Sacramento’s annual Tower Bridge Dinner will be takeout only. Here’s what else is new

Sacramento’s most exclusive meal is now open to everyone — from the comfort of their own home.

The 2020 Tower Bridge Dinner will be takeout only in light of the coronavirus pandemic, according to Visit Sacramento’s website. Chefs will compose four-course meals highlighting ingredients from the greater Sacramento area and paired with locally produced wine and beer, similar to the food served to well-heeled eaters on the bridge each September.

This year’s Tower Bridge Dinner will span Sept. 12-19 instead of a single night, giving customers the option to double down at multiple restaurants, Visit Sacramento spokeswoman Kari Miskit said. Participating restaurants, food trucks and caterers — all of which have yet to post their Tower Bridge Dinner menus but will do so in the coming days — include so far:

• Allora
• Back Bistro
• Binchoyaki
• Boxables
• Camden Spit & Larder
• Canon
• Dawson’s Steakhouse
• Frank Fat’s
• Grub Thai
• Hawks Provisions & Public House
• Karen’s Bakery Cafe
• Localis
• Mayahuel
• Mulvaney’s B&L
• Nixtaco
• Sacramento Catering Collective
• Selland’s Market-Cafe
• Snug Jr.
• Solomon’s Delicatessen
• Tapa The World
• Taylor’s Kitchen
• Thai Basil

• The Culinerdy Cruzer

• The Michelin Minivan
• The Wandering Chef
• Thee Upper Crust Pizza
• Todo Un Poco
• Tuli Bistro at Tiger Bar & Food Hall
• VEG Cafe
• Vegan Lady Soul

“We’re saying, ‘show us what you have. Show us what it would look like if the Tower Bridge Dinner was coming from your restaurant,’” Miskit said. “We’re trying to be as inclusive as possible so that no matter where you are, you can participate, and if you have the means you can support more than one restaurant.”

Two tickets to the 2019 Tower Bridge Dinner cost $465 plus fees, if one was lucky enough to win the lottery for the 80 seats available after event sponsors claimed the remaining 720. In a normal year, the dinner would be held at the end of the annual Farm-To-Fork Festival and led by a well-known chef with dozens of Sacramento-based helpers.

COVID-19 has made collaborative cooking and group dinners inadvisable, and Visit Sacramento canceled the 2020 Farm-To-Fork Festival in mid-July. Meanwhile, restaurants and caterers have struggled to weather the shutdown’s economic effects.

“Our restaurants are kind of critical to the fabric of Sacramento, especially from Visit Sacramento’s standpoint and all that we’ve been able to accomplish in establishing the city as a food destination,” Miskit said. “We need them to be here and we need them to survive.”

For more information, visit farmtofork.com/tower-bridge-dinner-to-go/.

This story was originally published September 3, 2020 at 12:43 PM.