{"id":257002,"date":"2026-04-08T05:01:14","date_gmt":"2026-04-08T05:01:14","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/257002\/"},"modified":"2026-04-08T05:01:14","modified_gmt":"2026-04-08T05:01:14","slug":"best-as-concessions-restaurants-near-west-sacramento-ballpark","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/257002\/","title":{"rendered":"Best A’s concessions, restaurants near West Sacramento ballpark"},"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

For most of the next six months, thousands of fans will descend on Sutter Health Park each day to watch the Athletics and Sacramento River Cats in action. And while the players chew gum, spit sunflower seeds and chow down on dugout bananas<\/a>, those in the audience shouldn\u2019t go hungry, either.\u00a0<\/p>\n

The A\u2019s first season in West Sacramento brought a bit of culinary disillusionment last year. Sutter Health Park isn\u2019t immediately surrounded by a bevy of restaurants and bars, as at Golden 1 Center, and there weren\u2019t many food upgrades inside the stadium (though the French dip sandwich and pulled pork sliders became my go-tos).<\/p>\n

It felt like people needed help finding places for decent pregame eats. So I spent weeks dining at restaurants within a 15-minute walk of the ballpark, both in Sacramento and West Sacramento, to author a guide on where to feast prior to the first pitch.<\/a> Then on Friday morning, chief visual journalist Martin Christian and I scoped out the new concessions<\/a> inside Sutter Health Park\u2019s gates, including a fried chicken sandwich, jackfruit tacos and rotating pizza toppings.<\/p>\n

There\u2019s lots more to tease the tongue in this City of Treats edition, including homemade buffalo chicken dip, a bright spring recipe from Cooking In Season writer Zoe Barrie and a Rancho Cordova brewery\u2019s 1990s celebration. Play ball!<\/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

Bali Kitchen | 1100 Front St., Suite 150, Sacramento | 916-446-4008<\/p>\n

\"BaliBali Kitchen\u2019s rendang. (Benjy Egel)<\/p>\n

Of all the places I tried for my pregame eats story, there was none like Bali Kitchen, the Sacramento region\u2019s lone Indonesian restaurant. Owned and operated (often solely) by Indonesia native Tessa Scaief, it\u2019s been a fixture on the Old Sacramento waterfront since 1998, known as Indo Cafe for many of those years. The covered wooden patio is preferable to the cramped interior, so be sure to visit on a day when you\u2019ll want to sit outside and grab one of Bali Kitchen\u2019s icy dessert drinks.<\/p>\n

Indonesian food shares some characteristics with Malaysian and Thai cuisines, but has dishes that are solely its own. Take nasi goreng ($17), fried rice soaked in sweet soy sauce with garlic, vegetables and the customer\u2019s choice of protein. Rendang ($20) is a must-try, a dry beef curry served in a lettuce leaf that pops with makrut lime and lemongrass before giving way to a fiery back end. And since the best way to eat durian is to let someone else prepare it, end your meal with durian sticky rice ($15). The warm, fleshy fruit lacks its notorious odor in this preparation, and lands somewhere between mango and jackfruit in taste and texture.<\/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

\"dip\"Buffalo chicken dip. (Benjy Egel)<\/p>\n

I spent much of the weekend being fed by various friends. My childhood pal Leah and her husband Sammy hosted me for a sumac- and lemon-forward Shabbat dinner of the Greek soup avgolemono, creamy hummus, crispy falafel and Persian-inspired cucumber salad on Friday night, before settling in to watch the 1998 Dreamworks classic \u201cThe Prince of Egypt.\u201d<\/p>\n

On Saturday, I hopped from grilled bratwurst and corn at my friends Zac and Manon\u2019s housewarming party to a skillet of buffalo chicken dip at my bud Tommy\u2019s NCAA men\u2019s basketball Final Four viewing. I chipped in along the way by bringing my mom\u2019s chocolate-and-caramel-covered matzo on Friday, a jar of preserved lemons to the housewarming and, well, nothing more than good cheer to Tommy\u2019s house Saturday.<\/p>\n

In the news<\/p>\n

\"Food\"Sutter Health Park\u2019s carne asada fries. (Martin Christian)<\/p>\n

Former area Marriott hotels chef Robb Henry now runs concessions at Sutter Health Park, the home of the A\u2019s and Sacramento River Cats. He rolled out his new creations<\/a> during the opening homestand last weekend, including a smash burger, achiote chicken tacos and a riff on In-N-Out Burger\u2019s animal fries.<\/p>\n

\"BowlingBalsamic chips at Cap\u2019s Bar & Grill inside Capitol Bowl. (Cameron Clark)<\/p>\n

Stadium eats offer more convenience, but there are plenty of worthwhile restaurants within a 15-minute walk of the ballpark<\/a>, from 53-year-old burger joint to a bowling alley with a real chef in the kitchen. Note: while this list is designed for baseball fans, it also works as a dining guide for West Sacramento and Old Sacramento restaurants near the Sacramento River.<\/p>\n

\"ManMichael Picker leaves Calvin\u2019s Market with a sandwich on Feb. 26, 2026. (James Smith)<\/p>\n

Sometimes, corner stores are just places to conveniently grab odds and ends. Other times, they become true community hubs. James Smith, a member of the Abridged by PBS KVIE Community Reporters<\/a> program, looked at five Sacramento-area stores that fall into the latter category<\/a>. One even serves housemade Indian curries.\u00a0<\/p>\n

\"snapSnap peas with burrata, basil and lemon zest. (Zoe Barrie)<\/p>\n

Zoe Barrie\u2019s celebration of spring continues in her latest recipe for Abridged<\/a>: snap peas with lemon-basil oil and burrata. It takes about 30 minutes to make and works well as a side dish, or as an easy appetizer if one adds some crusty bread.\u00a0<\/p>\n

Happening this week<\/p>\n

Rancho Cordova\u2019s Movement Brewing<\/a> is throwing it back a few decades with 90s Fest on Saturday at 11151 Trade Center Drive, Suite 104. While the main beer festival is sold out, the brewery open to the public after 2:30 p.m., with retro vibes, live music and newly released beers going into the night.<\/p>\n

Ponderosa Cider Co.<\/a> is celebrating, too. The Auburn cider house at 102 Gum Lane, Suite B will mark three years in business with a bash Saturday afternoon. Look for live music, tie dye and a raffle with free giveaways.<\/p>\n

The Pasty Shack<\/a> is closing after 74 years at 4746 J St. in East Sacramento, its operators announced on social media last Thursday. Customers have until April 24 to stop by for savory Cornish hand pies.<\/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":257003,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[32],"tags":[121,123,122,65250],"class_list":{"0":"post-257002","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-sacramento","8":"tag-sacramento","9":"tag-sacramento-headlines","10":"tag-sacramento-news","11":"tag-secondary-highlight"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/257002","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=257002"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/257002\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/257003"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=257002"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=257002"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=257002"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}