100 things you should eat before you die- sacramento

[toncasmo]

i just bought magazine at whole foods and had the 100 best in SF so i thought maybe we could try for sacramento
i'll start

Lasagne Verdi alla Bolognese @ Biba

[sdysart2004]

I have leved in Rancho Cordova area of Sacramento for a little over 2 years now and through my extensive searches have discovered 3 things:
1) There's not a lot of excellent food choices in Rancho Cordova
2 Ninja Sushi has the BEST sushi ever! My boyfriend is a Navy Vet & spent a lot of time in Japan, and he swears this is the best sushi he has had in the states by far. Plus they have great specials, especially during the week.
3 Mexican food out here just does NOT compare to the Mexican food available in the Bay Area BUT Florez Bar and Grill ( 5900 South Land Park Drive Sacramento www.florezbarandgrill.com) has THE GREATEST Spanish Rice EVER!!! Their lime rice is good too but you can't leave without at least trying the Spanish Rice!!!

[mm1234]

Saw the Freeport Bakery mentioned, but specifically, the Seville Marnier cake there is one-of-a-kind & delicious.

[NoPork4Me]

House of Chicken & Ribs - On Elverta east of Watt. Beef Ribs & fried chicken are my faves, but everything seems to be good there! As good as the sweet potato pie is, their apple pie is even better! I usually go for the "flips" (homemade chips) and mac n cheese for my sides. And, yes! They have sweet tea which will be refilled before you hit bottom, by the cutest of the family's staff - if you don't go during school hours, that is. The only con I've encountered is that they're closed Sun & Mon.

[bennyboy1]

FOLSOM: Samuel Horne's tavern: the peanut butter burger and the bleu cheese/bacon fries.

[MN Hick Chowhound]

Did I miss it or has no one mentioned the BBQ Tuna or Japanese Mafia roll at Mikuni. I fly across the country for those. Not exactly Sac but also breakfast at Bert's Diner on Grant Line Road in (Sheldon) Elk Grove.

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Bert's Diner
8972 Grant Line Rd, Elk Grove, CA 95624

Mikuni
1565 Eureka Rd Ste 1, Roseville, CA 95661

[RobertLaughlin]

Ice cream at Gunther's. I love their Butter Brickle, and a lot of other people swear by their Birthday Cake ice cream.

[mulvaneyp]

Prime Rib @ Jamies
Brunch @ Red Lotus
Buche Tacos @ Chandos

[alanbarnes]

A classic and a couple of worthy 2010 additions to the local dining scene. Links:

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Jamie's Bar & Grill
427 Broadway, Sacramento, CA 95818

Chando's Tacos
863 Arden Way, Sacramento, CA 95815

Red Lotus Kitchen & Bar
2718 J St, Sacramento, CA 95816

[creekgold]

I fear I may have 100 things you should eat so I will try to cut my list down.
Mac and Cheese and sweet potato fries at Cafeteria15 L, Skirt steak and mushroom truffle risotto at Riverside Grill,
Foie Gras with blueberry pancake at Mulvaney's, Oysters with the best mignonette sauce at Waterboy, Grilled bass at the Union Inn in Volcano, Meat Loaf sandwich and cookies for dessert at Hawk's in Granite Bay, Love the eggplant dish Brony Bonjan and the dumplings called Mantoo at Bamiyan in El Dorado Hills, A rice dish that has dried currants or cherries and the Musto Musier yogurt and shallot appetizer at Shahrzad,rare salmon and house salad at Guistis on the Delta and of course juevos rancheros and the French toast at The Tower, excellent crispy, fragrant duck at Fat's in Folsom and all the beautiful locally grown food at the farmer's markets such as sun gold tomatoes and sea scape strawberries, Sloughouse corn. We are so lucky to live in this abundant area.

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Waterboy Restaurant
2000 Capitol Avenue, Sacramento, CA 95814

[bennyboy1]

The pulled pork sandwich at Jolly Burger in Citrus Heights.

