We've been hopping from place to place recently, tasting this and that. Let's share some top dishes:

My lunch pal at the Sushi Cafe came to California by way of Louisiana and Texas. Which means she knows her oysters and isn't shy about showing an appetite.

We each had a four-oyster appetizer of the deep-fried delectables – crunchy, moist, fresh ($5.95 per order). We followed that with a six-piece plate of delicate pan-fried gyoza, like potstickers, only tastier ($4.50).

Next was the hefty Matty roll, a complexly flavored combination of shrimp tempura, spicy tuna, seared tuna (ahi), avocado and lemon, wrapped in rice, with wasabi and ginger on the side.

Sushi Cafe, 4491 Freeport Blvd., Sacramento; (916) 452-6888, www.mysushicafe.com.

Dining on the Corridor

We like the dining scene on the R Street Corridor, the block between 14th and 15th streets. Shady Lady, Magpie Cafe, Burgers and Brew, and R15.

R15 is a hip place with beer specials (we had honey lemonade), pool tables and "modern bar food." Actually, since it's conjoined with Cafe Bernardo, you can order larger dishes off that more formal menu and still eat at a booth in R15.

Which we did, though first we tasted a pile o' wings from the R15 menu ($6.50). The barbecue sauce was the thing – thick, not too sweet, a bit of heat, tangy with rice wine vinegar, and surprising with a hint of coffee in the background.

From the Cafe Bernardo menu came one of the best Thai noodle salads around ($4.75, $7.27). Inside a big pile of chilled, thin noodles were chicken, carrot, cucumber, scallion and peanuts; we topped it with spicy peanut dressing.

Just as good – but in a different way – was another house specialty, sesame seed-crusted salmon ($14.75). The perfectly cooked fish was made even better when we poured pan juices over it, from the accompanying roasted Japanese eggplant, summer squash, Fresno chilies, basil, soy sauce and garlic.

R15 and Cafe Bernardo, 1431 R St., Sacramento; (916) 930-9090, www.paragarys.com.

Lunch at Selland's Cafe

The next best thing to spending hours over dinner at restaurateur Randall Selland's preeminent dining houses, Ella and The Kitchen, is lingering over lunch at Selland's Market Cafe.

Real cooks work in an atmosphere of controlled chaos as they dash around the stainless-steel and tile kitchen, preparing fabulous fare from top-quality ingredients.

The problem here – seriously – is choosing what to eat, as everything is so darned delicious. We settled for seared ahi, crab cakes, salmon-cucumber salad, carnitas, chicken breast with mushroom sauce and teriyaki chicken thighs ($3.50 to $18).

Selland's Market Cafe, 5340 H St., Sacramento; (916) 736-3333, www.sellands.com.

The Express route to lunch

When the Market at Pavilions finally closed its doors July 1, shoppers and merchants at the upscale center were momentarily at a loss for a replacement lunch destination. Until they remembered the neighboring Bella Bru Express.

We ordered at the counter and gazed with longing at the artisanal loaves of crusty bread, cookies, cakes and biscotti.

On the patio, we split albacore tuna salad on excellent sourdough ($6.95), and the Mighty Chicken salad with slices of even better cranberry-walnut bread ($4.95 and $8.95).

The two lunch pals sang the same song: "I like the tuna because you can taste it and not a bunch of other stuff," and, "The dressing on this salad is sooo good."

The tuna was mixed with light touches of mayo, capers and onion, with lettuce and tomato. The salad combined mixed greens with strips of moist chicken, dates, finely chopped candied walnut, goat cheese, corn, tomato, well-seasoned croutons and champagne vinaigrette.

I bought a buttery croissant for breakfast the next morning, but it didn't make it out of the parking lot.

Bella Bru Express at the Pavilions, Fair Oaks Boulevard east of Howe Avenue, Sacramento; (916) 779-0516, www.bellabrucafe.com.

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