Old and new in Roseville: market celebrates 75 years as Peruvian restaurant opens

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A mere 75 years ago, Jim and Marilee Denio opened up a fruit stand at the corner of Church and Atkinson streets in Roseville. What followed was the largest farmers market, to use that term loosely, in the Sacramento region.

Denio’s Farmers Market & Swap Meet is celebrating its 75th anniversary this spring, as family-focused and free form as it ever was. It’s a flea market, a live auction, an open-air produce emporium, a miniature fairgrounds.

Longtime Sacramento-area residents know Denio’s from the market’s iconic jingles of the 1980s and ‘90s. It was the largest farmers market in California by the 1960s, and Jim and Marilee’s children Ken, Eric and Tracee run it today.

It was, and still is, a place where you never know what you’ll find. Among the more than 300 vendors are people who buy storage units and use Denio’s as their platform to sell what they discover. If you don’t find what you’re looking for, operations manager Adrian Acosta said, come back next week.

“It’s a place where you can spend the entire day with your family, not have to spend an arm-and-a-leg and honestly enjoy yourself,” said Acosta, who started working at Denio’s alongside his dad as a 16-year-old in 2000. “We have things for all ages, whether you’re a toddler or a full-on grown-up.”

And the food! Think county fair with a bit more care. Denio’s corn dogs are the flagship, still made with the original secret-recipe batter. Chili verde is nearly as popular. Outside vendors sell tacos, pizza, noodles, ice cream and much more from trucks and stands. In-the-go drinks like micheladas or wine slushies can be enjoyed across the complex.

Produce stands, some of which opened in the 1970s and are now run by the farmers’ grandkids, take up about two miles of land alone. Denio’s technically kicks off on Friday, but most vendors come out Saturday and Sunday starting at 7:30 a.m. to greet thousands of customers.

What I’m Eating

Chicha Peruvian Kitchen Y Cafe is the latest notable jolt of life to Roseville’s dining scene. Opened by husband-and-wife Giancarlo Zapata and Marleny Chávez in November, its bright pink-green-yellow interior and flavorful dishes are tucked in the corner of a blasé strip mall at 1079 Sunrise Ave., Suite O.

Vegetarian options are scarce, but papa a la huancaína ($12) made for a good, simple appetizer. Cold sliced potatoes, olives and hard-boiled eggs were coated in a creamy aji amarillo sauce over a bed of lettuce, with a balsamic reduction drizzle poking through.

Chicha makes four of ceviches, each tied to a specific region along Peru’s coastline. I went for the chalaco ($20) native to Lima’s Port of Callao, which featured a pile of whitefish cured in lime juice amid a world of contrasts: soft sweet potato chunks, crunchy hominy and choclo (large-kernal Peruvian corn), thin-sliced red onion and a rocoto pepper sauce with the customer’s preferred spice level.

The menu is a mixture of street food and more upscale options from Zapata’s days cooking in high-end hotels. It’s nice to see even more casual options get plated elegantly, like beef heart anticuchos ($16). The chewy skewered meat was already flavorful in its ají panca (Peruvian red pepper) marinade, and reached a new dimension with a huacatay (Peruvian mint) dipping sauce.

A liquor license is pending; in the meantime, try Peru’s fluorescent national soft drink Inca Kola ($3.50), which has a taste somewhere between cream soda and bubblegum ice cream.

This story was originally published February 18, 2022 at 3:00 AM.