[khelvan]

Pollo/lomo saltado at Koricancha/Machu Picchu/Waffle King's

This place is weird in that it serves waffles in the morning, but Peruvian food for lunch & dinner. Do NOT let this dissuade you from trying it. The pollo saltado was very good, as was the beef dish simmered in a cilantro broth (I can't recall its name). I doubt the restaurant will ever get very popular since it is so hard to find and is quite confusing to people, but it is worth going to the only Peruvian restaurant in Sacramento (and it is good).

[melly]

two more.

The Ahi Burger at Flaming Grill..or the Elk Burger. Fantastic!!!

I have probably mentioned this but...La Boheme Trattatoria on J has the best schnitzel ever..and the pizza is kick ass too. Their house made horseradish sauce is fantastic. Drink that dark royal beer they have on tap...oh my!

[toncasmo]

burgers at flaming grill are good- especialy the ahi and i like to give them good words ..always worried they're not busy enough
have to support the local places!!

[maoliu]

Kinako Mochi at Osaka Ya Bakery

[khelvan]

Ropa Vieja con moros y cristianos at Sol Cubano, North Highlands

[toncasmo]

i have heard great things about sol cubano

[khelvan]

We really enjoyed our meal there - little family-run places like that can be hit or miss, and we definitely hit the day we tried it. It is worth visiting, the place is quite inexpensive.

The same goes for El Pollo Feliz, for their smoked chicken. Very, very tasty stuff, and you can't beat the price. I have no idea why someone would ever want to go to a place like Kentucky Fried Chicken when for about $7 you can get four pieces of (excellent) smoked chicken, two sides, and tortillas.

[toncasmo]

where is el pollo feliz at?

[alanbarnes]

Link

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El Pollo Feliz
4715 Whitney Ave, Carmichael, CA 95608

[toncasmo]

i didn't realize that was the name- love the chicken there!

[ucmewin]

The Smokey Goat Pizza or Lil Bucket o' Chicken at Tuli, actually anything they're serving at Tuli on 21st and S.
Chile Verde Burrito or Chorizo Burrito at Nopalitos--56th and H
Bronx Bomber Pizza at Giovanni's--South Land Park or Folsom Blvd.
5 Dot Burger at Taylor's on Freeport
Sweetbreads at Waterboy
Anything at One Speed on Folsom Blvd.
Any Zelda's Pizza
Anything at the Freeport Bakery
Vic's Ice Cream
The Chile Verde and Margaritas at Ernestos
Any of the sandwiches at Sampinos
Pulled Pork Sandwich at Ink
Anything at Selland's
Cheesecake at Moxie--Mama makes it

I'm sure I'm forgetting a bunch of stuff but those are off the top of my head.

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Waterboy Restaurant
2000 Capitol Avenue, Sacramento, CA 95814

Vic's Ice Cream
3199 Riverside Blvd, Sacramento, CA 95818

[toncasmo]

those are great-thanks. just went to one speed brunch for first time, it was just as good as dinnner

[apricot]

A sandwich and/or soup from La Bonne Soupe.

A snow cone at Osaka-Ya on V Street.

A torta at El Abuelo on Franklin.

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La Bonne Soupe Cafe
920 8th St, Sacramento, CA 95814

[khelvan]

I have a new one to add:
The Gatsby Burger at Gatsby's Diner.

Squeeze with cheese is a cultural experience; Gatsby's is a culinary one.

[toncasmo]

my husband ordered the sliders at gatsbys and they were wonderful! i had the butternut squash ones, guess i was expecting something different , but they weren't so good :(

[RestaurantRex in CH]

We went to Gatsby's Diner tonight, and all I can say is "WHY???"
Food was OK, but not among the 100 best in any category.
They said that they don't serve the butternut squash, except in the fall. DW ordered the eggplant "burger". They came back to the table and said they did not have it.
She order the chicken burger, "no bacon" (she doesn't eat red meat). The cook put the bacon on the chicken sandwich. The waiter realized the mistake and then pulled the bacon off of the sandwich, taking some of the cheese with it. Not a good scene!
Not planning on a second visit.

