{"id":152258,"date":"2026-01-27T22:27:30","date_gmt":"2026-01-27T22:27:30","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/152258\/"},"modified":"2026-01-27T22:27:30","modified_gmt":"2026-01-27T22:27:30","slug":"sacramentos-soup-season-is-here-at-home-and-this-restaurant","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/152258\/","title":{"rendered":"Sacramento’s soup season is here at home and this restaurant"},"content":{"rendered":"

The following is from City of Treats, a food and drink newsletter by Abridged Senior Food Editor Benjy Egel. Want it sent directly to your inbox?\u00a0Sign up here<\/a>.<\/p>\n

It\u2019s a familiar scene among Sacramento\u2019s restaurateur families. Mom, an immigrant with little or no professional cooking experience but a deep wealth of home recipes, gets a marketing boost from their kid, a second-generation American with a knack for capturing an audience.<\/p>\n

Such is the story of\u00a0Algo Bueno<\/a>, the Rodriguez family\u2019s four-year-old restaurant in North Sacramento\u2019s Gardenland neighborhood. It stands out in Northgate Boulevard\u2019s sea of Mexican restaurants\u00a0thanks to its soup flights<\/a>, a cozy concept tailor-made for social media that I wrote about last week.<\/p>\n

While Zenaida Rodriguez leads a crew of women shaping meatballs and peeling peppers in Algo Bueno\u2019s kitchen, her son Marco gets the soup flights in front of tens of thousands of eyeballs on Instagram. That combination of style and substance drew me into Algo Bueno, particularly as Sacramento\u2019s nightly fog continues to settle in.<\/p>\n

Prefer to eat your soup at home? Adapt the classic broccoli-cheddar combination for a bowl of\u00a0broccolini-Parmesan soup<\/a>,\u00a0Cooking In Season\u00a0recipe developer Zoe B. Soderstrom\u2019s latest creation.<\/p>\n

Even if you\u2019re making instant ramen, consider adding Korean soy-marinated eggs for a burst of flavor and protein. They\u2019re also great in rice bowls or on their own, as I found recently.<\/p>\n

And in Citrus Heights, two brothers tapped their Italian heritage to create a pizzeria worth checking out. Toppings vary, but that floppy crust remains the same (unless you opt for gluten-free dough).<\/p>\n

One last recommendation, this one from wine contributor Mike Dunne: make a reservation if you plan to eat around Downtown Sacramento this week, particularly for nicer meals. Roughly 14,000 industry pros descended on the SAFE Credit Union Convention Center today for the\u00a0Unified Wine & Grape Symposium<\/a>, which will run through Thursday.<\/p>\n

\t\tSign Up for the City of Treats Newsletter<\/p>\n

Get the latest Sacramento food news from Benjy Egel in City of Treats \u2014 delivered every Tuesday.<\/p>\n

Benjy\u2019s Bites<\/p>\n

Here\u2019s my favorite item or two from a local restaurant this week. Send me yours at begel@kvie.org.<\/p>\n

916 Pizza<\/a> | 6916 Sunrise Blvd., Suite H, Citrus Heights | 916-560-9546<\/p>\n

\"pizza\"<\/p>\n

916 Pizza\u2019s hot honey rico pizza. (Benjy Egel)<\/p>\n

Citrus Heights\u2019 best pizza may well be\u00a0916 Pizza<\/a>, brothers Nick and Steven Castangia\u2019s dimly-lit slice of the expansive Woodmore Oaks Shopping Center. Opened in 2023, it\u2019s traditional in construct \u2014 long-fermented dough is tossed by hand and baked in a shining red\u00a0Marana Forni<\/a>\u00a0pizza oven \u2014 with flecks of American inspiration in the toppings.<\/p>\n

Thin, floppy crust supports clouds of ricotta, pepperoni cups and torn basil in the\u00a0hot honey rico pizza\u00a0($21.50 for a 12-inch pie\/$26.50 for 14-inch), a relatively restrained inspiration that catches the eye. The\u00a0pulled pork pizza\u00a0($21.50\/$26.50), meanwhile, offers more bold flavors atop a housemade white sauce, with parallel drizzles of chipotle and barbecue sauce covering the top.<\/p>\n

