everything you’d want from an Italian sandwich. The salty capicola, soppressata and prosciutto cut through rich mozzarella and grilled eggplant, all nestled snugly in rustic Italian bread baked in-house daily.
Celebrating the Season 2 launch of “The Bear” last week? Try Dominick’s take on the Chicago Italian beef hero ($9/$16), jammed with hot peppers and served with an equally spicy rosemary au jus.
Tuna salad can often be ruined by heavy-handed scoops of mayonnaise, but Dominick’s terrific housemade rendition showed restraint there, adding flavor via lots of black pepper instead. You can get it in the tuna salad hero ($10/$17), or in a to-go container for $17/pound.
Address: 8621 Auburn Folsom Road, Granite Bay.
Hours: 10 a.m.-8 p.m. Monday-Thursday, 10 a.m.-8:30 p.m. Friday and Saturday, 10 a.m.-3 p.m. Sunday.
Phone number: (916) 786-3355.
Website: https://dominicksmarketdeli.com/
Drinks: Full bar in restaurant; wine, beer and soft drinks in the deli.
Animal-free options: A few, including a grilled eggplant/roasted peppers/mozzarella/sun-dried tomato sandwich, caprese panini or cheese pizzas in the deli.
Noise level: Medium-loud in deli, medium-quiet in restaurant.
West Coast Taco Bar
West Coast Taco Bar is every bit as Cali-Mex as its name would imply. Ivan and Cynthia Garcia moved north from San Diego and opened their first food truck in 2019, mixing and melding flavors inside tortillas from across the culinary map.
The food truck still circles Sacramento hotspots, but West Coast Taco Bar now has a home base. The Garcias opened their turqoise-and-white taqueria in an Elk Grove shopping center in November, replete with a faux ivy wall and a neon pink sign reading “tacos up, pinkies out.”
Tacos are only available in sets of three ($10.75), four ($13.75) or five ($16.50), with more than half of the eight options an additional 50- to 75-cent surcharge. The sweet, ginger-marinated steak in the Korean Seoul taco was a hit; other highlights included chicharrón (pork belly) topped with chicharrones (fried pork rinds) and zesty salsa in the Anaheim pig, or the Sac Town fire’s terrific garlic shrimp in a mole rojo-dipped tortilla.
Many folks know West Coast for its bitchin’ Cali burrito ($15), a monstrous mass that was voted the region’s best burrito in a 2020 Sacramento Bee poll. Carne asada, garlic shrimp, fries, guacamole and shredded cheese piled inside an XL flour tortilla with a creamy chipotle sauce, creating a gut-buster that’s nearly as good the next day.
The well-executed cosecha salad ($8) was the lightest option on the menu. Crunchy Romaine lettuce formed the base for bright cherry tomatoes, avocado, roasted corn and Cajun-spiced pepitas, all topped by cilantro-lime ranch (and chicken, for $4 more).
Address: 8791 Elk Grove Blvd., Elk Grove.
Hours: 11 a.m.-8 p.m. Tuesday-Thursday, 11 a.m.-9 p.m. Friday and Saturday, 11 a.m.-4 p.m. Sunday, closed Monday.
Phone number: (916) 647-4542
Website: https://www.westcoasttacobar.com/
Drinks: Coconut horchata, watermelon agua fresca and sodas.
Animal-free options: A few, including the salad and multiple tacos.
Noise level: Medium.