[khelvan]

Sorry you didn't enjoy it - I can't speak to anything else on their menu other than the Gatsby's Burger, which was amazing.

[Glencora]

What do locals think of Hot Italian? I'm rarely in Sacramento, but recently had lunch there. The salad with tuna, cannellini, olives and other stuff was very good, with high quality ingredients. I only had a bite of pizza, but it seemed better than average, too. The decor is a bit silly, but I liked the bicycle racks outside.

[melly]

Sweetbreads at The Waterboy
The Mussels (any recipe) at Ravenous Cafe
The Risotto at Ravenous Cafe..or anything really
Any soup at Andy Ngyuens on Broadway (sorry if I spelled it wrong)
The brown butter and sage gnocci at Biba
Hamburger, med rare at BJ's in Elk Grove (not kidding) Beer is good too!
The Salmon BLT at Cafe Bernardo on Capitol Ave.
The Pasole at Alanzo's on Stockton Blvd. for bkfst. Put a poached egg in it!
Liver and Onions at Market Cafe ...for bkfst.
Pizza at Masullos on Riverside..any pizza!
The Stuffed Angel Wings at Vientianne in West Sac
The Green Papaya Salad at Vientianne in West Sac
Hot and Sour Soup at Viet Ha on Florin
The Schnitzel at La Trattoria Boheme on J street ..and that Dark Royal Czech beer!
Dim Sum at Kings Palace on a Sunday at 1pm. Stockton Blvd. Bring friends!

[free sample addict aka Tracy L]

Spinocolli Pizza w/extra garlic - Zelda's

Nutburger - Sunshine Drive in

Vegetarian Lettuce Rolls, Crispy Calimari, Calimari and shrimp basil salad - Rice Noodles

Peking Spareribs - Capitol Tea Garden

Grand Marnier Cake - Ettore

Hank's Cubano - Dos Coyotes

Tinga Chicken Tostada - Nopalitos

Fried Calimari - Mandango's

Monte Cristo Sandwich - Uptown Cafe

[khelvan]

Tandoori grill at Mehfil, Roseville.
Golden Dragon pork at Golden Dragon, Rocklin.
Grilled pork spring rolls at Quan Nem Ninh Hoa
Baba Ganouj at Anatolian Table, Rocklin

[bennyboy1]

Hot and Sour Soup, The Mandarin.

[toncasmo]

come on let's keep this up- we're not to 100 yet

[spineguy]

Some of my wife's favorites include:

the ruben sandwich at Jamey's Broadway Grille, Waterboy's crab and saffron risotto, Tres Hermanas cocido and chile verde, Tower Cafe's eggs benedict, Giovanni's pesto pizza, Paragary's mushroom and jarlsberg salad.

[toncasmo]

your wife sounds like she has great taste- i had already noted the salad but i wasn't thinking and said zin grille instead of paragaqrys

french toaat at tower
french onion soup at danielles
grilled romanie salad at cafe vinoteca

[alanbarnes]

A few more...

Duck noodle soup at Pho Bac Hoa Viet

Dim sum at New Canton

Doro Wat at Queen Sheba

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New Canton Restaurant
2523 Broadway, Sacramento, CA 95818

Queensheva Restaurant
1704 Broadway, Sacramento, CA 95818

Hoa Viet Restaurant
6645 Stockton Blvd # 300, Sacramento, CA

[khelvan]

I tried the Doro Wat at Queen Sheba and the Roasted Duck Egg Noodle soup at Pho Bac Hoa Viet - both were excellent suggestions, thank you.

One question on the duck soup - for chopped Asian poultry dishes with the bone-in like this, are the bone bits supposed to be (chewed and) swallowed, or spit out? I sort of hid behind my chopsticks as I got rid of them, and haven't had the opportunity to watch someone from the culture to see what they do with it.