Egel\u2019s Nest<\/p>\n

I live, play and cook in this community just like you. This recurring section is a window into my life outside of restaurants and bars, always with a food and\/or drink angle.<\/p>\n

\"KoreanMayak gyeran, Korean soy-marinated eggs. (Benjy Egel)<\/p>\n

I\u2019m not the biggest egg aficionado, but I\u2019ve found a few ways recently that transform their flavors to my liking. One is mayak gyeran, a Korean preparation so addicting that it literally translates to \u201cdrug eggs.\u201d Simple and savory, I gobbled up these marinated eggs (and traded a couple to a friend for a\u00a0New York Times pickle biscuit<\/a>) within a few days, then made a second batch with the remaining liquid.<\/p>\n

Recipes abound online, and I\u00a0liked this one from the blog Belly Full<\/a>\u00a0for its taste as much as its short list of ingredients. Boil the eggs to your preferred level of doneness (I like the jammy consistency 6.5 minutes produces), peel them and marinate them in a mixture of soy sauce, rice vinegar, sambal oelek and other ingredients for at least eight hours. I added a few to rice bowls and they\u2019d spruce up instant ramen, but I mostly just ate them straight out of the jar.<\/p>\n

In the news<\/p>\n

\"soupAlgo Bueno\u2019s soup flights. (Cameron Clark)<\/p>\n

In the news<\/p>\n

Marco Rodriguez grew up asking his mom Zenaida for the Mexican meatball soup alb\u00f3ndigas instead of birthday cake. Now the duo (along with other family members) runs\u00a0Algo Bueno<\/a>, the Northgate Boulevard restaurant known for its flights of soup. Customers can sample three cups of birria, pozole, carne en su jugo and more, served on wooden boards as at craft breweries. Read more here.<\/a><\/p>\n

\"AWhile broccoli \u2014 its sturdier, more popular cousin \u2014 often takes center stage, broccolini is sweeter, more delicate and slightly less bitter. (Zoe B. Soderstrom)<\/p>\n

Zoe B. Soderstrom\u2019s latest\u00a0Cooking In Season\u00a0recipe<\/a> riffs on broccoli-cheddar soup, subbing broccolini and Parmesan cheese for its two main ingredients. It\u2019s lighter, nuttier and a touch sweeter than the classic, and requires just 10 minutes of prep time.<\/p>\n

\"CourtneyRestaurant Josephine owners and chefs Courtney McDonald and Eric Alexander inside their French bistro in Auburn. (Rachel Valley)<\/p>\n

Restaurant Josephine<\/a>\u00a0owners Courtney McDonald and Eric Alexander were named semifinalists last week for the James Beard Awards\u2019<\/a> \u201cBest Chef \u2014 California\u201d category. The couple opened their French-inspired restaurant with Eastern European touches in downtown Auburn in 2021. While the menu rotates seasonally, some dishes remain constant, like the duck liver mousse with Siberian pinecone caramel.<\/p>\n

Happening this week<\/p>\n

Fountainhead Brewing<\/a>\u00a0(near Hollywood Park) and\u00a0South Slope Wines & Bistro<\/a>\u00a0(Elk Grove) will both host chili cook-offs Saturday afternoon. You can register on either business\u2019 website to enter your chili, or show up to taste favorites for less than $25.<\/p>\n

I\u2019ll be judging the 7th annual\u00a0Davis Odd Fellows Chocolate Festival<\/a>\u00a0on Sunday \u2014 come say hi! There\u2019ll be samples, items for purchase and a chocolate fountain from 2-4 p.m. in downtown Davis. Tickets are $10 apiece, with a $5 vendor credit included upon purchase.<\/p>\n

Remember\u00a0Lou\u2019s Sushi<\/a>? It\u2019s back in midtown Sacramento, now in\u00a0LowBrau\u2019s<\/a>\u00a0attached space at 1050 20th St. as of last Saturday. Still run by Lou Valente, the chef who launched the original Lou\u2019s at 28th and P streets as well as Southpaw Sushi on Del Paso Boulevard, this iteration focuses more on hand rolls than its predecessors.<\/p>\n

Benjy Egel\u00a0is the senior food editor at Abridged. Born and raised in the Sacramento region, he has covered its local restaurants and bars since 2018. He also writes and edits Abridged\u2019s weekly food and drink newsletter,\u00a0City of Treats.<\/a><\/p>\n