Want to make that dish or drink you had at a Sacramento-area restaurant? I wrote a cookbook for you

Benjy Egel
·4 min read

Want to know how to make Zócalo’s cilantro-lime rice, the Rind’s macaroni and cheese or the Shady Lady Saloon’s White Linen cocktail? Now, there’s a book for that.

“Sacramento Eats: Recipes from the Capital Region’s Favorite Restaurants” hit area bookshelves this week, eight months after I pitched my editors and publisher on the idea of a locally-sourced cookbook. It’s a Sacramento Bee product outside the scope of our normal operations, buoyed by beautiful photos from staff photographers.

The 160-page, hard-cover book features recipes from 60 area restaurant and bars, from casual gems (Jimboy’s Tacos, Tori’s Place) to the dining scene’s brightest stars (Localis, Kru Contemporary Japanese Cuisine). There are 20-minute weeknight fixes and two-day cooking projects, traditional bolognese sauce and vegan chili, hot newcomers and restaurants that have been around for nearly 85 years.

“Sacramento Eats: Recipes from the Capital Region’s Favorite Restaurants” is a collection of 60 restaurants from local institutions.
“Sacramento Eats: Recipes from the Capital Region’s Favorite Restaurants” is a collection of 60 restaurants from local institutions.

I will be hosting a slew of book signings around the region alongside some of Sacramento’s star chefs, whose recipes are featured in the cookbook. Come out to hear about how the figurative sausage was made!

Nov. 17: Wild Sisters Book Co. (3325 Folsom Blvd., Sacramento). 7 p.m., free event. Book signing and Q&A featuring a guest chef TBD.

Nov. 19: A Seat at the Table Books (9257 Laguna Springs Drive, Suite 130, Elk Grove). 3 p.m., free event. Book signing and Q&A featuring Chris Mai and Mara Som of S.E.A. Hut. Register online at http://bit.ly/sea-hut

Nov. 29: There & Back Again Cafe (1020 11th St., Suite 100, Sacramento). 6:30 p.m., ticketed event. Book signing and Q&A featuring Oliver Ridgeway of Camden Spit & Larder and Cecil Rhodes II of Nash & Proper. Register online at thereandback.cafe/events

Dec. 17: Ruby’s Books (724 Sutter St., Folsom). 11:30 a.m., free event. More details to come.

“Sacramento Eats” will also be carried locally at the Strapping Store (three Sacramento locations), Beers Books (712 R St., Sacramento), Capital Books (1011 K St., Sacramento), Corti Brothers (5810 Folsom Blvd., Sacramento), Face in a Book (4359 Town Center Blvd., El Dorado Hills), Avid Reader (617 2nd St., Davis) and all area Barnes & Noble locations. It’s available on Amazon as well, or through Pediment Publishing’s website.

Localis chef Chris Barnum-Dann, left, and Binochoyaki chef chef Toki Sawada, right, laugh with Sacramento Bee reporter Benjy Egel, center, during a book signing event for Egel’s cookbook “Sacramento Eats” on Wednesday at Masullo restaurant in Land Park.
Localis chef Chris Barnum-Dann, left, and Binochoyaki chef chef Toki Sawada, right, laugh with Sacramento Bee reporter Benjy Egel, center, during a book signing event for Egel’s cookbook “Sacramento Eats” on Wednesday at Masullo restaurant in Land Park.

What I’m Eating

All aboard for Teriyaki Station, Miguel and Kate Deocampo’s fast-casual Filipino outpost near Folsom Premium Outlets. The first stop is an array of breakfast silogs (fried rice and egg dishes) from 8-11 a.m. five days a week, before the track veers toward dairy-free boba drinks and hearty pork entrees in the afternoon.

It’s a place to taste Filipino menudo ($10.48 à la carte, or $12.90 for a combo plate with pancit and rice), a vastly different soup than its tripe-packed, hangover-curing Mexican cousin. Teriyaki Station’s version is based around an umami-loaded tomato broth, and stuffed with carrots and potatoes in addition to pork chunks.

The name comes from simple teriyaki rice bowls ($11.89-$16.15) topped with salmon, pork, chicken, beef or vegetarian options. Fine options, but I preferred the messy, tender chicken adobo ($10.48 à la carte or $12.90 for a combo plate), which fell off the bone right into its soy-garlic sauce.

Try the fragrant, fishy grilled bangus ($19.89), also known as milkfish, if you’re in the mood for something more sea-based. Flattened and served whole, minus the head, it’s salty enough to necessitate a side of rice

Teriyaki Station

Address: 141 Iron Point Road, Suite 9000, Folsom.

Hours: 8 a.m. to 8 p.m. Tuesday-Saturday, 11 a.m. to 6 p.m. Sunday, closed Monday.

Phone number: (916) 985-0312.

Website: https://www.teriyakiatbp.com/

Drinks: Boba beverages and Fililpino dessert drinks such as halo-halo, sago’t gulaman and mais con yelo.

Vegetarian options: Veggie lumpia ($2/piece) and teriyaki bowls topped with grilled tofu or steamed broccoli, zucchini and carrots. If opting for the latter, get both tofu and vegetables to avoid a rather plain meal.

Noise level: Medium-high.

Openings & Closings

▪ Journey to the Dumpling made its long-awaited Sacramento debut Monday at 1714 21st St. on the ground floor of The Press at Midtown Quarter apartment building. The standout Chinese restaurant has operated in Elk Grove since 2016 and is best known for its xiao long bao, soup dumplings filled with crab and/or pork.

▪ Dumplings on dumplings! Hometown Dumpling just opened at 7610 Folsom Auburn Road, Suite 190, in Folsom. It has xiao long bao as well, plus steamed pouches filled with chicken and corn, pork and sauerkraut or tofu and chives.

▪ Laid-back Hawaiian restaurant Got Plate Lunch will close its Rancho Cordova brick-and-mortar restaurant on Saturday at 3084 Sunrise Blvd., Suite 8, citing “unforeseen circumstances and serious health concerns” in an Instagram post. Owners Myk and Jamie Bigornia will keep a Sacramento-based food truck operating, plus another truck and restaurant in Benicia.

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