[alanbarnes]

Glad you enjoyed them! You definitely spit the bones out. If there's a plate for them, great. Otherwise, just stack 'em on the table. Throwing them on the floor might be traditional, but I have a hunch it is frowned upon in the US.

[jmback52]

Anything at all at the divine, transcendent Taste (Ok, it's in Plymouth, but go). Try, especially, the short ribs.

[alanbarnes]

Chicken wings at Vientiane

Won ton soup at New Hong Kong Wok

Sweetbreads at The Waterboy

"The Dessert Abides" at Mulvaneys

Coctel de camarones at Mariscos Mazatlan

California burrito at Adalberto's

Chirashi bowl at Shige

Sausage pizza at Luigi's

Short ribs special at the Market Club

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Waterboy Restaurant
2000 Capitol Avenue, Sacramento, CA 95814

Shige Sushi
5938 Madison Ave, Carmichael, CA 95608

Mulvaney's B & L
1215 19th Street, Sacramento, CA 95814

New Hong Kong Wok
5019 Freeport Blvd, Sacramento, CA 95822

Mariscos Mazatlan
4800 Franklin Blvd, Sacramento, CA 95820

Vientiane Restaurant
1001 Jefferson Blvd 600, West Sacramento, CA 95691

Luigi's Pizza
3800 Stockton Blvd, Sacramento, CA 95820

Market Club
2630 5th St # 16, Sacramento, CA

[andrewsd]

Brisket sandwich on Thursdays at Roxie Deli

[gmk1322]

Dosa from Kaveri

Al Pastor Burrito from La Fiesta/La Favorita

Pretty much anything from Freeport Bakery

[free sample addict aka Tracy L]

The dosa is amazing.

[toncasmo]

lazlo smoked shrimp in old sac

roxy -zuchini chips

zinfandel grille- mushroom salad

[bennyboy1]

Roma combination pizza.
Weiner Works #5 dog with small fries.
The dayboat scallops at Waterboy

[spineguy]

Any sandwich at Bud's Buffet, the Waterboy's potato gratin, Ella's deconstructed pasta carbonara, Gaylord's saag paneer, and Tower cafe's french toast.

[toncasmo]

some of those were mine too!
mushroom quesadilla at azul
selland mac and cheese
soup at lemongrass

[jennyfur]

Mee Grob at Tuk Tuk in North Natomas.

[toncasmo]

what's that? we just went there the other night before kings game!

[PeterL]

Or mee krob, crispy noodle.

[melly]

Where is Bud's Buffet?

[PeterL]

Squeeze with cheese.

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Squeeze Inn
5301 Power Inn Rd., Sacramento, CA 95820

[PeterL]

Beef brisket @ cf cheng.
Water boiled beef (high heat) @ Golden Dragon, Rocklin.

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Cf Cheng Chinese Cuisine
2063 Arena Blvd, Sacramento, CA 95834

[alanbarnes]

Had lunch at CF Cheng yesterday. Friendly service and good food, but the menu was heavily Americanized, with no brisket that I recall. Is the dinner menu different? Is there a "secret" (Chinese) menu? If the latter, is it available in English?

Thanks!

[PeterL]

Yes there is a Chinese menu (in English, but if you are a Chinese patron it is given to you automatically). It's not a secret, just ask for it. We just had dinner there last sunday and had also the tofu pot with salted fish, two different kinds of hot pot rice (with minced pork and salted fish, and with chinese sausages). All are excellent. They also have dim sum all day long (probably not made on site).

[alanbarnes]

Link for Golden Dragon

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Golden Dragon Chinese Restaurant
4800 Granite Dr. #B2, Rocklin, CA 95677

[upcountry]

Second this one. After an Antarctic Expedition on a Norwegian ship for 2 weeks we were in need of some spicy food. Landed on a flight from Buenos Aires at 11:00 at SFO and drove straight for the Golden Dragon. Never have been disappointed.

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Buenos Aires Cafe
1316 State St., Santa Barbara, CA 93101