This California company grows caviar in a lab. It looks good, but how does it taste?

Caviar brings to mind opulence, Wall Street, maybe that one scene in “Big.” And of course, sturgeon farms out in the boonies of greater Sacramento.

The last idea may be wishful thinking for area producers, but Sacramento County does account for 80% of the United States’ domestic caviar. UC Davis researchers realized the California Delta’s native sturgeon could be cultivated in the late 1970s, leading to a luxury industry developed in Elverta and Wilton, as readers might remember from my January story.

Today, a UC Davis-affiliated start-up called Optimized Foods is trying to take the next step with cultured caviar, otherwise known as lab-grown caviar (they don’t like that label because of its negative connotations).

Founded by Maja Segerman Nielsen and Minami Ogawa in April 2021, Optimized Foods has since grown to 10 employees. Some work out of a lab led by UC Davis Department of Viticulture & Enology Chair David Block, while others check in to Optimized Foods’ off-campus office.

The process begins with a biopsy taken from a live sturgeon, the cells from which are then attached to mycelium “scaffolding” that acts as a womb. Those cells are fed nutrients and proteins in a controlled lab environment, causing them to mature into an egg around the mycelium.

After a few weeks, the cells and mycelium structure are removed for post-production salting and packaging. No animals are harmed in the making of the caviar (the sturgeon are administered a local anesthetic prior to the biopsy), one reason along with environmental and supply issues that people are excited about cultivated meats’ potential.

“It might be a few years from now that cultured meat becomes integrated as a normal food, but it really is for those future generations,” said Ogawa, a third-year Ph.D candidate at UC Davis. “We’re not taking over the current, traditional meat space. It’s more like, ‘how can we help supplement it so we can feed a growing population?’”

Cultured meat has yet to be legalized for commercial consumption in the United States, or most other countries around the world. But that hasn’t stopped companies from pouring hundreds of millions of dollars into developing pre-market trials in anticipation of changing laws.

The Food and Drug Administration approved Emeryville-based Upside Foods’ lab-grown chicken on Nov. 16, though other federal requirements must be met before it can go to market. Singapore is the only country to have approved cultured meat for public consumption, giving San Francisco-based Eat Just the green light to sell cultured chicken there in 2020.

Pricey production costs are another obstacle, but Optimized Foods is betting they can be absorbed better into luxury commodities such as caviar than staples such as beef or pork. Whenever that approval comes, Optimized Foods plans to cell — excuse me, sell — its cultured caviar to high-end chefs for about $1,500-$2,000 per kilogram rather than straight to home consumers.

So what does Optimized Foods’ cultured caviar taste like? I’ll be honest: it’s not a perfect replica yet, in my opinion. While the tiny black pearls’ appearance and texture are nearly indiscernible from farmed sturgeon eggs, they taste considerably yeastier, with less of that fish-forward flavor one would expect.

Still, it’s an exciting development in Sacramento’s backyard in a rapidly-evolving field. Don’t be surprised if they’ve worked out the kinks by the time cultured meat becomes available in the U.S. restaurants.

What I’m Eating

During Al Santos’ first week of Little League, a coach asked him what kind of name “Santos” was. Portuguese, he replied. That started a nickname he still hasn’t shaken: “Portugoose,” or simply “Goose.”

Thus goes the story behind Goose Port Public House, Santos’ sports bar that opened in 2019 at 316 Vernon St. in downtown Roseville.

A few heritage dishes such as torresmos de vinha d’alhos (wine-marinated crackling pork) or sausage sandwiches from Tracy-based butcher shop Fernandes Sao Jorge Linguiça are marked with a Portuguese flag on the paper menus. But most options are familiar sports bar fare, so plan your visit around a bimonthly Portuguese Heritage Night if that’s what you’re after.

On normal days, consider sharing the enormous spicy poke nacho platter ($15) with your group. This fusion-friendly dish has become something of a refined sports bar staple, but few other places seem to include tuna sashimi, pineapple and serrano chilis over their beds of wonton chips, and with such eye-grabbing presentation.

The Vernon Street chicken sandwich ($15 with a side of fries) is a slightly more mature succession to the fried chicken craze, which seems to have cooled a bit recently. A grilled chicken breast, half-melted havarti and arugula packed were into a bolillo roll, and got a nice amount of contrast from pickled red onions and sweet bacon jam.

Address: 316 Vernon St., Roseville.

Hours: 11 a.m.-8 p.m. Monday-Wednesday, 11 a.m.-9 p.m. Thursday, 11 a.m.-10 p.m. Friday, 10 a.m.-10 p.m. Saturday, 9 a.m.-8 p.m. Sunday.

Phone Number: (916) 886-5080.

Website: https://gooseport.com/

Drinks: full bar, including 22 taps and some Portuguese wines.

Animal-free options: Not many, but they include a vegan cheeseburger, a falafel wrap and a house salad.

Accessibility: Two parking spots have ADA exemptions, and all outdoor tables have heat lamps for the COVID-conscious.

Noise level: loud inside, quieter outside.

Openings

• Ever craved Frosted Flakes while walking Old Sacramento’s cobblestone streets? Laterica Reddix-Espinoza’s underground cafe, Cerealism, hopes to fit that niche when it opens Saturday at 128 K St. And it’s not just bowls and milk: look for colorful drinks and Instagrammable desserts based around favorite cereals.
  
  

• West Coast Taco Bar’s first brick-and-mortar restaurant opened Tuesday at 8791 Elk Grove Blvd. in Elk Grove. Cynthia and Ivan Garcia built a loyal following from their deep blue food truck over the last few years thanks to tacos such as the Dirty Diana (slow-braised beef birria in a mole rojo tortilla with melted Monterey Jack and tomatillo salsa). I wrote more about the planned opening in February.
  
  

• Ippolito’s Trattoria is Rosemont’s newest addition, a sit-down Italian spot where Strings Italian Cafe once was at 9500 Micron Ave., Suite 128. Look for housemade pastas, pizzas and secondi such as veal piccata or wild-caught salmon Livornese at Nickolas and Sabrina Ippolito’s restaurant