Bacon & Butter owners open sleek new restaurant, cocktail lounge in East Sacramento
The walls are green. The chairs are green. The employees’ shirts are green. The synthetic ivy wrapping around patio walling and dangling from the indoor ceiling is green.
St. Patrick’s Day hasn’t come early at 3839 J St. in East Sacramento. It’s just home to The Green Room, siblings Amber Michel and Billy Zoellin’s new neighborhood small plates restaurant and cocktail bar that opened Wednesday.
Both owners are parents, and designed The Green Room for people who similarly want to have a little fun but not too much, Michel said. It’s open Tuesday through Saturday from 3 p.m. to 9 p.m.
“This is meant to be the jumping-off point for anyone in Sacramento to either start a long evening, end a day at work or just experience something seasonal in Sacramento,” Michel said. “(It’s) an elegant, relaxing place to visit and enjoy a beverage and go home happy.”
The Green Room takes over from Bacon & Butter, Michel and Zoellin’s other venture that draws hour-long weekend brunch lines in Tahoe Park but never got quite the same foothold in East Sacramento.
Staffing was a problem from the top down at the second Bacon & Butter, Michel said. The East Sacramento location’s rent was also triple the cost of Tahoe Park despite having the same square footage. Then the pandemic hit after about a year in business, and eggy breakfast dishes didn’t transport well in to-go containers.
Bacon & Butter had a full liquor license, though, which wasn’t being fully realized serving just breakfast and lunch. The Green Room, on the other hand, is built for people in search of a nice cocktail or glass of wine and a bite.
Cocktails seem straightforward and simply listed on the menu under their common name — paloma, martini, negroni, etc. Yet each has a house twist: apple cider vinegar in mules, for example, or deep green margaritas dyed by an avocado.
Each mixed drink is $13, while wine ranges from a $9 glass of Boeger’s 2019 barbera to $60 bottles of private reserve chardonnay from Napa-based Beringer. A limited beer selection and house-made lemonade are also available.
The Green Room’s food, too, is familiar with slight riffs. A house burger ($15) tops smashed patties with gouda and black garlic aioli; the banh mi ($15) features hoisin-glazed pork belly with cucumber and long beans. There are handfuls of fried veggies — onion blossoms, cauliflower poppers, potato wedges — as well as toasts and shareables like shrimp cocktails and cheese boards.
Happy hour deals have largely vanished from Sacramento since the pandemic began, but The Green Room is geared toward that sort of in-between meal or drinks with a snack. Timely discounts are coming down the road, Michel said.
The Green Room is showing a painting by one of its employees, JoBeth Wharton. Michel painted the frame. More art is en route.
Tahoe Park natives Michel and Zoellin have kept some things within the family, though. The siblings’ mother runs the payroll, and Michel’s daughter manages The Green Room’s social media.
