{"id":291113,"date":"2026-04-29T07:34:51","date_gmt":"2026-04-29T07:34:51","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/291113\/"},"modified":"2026-04-29T07:34:51","modified_gmt":"2026-04-29T07:34:51","slug":"italian-food-east-sacramento-brunch-and-3-new-local-restaurants","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/291113\/","title":{"rendered":"Italian food, East Sacramento brunch and 3 new local restaurants"},"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

Ciao! I\u2019m back from 12 wonderful days traipsing through Italy, from Florence to Sicily. Thanks to Keyla Vasconcellos for filling in for me in this space last week \u2014 hopefully everyone appreciated having a fresh voice in their Tuesday inbox.\u00a0<\/p>\n

If you\u2019ve tuned into food media at all over the past few years, you\u2019ve seen much larger personalities than I go to Italy. Stanley Tucci, Alison Roman, Bobby Flay and Giada De Laurentiis \u2014 all of them launched TV shows about exploring and eating in \u201cThe Boot\u201d after the COVID-19 pandemic. What has long been a top American vacation destination seemed to reach new heights this decade, with Eater senior reporter Bettina Makalintal even penning a 2022 piece titled\u00a0\u201cI Am Tired of Watching People Go to Italy.\u201d<\/a><\/p>\n

That popularity doesn\u2019t take away from how incredible Italian food can be. Among the many culinary highlights from my trip: Neapolitan pizza in a converted church, the Florentine bean-kale-bread soup ribollita, fresh-fried arancini as big as softballs, lampredotto (cow\u2019s fourth stomach on a roll with parsley-garlic sauce) from a street cart and thick pizza weighed by the pound in Rome. And that doesn\u2019t even touch on the pasta: toothsome penne all\u2019arrabbiata, pappardelle with wild boar and bucatini with raisins, sardines and pine nuts in the Sicilian fishing village Cefal\u00f9.<\/p>\n

Now, enough of my pining \u2014 let\u2019s talk about food that people in this region can easily access. Today\u2019s newsletter includes an East Sacramento brunch favorite, a farm-fresh lunch spread and a trio of exciting new openings: Hawaiian shave ice, dim sum and loaded burgers.\u00a0<\/p>\n

Let\u2019s get to it.<\/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

Orphan Breakfast House<\/a>\u00a0| 3440 C St., Sacramento | 916-442-7370<\/p>\n

\"pancakes\"Orphan Breakfast House\u2019s savory cakes. (Benjy Egel)<\/p>\n

On the rare occasions my partner gets to pick where we eat, brunch is normally at Orphan Breakfast House. The 17-year-old East Sacramento restaurant a block from McKinley Park is defined in part by owner Chris Pendarvis\u2019 many quirks, such as not offering ketchup (customers can bring their own) and payment by cash or check only (there\u2019s a free ATM inside). Yet it\u2019s also one of the city\u2019s better places for a morning meal, as evidenced by the line of people waiting each weekend for breakfast burritos, stellar rosemary potatoes and\u00a0Mast Coffee<\/a>\u00a0drinks overflowing with whipped cream.<\/p>\n

Orphan\u2019s menu might be described as \u201c21st century diner grub, with some Cali-Mex influences.\u201d I\u2019ll always get the\u00a0savory cakes\u00a0($8.50 for one, or $17 for a three-stack), buttermilk pancakes studded with bacon and jalape\u00f1o slices, topped with a thin jack cheese skirt and meant to drown in real maple syrup. But consider the\u00a0spring scramble\u00a0($18) special if visiting before the end of April. Dominated by saut\u00e9ed asparagus hunks with backing from bacon, shallots, tomatoes and Parmesan cheese, the seasonal creation comes with potatoes and two slices of toast.<\/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

Coming home from vacation with jet lag and a travel bug, I had little interest in cooking last weekend and even less in another meal out. So my girlfriend Abbey, our friend Paul and I put together a fresh, simple lunch spread Sunday.<\/p>\n

I swept through a Sunday farmers market and walked away with a handful of perusements \u2014 Asian pears, apples, English peas, heirloom carrots and early cherries. Abbey had ordered\u00a0Battin\u2019s Bagel Bike\u2019s<\/a>\u00a0specialty soft pretzels earlier in the week, and grabbed a tub of whipped cream cheese after picking them up from the baker\u2019s home in River Park. Adopting the \u201crip and dip\u201d philosophy of\u00a0The Laundromat<\/a>, our favorite San Francisco bagel shop and pizzeria, we dug in.<\/p>\n

In the news<\/p>\n

\"sign\"Torch Club is located at 904 15th St. in Sacramento. (Shelley Ho)<\/p>\n

Marina Texeira and Mark Mitchell, the owner and manager of Downtown Sacramento bar and music venue\u00a0Torch Club<\/a>, were arrested last month outside their business<\/a>. Teixeira was arrested on suspicion of a trio of misdemeanors (resisting, delaying and obstructing a peace officer, disorderly conduct under the influence of drugs or alcohol and battery on a peace officer), while Mitchell was arrested on suspicion of the first two charges plus felony resisting or obstructing a peace officer with injury involved.\u00a0Teixeira has been a vocal critic<\/a>\u00a0of the city\u2019s code enforcement policies, saying they make running a business such as hers exceedingly difficult. By Monday, Sacramento City Councilmember Phil Pluckebaum reported that the Torch Club had met the conditions on its permit and passed code inspection.<\/p>\n

\"AnnieAnne Main at her farm Good Humus Produce in the Capay Valley. (Martin Christian)<\/p>\n

Capay Valley growers greeted visitors Sunday for the\u00a0Rustic Ramble,<\/a>\u00a0a self-guided expedition to a handful of area farms. It\u2019s part of a larger movement to promote the northwestern Yolo County agricultural region as a tourism destination, Daniel Hennessy wrote.<\/a><\/p>\n

Happening this week<\/p>\n

Range Kitchen & Tap<\/a>\u00a0expanded Thursday from its original Roseville restaurant to 1813 Capitol Ave. in Midtown Sacramento, formerly home to Sibling by Pushkin\u2019s. A burger with local beer cheese and pickled onions is one house specialty, along with rotating pizzas topped with farmers market finds.<\/p>\n

Yang Kee Dim Sum & BBQ just began its soft opening at 8347 Elk Grove Florin Road, Suite 127 in South Sacramento. The Cantonese deli is the newest concept from Justin Yang and Jane Li, who also own\u00a0Yang Kee Dumpling<\/a>\u00a0in Davis and Roseville.\u00a0<\/p>\n

H\u0101nai<\/a>\u00a0began an indefinite residency Friday at 1701 R St. in Midtown Sacramento. The Hawaiian shave ice stand began doing pop-ups at Urban Roots Hospitality Group restaurants a year ago (and at other businesses in 2023), and moved into the Side Hustle window next to the group\u2019s\u00a0Good Neighbor<\/a>\u00a0concept. Look for frosty treats as well as loaded musubis and kalua pork sliders.<\/p>\n

Want to find more events like this in the Sacramento region? Check out Abridged by PBS KVIE\u2019s new events calendar<\/a> and send feedback to events@abridged.org<\/a>.<\/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