{"id":213794,"date":"2026-03-10T22:43:07","date_gmt":"2026-03-10T22:43:07","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/213794\/"},"modified":"2026-03-10T22:43:07","modified_gmt":"2026-03-10T22:43:07","slug":"drinks-in-winters-and-st-patricks-day-celebrations-in-sacramento","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/213794\/","title":{"rendered":"Drinks in Winters and St. Patrick’s Day celebrations in Sacramento"},"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

Six years ago this week, California businesses and schools began shutting down to stop the spread of an emerging virus called COVID-19. The pandemic was, in many ways, brutal. More than 100,000 Californians died, businesses shut down and isolation torpedoed the mental health of many.<\/p>\n

One of my favorite memories during that altogether awful time was basking on Winters\u2019 charming Main Street, enjoying a summer cocktail under shady trees and historic buildings. The Yolo County farm town (pop. ~8,000) had blocked that road off from traffic and allowed restaurants to spill out from the sidewalks. In that moment, it was a place to take a much-needed breath.<\/p>\n

Last week, the Winters City Council broached the topic of expanding outdoor drinking again \u2014 this time as part of a summertime \u201centertainment zone\u201d around downtown. If approved, you\u2019d be able to order drinks from restaurants or bars and sip them while walking around outside,\u00a0Yolo County reporter Daniel Hennessy wrote.<\/a>\u00a0Several Winters restaurants and bars have enthusiastically signed on, including Putah Creek Caf\u00e9, where I dined last week.<\/p>\n

Elsewhere in today\u2019s newsletter, we\u2019ve got a guide to spending a great day in another Yolo County city \u2014 Woodland. One of South Sacramento\u2019s favorite Vietnamese restaurants has moved into a larger space on Stockton Boulevard. And St. Patrick\u2019s Day celebrations are coming, from Midtown to Roseville.<\/p>\n

Let\u2019s dig in.<\/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

Putah Creek Caf\u00e9<\/a>\u00a0| 1 Main St., Winters | 530-795-2682<\/p>\n

\"PutahPutah Creek Cafe\u2019s fried chicken sandwich. (Benjy Egel)<\/p>\n

Putah Creek Caf\u00e9 has anchored downtown Winters, along with sister restaurant\u00a0Buckhorn Steakhouse<\/a>\u00a0across Main Street, since its founding in 1988. While its pizza oven and dessert cases draw evenings crowds during summer months, the restaurant is perhaps most popular during brunch. I waited 20-30 minutes after biking from Davis last weekend for a meal that was worth every mile.<\/p>\n

There\u2019s a rule when I come here with family or friends: someone has to get the\u00a0corn pie\u00a0($15). Studded with kernels and pasilla chiles and finished with a sour cream dollop, it\u2019s a cheesy, savory delight accompanied by tortilla chips and roasted tomato salsa. The\u00a0fried chicken sandwich\u00a0($15) is a strong choice as well, with crispy, crumbly batter falling into a buttered brioche bun with just a hint of heat. For something lighter, try the well-balanced\u00a0marinated beet salad\u00a0($18) while it remains on the seasonally changing menu.<\/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

Hump day fatigue had set in, and my partner Abbey and I didn\u2019t have dinner plans. So we settled on a clear-out-the-cupboard version of onigiri, Japanese rice triangles commonly eaten on the go.<\/p>\n

We threw a cup of Calrose rice into the cooker with some rice vinegar, then mixed canned tuna and sriracha mayo in a separate bowl. Once the rice was ready, we laid portions of it flat, placed the tuna mixture inside, dusted it with furikake and molded it by hand into sloping triangles. With a strip of nori on the outside of each one, they were ready for a voyage \u2014 in this case, to the couch.<\/p>\n

In the news<\/p>\n

\"TheChris Macias recommends stopping by The HIVE Tasting Room & Kitchen for your honey or mead fix. (Denis Akbari)<\/p>\n

Chris Macias writes Abridged\u2019s arts and entertainment newsletter,\u00a0Cultural Capital<\/a>.\u00a0He\u2019s also a Woodland resident with a lot of pride, as illustrated in his guide on how to spend a great day in \u201cThe Woo.\u201d<\/a> Start with coffee from\u00a0Morgan\u2019s Mill<\/a>, assemble a lunchtime Mexican food crawl and finish with Yolo County\u2019s top cocktail program, in his opinion.<\/p>\n

\"chiliMixing your favorite chili crisp with a few other ingredients can transform hearty winter vegetables. (Zoe Barrie)<\/p>\n

Zoe Barrie\u2019s latest\u00a0Cooking In Season\u00a0recipe<\/a> transforms brassicas (a genus of leafy, peppery vegetables) with the aid of your favorite chili crisp and a few accompanying ingredients. She roasted broccoli and cauliflower, but Brussels sprouts and cabbage work fine as well.<\/p>\n

\"DowntownDowntown Winters on Feb. 10, 2026. (Denis Akbari)<\/p>\n

The Winters City Council is debating whether to allow residents to walk around a downtown \u201centertainment zone\u201d with beer, wine or cocktails from local bars. The zone would be in effect on weekends from March through October, plus summer Thursdays. Read more here.<\/a><\/p>\n

Happening this week<\/p>\n

St. Patrick\u2019s Day celebrations will take over many area bars this Saturday. There\u2019s a\u00a015-bar pub crawl in Midtown Sacramento<\/a>, live music and a specialty menu at\u00a0The Boxing Donkey<\/a>\u00a0in Roseville ($10 cover) and a free late-night shepherd\u2019s pie at\u00a0Stoney\u2019s Rockin\u2019 Rodeo<\/a>\u00a0on Del Paso Boulevard.<\/p>\n

Mulvaney\u2019s B&L<\/a>\u00a0is celebrating its 20th anniversary with a pig roast from 2-6 p.m. Sunday at 1215 19th St. in Midtown Sacramento.\u00a0Tickets are $50 apiece<\/a>, or $25 for hospitality industry employees.<\/p>\n

Qu\u00e1n Nem Ninh H\u00f2a<\/a>\u00a0shut down its existing South Sacramento location, but reopened in a larger space at 5860 Stockton Blvd. (once home to Yang\u2019s Noodles) on March 5. The popular Vietnamese restaurant, which has another location in Elk Grove, is known for its build-your-own spring rolls and has added a few menu items in its new digs.<\/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\u00a0food and drink newsletter,\u00a0City of Treats.<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"The following is from City of Treats, a food and drink newsletter by Abridged Senior Food Editor Benjy…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":213795,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[32],"tags":[121,123,122,65250],"class_list":["post-213794","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-sacramento","tag-sacramento","tag-sacramento-headlines","tag-sacramento-news","tag-secondary-highlight"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/213794","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=213794"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/213794\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/213795"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=213794"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=213794"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=213794"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}