How Hawaiian and Samoan foods define Sacramento’s most exciting new restaurant
Muagututia Tuala-Tamaalelagi, better known as “Chef T,” moved to the mainland United States to learn how to be a chef, and still plans to take his skills back to American Samoa one day. For the time being, he’s changing Sacramento’s dining scene.
Fresh Off Da Boat by Chef T, Tuala-Tamaalelagi’s brick-and-mortar restaurant after a year of catering, opened to hourslong lines on Jan. 21 in a nondescript North Natomas business park next to Federico Beauty Institute.
The counter-service restaurant at 1515 Sports Drive, Suite 300 is not only a rare Sacramento concept dedicated to Hawaiian and Samoan foods, but a burgeoning cultural touchpoint for Pacific Islanders around the region.
“It’s like you’re walking into a street market in the islands,“ Tuala-Tamaalelagi said. “Everybody knows each other, everybody greets each other, and that’s the atmosphere I want to bring in here in this place.”
Fresh Off Da Boat is Tuala-Tamaalelagi’s way to bring Polynesian street food to mainlanders without much knowledge of Hawaiian or Samoan cuisines. Menu descriptions are straightforward, but attentive diners can find Tuala-Tamaalelagi’s stamp on just about every dish.
Starchy taro replaces potatoes in Fresh Off Da Boat’s chips and fries, which accompany ruby-red tuna poke or mahi-mahi fish and chips. The FOB Shrimp, a dish Tuala-Tamaalelagi likens to Polynesian shrimp-and-grits, comes on top of the coconut cream rice (alaisa fa’apopo) that the chef grew up eating. Corned beef and cabbage might not seem like an island dish, except that the meat is actually a Samoan variation called povi masima that’s brined and braised in-house.
Tuala-Tamaalelagi and his cooks make all they can from scratch, from the sriracha ginger aioli drizzled on poke to the cassava cakes supporting lau lau. Beef patties for the two loco mocos, a breakfast option with country gravy or a lunch item with the traditional brown gravy, are ground and formed in-house.
Tuala-Tamaalelagi came to the mainland to attend Le Cordon Bleu in Pasadena, and stuck around Southern California to work as a sous chef for Wolfgang Puck’s catering operation.
He was the chef de cuisine at Ledlow, a now-closed modern diner in downtown Los Angeles, then followed his wife Jacinta Seiuli — another native of American Samoa, and Fresh Off Da Boat’s business manager — up to Sacramento after she became pregnant with their first child in 2016.
An executive chef gig at Rancho Cordova’s Marriott hotel followed, then the COVID-19 pandemic put Tuala-Tamaalelagi out of work. He began throwing Fresh Off Da Boat pop-ups around the Sacramento region, attracting fans with and without island roots. When traditional dancers celebrated the restaurant’s grand opening on Jan. 21, some customers waited three hours for food, Tuala-Tamaalelagi said.
Tuala-Tamaalelagi is already scouting future Fresh Off Da Boat locations around the area. For now, the new restaurant is open from 9 a.m to 7 p.m. Tuesday-Friday, until 4 p.m. on Saturday and closed Sunday and Monday.
What I’m Eating
Southeast Asia has monsoon season; Sacramento had the 60 mph gusts and sporadic rainfall that whipped the region on Sunday. I braved the elements for a bowl of noodle soup at Saigon Oi, Hung Kieu’s Vietnamese restaurant that opened in a Little Saigon shopping center in 2021.
Faux green shutters decorate some of Saigon Oi’s walls, showcasing illustrations of the historic, sprawling Bến Thành Market in Ho Chi Minh City. Another wall bears faux brick and a neon sign with the restaurant’s name, and others have the fake foliage made for Instagram shots (real potted plants line the floor, too).
It’s a restaurant for the 2020s that pays homage to Vietnamese comfort foods. Take the bánh mì chảo ($19), a skillet of filet mignon, pork roll, meatball and a mound of pâté swimming in a sweet-savory sauce with a fried egg peeking skyward. Typically eaten for breakfast (Saigon Oi opens at 9 a.m. daily), it’s served with an airy baguette that delivers an ASMR-worthy crunch with a gentle squeeze.
You’re more likely to find bánh khọt ($16) in Sacramento’s Vietnamese American households than its restaurants, so try the savory miniature pancakes topped with shrimp while you have the chance. Served sizzling in their skillet, the small cup-like pancakes are chewy with a thin crispy exterior, the result of rice flour used in baking.
Saigon Oi doesn’t make pho, but offered bún bò Huế ($18) as a soul-warming special given the outdoor elements. A noodle soup stocked with thinly-sliced steak, meatballs and coagulated pork blood, it tasted woodsier and less spicy than some other Little Saigon renditions.
Saigon Oi
Address: 6835 Stockton Blvd., Suite 450, Sacramento.
Hours: 10 a.m.-5 p.m. Thursday-Tuesday, closed Wednesday.
Phone: (916) 594-7757.
Website: https://www.saigonoisac.com/
Drinks: Vietnamese coffee, dessert drinks known as chè, tea, and soda.
Vegetarian options: No mains. Appetizers include egg rolls and sweet potato fries.
Noise level: Medium-loud.
Openings & Closings
▪ I Heart Mac & Cheese opened its first area location Monday at 1631 K St. in midtown Sacramento. The Florida-based chain whips up loaded flatbreads, grilled cheese sandwiches and bowls of cheesy pasta, with vegan options for the lactose-averse.
▪ Holaloha Fusion Restaurant & Bar will begin greeting customers Sunday at 9580 Oak Avenue Parkway, Suite 8 in Folsom ahead of its grand opening on Feb. 17. The Hawaiian-Mexican fusion concept will have a cocktail bar and will release its food menu in the coming days.
▪ Happy Dumplings House is now open at 8469 Elk Grove Blvd., Suite 8 in Elk Grove’s Laguna 99 Plaza. The Chinese restaurant specializes in dumplings filled with pork, chives or shrimp.
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