What are Sacramento’s most underrated restaurants? You can still vote for your favorite
Not every neighborhood restaurant gets the acclaim it deserves. Tell us which Sacramento-area gem merits a moment in the spotlight.
The Sacramento Bee is in its final stage of collecting readers’ nods for the region’s most underrated restaurants. Nominees will be highlighted in a story to come.
Tell us: What is greater Sacramento’s most underrated restaurant? Submit your answer to https://tinyurl.com/underratedinsac.
Answers so far have included:
La Placita (9272 Greenback Lane, Orangevale): This Mexican restaurant serves breakfast from open until close, along with later-in-the-day items such as steak Chicana (asada strips simmered in a house sauce with peppers, tomatoes and onions) or Colombian-style chicharrónes.
JP Thai Kitchen (6004 Freeport Blvd., Sacramento): People in Freeport Manor head to JP near Sacramento Executive Airport for flavorful Southeast Asian dishes such as roasted duck larb, panang curry and smoked eggplant in spicy basil sauce.
Flaming Grill Cafe (2380 Watt Ave Suite 150, Sacramento): The nominator claimed this restaurant in Arden Arcade’s Country Club Plaza makes the best burgers in town — and you can get those hefty boys with ostrich, elk or buffalo meat.
Avatar Indian Bistro (8657 Auburn Folsom Road, Granite Bay): Opened at the end of 2021, Avatar creatively plays with Indian American spices and flavors to create dishes such as apricot fig salad, pistachio chicken korma or lamb shank masala.
Sae Jong Teriyaki (8337 Folsom Blvd., Sacramento): A low-key Korean/Japanese restaurant near Rosemont, Sae Jong specializes in fast casual tempura, bibimbap and flame-broiled teriyaki.
What I’m Eating
West Sacramento’s last decade has been marked by housing growth, rapid development along the Sacramento River and craft breweries as it became a more attractive, less expensive alternative to Sacramento living.
Latinos still make up 33% of the city’s population, according to the most recent Census data, and traditional places such as Cocina Doña Chuyita have persevered through those changes. Tucked away off Jefferson Boulevard between a liquor store and tire shop, Dulce Jazmin Ascencio’s restaurant opened in 2012 with Mexican license plates lining the walls and pineapple-spinach aguas frescas ($3.09).
Go for the camarones a la cora ($19) if you enjoy a fireball’s worth of heat. Chili seeds poke out from this shrimp dish native to the small, coastal state of Nayarit, which has a pleasantly sour marinade lurking behind its wall of spice.
Gooey, cheesy quesabirria tacos ($4.50 apiece) were a more modern highlight, double-wrapped in large corn tortillas and stuffed with juicy stewed beef. You’ll want a cup of the warm, rich consommé ($2.07, can support two or three tacos) for dunking.
Cocina Doña Chuyita
Address: 1035 Drever St., West Sacramento.
Hours: 9 a.m. to 9 p.m. Monday through Friday, 8 a.m. to 9 p.m. Saturday, 8 a.m. to 3 p.m. Sunday.
Phone number: (916) 572-0066.
Website: http://ordercocinadonachuyita.com/
Drinks: Beer, sodas and aguas frescas.
Animal-free options: Hard to find vegan and even vegetarian options; a few of the latter include huevos rancheros, nachos and quesadillas.
Noise level: Quiet.
Openings & Closings
Breakfast lovers will want to try out Bagel Street Cafe, which began its soft opening June 30 at 4819 Granite Drive, Suite B in Rocklin. It’s the first Sacramento-area outpost for this Fremont-based bakery; more than 20 other locations dot the Bay Area.
Another Fremont-based restaurant, Mas Fuego, will open a second location on Saturday in Natomas, the Sacramento Business Journal reported. The Latin fusion restaurant will replace Malabar American Cooking, which closed during the pandemic, at 2960 Del Paso Road.
Flow State Coffee Co. has closed after just five months at 611 16th St. in Boulevard Park, according to a sign on the door. The cafe had served Camellia Coffee Roasters drinks.
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